RE: Payouts with zero votes? What's going on here?
Well, that's a theory. How can we test this theory? Pretty easy. We can use a different UI to view the upvotes. I do. I use Steempeak exclusively, and Steemit has no influence on or ability to conceal who might have voted on Steempeak. That disproves that theory. Steem is not Steemit, and Steemit is not Steem, any more than Steempeak, or Busy, or Kure is. The phenomenon occurs on other interfaces with the Steem blockchain besides Steemit, so Steemit can't conceal information on those interfaces, because they're independent of Steemit, not Steemit's subsidiaries.
It is the equivalent of having a Chevy in which the speedometer occasionally didn't work on a given stretch of highway, and then taking the same trip in a Ford, and seeing the same problem, and then claiming that Chevy is concealing something about that stretch of highway. Chevy can't do that to Fords. Something about the highway there, or the upvotes in our real world example, is being revealed by all the makes of UI we have tested it on. Since it happens on at least two of them, it's not those makes of UI themselves that are causing the phenomenon.
"... upvoting random posts..."
What makes you think it's random, and not targeted? How many other posts have you seen affected? If it's only me, It sure isn't random, and that would imply something I do makes it happen.
What makes you say those upvotes are from @animalcontrol? Just an assumption,or is there a basis for specifying that account?
"...using debugging I was able to determine..."
What debugging did you do specifically?
Edit: also, since I am able to see votes that @animalcontrol has cast - as you yourself can see on this comment itself, your theory that those upvotes are being censored could only be partially true at best.
Disproves may be a little strong, and I'm fully aware of the difference between Steem and it's frontends.
Using a different UI is exactly how I found out that your comment had an upvote from @animalcontrol. The debugging I refer to was using breakpoints in the code of Sauna, my Steem frontend project.
If the highway is the blockchain since my frontend (which makes connections to public Steem full nodes) counted the vote then there is nothing wrong with the highway. It just happens that both the Ford and the Chevy are reading incorrectly, so to speak.
The only reason I say random is because I have only the one sample, and so I have no reason to posit a pattern. I suppose I have no reason to posit randomness either, but I'm fairly certain I've seen this happen to accounts that aren't yours. That doesn't mean it's random though, and some pattern may make more sense and have more utility than doing it randomly.
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!