Minnows powering down on the other hand cannot be viewed in the same light...
That's not a valid argument. You don't know why they're powering down. And it also has no relevance to whether or not their concerns are legitimate and whether or not abuse is occurring. This argument is a red herring.
...the parties cannot continue to claim that no responses were given.
Well, in this case, either no responses were given to some of the questions/concerns or the answers simply did not address the actual concerns...they were just dismissive. Such as:
...its their power and their rules.
This is at the heart of the concerns about Steem Guild. "Their power, their rules" doesn't actually address the main concern about the guild's effects. And it certainly doesn't address the criticisms about self-voting with the guild's power - which, as I stated already, is supposed to be a guild for the express purpose of ensuring that certain users aren't being overlooked and unrewarded for their good content. But that's only one argument. There are many others. "Their power, their rules" doesn't cut it. That's not how you address issues with a project that was allegedly created for a specific purpose but seems to have several negative consequences/side-effects.
You operate in a guild yourself you know how things work.
I actually don't operate in a guild. But yes, I do know how some of these things work - and based on what I'm seeing, there are many problems with the operations.
I put up two posts hoping for open and honest discussion. I don't know if you saw them?
I did see them. However, I don't see the relevance to any of these discussions. I haven't seen anyone mentioning that there has been "draining of the rewards pool." I think the major point of contention (especially with Brian) was the self-voting of several personal accounts with 80-100% of the guild's power every day. That isn't necessarily a "draining the pool" argument.
But, since you've brought it up, do you not find an issue with two or three guild members regularly sitting in the top-five on the trending page nearly every day? Do you believe that this was the intent of the guild and that this is how it ought to be?
(I would love to not have this thread limit maxed, so if we can continue this on a new one, that would be great.)