You have made some exceptional points here, and have continued to make them, especially in relation to vote betting, and how the term used here - "high quality", doesn't mean that at all . I hope someone with the power to affect change pays attention to the feedback being given.

But I am a tiny stakeholder and ultimately meaningless in a world where proof-of-stake is the only major differentiator that matters a damn. It doesn't matter what I write, it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter what I vote for, it doesn't matter how eloquent I am – I simply don't matter.

You have accurately surmised how this fork as made a lot of people feel. Like they don't matter.

It feels like steemit doesn't value the majority of its users as the minority hold a bigger combined stake. The curve goes against the small-big user is favor of the larger, the vote distribution and the latest revelation that this goes further than I had thought, where a vote from a big user doesn't mean anything unless it is backed up with enough votes from other users. It really kicks. My vote isn't worth much, but if i find an unrelated post, from a user who has made great content but hasn't caught the eye of others, my vote being diminished by the fact no one else found the really good post I had upvoted doesn't seem right. I appreciate this is more about the crowd than the individual, and this way small users can gain ground through upvoting big users and getting a tiny bit of curation. But the crowd is made of individuals, so i wonder if maybe focusing on building a platform that best serves the average user would help encourage growth?

These changes really feel like they are going to feed bidbots.

Say a lone curator upvotes me, if I want their vote to have the value they intended, I have to either hope enough other users, with enough power, agree. Or i can reinforce it with bidbots. I am not a bidbot user, talking hypothetically here, yes the bidbot gets a 50% curation cut, but confident the bidbots have adapted to that, and if the bidbot increases the value of other users votes, then it is worth it despite the curation cut. That combined with the increase in the curation cut, and the new payout curve, no wonder people are shocked at how little their posts are worth.

The flags are already an under estimated problem.

Now, a flag has more power. Some one petty down votes me because they were pretending I was their girlfriend, and I found out and was understandably not okay with that. I don't think that's a good reason to flag everything a person does. Before this fork, that flag used to have no power, their flagging behavior hasn't changed, but their flag now takes value away from my comments/posts. I tried to express my concerns about this on a previous post, saying I didn't think I was alone in being bully flagged for none-content reasons and that I didn't think that kind of flagging was good for the platform, (and did meet someone people who want to help) but that comment got flagged by a big and unstoppable user who disagreed. That one users flags (from their various accounts) stripped away a value accrued by 180+ other users. The crowd determined a value, and one person with a lot of SP was able to take it away with their downvote. That doesn't reflect the opinion of the group, and the culture and principles behind flagging need to be addressed, not made worse with the encouraging of comparative flagging.

It feels like steemit is becoming a place where trying to say anything makes you a target.

Diversity, and sincere engaged disagreement can bring amazing positive change, it is a chance for people to evaluate their own position, improve their understand, and learn. If someone disagrees, please tell me, I want to understand why, not to argue with you, but to better understand my own perspective and learn something about yours. Downvotes don't help that, and I don't see how that element is going to attract new users. Debate, and open discussion however, does attract people who want to get involved. Hell, I am here commenting on this.

Although that said, i think this is probably the end of a girl who doesn't matter commenting with an opinion that doesn't matter, even if all the people who don't matter express it, when no one who matters cares, it feels pointless. But I am so grateful there are people like you who are still putting themselves out there and commenting, saying what so many may feel but may not feel empowered enough to say.

Thank you <3