Hive doesn't own anyone anything. However, the problem is that when a user puts a lot of effort in their posts and some whale who has a problem with them and/or dislikes their content (even though many others enjoy it). That's what happened to me.

The truth is that Hive is even more centralized than $ or €. Content quality is irrelevant. All that matters is having a big enough HP, which will naturally give you protection against DVs because you can retaliate and because it is in the interest of other users to get on your good side.

I see said whale and even others get a lot of money for subpar posts (at best), engaging in vote trading including over $3 votes in each comment that is traded back and forth. Why would anyone that can't invest many thousands of $ waste their time here? I used to make about $13 per week and most of that was from the Splinterlands contests. I did because I like the game and enjoy writing about it but also because it was a little extra money to spend on the game (while never powering down). I won't do it when I don't feel welcome, even if it's just 1 person.