Time will tell

With all do respects, that is backwards. Yes, you might not be in the HIVE top 20 witness meetings, but its 20 different people. Have you been in the Steemit Inc. witness meetings between Justin and the sockpuppet accounts? In one scenario you have 20+ individuals making a coalition, and in the other you have 1 we know about and then a faceless corporation in the shadows controlling run by that one. 

If one of those was the "Secret Illuminati", I'd put my money on it being the ones who bought their way into hijacking a chain, refusing to meet with the witnesses, and then actively hiding who actually runs which witness puppet.

I am 100% in support of you running a witness node. If we can keep 5 people like you int he top 20, we know the chain can survive in a decentralized manner and all will be okay. But I do think you are misjudging the scenario a bit.

Given the context that a token swap was initially announced, it can be seen as defensive.

The problem is that things like this (image) and [this](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200214005129/en/Steemit-Joining-TRON-Ecosystem) are still live.

![FF7867E1D24F4B9A936E69384A5D5D4E.jpeg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/fknmayhem/1LvfdgCD-FF7867E1-D24F-4B9A-936E-69384A5D5D4E.jpeg)

Actually, no... the real problem is that this endless escalation and petty fight continues. Many users do not want to make a choice but the reality is that we only see tribal bullshit everywhere.

It’s simple: the announcement was wrong, 22.2 was wrong, 22.5 was wrong, the preparation of the fork was wrong, the “airdrop” censorship (censorship because a vote is free speech and should be allowed without fear for retribution - not an airdrop because I was never airdropped HIVE, there’s no tx about that) was wrong, and the censorship (and flagging) on steemit is wrong. Oh, and the way proxy.token initially returned to voting with a kingpin powerplay was pathetic. And the whole way the community has been played to ~~buy time~~ vote for the community was a hypocrite play of the highest level by some.

As a user, ever since Feb 14 I’ve felt my only options were:
1. Can’t win
2. Lose

Meanwhile, this ever worsening tribalism continues and nobody gives a flying eff about the actual users. Users who definitely not expected to join a platform which would freeze funds like banks and PayPal do nor would imagine an organized effective takeover. Core principles of what blockchain may mean to some. Not to mention the various methods of censorship.


As a user... I’m disgusted, disgusted being collateral damage. Here’s hoping the feuds will soon end and both platforms will look only at themselves and improve their options and offerings. Otherwise you only chase us who are here because we believe in blockchain away, simple as.

Nobody looks good in this. It was a shitshow of the highest degree.