You said:
sponsoring BitShares directly like this we are abusing intentions stated in Steem's whitepaper
Then you said:
the whitepaper says that Steem is a mechanism which constantly redistributes funds from those who contribute less to the system
However, Bitshares will contribute MORE to the steem system, by aiding users who will obtain their first virtual bank account, and first virtualized decentralized exchange, to transact with Steem.
So in this specific instance, promoting Bitshares via Steem is not against the whitepaper, and should be supported.
I think you're on the right track. Just you and I differ with regard to Bitshares. It's a bad example to promote your case.
It would be much nicer to have this same discussion with a more flagrant and easy to spot "abuse". Like hey everybody, vote up my post, and I'll get a tattoo on my butt. That's something that doesn't help the eco system evolve, or contribute to the benefit of the steemit community. That's obvious. It's your post. Have the last word. Glad we could hash it out a little. :)
If it was a Steem tattoo, I'd upvote it myself!
So this is my last word: BitShares has its own mechanism to raise funds (worker proposals) and @jonnybitcoin doesn't give a shit about Steem (that's my assumption - I might be wrong!) and is just using his private relationships with the whales to get some funds out of Steem. Funds for a good cause but raised in bad way.
This is quite pathetic - those whales are really rich (in terms of Steem), earn a lot each day by running their witness nodes and they could really do the BitShares fundraising in a much better style.
As it is, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Nothing to be proud of.