You should never hit children as a parent because your buttons get pushed and in an emotional state you can never be sure the punishment is appropriate. There are of course many other reasons like the message it gives the child about problem solving and violence. Some whale behaviour could be viewed like someone powerful hitting a child. Irrespective of the system design, the powerful have the opportunity to see the result of certain actions and acknowledge the affects. Some whales are clearly emotional and inconsistent. As such, their actions cannot be measured or appropriate even if following the current 'rules' so some self-restraint would be appropriate. I could smack my child and get away with it, I could convince myself that it was an appropriate punishment on occasion, but there would be no escaping the consequences or the strong possibility that I was wrong. I would be failing to wield my great power responsibly. I'd be behaving no better than the child I was attempting to educate and control.

This is not about whale bashing and I know the analogy isn't perfect. Krnel doesn't deserve to be victimized because he's making an effort to produce for Steemit and has collected some bot votes. Attacking krnel isn't the best way to help authors who have not yet been recognised. The best way to help them is to grow steemit's user base.

Whales upvoting chosen accounts crap for the rewards is one thing, attacking the rewards of a genuinely productive account is utter madness. All bot owners must continually update their parameters and make an effort to read the material they are voting for or rely upon a heads up from the community.

The issues in steemit are not all about whale power...... please check out this post from lok1 that re-raises the more serious issue of SBD limitations on Steem.

https://steemit.com/witness-category/@l0k1/a-fable-about-a-shepherd-who-also-raises-wolves#@l0k1/re-benjojo-re-l0k1-a-fable-about-a-shepherd-who-also-raises-wolves-20170303t094344717z