Your comments are right on the mark. I have many times posted on this matter, and when my posts and comments reached witnesses and devs, and they deigned to respond, the responses were simply "we don't agree.", rather than substantive expositions of their disagreement, or ended up being some prompting that has resulted in Steemit being forked, i.e. Calibrae.
"...@mindhunter having possibly 3 friends"
@mindhunter was outed as buying @snowflake's votes, and @snowflake as controlling the other accounts also doing the upvoting.
You are not being too emotional, but rather being discouraged at this kind of manipulation is exactly what the white paper states is the reason for downvotes and flags to exist at all.
It is sad that mere lucre has turned out to be a cryptic Steemit-killer, yet, unless there is a significant revolution in how our votes are weighted, it is inevitable IMHO that a Sybil attack will, sooner or later, be undertaken to control the witnesses, and those whose (mostly mined) stakes will be purchased to do this will become millionaires - in some other currency than Steem, which will insulate them entirely from the consequences of the platform being taken over.
Steemit is marketed as 'decentralized', but, since wealth is perhaps the most centralizable thing of all, and Steemit is simply able to be bought, with enough wealth directed at the largest stakes, Steemit is not decentralized at all. Steemit is no more decentralized than any stock corporation controlled by investors.
Only equal votes, or votes weighted by reputation - the judgement of the community as to the value of the account holder - might be able to actually be decentralized. Money is the most centralizing of power mechanisms, as we see in the world around us today.
These information are amazing revelations for me. My age experience in terms of cryptocurrency and steemit is not more than 3 months. Yet I am finding so many mind blowing info everyday I get deeper in the issue.Dear @valued-customer, Thank you for approving my comment and thank you for your comment on it.
I totally agree with you. We all say this platform or that cryptocurrency are decentralized and its our way to freedom of speech and fair chances, but in actuality, those who monopolize the platforms and cryptocurrencies by voting/mining or other means are actually centralizing it from within. Very subtle but dangerous. Because in the outside it still looks the gate to dream-land but in the inside, it is actually the gate to grim-land.
Lets hope steemit will not end up like that and will retain the benign foundations and good intentions that was built upon.
Many thanks again for sharing and for your support :)