This article is risky, because I want to talk about some recent activities on SteemIt without causing those involved more attention, either good or bad. No names will be mentioned, but I know many will know what I am talking about.
Recently a person posted a fact finding mission regarding some accounts. The way it was presented caused some internal drama on SteemIt. Even some whales disagreed on whether or not the topics involved should be discussed here in this forum. The people who were the focus of the article responded and gave some reasons why they had deceived the community.
There were 3 issues that struck me as all being separate:
1. Whale and Bot voting
2. A person's deception
3. Whale Flagging and not being allowed to talk an issue through as a community.
Many, including myself, took the response story at face value, but it still didn't change these negative feelings and I just couldn't shake them, even after the response. I wasn't sure why. As a real-life minnow who does not have whale friends I know how the minnows live. We post, we promote our posts in chat, we comment for each other, we know each other and we are slowly growing together. So, when a new account shoots into posting valuable posts immediately, it raises questions. Not so much if it is a "one hit wonder", but when every post and comment gets rewarded, it is atypical and raises eye-brows.
"Am I jealous?", I asked myself.
Absolutely not. I also understand "Networking" and why who you know is sometimes very important. So, knowing all of that, why did I still have strong negative feelings?
It boils down to I am making friends on SteemIt, and involved in conversations where a person is specifically answering as 2 people and engaging in conversation. I do feel deceived, and a bit "Catfished". Catfished for my vote. (Super funny, because my vote is very small)
When that person is then elevated into a "Whale of a Project", and comes to me saying, "I want to give you a boost". This is a dilemma to me. Integrity is important to me, also votes are important to me. This person has the connections to help me move forward, but what if I just can't respect how that influence was used?
Integrity on this platform is extremely important, because there is money involved and people are potentially choosing to invest or not. When I combined all issues, I actually questioned whether SteemIt is something I want to support.
What did I decide?
I decided I was a making a big deal out of a momentary "butt-hurt" reaction to feeling deceived. Kind of a childish moment of "You are not going to be my friend anymore". My feeling were valid, but my judgement was harsh, I was being arrogant and insincere. (since the minnows are voting for each other too) However, I also felt it was important to talk about how things in the community might impact others. I wish the post hadn't been flagged and we would have walked away knowing things could happen in the community, be discussed and then we could carry on. A strong community can handle some controversy and dissent. In fact, in my opinion the fastest way to ruin a relationship or community is to silence concerns. By discussing issues, we can work them out, gain understanding, and challenge our own feelings.
Mostly I decided, I over think things, and I need to get over myself. Everyone here is responsible for their own behavior. So, there it is. How I got over a negative feeling. We still have issues, every thing does. I am done harboring grudges over a past issue.
We all live together in the land of SteemIt, we don't have like everyone, but we should due to best to add positive energy into the community.
And that's @whatsup
Follow and vote or whatever, you know the drill.