I am doing my best to imagine how I would feel about this video and these words if I had never before run across @son-of-satire, what would my objective point of view be here.
If I were new and had made that choice to vote on number one it probably would have had more to do with hoping to make some friends who are instrumental on this site. I'm not saying I would have done this, but I have to be honest and say I don't know that I wouldn't have. I do know that this post would have changed my mind. Not just as a question of morality, but also for the things he spoke about community. About working together and caring about one another.
Of course in the end the truth is that I do know this man, he has become someone I consider a good friend, and it's a friendship I value very highly. Because he is by far one of the most honest people I have ever met, with a very definite sense of integrity. He does, I'll admit, have a tendency to be blunt and therefore piss people off. I am one who generally takes a softer approach to things.
I don't know @timsaid and I want to make a point that @son-of-satire might not have taken into consideration here-- it is very possible that Tim is a friend to the guy who has turned this contest into a joke. Perhaps as a friend he told him that he would upvote those who voted for him. It is something I would do for a friend, it is something that I would do for this friend whose post I'm in. The difference is, that @son-of-satire would never have used this information to garner votes, not in a thousand years or for a million dollars. Without knowing the truth behind why Tim chose to back eltooni, I feel that the one truly responsible for the dirt in this contest is eltooni. I read the initial conversation between son-of-satire and eltooni, and I have to say what truly disgusts me about this entire thing is that eltooni has now edited these comments in an obvious attempt to make my friend look like a fool, or at the least to make himself look better.
Having said all of this, I really want to ask everyone who comes on this post, please go to this competition and vote for your favorite. Please don't let one man make a mockery of something that could have been great. And if you were one of those who voted for number one for the wrong reasons, it's not too late to change your mind, in fact it takes a great amount of courage and I know that many will have serious respect for you if you do.
I really love so many people I have met here on steemit, and I love the sense of community I have felt since the beginning. There will always be that one or that few that you wish would move from the community, but overall this place is great. Let's keep it that way!
Edit: I rarely ever vote up a comment of my own, but I'm choosing to do it in this case for visibility.
Thanks for the things you have said here. Though, I don't think I piss that many people off, do I? Only people who don't want to be called out on their bullshit, but even at times, I'm able to do that in a respectful manner.
I wish I could have the same faith in timsaid as you do, but, I think it seems as though this was his idea. He is the one who was messaging trueflip telling them to hurry up and post the winners, and he is the one who continued to vote every number 1 even after it was said to be unfair. He is not innocent in this, believe me.
Still, who is responsible is irrelevant. This wasn't meant to slander anyone, although it seems people have interpreted it that way. The main point of this post was to try to convince enough people to vote honestly, so we can promote the right message about Steemit, and more than that, so that we can set a better example for newcomers. If we keep allowing this sort of shit to go on, it's only going to get much worse, and there's not way I can stay if things don't start to change.
That's not some sort of threat, as I expect I wouldn't be missed by many. But, it's simply a fact. I want to be a part of something positive, and the further we give in to greed, the less I can view Steemit as something positive for humanity.
To be honest, this is much less about the contest for me, since it is a gambling site that is hosting it, and I'm afraid that I've yet to run into any true honest gambling, not on online sites, and not in casinos where it is generally rigged for the house. It has more to do with wanting to see this specific community do better, be better, than the outside world is today.
I have nothing against gambling sites or casinos to be clear, they are businesses and it's people's own fault that they get sucked in and lose their life savings for greed.
I just would have liked to see it operate differently HERE. That's all.