I am the co-founder of the 
The recent, and on-going war between 
I am aware of the possible risk of being flagged and punished for doing this, but hopefully, I won't offend anyone, and that's obviously not my intentions with this. I simply thought that it would be easier for me, and for others, if I shared this with everyone. With that being said, I am not interested in more private discussions about this topic after this.
"Terrible News..."
I usually avoid talking about my rewards, even though I've often been open and public about the support I have and how grateful I am for everything my audience have done for me. I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks, and I've suffered from a depression for several years. Despite all of that, I'm trying to push myself against all odds. I became a full time student in March this year and I can barely live off my student loan. In fact, I work extra on top of that and I still struggle to survive.
I have said this before as well, but the rewards I earn from Steemit makes it easier for me in real life. My earnings helps me to pay some of my bills and I have never taken any of the support I have for granted. Even though I cash out some of my rewards, I do everything I can to grow my account, as I truly believe in Steemit and in cryptocurrency. The best part is, that the support I have makes my attempt successful.
I was lucky enough to serve as an SOG (Steward of Gondor), for 10 weeks in total, and I had great results during this time.
I spread my votes across the entire platform and I was able to upvote 1000 articles per week (I missed out by a few votes during 3 of these weeks if I remember correctly). I spread the wealth, and I was able to support hundreds of authors more than I'd ever been able to do prior to the delegation.
It should come as no surprise that it was
The SOG-initiative got suspended when FTG decided to bring down the troll. When the Haejin war took place, FTG revoked all out-going delegations, as he needed his Steem Power.
The outcome of the war?
I won't go into any details about that. It's for each individual to decide for themselves. I personally think that it was some sort of "half-success". I think it could've gone better, but I'm glad that someone stood up for what he believed was right, and a "half-success" is much better than a complete failure. I think the outcome would've been different if more people would have teamed up and worked together.
Fast-forward some time and we find the FTG-bot-army.
I was one of the "few selected" who received upvotes from
I still, have never taken any of the support for granted, but damn, I've loved each and every second of it, as it has truly helped me out in real life. The insane icing on the cake, is the 420 Steem transfer FTG did to my account. I didn't ask him for it, and the only thing he said in the memo was:
"You can pay me back when the good times come and the shit storm passes :)"
There is no question were my loyalty lies.
No other Steemian have ever been able to help me as much as
That being said...
No matter how grateful I am for everything FTG has done for me, I won't take his side on everything he does. And while I'm being honest, let me tell you that I don't agree with everyone he supports either. I have nothing against any of the people I've seen him reward, but I would rather see a handful of other people being rewarded than some of the people he has been rewarding lately. But, that is based on personal preference, and he does whatever he wants with his stake. As you do whatever you want with yours. I also prefer to see him reward others, no matter who he rewards, than to use his entire stake on himself.
However...
Despite these "complaints" of mine, and despite the fact that I won't pick his side at all times, it doesn't mean that I'm against him, because I'm not.
In fact, I can't see the reason for
If you believe that the sky is red instead of blue, or that the 9/11 incident were due to Trump, Bush or Mahatma Gandhi doesn't matter either. If you believe in reincarnation or unicorns doesn't matter... You are entitled to your beliefs, and I'd never call you a retard, a twat or a loser for believing in god or not. - But hey, we are all different.
I don't like personal attacks, and I've said it many times before... I don't agree with everything
The ongoing war is terrible news.
The fact is, that no matter if I like 
I do believe that people like
- And that's one example.
I have nothing against him as a person, because I don't know him. But I am disgusted by his behaviour and his approach. Much like I hate to see shitposts being rewarded with hundreds of dollars.
However, it's impossible to deny the facts that
- This is the case with all whales.
Whales will always attract most engagement on their posts, because they might reward their audience with something more sustainable than I would for instance.
During This War...
I don't receive any more upvotes from FTG's bot-army which obviously have a negative impact on my overall earnings. I have also seen many Steemians that I like and support getting their pending rewards destroyed. From my understanding, bernie will not reward his audience further on due to this war, so the chances of getting rewarded by him is gone too.
I'm not sure how this will affect 
Needless to say, I am being affected in a very negative way because of this war... And I'm a simple bystander who haven't picked any side. And I'm not alone.
I have seen so much trash talk so I can't even believe my eyes... I have seen newcomers, red fish, minnows... I have seen established Steemians talking shit.
One of the things I reacted to the most were people talking shit about
What I Want People To Realize...
Seriously, you need to understand one thing before jumping to conclusions. People are in general jealous and most of these comments are based on jealousy and anger.
And while we're at it, even though I like the fact that
People are looking for a quick way to earn some extra rewards, and that's why posts by bernie or any other whale gets engagement. Like it or not, but that's the truth.
- Give me 500,000 Steem Power and I'll prove it to all of you.
The biggest problem here is not the war between these two users... The biggest problem is the current system and the overall behaviour on Steemit. If that would change, there would be less reasons for these wars...
Like I said in a previous comment:
We want this platform to grow. We want to empower people to make this a better place. You both have a bunch of "fanboys" that would follow you straight through hell... And the only thing these sort of wars will accomplish, is to make an even larger gap between people. Please, continue to build roads and bridges instead of destroying them.
These things forces people to make a decision of who to follow, instead of working together.
And that's how I will end this article.
I have not met any of these people in real life, and I have not informed any of them before I published this. I don't agree with everything they do, but I do believe that both users are doing what they believe is for the best. I will not pick a side in this war, but I will always be loyal and grateful for everything
Now, I'll go back to being a bystander and wait out the storm.