Is A Steemit Civil War Brewing?

I don't know how or why, but it seems there are some very interesting things happening on Steemit. Sadly, some of those things are not what most of us think the Steemit community is about. Or is it?

As anyone can clearly see, I'm a newcomer to Steemit, what is commonly known as a Minnow. Not a Dolphin or Whale. Minnow. A small fish in a huge ocean of stories...and it seems, egos.

One of the first things I loved about this platform was its ability to have anyone and everyone share in the profits. Anyone could have the ability to get paid for their input and content. Somehow greed is getting in the way of such a beautiful concept. A concept so many of us that have been writing for years on our blogs and social media had never thought would happen. We are now heading towards a defining line.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of posts and videos, both here and on Youtube, about certain things. Things such as:

1. Should people upvote themselves?
2. Who should be at the top of the hot or trending pages?
3. Should people ask for followers.

These questions and more may seem little, but the reasoning behind them may prove to be a stark awakening for many. At a time when Steemit is still in it's infancy, there is no doubt, still a lot to be worked out.

We are for the most part playing by the rules. I at least am trying to. I have seen my vote be worth anything from 3 cents to 1 cent. Yes, that's at 100% power. Such is life. It'll get better. Yes, I've seen myself upvoting my own posts. I've also made sure to upvote the posts of others. After all isn't sharing the name of the game? So why then are so many starting to bicker amongst each other?

It's a little disturbing to hear someone whose vote is worth almost 200 dollars cry about why or how someone else is always trending, why that person is considered to have a more well written blog. Whether someone shouldn't be upvoting their own content. How they are happy to flag someone, not because of questionable content or hate speech, but because someone else has more than them. Seriously? What the hell are we doing? Don't we all have the chance to make some money? Or is the problem that some of us are thinking from a "lack of 'mentality? Just as who deal in fiat.

The rules (yes, even Steemit has them) have been designed. No doubt they will continue to be tweaked. Until then, maybe it's best we all took a chill pill. Live and let live. The upvote yourself option is there for a reason. I wish I could use it more often. Then by giving myself a little boost maybe I'd be able to upvote others more often as well. To me it's about giving, but like many, I'm not at that place (yet) to be able to. One day when I am, I hope that I won't have to defend why I'm doing things a certain way, how I got there..or why.

Are we to become members of the first truly free social platform or members of just a new caste system? A place where people form their inner circles at the exclusion of everyone else? Or a place where (like America used to be known) somewhere that we can have a chance of living our dreams? Maybe the next Hard fork will hammer out some answers, maybe not. Until then, will we continue to tear each other apart?

I hope not.