I know I'm gonna regret getting involved, but I do want to chuck my two penneth in.
Firstly, anyone who plays the race card loses credibility if you ask me or at the very least damages the validity of what they are trying to say. This is an age-old technique of scaring people into not saying what they feel or even joining in the conversation. It's a way of controlling the dialogue.
I waded through the post, which seemed to be mostly filled with screenshots of, umm? Supporters? Well, people who are saying positive things about the account at any rate. I'm still confused about what relevant evidence that is.
In my opinion:- HIve is a quasi Pyramid scheme
Now hear me out for a minute, I've seen lots of posts over the years, including some of these comments, that effectively highlight the foundations of any good Pyramid scheme. You have a few people at the top (Whales?) who seem to have all the money, all the voting power, both up and down. And possibly, all the support. For those who don't know how a pyramid scheme works, it's pretty simple. You start with a couple of friends and start running around saying:
"Phwoar! Look how much I earn doing very little. [In this example] I write a couple of posts and check out how much I earn! You can join too. Obviously, you'll need to build your account up."
That's why there are levels. Krill (I made that one up, by the way, but it certainly feels like a lot of us are bottom feeders.)
Minnows, Dolphins, until you reach the zenith of the pyramid, whales. Of course, how this all works is the krill and the Minnow flog their guts out trying to earn a few Hive or waiting for the Mythical Whale vote that drops $1000HBD on them, but of course, that never happens, it's the carrot that keeps you turning the wheel to mine the Hive for the benefit of those higher up the food chain. Don't believe me? Think about it. Don't bigger accounts earn more than smaller accounts? And I'm not just talking about 'suck up' votes here either.
I, too, was originally on STEEM. I was under the impression it embodied the values I believe in, "Freedom" and "Open Source". It didn't take me long to work out that STEEM and Hive are others' idea of Freedom. I have a personal saying:
"The moment someone says: We need a Moderator. You should tell yourself: There goes my Freedom!"
Now I'm not stupid. I know there are dodgy people on the planet, I've seen it all with Steemit and Hive. Multiple accounts self-voting, cyndicates promoting each other and crooked competitions. How you fight that is difficult when you're playing a game of Whack-A-Mole, given there's nothing stopping users from owning hundreds of accounts. Obviously, downvoting is one way to stop folk from getting their grubby hands on ill-got gains. The problem with that is distinguishing between being punished and telling a creator their post was a steaming pile of gazelle pooh. I have to say, In my opinion I'm not convinced that Hive is as welcoming as those doing really well would have you believe. I've seen people vilified for daring to post in a community about a subject not in their T&Cs, and users downvoted and blacklisted for eternity for not giving accreditation for a single image. The age of Tribalism is alive and well on Hive.
I have no idea what the author did wrong. If he continually produces content contrary to the 'Rules' accepted by the community, then there's no argument from me. What I will say for those who don't know is that there are two lists that auto-downvote. If you get on either of those lists, you're screwed because they will nuke your account the second your post hits the newstands.
If you feel like that, why are you still on here?
I post now and again. I post for me, not for you. It's a concept some folk find hard to understand. I've done posts that have taken me eight (8) or more hours to produce. Written and rewritten, checked the spelling and the grammar. All that was missing was one of those green editor shades, and those posts never got into double figures, and they were good posts IMO. So I've become disenchanted with Hive. I'll stay a member, and I actively delegate to a couple of projects, especially @ecency, but I see Hive for what it is. An exclusive club where you can only buy into the higher levels because you'll never earn your way to the top. Those days are gone; you needed to be in at the beginning.