Thanks for taking the time to explain how you feel, Smooth.

With all due respect, I must say that I disagree with you for the most part.

Quite honestly, when this kind of downvoting is taking place it destroys any desire that I would otherwise have to invite people to Steem.

My message at one time would've been "if you don't like being at the mercy of employees at YouTube, join Steemit!"

But now you're just swapping being at the mercy of YouTube employees, with being at the mercy of individual whales who subjectively decide that your content isn't worthy or is "over-rewarded".

The lack of an audience here (compared to YouTube), is supposed to be negated by censorship resistance and being able to earn a cryptocurrency. When downvotes can lead to legit posts being hidden on Steemit.com (the most popular app on this blockchain), then you're effectively destroying the two reasons why somebody would choose Steem in the first place.

And though you might say that the rewards weren't "earned", and that they weren't really taken away from me, that's how it feels psychologically when you see $X one minute, that becomes $0 the next.

All of a sudden, I feel more policed on this platform than I do on YouTube.

You might think I'm being dramatic, and that my opinion doesn't matter. But I suspect many content creators would feel the same way, which is very bad for Steem in the long-run.

But once again, thank you for at least taking the time to share your thoughts. Unlike other people who have downvoted me.