Excellent post @getonthetrain :) I was talking a little bit similar in a Post I did yesterday. And got some dialogue and activity going.

In it, I was talking about the person who introduced me to Steemit( @contentking). And how he had an excellent post about a ship that sank in the Great Lakes. Just really well done and he put a half day in creating this blog post. And hey was rewarded with a big whooping $2 and change for his troubles :(

I compared his case to another well know Steemian with a very high Rep and how he posted a blog post that was a Movie Review. It was good but $450+ good ?? Geesh.

Then I see where this certain "cat" who is a Steemian makes a Comment with a Meme "Congratulating" the Poster for using a bad Bot and then penalizes him...then goes on to self upvote himself and received over $100 on that Comment.

Is this insanity or what ??

I think we need to call it out whenever we see it. Be respectful about it. But hopefully these people will rethink about their Actions and the affect it has on our Community.

Also, I encourage the smaller Steemians to take "oaths" that they will NOT follow in the footsteps of this Greed when they become Dolphins and maybe Whales. I know sometimes money can fog your perception.

But I know for myself I am just going to hold myself to that and NOT do what some of these greedy people are doing on here. No matter what. And I take that very serious !!

Again thanks for this great post

P.S. Like you said and I said too...we are losing good writers/bloggers because of this greed and "self interest" . I don't think @contentking will be back.