It seems that while I was enjoying real life, my beloved Steemit platform had been immersed in an experiment...and didn't tell me!

Truth be told, I don't think the experimenters told anyone outside of their tiny communication circles, which has led to a lot of confusion and yet another round of anger and bitterness from general users.

Honestly, I knew nothing about it until I signed on this evening to do some reading and curating when I noticed mass down-voting on decent posts. By sheer happenstance, plus the fact that I had a day full of real life obligations, I did not post anything today and therefore unwittingly excluded myself from this experiment... I think.

WHAT EXPERIMENT?

The one @abit started earlier today. Here's the post

Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you anything about the "test" except that it's begun. No... Wait... There is the title:

Whales No Up-Voting Test

The Negative Effect

One user caught my attention with his Title and featured picture:

Brian's last post states that he's kind of deflated and is going to take a break from Steemit, which kind of sucks because he's been a consistent contributor on the platform.

This part, by no means is a Brian-bashing moment, but COME ON, MAN!

I just looked at his feed and post earnings range consistently between $10 and $28 per post - some higher and some lower...and by lower, I'm talking the $4 to $5 range, which is still no small feat. So am I feeling too terrible for @mynameisbrian? No.

Sorry he was part of an experiment that he didn't volunteer for but his reaction is a little over the top, if you ask me.

And how does this affect @abit?

For being an active participant in an experiment which is largely unscientific

For doing something well-meaning and for the betterment of Steemit (in their opinion)

For experimenting with vote power and its distribution to dolphins and minnows...

people are unvoting him as a witness.

or is @abit a her? I don't know.

Easy does it, Dwayne. Settle down.

Just sit there and flex your beautiful body for me, okay? The people of Steemit have free will and can do what they want with their witness votes, their posting habits, their up and down votes and their curation routines.

Let me note that I do not agree with this experiment because I think it's detrimental to the psyche of our general population. The lack of CENTRALIZED COMMUNICATION is glaring. We have no billboards to warn of fires ahead. We don't have a siren to direct us to the nearest evacuation route or shelter before the shit-storm lands.

We content creators show up, do our thing and hopefully watch our numbers move up. We do this as we try to build a community of like-minded souls because we love it here (or at least its potential).

BUT

if we're not privy to something that's going to affect the behavior across the board then you have effectively stripped us of our free will.

The biggest mistake was not telling us - the community at large

I personally would have volunteered to fall on a flag or two if I was first asked to participate in an experiment that may guide a future hardfork into leveling the power structure and vote weight.

I've seen the benefit by watching YOUR earnings rise much higher from my vote during this experiment - even being a baby dolphin that I am. And excuse me, I am an engaged, organic curator and you want me out there reading, commenting and curating material because members like me are going to take this platform into the future.

People are keeping their heads about them.

Read @timcliff's post: The Whale Voting Experiment Explained (including downvotes from @abit)

Read @neoxian's post: The Experiment: communication required, this is a social platform

I still have questions

How long is this experiment / test?

Who are the experiment-participating whales?

Which whales didn't get the memo - or did not feel like participating?

And questions to the community-at-large:

If you knew about this test ahead of time would you continue to participate in your normal posting pattern?

Would you have stopped posting and started curating more to see how much your new more powerful vote moved the dollar sign?

Would you have completely abstained from Steemit until the experiment was over?

One final thought

When I joined in July, 2016 I knew this was the WILD WEST of blogging. I missed out on the mega rewards and many of my posts didn't earn one cent. But like pioneers we venture forth with a can-do-it spirit and we deal with the hardships as they come.

Good, Bad or Ugly

I don't have a cure for what ails this platform but if we're so hellbent on trying to be autonomous, why are we trying to govern who, what, where, when and how much the whales are voting?

