Abandoning Ship: Powering Down My Steem
With the witnesses being replaced and forced into the top 20 by means that completely ignore the community's interests, using exchange funds to fuck with the network and centralise it, I'm starting my exit transition.
It's incredibly saddening to see that these recent events have had the ability to essentially wipe out an entire community and its efforts over the course of several years. It really fucking sucks that I'm now leaving, especially after things did briefly look up and show potential signs of growth. This place had a lot of potential, but if this is how things are going to be, then fuck it, I'm gone.
Crypto for me wasn't just about the money, it was its values: decentralisation, removing central authorities from power and placing change into the hands of those who use the network, while they too are the ones maintaining it. Steem, right now, is the entire opposite. It's now likely just a CCP shitcoin.
I hate that I have to say this, but I've removed the current delegations and began the Power Down period of my stake. This will take some time, and I'm not yet even sure what I'll be doing once I get the SP liquid. Of course, along with many, I don't want to be selling my stake and leaving. Perhaps I'll leave it somewhere, probably not on an exchange where it'll be used for malicious intent.
For now, I will maintain the usual curation habits. I will continue to support those who are bringing great content to the network with the use of the delegation by @eeks. This isn't yet a goodbye.
There's a chance, and I use this thinly as fuck, that this entire situation has a logical explanation. So I won't be leaving entirely. As of now, I'm securing my stake and getting my money relatively safe. If things continue to go down south; witnesses replaced as they are now, more hostile actions, etc, then I'll be making another post and announcing that I'll be leaving entirely.
In that event, I'll be finding someone to hand over the Movies & TV Shows Community keys to, and ensuring that @eeks is aware that I will no longer be using his delegation.
In the event that there's somehow (unlikely) a logical explanation for all of this and we return to normal, COMMUNITY VOTED WITNESSES back in power and the chances of this event happening being removed, I'll cancel down the Power Down process and Power Up the Steem and continue as usual.
I’m powering down as well my friend. Both ways is not much decentralisation left here. Still will use APPICS, but no point to keeping big stack of steem power. Sad 😔
It's heartbreaking for sure. But we're making the best decisions. It's nice to see that as a community our values extend beyond the money.
I’ll probably do so as well.
Steem always had a bad rep but now I don’t see us recovering from this.
The worst thing about this is that I feel most people in crypto won't even hear about it. This type of insane central authority mentality is one that has taken over the crypto space, as well. It's not about decentralisation anymore. It's just money.
He'll get away with it. Perhaps he'll kill off Steem as a result, I doubt most will stick around or move anywhere with him, but he'll get away with it and Tron and his other shitcoins will continue.
Forgot to add: the most we can do if this is all him and he's doing fucked up shit, is ruin his name.
I want to thank you for how you have stuck through all the ups and downs of Steem. You're awesome and I wish you the best!
I'm really hoping that somehow things change. That somehow things return to the way they were and the power is placed back into the hands of the people. Voting for change, voting for those who help distribute the change. Not this.
I'm keeping a close eye on the current developments and plans for the network, whether it results in a fork or something that gets Steemit Inc and Justin under control and realising what their place on a decentralised network means.
A fork is definitely something I'd support and return to. While it's not the best option and I have no idea what that best option could be, if Steem remains Steem, I'll be there for it. Community governed and supported.
I have no idea what comes next for this network. I'm not sure what Steemit Inc or Justin (let alone the exchanges) can say about this action to attempt to justify it and make the community trust them again. I doubt they can do that.
I'm going to power down and attempt to store my Steem as I watch how things go. I doubt I'll sell it unless I desperately need it, or if there's a strong chance that I could potentially sell and buy lower with some positive news coming out from the community. I'd just rather not see two years of grinding go to 0 if I can save it. But yeah, if we go back to having the community in control without this kind of insane hostility and takeovers, I'll be back. Ready to focus on what's important here. I've got my keys backed up and safe.
I sent you a little memo since I wasn't sure how to contact you, but I'll say it again since I have more space to do so: thank you. You definitely contributed to keeping me here. But most importantly, with your delegation we managed to keep many others here. There's so many people I met and became friends with as a result, many that saw the potential of the network and had their lives improved as a result.
I was hoping this recent news was the final thing to really get this network what it deserves. Some investment and new eyes on the project. People seeing its true potential, and seeing everything we've all worked so hard for finally paying off. Especially after all of those ups and downs. I'm worried that we won't see it in any capacity that we assumed. But still...
We really did help a lot of people all over the world. So many struggling creatives victims of their struggling economies that came here to create and earn a little extra to make their lives easier. It's crazy. We helped them far more than we can comprehend. Even if this is how it ends and the network goes downhill beyond recognition and dies off somehow, what we managed to do because of you was worth it all. It was worth the endless yo-yo swings of highs and lows. The funny moments and the drama. The fact that all of this, hopefully, will remain etched into this blockchain for years to come.
20 cents or $8, Steem's about the people. The price is just a bonus.
As a quick note: will you be sticking around? Are you planning on cashing out and saving your stake in the event that the worst happens?
I've removed all my witness votes and also am powering down. No point in doing anything here anymore.
I'm keeping my witness votes up, but yeah. This goes against everything I got into crypto for. If this is how it's going to be, I won't stick around.