Interesting and valuable documentation @liberosist! It's been an unusual week in steemit. I agree with your comments on the trending page, which is essentially our billboard to the world. If this is the new world order I think we need a healthier way of displaying/organizing our home page in order to retain users and accurately reflect the array of content being produced.
Hopefully, things will go back to normal soon.
I'm guessing some whales may continue downvoting, though I suppose some were already. I would like to see the flag replaced by a downvote. I see there's a GitHub issue for that https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/1222
Maybe the experiment has pushed the community to get used to downvotes as merely an expression of opinion rather than an act of aggression or something...
As a minnow who has been ganged up on whales and downvoted (total 7 times) on an undervalued post I hope things do not go back to normal. I work very hard on HQ posts and find it sad that new people can be picked on like this. If that's how it continues many new people will leave and the buzz will not be good one for steemit. Steemit is a wonderful place without the few bad whales giving it a bad name. I think Dan and others have said enough about that issue. Until the few bad whales are able to be curbed no minnows will find this a friendly place. I love this experiment!
Just keep writing, don't worry about the downvotes. Write because you enjoy it, the market will decide your rewards. Looking at your blog, I can see a few posts that earned more than $10, so there are "good whales" too, from your perspective of course.
You are right and good whales blow my mind with their kindness. Thank you.
There's an upvote for ya! which now actually does something.
O my goodness and thank you. That commet upvote is more than many of my labored posts. Didn't know that was possible and I'm so impressed. Bless the good whales > I'm coverted and my comic was correct. There are all different kinds of SP whales in steemit's pond. Thank you.
I feel your pain, fortunately for me steemit is just a place to have fun. I have done well enough on other social media platforms to know that sometimes its just takes time. Maybe take a break if it feels like your are being bullied. You can also save content until you feel the time is more favorable to post. Once you get a decent following that enjoys your content, I am sure you will be killing it!
Good advice and thank you. I have been stepping back and reading more posts. There are good people here and that's what really counts. Thank you.