RE: THE LOST ART OF MAKING COMMENTS ON STEEMIT - FRIENDS FOREVER ALL YOUR UPVOTES, OKAY?
I agree completely. Not one of us is perfect. I have stood by @papa-pepper's side from the beginning and will continue to do so as long as my values continue to align with his or I understand why they don't and I still make the decision to continue.
I think that his post was a true reflection of what was on his mind at the time that he wrote it. It's his opinion, just as I have formed my opinion of his words and why I asked for further clarification because I truly do think that he has everyone's (who is real) best interests at heart. He has always supported the people and gone above and beyond to help and include everyone. He has demonstrated this time and time again, whether it is driving 100's of miles with his family to make sure someone in need had what they needed in times of crisis. He has also worked very hard to support a translation program that he developed to help others who don't speak English as their first language. When I read this particular post, it didn't seem to align with his normal "helping, let's find a solution to a problem" style. I could have easily skipped leaving a comment and simply un-followed him. No one would have been the wiser but it felt to me like a lynch mob was forming as I read through all the comments and I did read about 100 of them. In doing so I quickly realized that one Steemian was attempting to out-do the wit of the next in a bashing-style competition.
It felt like bullying to me and I couldn't sit back and turn a blind eye because that's like saying that I find this behaviour to be an acceptable way to solve a problem that is impacting us all.
I am not perfect and nor is @pappa-pepper. The fact that he chose to upvote my comment to the placement where it currently sits and he acknowledged my original comment at all, tells me that he is currently thinking a little deeper. Thinking is good, blindly following for acceptance is not (in my humble opinion, of course) and I suppose that it high-lights the dangers embedded in "groupthink".
It's dysfunctional decision-making. If we all think bots and scammers are negative, then let's simply get rid of them and move on.