The problem is that this pattern of behavior will necessarily limit the range, quantity, and quality of content. Whales colluding to vote on each other do so at the expense of new authors being rewarded for their content. Without incentive for the creation of new and diverse content, it will not simply appear of its own volition and continue to be produced without recognition.
This behavior is anti-competitive.
I think it's disingenuous to fall back on tropes like "free market" and "competition" when this behavior is, in essence, no different than a government granted monopoly. This is the antithesis of the concepts that are being used to defend it.
I see what you're saying, and I agree with this:
I've seen new users (one of whom was my mom!) come to the site and become discouraged by the lack of attention paid to some excellent and completely unique posts. I respect @ats-david's decision to disseminate the information.
However, I don't mean something figurative or metaphorical when I say "free market." I mean that we are all free to NOT support things we don't like, to make deals or alliances with other users, and to build on Steem in ways that create more legit reasons to buy and sell the tokens. If I were a brand new user of Steemit right now, I'd market and advertise my posts and go to @robinhoodwhale, @coinbitgold and her academic post initiative, or someone who promotes and features new content.
If this is really as flawed as a government monopoly, maybe it's time to make big changes! It's always been centralized, so what do you expect? The whales are mainly the initial investors.
@edgeland thanks for the mention. Appreciate it for the recognition. As much as i would like to agree with you, the journey to promote new science and academia writers has been difficult because I do not have much of an influence at steemit. And upvotes on my content come from whales who maybe think i have good content or who think it is good to promote good science writers. And i am grateful to them for for believing in me.
I have a few comments on this post:
Even if evil whales are ousted, can we be confident that there will be no new evil whales in this anarchic system in the future ?
Let's admit that in this current system, the voting algorithm is easy to game for whales.
I respect @ats-david for posting this and giving this information to all users. But on the other hand, is it really good to flash "dirty laundry" publicly? IMO, it is not good for the steem prices and investors confidence......
@bacchist you know I think a lot of you. So this is going back in the way back machine. Considering the debate you and I had relating to anarchism almost two months ago now, this response of yours has me grinning from ear to ear. Good work on investigating this by the way. I've been following your progress too and spreading the word.
Is this debate about anarchism accessible on Steemit? Lol.
I think we all finding out who we really are with this post. I am of the opinion that radical transparency is best. I feel that excessive policing of our thoughts and whales who try to threaten us when we express critical thought processes is a bad thing, perhaps even the main driver of steemit's downward spiral of late. Once people are afraid to speak up, then, we've lost it. The ones who seek to silence us from looking at hard data are sealing their own fate, I'm afraid.
I appreciate this response from you, given our philosophical differences. I don't necessarily hold "free market principles" and competition to be ideas which I'd prefer to build a society around. But at the same time, I do think that whatever principles a given society is based upon should be applied uniformly, and not arbitrarily enforced depending on how it effects those with the most power.
Yes, thank you. Your link brought me here.
It absolutely is very different from a government granted monopoly in that no legal authority backed by force is protecting it.
Understood.... Hypocrisy does suck... So if a certain system is espoused yet it is not followed then you would feel justified in speaking up. So would I. We differ in the capitalism vs communism aspect of things, but that does not mean I do not respect you. Your mind and efforts are very telling. Keep it up. You have my support, and the support of others.