Personally I believe it is just a matter of when a forking of the blockchain will happen. I am a firm believer in folks doing whatever they want with their stake in STEEM even if they take it and run. Not too long ago there were veiled threats along these lines by a number of witnesses.

The elephant in the room is ethical behavior. I have been on this platform for two years now. I base my views on the behavior of those on this platform. Like many, I have opinions which change from time to time based on the more I learn. I have seen extortion, bribery, and just plain nastiness.

Why people do what they do? I don't know, yet I have seen some very bad actors on this platform from Whales down to Redfish. Some may see me as a bad actor as well, it is all about perception.

No one on this platform has all the answers. I have seen those that cry, Reward Pool Rape and yet their behavior does exactly that, through self-upvotes on their own comments and such. @jerrybanfield actually made an educational video some time back exactly how to effectively rape the reward pool through the use of sockpuppet accounts.

Decentralized? Technically, yes. In practice no. This has never been a decentralized platform in the truest sense. It is an oligarchy (like the majority of social constructs), period. Not a democracy.

Their will be a fork in the near future. I am sure of it. The foundations are being laid as we comment here. Do I have an answer? No, as I am just an imperfect person with limited intellect. I do have some suggestions though...

• Mute spammers
• Boycott bidbots
• Stake Steem
• Pay attention to witnesses and vote
• Align with those that share our sense of ethical behavior

We shall see what this HF brings. There are other options out there and many of us have gone there (remember the Exodus to WEKU during HF20?).

Maybe the impending fork will be called STEEM Cash. 🤣