If you think this article should be read and discussed on the Steemit platform please upvote and resteem before it can be censored.
This is REPOST of a post by @scarlet7 who is raising a serious issue. Serious enough that Randowhale with his bots has flagged the post into oblivion.
As you might know from my previous posts I believe the abuse of flagging and downvoting will stop the growth and limit the true potential of Steemit.
Below is the post by @scarlet7 - please upvote her posts, resteem and follow.
"Randowhale is a "service" here at Steemit. It is a bot that you pay, and in return, RandoWhale upvotes your posts at an undetermined amount of SteemPower (which is what controls the amount of payout you can give each user). The idea is to give you exposure and payout when you're small, just starting out especially.
Here is a part of the description from Randowhales page.
This part explains the payouts given...."randomly" with some larger votes "mixed in"
"No guarantees....interesting.....so who exactly is getting these larger payouts that are "mixed" in
Here ya go, here's the list provided...
Let's start with the measly little payouts he gave his paying customers like YOU or a new user with very little money or SteemPower in the system trying to better their account through this great service!"
"Well HOW GENEROUS RANDOWHALE!!!!!
Now here are the accounts that received the ever so gracious
larger votes that...you know....just get mixed in the bunch:
I went ahead and highlighted the accounts owned by the RandoWhale owners BernieSanders and Friends:"
"So what happened there? You sent him your money (probably 5-10 dollars) for a random upvote from his massive SteemPower. You got a vote of a few cents or maybe a buck and change if you're real lucky, but DAMMIT....wouldn't ya know, you didn't hit the big vote. Guess who did....he took YOUR MONEY TO PROMOTE and he paid himself and his buddies and bots this:"
"131.924 SBD or roughly $1,288.90 USD. Damn, that would have been nice to get on your post huh? And you paid for this service huh? That's really shady huh? Who's "raping" the rewards pool?"
"BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!"
"Besides paying himself thousands of dollars in the payout period, and paying his customers peanuts and the crumbs he wipes your way, he also uses the money YOU GAVE HIM to FLAG users like @haejin. Oh and MANY MORE. This is just a small taste. Look how much of what could have been voted on YOUR POST, because you paid him YOUR MONEY for the now seen to be impossible chance of a big UPVOTE, he instead uses to FLAG users he doesn't like on a personal basis, and accuses them of stealing from Steemit while he robs the minnows blind, and many others just trying to get more exposure through what they believe to be an honest service."
Did you pay for him to flag these users? Or did you pay for him to UPVOTE your post?
"Look at ALL that money (1327.05 SBD/$11,983.26 USD) he could be using as a positive service to YOU....but he instead uses to degrade and belittle users. Users he has already attacked many times before, for no reason at all. Well, actually, he does claim they abuse the rewards pool....and they use bots to vote, and he does claim all this with no evidence at all....but this tells a different story of who abuses the rewards pool and uses bots to vote, and the evidence is right in front of you.
@Haejin has used randowhales services and paid good money for them. And how is he repaid? With HUGE percentage vests in FLAGS against users that are fans of his work and standing up for him against berniesanders. Why??? Because berniesanders and friends run Randowhale."
"Here's something even worse to add to it all. He is using these accounts to launch an attack on the user @uknowjpbitcoin. He is suppressing any attempt this user has to make a comment on any thread. He is doing this with the accounts that he is propping up through RandoWhale. This example below is an automated system running that is immediately flagging this user's account anytime he tries to post anything at all. This is what every single comment by this user looks like. Look at that list. Seems the lucky winners of all the big votes are their bot posting accounts being used to oppress users on the site. When you gave to RandoWhale, is this how you thought the project was going to use your money? I know I didn't. Yes the link this user has posted has a damning title, but this user has been experiencing this terror bull shit for the last several days....I can see why he's so upset about it. Dare I say that by using RandoWhale you are actually supporting terrorism on Steemit? I do. This is the definition of that to a tee. But for the sake of conversation let's just call it extreme abuse, censorship, and a community member acting in a very disgusting way toward another."
"You pay this "bot" to grow it's steem power so that YOU get a fair UPVOTE. Randowhale uses a large majority of that SteemPower that YOU GAVE HIM, to flag other users and pay himself and his friends all under the guise that YOU might get lucky and get a big vote.. Hmm...sounds like Randowhale is just another scam being run by BernieSanders and friends. He is stealing your money that you pay, under agreement with him, and using it in a negative way against other users. Did you pay your good money for THAT?!?
If you are new to to Steemit, DO NOT BE FOOLED!!!! DO NOT PAY THE BOTS HERE!!! They are not your friends. In fact, they are likely flagging your friends with your money.
This is Absolutely Unacceptable!"
"GUT THIS WHALE and DEMAND YOUR MONEY BACK!!!!"
"RANDOWHALE IS A SCAM RUN BY BERNIESANDERS AND FRIENDS! YOU ARE PAYING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY, AND NOT GETTING WHAT IS PROMISED IN RETURN FAIRLY. YOU ARE GETTING TAKING FOR A FOOL, AND OTHERS ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF IT, AND IT MAY BE YOU SUFFERING FROM IT ONE DAY AS WELL!"
"Even some witnesses on this site are supporting this type of behavior. This must be corrected, or Steemit will never become what it has the potential to be. This is everyone's community, and everyone's responsibility to decide if this is what Steemit is all about or not.
And I keep hearing this guy calling out ned and dan and jeff and phil and I don't give a shit what any of those people think, and you shouldn't either. You should care what you think. You should think about your community. It's not up to ned or dan or berniesanders or haejin or me.
It's up to YOU.
Is this acceptable to YOU in YOUR community?
Save the person signing onto Steemit for the first time today.
Save them from getting scammed right as they walk in the door to this community."
A reminder that the original post was by @scarlet7 - please upvote her posts, resteem and follow.
(I reposted as it had been censored into oblivion and I wished all to have access to her opinion.
"Please RESTEEM THIS POST"
Tarquin Maine back commenting: I for one will never use Randowhale again.
Sorry for the angst at such a time of year, but this needs to be out in the open for thoughtful debate for the betterment of our platform.
Merry Christmas everyone!
PS this is short story I wrote about this issue a couple of months ago, which Bernie Sanders aka Randowhale has also just censored into oblivion!
"A Steemit Christmas Carol"
https://steemit.com/writing/@tarquinmaine/a-short-story-the-steemit-christmas-carol
Another censored post questioning the validity of censorship - and of course its been censored!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@tarquinmaine/is-bernie-sanders-using-the-steemit-platform-to-breech-the-1st-amendment-of-the-american-constitution