It wasn't a 'loss' as she still made $40! (until others thought she didn't deserve that for complaining). If haejin had not voted she would have made about the same and it's far more than most. As I'm tired of saying, rewards are not finalised until payout.
If someone thinks I make too much then they are entitled to adjust it, but it would be nice to make something. I do get downvotes and I don't care. The greater community gets to decide my rewards for good or ill.
What is 'the thief' gaining by this? Being seen as a bully can't be great and all actions are public. You (and everyone else) will actually make a little (tiny amount) more from his actions.
They are not stabilising HIVE. HBD is supposed to be pegged to a dollar for reasons too complex to me, but the speculators think otherwise. Some people think it is worth trying to remedy that.
People can do whatever they think is right for themselves or for Hive. They have that freedom. The witnesses have invested time and/or money to get their influence and stake gives weight. If they do enough they gain respect and may make more.
You are mis-reading their intentions IMHO.
If you go back far enough Haejin was making about $100 per post, which was a fair chunk of the pool, and giving nothing to anyone else. Selfish behaviour can be considered abuse and eventually the community acted to reduce what he made. Eventually he gave up. On Steem nobody seems to care.
I see loads making over $100 for posts that I don't think are worth it, but then that's just my opinion. Others probably think it's worth more, but then we're back in the realms of "fair", aren't we?
Unless someone was doing something wrong, like the spamming incident the other day, I will never agree with an arbitrary action to reduce rewards simply because someone thinks someone else is being rewarded far too much. To me, that looks like someone throwing their [financial] weight around, and I hate bullies.
I've said my piece. I think I'll leave it there.