@thehive I know we have both expressed some conflicting views over the last few weeks and for my part I often find opposing views to be illuminating but something that I did not realize until reading this post is that we both share a similar view in regards to the overall abuse/corruption and ignoring of community voices that happens at the very 'top' of the Steem ecosystem.

I cannot agree more with the following two statements and they are something that I have repeatedly noticed myself.

The conclusion I come to repeatedly is the witness cartel do not give a damn about you. They only concern themselves with what they can gain. When that position is challenged is the only time they will embrace you into conversation and make you feel like you are part of a community.

Only when they have a solution they believe will leave them in power will be said to anyone. At that time they will hold power and have consensus to employ the changes to code that suit them best, again leaving us with a centralised authority on a decentralised platform. The biggest obstacle to bringing investment to the Steem chain over the past years. Be that centralisation be with Steemit Inc or a witness cartel. It brings us back to we are not decentralised and merely human bots that save running costs for the upper class here on Steemit.