This will be flagged by @themarkymark so you will need to reveal to see. But the answer is so easy and clear!!!

I actually tested this out in a pseudo steem simulator I wrote in JAVA.... I made a fake system of nodes that each obtain random bits of credits over time to simulate a steem comunity and I let it grow.

Then I inserted several nodes that act as emulated @themarkymark users
Basically bad whales that think they have the right to control the other nodes.
I set the nodes to be aggressive but pretend to not be aggressive when being watch, like the ghosts in Mario when you look and look away, since this is literally the behavior that users like this exhibit...

As expected the system collapsed. rather rapidly, just like our real ecosystem here has....

And don't be fooled, Steem has collapsed because of this downvote whale dictatorship issue...

So what's the solution Shrap???
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E Z !

Enable a 2nd witness list in the steem api, and repurpose the 2nd witness list as a downvote block or user block function.

I know the idea of blocking users has been discussed before and it will never work. You could just block all the whales and go crazy with no repercussion.

But if you have a limited list of blocks. say 30 total. You could load it up with the people you are at ends with etc... And then they could no longer downvote you from that blocked account.

You also put a cooldown timer on each entry in your block list. So, lets say I enter @themarkymark into the block list and then remove him. I would lose the slot for a set period of time, say 6 months.... So I would now have 29 block slots until that cooldown expired. Obviously the slot and the user you blocked would have a cooldown and you wouldn't be able to upvote or downvote someone you are blocking either. simple stuff here.

Do you understand what I am saying? Is this making sense? 

If we enable this, the system auto corrects itself almost immediately.... It would take some word of mouth delay time to get around to people that don't post anymore because they are afraid of losing more reputation but it would spread and people that don't post would start posting again and old users would return, and when bitcoin halving completes next year steem will be primed to rise well about 5 bucks again...  We should at least be at a dollar right now.

Te only reason we are sub $1 value is because of this downvoting mess...

All I am proposing is that we add a limited block list with a cooldown on changing entries.

This would prevent abuse and stop targeted downvoting...

Why this hasn't been solved yet is beyond me... I barely use Steem anymore and the one time I do I get attacked by this ego maniac. And his reasoning is that I posted in his steem stem group without cause.... Which I didn't... he's confused af. and if I did do something by mistake then how the hell does initiating a downvote attack make any sense versus a simple comment telling someone that they have done something you don't like???? He never left a comment or nuttin, just started autodownvoting me with no remorse.... I posted in "steem" and I think he thought i posted in "stem"?? I dunno what his deal is but he's a jackass either-way...  But his jackassery has presented a solution to a problem that needs solving. Steem is literally dead if we don't fix this. You can band aid it and try to make it look nice for a while, but ultimately you are driving users away from the site with this autodownvoting dictatorship bullshit.... FIX IT!

This will likely be my last post until this problem is solved. Since I am under the constant threat of reputation loss and no rewards. :(

This issue must be more than addressed, it must be solved...