I'm only recently back (last week). On Steem/Steemit you'd see some very powerful accounts (top 20 type power) that were known for arbitrarily downvoting things. Then you'd find somewhere that they made a simple comment in a post and up voted that comment $8. The comment votes would fly under the radar.
I voted on comments, but never my own. Why? I liked to encourage the engagement and discussion with people.
The truth of the matter is that if there is a way to exploit or game a system people will do it. This is also why all Utopian Ideas ultimately lead to failure.
We can try to discourage it, but I don't think we can stop it.
I'd say we've come a long way since then. I don't deny the dirty. To be fair to this community, I think it's not perfect but it's a lot better than those days.
Even with free downvotes, though at first they were used heavily, in order to solve a problem that was driving most of us mad, I'd say now, for the most part, the downvotes work more like a deterrent; a security camera of sorts. People know, eventually, their exploits will come back to bite them in the butt.
I don't expect to ever live in a perfect world. Without the chaos, there's no concept of calm.
P.S. Been awhile! Good to see you around again. Welcome back and all that.
Hey, I was away here and there as well for months these past years. I saw you start to post, keep it up ;)
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