Greeting Steemians, I love free speech, I love open market. I was around when Digg first existed. I saw it flourish, I saw it fall. Why did it fall? Because it began censoring free speech, the users noticed immediately and revolted. Back then the user base was so connected, we all felt like we were a part of something, as we are now a part of Steemit. Reddit was created. Everything went along well for a number of years, but little did we know that in the background a takeover was planned, but given the demise of Digg, a different type of takeover would be needed.
Reddit was taken over by corporate interests when Aaron Schwartz died. Whether by his own hand and or helped along, I do not know. But I do know that political pressure put upon him may have drove him to do it himself, but if it wasn't happening fast enough he may have been helped along.
The change on Reddit came almost immediately. Posts began to disappear from the front page, basically censorship showed its ugly head, and anything anti-corporation began to disappear from the Reddit front page. They changed what we saw on the front page, subs that could be controlled where. /r/news and such all lost its top leadership and hostile takeover became apparent across the board. /r/ama which used to be for anyone now became only for people approved by the mods (and became a place for celebrities to promote their movies and such). /r/news began to censor which websites where allow (as well as /r/politics) .. all this happened, and is still happening, because of the lack of awareness of the majority. the users that made Reddit great left, but the momentum it had generated continued on...
Reddit used to be the place I went for my news, and by being there I was better informed than anyone I knew. I could keep up with anyone in any realm, it seemed. It was very empowering, and things we discussed sometimes made real changes in the world as our voice was raised against oppression of individuals by corporations. We'd see people raise concerns that affected their lives, and if enough others agreed, it would rise to the front pages.
Now things are different. And the fun is gone. Gone are the days when people were allowed to freely discuss topics that interested them. Of course it all didn't come in the form of outside control, much of it came in the form of 'downvote botnets'. And people began to be able to 'pay to win' within the Reddit community. But the reality is it became very difficult for the average user to make it the front page, and impossible to make it to the front page if it went against the corporate interests. But they had succeeded in one regard, the majority had become ignorant of what was happening, and all attempts to get them to notice where immediately removed.
Now we have a new platform. It is again much like Reddit was in the beginning. It is helping the little guys have a voice, but I am already seeing the days are numbered, as people invest in these bots to help them get ahead here, they are literally using non-thinking voting machines to abdicate their power. We are going to lose all control if this continues. There will be a point, in the very near future, when bots are more powerful than any person. It is probably already happening.
It is this concentrated power that is the problem. We see the wealthy have the power to destroy a user with little to no effort. They can get a post buried by simply organizing a few high-level accounts and downvoting any content they feel is threatening.
I'd like to spread this reminder about how the United States itself became victims to such an event...
Soon after the American colonies won their fight to separate from the British Empire, the Founding Fathers warned of another threat to government by the people.
Corporations.
The threat does not come from corporations that do business and amass wealth. It comes from corporations that use their wealth to build power for themselves by putting political candidates in office, dictating public policy and evading the law. - Standford Advocate
I personally believe we cannot allow such power into the hands of Bots. We need real people that are responsible for the votes they cast. We are not creating wealth by having them upvote users, we are not helping to make Steemit a better place. We are in fact destroying it, by doing the exact same thing that happened in America. Life repeats itself until we learn our lesson, but I fear if we don't get it right soon, we will lose any voice we do have as it becomes harder and harder to have places of free speech that are not censored and controlled. The blockchain, the immutable database, makes censorship hard on the level of simply removing posts, but it is vulnerable to an attack from the likes of a corporate entity that coordinates actions and selectively downvotes anything that goes against their interests.
We also have another threat, any group that forms that collectively decides to attack anyone that disagrees or angers them. Attacks on others for expressing alternative opinions is a bane on our society. It is often perpetrated by those that have something to hide... and in the end I'd rather see individuals decide and not allow group think.
Therefore, any and all bots/collectives, anything that is not individual votes, cannot be allowed to continue, if we value Steemit, that is. Because there will come a day when these powers that we see dominating our external world reach their grubby hands into this one. It has already begun. I found myself downvoted by a group for making the mistake in downvoting their bot that I saw as shamelessly posting in every post. Now, I should have done a better job researching it, but I found a bot simply promoting a group within a post. It made no indication that it was requested to be there, but I was immediately attacked and multiple posts I had up suddenly became 'This post was hidden due to low ratings.' These posts had nothing to do with anything related to their posts, but were attacked (which they told me) based on their anger towards me in downvoting their bot.
A little more history on the corporations in the United States of America:
Q: The corporations of the early days of the republic were very different beasts than those of today. They seem to have been creatures of government — or at least of politicians — right?
A: That’s right. Americans inherited the legal form of the corporation from Britain, where it was bestowed as a royal privilege on certain institutions or, more often, used to organize municipal governments. Just after the Revolution, new state legislators had to decide what to do about these charters. They could abolish them entirely, or find a way to democratize them and make them compatible with the spirit of independence and the structure of the federal republic. They chose the latter. So the first American corporations end up being cities and schools, along with some charitable organizations.
We don’t really begin to see economic enterprises chartered as corporations until the 1790s. Some are banks, others are companies that were going to build canals, turnpikes, and bridges — infrastructure projects that states did not have the money to build themselves. Citizens petitioned legislators for a corporate charter, and if a critical mass of political pressure could build in a capital, they got an act of incorporation. It specified their capitalization limitations, limited their lifespan, and dictated the boundaries of their operations and functions.
I should add, too, that as part of this effort to democratize corporations, state charters specifically spelled out how shareholder elections were to be conducted to choose directors. Corporations were supposed to resemble small republics, with directors balancing interests among shareholders. When they printed material or conducted correspondence, it was usually in the name of the “President, Directors, and Shareholders of the X Company.” - Harvard Business Review
Corporations are literally leading us to another form of Royalty that will leave the little people in the dust. We will lose the power we have, the whales we have now will become as minnows in this sea. Their benevolent presence will be overshadowed by big corporate interests that drive discussion and destroy dissent against them.
We must take an Active Stance against this corporate takeover, before it happens! because after it happens, we will have no say, we will no longer be able to do anything about it... much like comcast, microsoft, and nestle control much of the free world's markets and getting rid of them is nearly impossible as they are imbedded in everything, they have so much power even when they are called out for horrible acts they remain immune to punishment.
So for a free and open community, this must be addressed, and quickly, because this takeover is already coming to Steemit. Unlike Digg, Reddit of the past, they are no longer as slow to notice when a new up-and-comer is gaining steem.
I hope these users take notice to this post, because this is a real threat. So please notice this post. The United States was Founded on wonderful ideas, and like America, we are in danger of losing it all in the face of this threat that is not possible, but inevitable, without proper protection in place.
source - SteamWhales.com
I'd have you notice, that not a single user here has a billion dollars, but there are plenty of corporations that do... and the influx of cash recently may very well be their buy-in.