Interesting one. Was not aware of this. And wouldn't surprise me at all if it were true.
For sure it will drain the reward pool a little more than it is already currently being drained by the top 1% of Steem Power holders. As you say, they were not born Whales. They did something to put them in this position and as a group they support each other. And in many cases they make a big effort to support the rest of us too!
There was a time (around 6 months ago) when all the Whales stopped voting for a period to see how this affected the system. And in truth, there wasn't much noticeable difference.
So, I am left asking myself this... would I do what they do if I could?
Yep :)
@samstonehill Well some of the supporting whales came forward in the comments and acknowledged that they are doing this, only disputing that they were not alts for the main guy and doing so under their own free will agreement.
They can and some do make a huge difference to support the rest of us yes and again that is their free will prerogative to do so.As we saw recently with @iamjamie's post, it makes a huge impact and I for one am thankful for this gift based economy.
I don't feel as great about those "me too" comments and the sneaking around hoping nobody notices, however as you say.. would I do what they do if I could?
Personally I don't think I would, I don't feel good about myself if I'm intentionally over rewarding something of little value. Not saying those who do should or shouldn't do what they do.
After all this is the free, decentralized world we are hoping will empower the many more than the few. I'm sure most of us are agreed it's long past time to let go of that old paradigm.
Here's to wholeness and balance.