THIS. 
I'm thankful I haven't witnessed firsthand much of what you speak of here.  Though in-general I've been following this mental thread lately about our technology and our interaction with it.  I too look at the long game (so much so it sometimes keeps me from capitalizing on the short wins like getting going creating 'something' on steemit back when it was high demand and high payout for newbies--oh well live and learn.) and agree with much of the comments here.

Basically, I'm always looking for the win-win.  Why play tit-for-tat and remain a prisoner​ to the ego? The biggest thing that drew me to this platform (yes the money was important but not #1 for me) was the promise. The potential.

Without an inherent​ incentive to play the zero-sum game, it seemed like we may finally get back to people creating/sharing/adding value without having to take and destroy and troll and flame-war... like we see on other outlets and without getting too heavy (in society now as an extension.)

- If anyone needs me I'll be reading Infinite Jest, by; DFW 
(Who's probably rolling in his grave.)

Resteemed @hilarski. It is just a Beta. Everyone of us is just a Beta–Steemian, even the good and urgly whales, witnesses, Dan and Scott. There is no need to fight against Beta's phenomena. The developers and the founders have to solve it.  Mention it is okay. Talk about is also ok. But involving the whole community into a personal miss of coins is not okay for me. This is a personal scandal not one for the whole community. Such a behavior harms the entire project. As I was bothered by a whale just a few days before, I've had a lot of chats with my guild and all the problems where solved after. We are bloggers, not warriors.

"I can't make them be nice people.
And even if I did, there'd be others
that take their place."

This post reminds me of that quote from That's what I am.

Well said... 

I like this platform. I joined because it felt hopeful that this might fill that "social blogging" gap between Facebook (all social) and WordPress (all words and blogging). The decision, for me, is less about power struggles, but about the degree to which I am willing to put time and effort into something that increasingly appears like it's trying to set itself on fire. I'm just tired of having to "rescue" content from venues with great ideas that soon shoot themselves down in flames.

But then again, I tend to be a "long term picture" sort of person...

Really impressed by this.  Thank you for going into these details.  Love the choice of media especially. A very rich article.

Excellent post dear friend @hilarski I share with you

Very wise words my friend! 

**@kus-knee (The Old Dog)**

Well said Sir..

Just to reiterate, I neither condone or reject your opinion, but it was very well said :)

Excellent post. People become motivated especially when they think their opinion is correct in any debate. That includes the sinking of ships. Well executed use of GoT throughought :-)

Listening is the Key. I'm a minnow and I see and understand some things that are happening to this platform. I personally do not believe my vote will count for anything (even if I put forth my effort to make it so). Change has and will happen to this platform without my consent. I can only try and continue to put forth good content and to try and help others if I can.
I've listened (read) the posts and all I see is the same issue.... ego. The solution to the problem is if said individuals on both sides remove their ego and stop what they are doing... the negativity will cease to exist. I've neither upvoted nor flagged any of these posts as I felt a "negative vibe" throughout and have learned to distance myself from negativity. I agree with your assesment of not taking sides. Also thanks for making those Steemit gifs, I've used them in a few of my posts.

"Seek out the people who are spreading the love and support them in every way possible. These are the people that we can build a solid foundation of trust and love on Steemit."
![yeah002.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVSJGE5fJnPdBVsd4DZ2XJtWP7gGJipkRPmVXu1p4UeW6/yeah002.gif)

I agree with you. I have also been in a very similar situation while building a voluntary community, but mine was not online, but in real life. I put at least a year into helping to build it, only to see it ripped apart by a few unstable minds. The things happening in that intentional community were very similar to what's going on right now, with the community dividing up into 2 camps. There are 2 camps in here right now. It's very similar to what i've been through before.

The exact same themes are being played out. Continuing down the same path, with everyone on a "side", has very severe consequences. We must all stretch our minds and hearts to understand each other. I see glimmers of "the truth" within every argument. This leads me to believe that it's the system that is currently not working to build unity among us. Either that, or we are not evolved as human beings. 

The future is determined by what we decide to do, or not do.

This is why most commmunities have a central goal that they all can get behind. It's why religion, interest groups, ecovillages exist. Most communities have basic things in common. Without a common goal, it falls apart. Instead of fighting over scraps, we need to think bigger. I think the one thing we all have in common is that we want a decentralized future. Money is not divided up equally, so that will always be a source of struggle. But we all want a different kind of social media. That is something we can all get behind. 
I think if it was Steemit VS. Facebook, we'd all choose Steemit. How do we translate that dynamic in here? How do we really form a group that bonds together? The choosing sides for a war only leads to destruction, we all know that. 
I am skeptical that an algorithm is truly the answer. Technology cannot fix the hearts of humans.

If you think about it, there's no algorithm to build unity. That's a problem. Unity needs to be designed into this system.

Great post and i totally agree @hilarski - i saw social media ships sinking where such drama was a main issue of people that started together as a **community** and in the end fightet against each other when favouritism was an issue (the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.) - it was sad to see and some of the negative people joined other networks and did spread the same negative vibes again. 

Let us act as a real **community** otherwise it will be disaster I fear!
https://betanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Community.jpg