I've always been for encouraging people to create social circles over "Quality Content". I do get the point you are making though.
It's a question regarding is Steem about the content or is it about the currency and stake wins no matter what.
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If it isn't about the content or social side at all... I am not sure who it will appeal to.. watching the whales self upvote their own shit is pretty boring.
It's sort of obvious that stake wins at all cost, even to those committed to producing quality content because in the end it all effects the reward pool. There's so many follies involved it's hard to discern the difference sometimes, even some who write quality content have a sock who isn't...so there's that.
Herein lies the problem over the long run though and that's cutting into the rewards earned to try and get a handle on one problem while simultaneously ignoring the same problem from some because they hold stake....and by doing so it will serve to engorge the other half engaged in the same behavior. In all due honestly I don't see any legal argument for that being the answer. The problem is they have been making their own rules unregulated for the last couple years and getting away with it that it has embolden them to think they can continue on this path. Eventually it's going to catch up to them, maybe this hardfolk 21 will serve as the much needed wake up call they will need because now according to yourself, as a dolphin, you are going to wake up practically worthless....though you may not do anything about it there may be plenty of others who finally will because those people also have significant weight in the game. One guy wrote that a post will now have to be worth sixteen steem, equivalent to a three dollar post to get their reward....now I don't know if that's true but lets just assume he is right. Now we aren't talking about one or two cents here we're talking about three bucks, name any company in this world where someone earns three bucks and someone else has a right to take that from them....it just doesn't exist, if true it's pushing the boundaries. Just think about that for a minute....three bucks is almost half of the federal minimum wage in this country....they don't let restaurant owners or agricultural workers get shammed...if a waitress doesn't make the federal min. wage in tips the owner has to make up the rest, a farmer can pay per bushel picked but the amount that can be picked in a hour has to equal the federal min. wage. The point being if the owner of a restaurant or a farmer just says you are just plain shit out of luck because you didn't make min. wage that doesn't cut it....if they are cut by say three bucks that's taken seriously....yes three bucks is all it's takes for the feds to come down and say they worked for it, they earned it, now you have to give it to them. Even though this site is not an employer the fact still remains is those people made three bucks and someone else took it. It just doesn't work like that, you just can't say to people if you write you can earn then take it, it's as plain as the nose on one's face. If this is all true it surely is pushing the boundaries, given the stake involved this time and whom stands to lose quite a bit, it may just be the catalyst that will bring federal regulators down looking at the operation of the platform....and I highly doubt they are going to fall for "well some people paid in to abuse the platform while others didn't"....nah, that's not going to fly.
No one earned anything until it is in their wallet.
It works like this:
A post is open for 7 days. During that seven days, everyone is allowed to vote on the post.
they can upvote it, ignore it or downvote it. It becomes earning when it is in your wallet and at that point no one can touch it.
There are many places, auctions, futures, etc. That things work like this.
People not understanding the way it works doesn't change the way it works.
I'm not defending the way it has been used... Very poorly. I am defending the way it was designed.
Honestly the problems start way before that. The inability for small accounts to transact is a problem, the sign ups are a problem, the education and support is a problem.
You must think I am totally an idiot. In both the examples you give above the person is still left with something, it's not a total one hundred percent loss. I've watched some of those auction shows on television where they open the door and let people see from outside what they are bidding on. They don't keep the door closed, let everyone bid then open it to an empty stall. If all that guy says holds true then that is exactly what the platform intends to do, the seven day time frame will allow for the bidding process so to speak but at the end what's left standing someone's coming down and saying sorry charlie we've determined your earnings to be a total loss. Auctions and futures markets would collapse under a scenario like that...because no one in their right mind would run a risk like that. No money is not just yours when it hits your wallet, it is yours after you earn it. Period. You know how absurd that sounds....every employer in the nation could say I cancelled his paycheck before it hit his wallet or I stopped his direct deposit because it hadn't hit his wallet yet therefore the money really wasn't theirs.
I don't really care, at the most I'd quit posting if it was going to be a total lost considering the chances you'd get any responses to spur conversation/debate is likely not to happen either so what would be the use in that regard...but I would more than likely still comment to others post. I am just saying that in my opinion there is a limit that's going to effect those with more stake then a few pennies to lose that will end up being a catalyst for a whole lot of complaints being filed against them with the feds. If I was them, and I am not, I'd seriously think, if what this guy was saying about the three dollar limit is true, this one over as now they've reached the threshold of what is almost half of what the fed min. wage is....and though that's probably laughable to those at the corporate office three dollars would be taken quite seriously by the feds.