In the mean time, I'm seriously re-evaluating my quiet, gentlemanly approach to certain matters... I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success.

I have sacrificed some reputation for speaking out about some of the abuses and will likely see future earnings hindered as well. I wish more people would follow suit or at least acknowledge and condemn the abuses when they are pointed out. Instead, they simply ignore them, make excuses, or condemn those exposing the abusers. My plan was not to speak out for personal gain. I actually hoped that the platform would be better off knowing which accounts were shams and who was behind them. Apparently, you're actually rewarded more for being a sham and a scammer around here - especially when you're a "whale" or a friend of them.