Hmmmm.....somthing to think about.

Thanks for bringing this up. I'm new and debating on the route to take, buying votes seems a bit unethical, although I do see the value in getting your work seen by those better placed to help. My worry is that quality work will be overlooked because, just like in the real world, money and power rule the day..  I'm unsure and would really like to hear what the Whales say.

Seems to be the case, lol!

I cannot stop laughing! What a truth in this meme!

It is early days yet. Certainly there will be people that dominate... but will they forever? There will be other rising stars.
Love your graphic! There is certainly a lot of butt kissing from the recent influx of noobs. Let them try I say. It gives us a brilliant excuse to have a bit of fun with commenting with images like this. ;-)
Thanks to @theblindsquirl for reposting.

I "shared" your post on a @craig-Rant post.

https://steemit.com/steem/@craig-grant/steem-dreams-of-financial-freedom-and-a-comment-for-ned-ceo-of-steemit#@theblindsquirl/re-craig-grant-steem-dreams-of-financial-freedom-and-a-comment-for-ned-ceo-of-steemit-20170706t144321843z

You captured it perfectly.

Lets see how long it takes before they flag me.

I, as you know, am completely in agreement with you regarding this issue.  

The only way I believe this issue can be solved - as opposed to serially mitigated, as HF19 tried to do, and each try causes new and unpredictable problems - is to stop weighting VP by SP.

The mechanism of vote weighting by SP cannot be made manipulation proof, and ultimately focuses users on manipulation for financial gain.  Since Steemit is a social media platform, weighting needs to be based on social value, and reputation is an appropriate metric.  

As long as SP is the metric used to determine vote weighting, users will continue to need to manipulate voting for financial gain.  No amount of mitigation will end this, and all of the mitigation efforts will continue to break Steemit in new and unforseeable ways.

The vast majority in the Steemit code, and the load on the blockchain, is presently dealing with these mitigation efforts.

Equally weighted VP, or that weighted on reputation, dramatically simplifies the code, and eases the burden on the blockchain.  Equally weighted votes create this algorithm to calculate rewards:  addition.   

KISS.  End the confusion and futile efforts to mitigate the weighting of VP by SP.

tl;dr Steemit is a social media platform, not a financial investment platform, and the weighting utterly confutes this reality, and causes the problems of financial manipulation that are currently plaguing Steemit.  Weight votes equally, or by reputation, a socially derived vetting by the community.

Edit: I found your post as a result of @theblindsquirl's resteem, so it was referring the @theblindsquirl's knowledge of my position, and prior posts, regarding this issue.  Apologize for the confusion.