This is a letter to the newbie who is waking up to big downvotes, and hopefully this post might offer a better explanation than what you've been given. (No, lol I'm not the one giving you the downvote. I'm just going to explain what I've observed over the years.)

It's difficult to always convey our true emotions through text. I'm going to do my best, but I guarantee there will be people who read this and misinterpret what I say, get angry, become overly sensitive, feign hurt, etc.

So let me just state at the outset

I hope if you're reading this, you understand that I am completely empathetic to writers getting massive downvotes. I know the pain of losing money on posts, I do not like it. At all. But I have learned (and want to share) some things since 2016 that I think are very important in blockchain writing.

"I actually do not DESERVE any vote."

I'm going to explain to you why this helped me immensely, and why I hope it will help you.

I say relatively easily, because I do understand how long it takes to publish a well-written post on Hive. If you take pride in what you're doing, it might take days for you to ponder, write, re-write, edit, format, beautify, and eventually publish something that you feel is worthy to have on the blockchain. That post might get $0.03 or it might get $300.

What did it deserve?
That is impossible for any reader to put their post against someone else's and say I deserved X, when you deserved Y. You do not get paid 0.02 USD per word as a freelance writer. You have the amazing blessing of getting to write on a crypto-blogging platform, and earning can be a joy! BUT... It is COMPLETELY subjective. It is based on opinion ALONE. And on Hive (and other platforms like it) it is based on the CUMULATIVE effect of upvotes AND downvotes. That is the basis of the entire system here. You MUST realize, THAT is the current system here.

And you are welcome to have that opinion. And you are also welcome to write on other platforms that DO NOT EMPLOY downvotes. But like all things, there are disadvantages on those platforms, too. Downvotes actually DO offer protection to the community - but like all things, they can be abused. If you choose to stay on Hive, brace yourself for that abuse, and attempt to thrive in the face of it.

I think people think that somehow the upvotes and downvotes here are all regulated by some centralized government. This is not true. There is no government here. There is no place to appeal to a higher authority, if you disagree with how someone has voted. This is a group of people who have all agreed to submit themselves to a system that is kept afloat by individual investors (you, me, them) that choose to use their upvote and downvote AS THEY SEE FIT.

Your work doesn't ONLY get downvotes if people determine your posts are plagiarism or spam. Your work can be downvoted by anyone, at any time,(up until payout) simply because someone feels like it. We all HOPE that there will be enough general agreement on what should/shouldn't get downvoted - so that we can all live in peace, punish the abuse, and thrive by writing good content. However, there is no guarantee that will happen. When little accounts are pests, and decide to downvote you, taking away 0.001 hive from your rewards - we get annoyed, ignore them, and forget that they just exercised their right to downvote, AS THEY SAW FIT. I'm NOT saying it's a good reason. I'm saying it doesn't NEED to be according to our system.

What you MUST realize is this: that same principle applies across the board. ANYONE can do that. Your downvote and upvote belongs to you. It is a right for every member of Hive to exercise...as they see fit.

And now? You are perhaps living through your first whale war and realizing exactly what happens when someone with POWER decides to downvote, as they see fit. So, what would I suggest you do about it?

"Multiple platforms? But isn't that seen as disloyalty?"
Sure, it might be to some. There are a lot of true believers who think that you should only do what benefits them on THEIR favorite platform. They want your fealty to one and only one platform, and will criticize, demean, and bully you to stay in one place. But I guarantee that if you look in their crypto wallets, you will not only see one cryptocurrency - they will own many. That's just good business. The same is true for your writing. Earn as much as you can (honestly) with as many platforms as you can (genuinely) - so if you're caught in the crossfire of a whale war on one, you can still be earning in peace on the others. Ebb and flow will always happen on platforms. Hope that the flow on others diminish some of the ebb experienced elsewhere.

It's nice when we experience peace on the platform. It's also nice when benevolent whales have decided to appreciate many authors, spread their generosity, and auto-vote content spanning the platform. You know exactly who I'm talking about. I don't know many of them personally, but I appreciate them. What they do, and how they vote is so helpful to Hive and the "little" and "medium" guys and gals here. However, inevitably, whales will eventually disagree with how others are using their powerful votes, and that leads to whale vendettas/ whale wars. Since 2016, that is the one constant I have seen here (and on the legacy chain). When whales war, those same "little" and "medium" guys and gals that were getting help, now get hurt in the crossfire. This is life. Hive is a microcosm of the world. No matter how elegant a system potentially is - humans will always be here to screw it up and hurt others.

Believe me. BELIEVE ME. I understand that feeling. And I will never ever stop anyone from standing up for what is right. But pause, take a breath, and temper yourself. Realize how easily we become collateral damage in a disagreement between two super-powers. In war, if there is an impasse between two powerful people, the damage extends to where they can cause the most hurt. Think about it. It's why children are taken hostage. "If my enemy won't give me what I want even when I hurt them, then I bet they will do what I want if I hurt their child."

It's not fun to be in that situation. It hurts. Especially if you have started depending on that auto-vote, and you're working hard to prove that you're worthy of it. You have somehow convinced yourself that now you "deserve" it.

You didn't actually deserve it. You received a gift from collective donors. More importantly, it was a gift that can be taken away at any time (until payout) from collective detractors for ANY reason. You may not have deserved that harsh downvote, but you most likely didn't deserve the generous upvote either? My best advice to you is:

• Breathe. This too shall pass.
• Write for the joy of it. Write for the love of it.
• Diversify. It's YOUR writing. Post and earn in as many places for as many tokens as you can (ethically, please).
• Fight the urge to depend on rewards. After 7 days, it's yours. Don't tempt yourself to CLAIM (in your heart) any of those rewards before you can CLAIM them (in your wallet).

...and CHOOSE to support them. Too often, we think whales are big enough that they don't need our support. But they do. At the end of the day, we're all just people. Support the ones who try to make your life and the lives of others a little bit better. I'm gonna go add one to my auto-vote right now. And you can too. It's your upvote! And you can use it, for any reason, as you see fit.