RE: Investigating the whale scam - Assumptions above knowledge.
Maybe this analogy will help the complainers:
I have a business. Through my hard work, effort and brains the business takes off and I have to employ people, many of whom who have never been employed and it is their first chance at earning an income. They see me buying a new expensive car with the proceeds of my hard work, and decide to strike as they do not have enough money to buy the same car.
I joined this platform 5 weeks ago. I have no knowledge of computer programming or cryptocurrency. All that is expected of me is to blog and network. I am rewarded for my efforts. I am happy. Why would I expect to earn the same rewards as the founders (hard work and brains)?
The petty jealousy defies all common sense, but money is involved, and money makes many people lose their minds!
I agree with @onetree: I have no knowledge of computer programming, little experience with cryptocurrency. All I do is write and curate and help build up the community. And I get paid for it! I am rewarded for my efforts. I am happy. I'm not going to expect to earn the same rewards as the founders. Neither should anyone else.
HOWEVER, people coming on here DON'T KNOW that the majority of the trending posts are essentially founder-written and/or founder-curated. It's a raw deal if you think about it that way. It's all about expectations.
Maybe a little shifting of those expectations would help mitigate some of the sour grapes going on.
This goes well beyond mere "jealousy." And it isn't just a problem with the vote timing. Steve appears to be arguing about something that he is completely unaware of. There is a pattern of what seem to be sock puppet accounts (plural) created by whales, voted by the same whales, curated by their other sock puppet accounts, sharing similar features and styles, etc.
There's no reason to assume that someone noticing these things is "jealous." It represents a serious problem for the platform if the system can be abused this way - especially by the most influential people on it. The issues with @mrron and @msgivings are only two examples (there are others) and we will likely learn about new ones soon enough. Please don't dismiss the questions or criticisms so easily. There is legitimacy to the concerns.
This analogy...... it's centralized employment. People get upset I think largely because it is promoted as decentralized... open... all of that. I am sure a lot are upset by the money part, it's easy to be.
I think a good portion of the others are upset though because it seems to take away from growing the site. Direct the rewards where you want sure.... absolutely. It's just how it can appear at times, not saying that is what it is.
Biggest part though is the decentralized theme and having it not represented as easily or visually. Everyone wants the site to grow, but to a new user seeing a founder post about the status of the site who is making $1500 for reporting the status of the site. It looks and feels off, I understand currently there is no other way to make the post visible without trending it.
They could do like the MySpace guy and @dan and the crew are everybody's first feed I guess?
There is nothing much to add ! I agree with you 100% @onetree I would not be here without those investors and I plan to keep my little bit of steempower I collect with very hard work , I do enjoy. Sometimes I feel to quit but why would I give up on myself and my efforts to contribute. I have learnt NOT to look for approval but so grateful for recognition. Your #namesinlight post about me yesterday still makes me smile and wanna make me stay for longer and see where this project leads up to. I wish it will survive and for more fairness and balancing in voting! I'm a bit worried about the upcoming hard fork because I still do not understand much to be honest.
This is clearly a subject that invokes strong emotions. Steemit is first and foremost, an experiment, and we should be able to voice our opinions as we, as the users have a vested (ha!) interest in the continuation of the platform Clearly there is going to be abuse of the system, as it is too young for it to have a pre-solution for every issue that occurs.
It is our responsibility, as members with an interest in the continuation of this platform, that we address the often complex matters that arise in a cool, calm reasonable manner. The amount of whining here at the moment is off-putting.
I agree with @ats-david that this a decentralized platform, but it started from a centralized point, and it is only natural that the income will be concentrated there, initially, but may spread over TIME!
Clearly the "whales" (I actually loathe the ecosystem terms) will have a vested (another ha!) interest in growing Steemit, considering time and money they spent. Perhaps we need a forum to discuss issues in a MATURE way.
YES,ok we are jealus of the group of whales and their clones,thats my answer to what you say
https://steemit.com/scam/@stell/i-am-happy-that-people-have-started-to-understand-what-is-going-on-here-thanks-to-me