TPTB? Im not familiar with that abbreviation..

But I do think steemit.inc and witnesses are only concerned with appeasing the big accounts and how changes affect them. Truth is whales were making out like fat rats in the old system by raping the small accounts with bidbots/paid votes while at the same time bleeding the system dry of liquid steem/sbd.

Now they are raping the small accounts by taking more of their (hard earned) rewards AND punishing anyone who tries to post promote to get more attention on their posts! Cuz how dare anyone but whales (or posts with whales approval) make it in trending.

But dont worry their circle jerking is completely fine on their shit posts and you better not dare downvote their shit post because they will destroy you!!

Funny thing is nothing has really changed for the better.. The same people are getting fucked after hf21, the small accounts, and now the whales are acting like they are saviors by downvoting anyone who uses a bidbot 😂🤣😂 oh the fucking irony of it all..

But to answer your question, no, i dont think they realized they fucked up their golden goose yet.. 🙄 I think they think the SMTs will solve everything.......