First and foremost, I need to say thank you for everything that FP does here! I too saw @hickorymack's plight and jumped in to help, as did so many others I know. I guess in the world, and in this microcosm called steemit, there will be givers and there will be takers. And we can applaud the givers and the results from their efforts, and also try to ignore the takers. But true takers, will continue to take if given the opportunity. And this platform is ripe with opportunity. So I guess in the end, it's up the the good guys to gather round and stop the bad guys from doing what they do best.
As givers and carers, we expect the best from people, and most people, given the opportunity, will be kind, caring, considerate and selfless. But there are those, regardless of opportunities, education or warnings, will continue to look only at the benefits for themselves. The real problem is their lack of empathy; their inability to stand in someone else's shoes and really feel what the other people are feeling. Can you teach empathy? I don't know.
Is there a peaceful way to go about stopping them? I hope so, because fire only brings about more fire; pain begets more pain. Perhaps a cleanse of the community might be the answer; rid yourselves of those who no longer contribute in the hopes of filling their spot with those who do. Because the eternal optimists like myself, need the street kid like you @markwhittam, to see clear to clean out the waste.