Alternatives:

What would be an alternative to that? I know some people don't like this because they don't like how much power the sharks and whales can have similar to how people don't like Trump and really rich people in general.

Equality

So, a blockchain could attempt to keep everybody equal, well at least in theory. I guess it depends on the blockchain, on the specifics, the goals of the websites, of the networks.

Long-Term Investment

For Steemit, I prefer anything that encourages people to invest more into Steem. But if you don't get more voting power, voting weight, when you keep more in the Steem Power (SP), in your Steem Wallet, then there may be less sway. I'm not saying it is impossible to keep people interested.

Ghetto Social Networks

People are interested in Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc, for example, even without a reward pool. I am not saying that there has to be correlation between a vote and the rewards pool.

Any Correlation?

But then again, are you saying there should be zero correlation? Like, no correlation at all, even partly, even indirectly, even to a degree?

Purpose Behind REP?

Should we have REP? I say that as long as we have REP, we should also be able to grow in our voting power, that is as our REP grows. Well, I guess REP could be kept separate from voting power. Perhaps, we need another fork.

Competition

But if Steem is going in the wrong direction, perhaps people should try Weku or other Steem alternatives. I say, may the best blockchain network win. I love the competition.