While it is worrying, it also explains why there are so much communities & tribes, and why circles of "people who know each other" are being formed. The natural response to A-rank bullies is more often than not to group with people who have equivalent power.

So more often than not, these tribes start with a whale that decides to protect their own friends (normal) and extend his protection to people who are like-minded to him/her.

In many aspects, it is a really human attack, and very human response, and why I say that tribes heal the system that has been poisoned. By selling their tokens, the tribes acquire the steems and power necessary to "counter-vote" the downvoters.

Now I'm worried about where that leads, but it's also not that bad. Because both downvote bots, and counter-measures will need to buy steem to escalate one against the other. Means that the buying pressure will rise.