Whale Downvotes (flags) hurt, but can they help?
Trust me, I was not impressed with the idea when it first came out, but I do believe that the goal is honorable. I’ve been getting my fair share of whale downvotes too, and the initial feeling is usually the same.
Should I just quit?
With delight and excitement, we watch our post payouts increase (when the posts aren’t completely missed). Many of us think, “Yes, finally a nice payout!” Then, suddenly, there is a drastic decrease. Why? Most often, a whale has chosen to downvote your post.
According to 
A downvote was applied to partially counter earlier whale votes as an experiment to reduce whale domination of voting influence. Not intended to express an opinion on the content nor result in a net reduction of rewards or reputation (automated notice)
Recently, I had a very original video I posted of baby Red-Bellied Snakes emerging from the sacs that they are born in. This is the type of stuff that you normally only see on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel, but this was my own video that I filmed of the process. I’m guessing that few people have ever seen this in real life, much less filmed and shared it.
When that post crept over a $20 payout, I thought that was appropriate. Then 
The message that
Downvoted to counteract the upvotes from bots and other whales.
More info here: https://steemit.com/test/@abit/whales-no-up-voting-test
Yes, it hurts, but could it possibly be working? Here is the only evidence that I have.
When my approximately 25,000 Steem Power gives an upvote by itself, the maximum payout of that vote alone has never been worth more than a cent. If I upvoted a comment of yours at 100%, it will usually automatically go up to 1 cent, and then eventually be followed by a stream of votes that follow mine which do not increase the value.
Today, however, for the first time ever, when I voted first on my own post, it went up 2 cents.
2 CENTS!
Whether or not this is due to the downvoting that is occurring by whales or not, I can only speculate, but, it has never happened before this.
That particular post even climbed up over $10 in potential payout, and now has dropped to less than $1, also due to
Trust me, being able to have my vote be worth 2 cents rather than 1 cent doesn’t make up for losing $20 worth of post payout, but it may be a sign of things to come.
I’m not sure if this will pass, but perhaps it’ll be wise to save excellent posts for a time when excellent payouts are allowed… that’s just my 2 cents.
