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This is a very interesting situation indeed. Me being a crytocurrency analyst myself; I'm not a huge fan of how he does his blog, but my opinion and .80 cents will buy you a cup of coffee at McDonalds. After reading through a number of his posts, I feel that in general, they seem to lacki in the content category. That said, this is a plus for some as they like to get to the meat and potatoes of an article with no interest in reading an authors colorful insight or creative use of metaphors and analogies.
Do I have an opinion in regards to using bots etc. Not one that I can substantiate, save the fact that if he was using nefarious means to upvote himself then that conduct should not be rewarded, if he wasn't then no harm no foul.
In regards to his sugar daddy whale and him accruing 6 percent of the entirety of the reward pool.. Again, touchy subject. Has he, through his hard work earned a lot of what he has? Sure.. He has been posting consistently for quite a while and for the most part been a dedicated Steemian just trying to make it. This again would be muted in the event that it was found out he was acted in a surreptitious manner to get where he is.
Onto the whale specifically. I think continually upvoting his posts to extraordinary dollar amounts is somewhat abusive of the reward pool and short sighted irresponsible behavior by a member with that much influence; again my opinion. I would hope that those at that level would look past their noses and toward the betterment of the platform and choose to evenly disperse rewards to a variety of up and coming Steemian authors.
Lets assume that Mr. Whale made some profit by taking the advice of @haejin and has made the choice to show his gratitude by up voting his posts. This I believe is fine to a point. If I had that level of influence, had profited from his advice, I would upvote a few of his posts big time in appreciation and then back it down considerably. I did my feel good deed, having rewarded him, but did not lose site of the overall goal of promoting the long term life of the platform which consists of many users.
While it may be unfair that this whale is consistently rewarding @haejin, and acting in a way that could be detrimental to the platform and its image; life is pretty much unfair all the time. The platform could shoulder a large portion of the blame as it runs on an Anarchist principle of self governance where each user is allowed to reward as often as they wish, in any amount they wish and only to those that they favor. As that is the current system; while unfair and allows for considerably disproportionate reward distribution; it is the system. So we have to work with what we have.
In looking at his blog, I think it has gotten to a somewhat ridiculous level at this point as there are many, many, Steemians that put in much more effort and produce far superior content. That said I am not going to slight him (provided he did nothing underhanded) for the efforts he put in by posting everyday, even if I find the content to be somewhat bland.
I think or hope that it will blow over at some point and this whale will look more into promoting the overall health of the site and the many users that inhabit it.
I think that you make some good points. This discussion does boil down to the platform itself. There is that saying, "Don't hate the player, hate the game". I am wondering if that applies here. I am relatively new to the platform and if something out there erodes that trust in the platform then it could cause prospective users to not what to join the platform or newer users like me to leave the platform early on before investing more time.
As a new person, I would also agree with the comment that you made about people with influence upvoting to promote new people. I think this is important for the long-term health of the community. This will help the community grow and continue to sustain itself.
I agree with your well written and articulate points. I, while not a whale here have achieved whale status in other areas of interest and have a more philanthropic view on how you should conduct yourself in regards to those looking for a big break. If you want more information on that go here and find my comments as I'm not retyping all that twice.. https://steemit.com/photography/@pawsdog/steemit-quest-for-one-million-time-required-to-build-a-usd1-000-000-00-steemit-account-day-12-results
I agree, in that it is a don't hate the player, hate the game. I also sense that
I'm just going to keep grinding a way till a whale finds me.. :) I will worry about myself and the rest will take care of itself.
Again, another voice of reason in the wilderness. Thank you. The bullying needs to stop.
I agree.. and only feel that he should face repercussions in the event that he acted in bad faith to attain his current status. This being something that I have no information on so I cannot comment on it. As I said, he put in the work and everything occurring now is the result of his initial efforts. Again providing he was forthright and honest in his efforts to get there.