RE: "Our Corrupt Sense of Fairness" or Steemit's Incessant Rule Changes?
I also think it might help if there were greater discussion of changes BEFORE they were implemented and not just a single post made by Dan just prior to the change.
Another excellent point! Dan's recent voting discussion is a great case in point, first claiming his post had nothing to do with Steemit, while in the background making an overhaul to the entire system on Github without notifying anyone and causing a bit of an uproar when a whale came across the proposed change and code and alerted many of us in chat.
Due to the community responding quickly to the proposed change in code, Dan backed off and decided he needed to rethink the change. What would have happened if the whale (who can identify themselves if they like) had not brought it to our attention in chat? I'm guessing that the code would have simply been forced upon us and another v8.2 or v8.4 scenario would have transpired where we all had to decide which Witnesses to support depending upon who supported the change or not.
But even that is debatable as many believe that to be a Witness you must do whatever Dan & Ned say or you will be voted out. Whether or not that is true has yet to be determined ... or has it? I'm currently under the impression that is the case, if for no other reason that so many of the Witnesses I have talked with feel this is the case; therefore they will do whatever Dan and Ned say is best out of fear they will be voted out.
If I'm wrong, please speak up!
It would not surprise me if that were true in terms of the perception that witnesses have. Were I a witness I would feel wary of offending them in some way.
They have huge influence over the community - I'm not saying they would misuse it but it is something that one must consider. I'm sure they only have good intentions but even the best people can be corrupted by power.
Even putting that possibility aside if they were to express a dislike for someone then I very much doubt they would be able to continue as a witness due to the community almost blindly supporting their opinions.
Just look at all the false hurrahs all those anarchist posts get - I doubt there are that many actual anarchists on Steemit or anywhere for that matter.
For any witness it is a lot of money and power on the platform to lose if you get voted out - that is a strong incentive to toe the line. It is simply human nature.
I discussed this in one of my early posts about whales being like nobility on Steemit.
If regular whales are nobility then Ned and Dan are like the Royal Family in feudal times. They have the power of virtual life or death over people.
Makes sense they (be they witnesses, other whales or just minnows) would not want to disobey their wishes or appear to disrespect them in any way.
I know a few brave souls have done this e.g. @berniesanders - even though I disagreed with his reasons at the time I have to give him respect for having the balls to do it.
I always respect people who put conscience above fear (even if I don't always agree with a particular argument).
Sadly those kind of people are rare nowadays and rarer still on Steemit.
story time?
Let's just say v8.2 would have been very good for me personally (and wang), but ultimately v8.4 was good for everyone.