All talks with the whales lead to the point that it's not my fault, but I'm just a pawn in a game of power between them and @dan. I was even advised to ask him to remove his votes to receive a chance to get back in.

This is exactly why you got down-voted, so by asking DAN to remove his vote what exactly does this accomplish? whoever gave you that advice, are they voting for witnesses themselves? First it was @dan then @blocktrades and so on... why is dan not allowed to vote on his own project?, why they want blocktrades to stop voting?, so what they ask for is not to be centralized one way, but centralized in another. This sort of arm twisting started early on, and most agreed to it unfortunately as long as they get in. I would certainly not accept you or anyone else getting a bribe from the whales in return for pressuring dan to remove his votes, and nobody else should. On the contrary, this BS has to end. You should be on the witness list, Yes, but how is the issue here.