RE: Payouts with zero votes? What's going on here?
Thanks again for substantively addressing these issues. I reckon Steemit isn't making Steempeak do anything, and your own UI reveals that they both are doing something. What we haven't figured out is just what that is. I am nonplussed by the occasional occurrence of concealing the source of the votes. It is my hope that actual votes aren't being affected by whatever is being done, and not just for the sake of my wallet. I don't actually care much about my HODLings, but do care about the support for my speech upvotes indicate. I care far more about the impact of votes being affected by this mechanism on others, because many do care a great deal about their wallets, and if such is happening, I cannot even imagine how troubling that might be if it became known that something or someone was swiping votes.
It would destabilize the blockchain fiercely. We're recovering (well, at least moving on from) the debacle of Steemit laying off most of it's devs, and the general blackpill that delivered. We lost a lot of accounts in the last few months that I considered quality posters, and we'd lose many more if such is happening.
Nonetheless, if it is I want to know, because I'd oppose that mechanism with every tap I could produce on my keyboard.
Clearly, what I am now grasping is that Steemit is censoring the source of some upvotes, and I neither support this nor see any valid reason for it. Preventing spam is not a good reason to occlude the source of votes. Votes aren't spam, and I've never even seen an argument that concludes they can be. Inconsequential dust perhaps, but that's still no spam, and handled in other ways. Steempeak seems to be doing it too, but inconsistently, since I only rarely spot these cryptic upvotes. That is the weirdest of all, because I can't imagine a mechanism that only works to do that sometimes, and others does not - except perhaps manually doing so by a person that misses some.
I do really appreciate gaining insight into this issue, and I am probably more alarmed by this kind of censorship than you might imagine, because it's implications for the community may well be very profound, depending on exactly what is being censored, and how that's being done.
Thanks!
Well the actual votes are on the blockchain, and as far as I can tell seem to be acting normally aside from being hidden on some frontends. So rest assured (as you can from my word) that on the lowest level everything is working as designed.
I don't really think these upvotes in particular reflect support for your speech. It seems more likely to me that this is an automated system just trying to gain curation rewards. I'd like to emphasize my uncertainty here; I'm not sure what their motivations are.
As far as Steempeak not being as consistent, it might just be that whatever blacklist they may have implemented is less strict about what to censor and when.
I share your sense of being alarmed. Censorship is something I care about greatly. It was one of the big motivators for me to start developing a frontend. It's first working title was actually Uncensor.
Sadly, my internet access has been interrupted, and only with the help of a kindly neighbor am I able to reply presently.
As a result I am unable to actually dig into these matters myself any further.
I'd be very interested in a frontend aimed at censorship resistance. That was my reason for visiting Steemit to begin with.
Thanks!
Well keep an eye out for my next development post then. Censorship resistance is a central design tenant of mine, insomuch as I can facilitate it with a frontend.
Maybe even check out some of my older posts if you're interested.
Followed for interests.
Thanks!