In terms of user behaviour, I think the beta stage of Steemit is to conduct functional and usability testing. I get it why it is still in beta stage since the running capacity is still low. During this timeframe maybe Steemit Inc can collect data on user behaviour and take some action on it before they release the final version. Looking in a positive way, the whale war might be a good thing after all since it is happening during this stage. Imagine this happens after 100% capacity, things might get even ugly. We or maybe Steemit Inc might find a concrete solution to address the rewardpoolrape issue. Maybe I am being too optimistic.:)

Interesting, it's not something that I'm aware of if they're doing it or not. But I'm pretty sure it has been an on-going discussion and analysis. I think it's a good beta period since they removed posting limits and tried other extreme parameters (like from n^2 to linear).

Yes, humans can be a beast if they have a weapon in their hand but they will always be cautious if they know there a bigger beast that will knock them out if they behave like a prick. Same can be applied in Steemit, as much as they can post whatever they want like in other social media (Facebook,Twitter, etc) but they always try to follow the guidelines here set by senior Steemians and the early adopters. If they don't they might be flagged and it is hard for them to recover.

Generally it's harder to flag if I don't have a totally anon profile. That's for alt-accounts. But yup, I think the system works pretty well overall. It's just quite a "lossy" system.

Np for the long comment, thanks for the share. Feel free to use the image :)