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That would be interesting, if it wasn't a re-write of the history of what actually happened: I originally left this post alone when it just had his own self-vote and anyone could read it. I only downvoted it "after" he upvoted it with bots for nearly $200 (by spending $200 to do so).

And, no, there was no significant exhaustion of my voting power as a result of bernie's antics as you claim: a quick check of my voting power on steemd this morning shows it is at 100% (it was nearly that when I went to sleep last night). In other words, I could vote as much as I wanted on anything I wanted yesterday: I just have other things to do sometimes (like working/relaxing/sleeping/etc). Mostly I haven't been voting as much for the past two weeks because my curator has been on a semi-vacation.

That would be interesting, if it wasn't a re-write of the history of what actually happened: I originally left this post alone when it just had his own self-vote and anyone could read it. I only downvoted it "after" he upvoted it with bots for nearly $200 (by spending $200 to do so).

hey it's game-theory, I saw the post after 4hours, possibly it was already a pre-thought to upvote it by bots to match both your votes and Bernie's. Could be argued he was waiting for you, but I do see your point (Still if you wrote in reply to say you won't down vote since he is only using his own VP before the upvote bots bidded or activated then you have 100% proof), either way, as you know a bot has a 2.4hour delay, so maybe bernie posted, got hungry, had a long lunch, then took a long shite (possibly realized you might downvote while he was on the throne), came back to use upvote bots to match your current VP and 2+hours delay later you saw the post a 2nd time.

And, no, there was no significant exhaustion of my voting power as a result of bernie's antics as you claim:

Correct, I didn't put down only 100% downvote for that day, my bad for not adding specifics. I would change it below...but honestly I'm too complacent to do so, your efforts of restrain and fair downvoting is noted (And Honored....heck we all love & upvoted @drakos for downvoting Bernie too...see below).

The point is, $150+ less upvote say given exclusive vote to just 1 person (favorite writer - repeatedly high upvoted isn't really optimal) isn't much drain as compared to you not voting at all yesterday.....either way, all results in saving the reward pool for everyone else and growing the greater value of Steem.

I actually like it that you downvoted the abuse of the bot upvote (respects).....I am not arguing that point, but strangely the participation by drawing you or by your ethics, either way is magical for all of us to see, which ironically beneficial to all included, even you.

BTW. Glad to hear you're actively making curation, BUT, please feel free to downvote anyone else you find abusing the bots with $150, $100, heck even $50 bots upvotes from delegated VP. You have our collective respects and continual minnow's support for that.

P.S. I just used your service to transfers thousands at a total cost of $100-$150 per transfer (I can accept the 0.5%-1% exchange fees....business has to run, but I might stop using bitcoin to buy Steem soon and use some other coin with way less blockchain transfer cost), will do more transfer again. What coin/s do you recommend is the cheapest to use to buy Steem?

P.S.S. Speed of transfer at @blocktrades to Steem is superb. Thanks again for the service.

I'd suggest buying with Eth or LTC, transaction fees are reasonable, and speed is pretty good, so estimated rates aren't likely to change before they confirm.

Every little bit counts, can the case be build for converting USD directly to Steem to bypass 2 transactions.

eg.Cash -> BTC/ETH/LTC -> BTC/ETH/LTC (@blocktrades) -> Steem

to Cash -> @blocktrades -> Steem

Do you see this happening in the near future.

Logically I can't see this not exploding the mainstream interest to buy Steem, SBD, and even VP. This small (and I understand difficult to provide service) will have a Big Impact on Steem.

Also First To Market is huge in technology....just saying.

Cool...will look into that when I start dealing with larger sums.

I'm for Steem and their important participants, just like you and Bernie.....there are many roads to get us there, but abuse will set us all back......I mean honestly, isn't everyone tired of the great Steem depression plateau?

See my opposition to Bernie for excessive downvoting against @trafalgar

My replies and counter to berniesanders at trafalgar post - Is There Any Room For Short Content On Steemit you have to go all the way to the bottom and unhide it :) as it's nested deeply but it argues the point of fairness and acceptable selfvote vs curation vote distribution as a proof of brain community.

I've been thinking about the current problems with curation on Steem for quite a while now. I'll probably make a post with my own suggestions for improvement before too long, but I'm still working on refinements to the proposal.

Interesting....well I'm already following you. Let us know, I'm always open to hear new thoughts and Ideas.

Here are some of mine that I proposed, may it give you some feedback and ideas to further refine yours before you post:

My reply to @StellaBelle dramatic but thoughtful post Is Steemit In Economic and Social Death Spiral

Here is one to @liberosist, arguebly one of our top senior curators about the point that we need greater diversification of curators..... but maybe skip this one, it's kinda too long at 2000 words: liberosist post: A Review of Vote Buying

And honestly, I think the Steemit Inc. boys and girls are definitely secretly listening to all of us posting some gems, but they will need to definitely listen to witnesses.

Steem on @Blocktrades !

Defenitely looking forward to that! I've always admired and respected the way your account manually upvotes and supports the content you appreciate, however most other Steem investors have taken different approaches, in my view mostly for acculumulating even more Steem by selling services. I was a little disappointed when you also started with the Delegation business model, but maybe that's just me being short-sighted.

So really looking forward to your perspective on curation improvements!

These high level fights seem rather complicated to me sometimes, hope to understand it someday in the future.

Yes, I finally have done it. I just flagged berniesanders (for the first time in my steemit history).
Reason: disagreement on rewards 😂

Haha well done @drakos ...but I think you're not the audience here....he's been setting a trap waiting for blocktrades to show up :D

Lol, the only deceived here is you: check the voting history before you make silly claims.

No deception, just perception.......and strangely the latter can be more powerful, it's a behavioral psychology thing.

Look at it this way, many benefits come out of this:

  1. Bernie illustrate the point of bot vote abuse

  2. Some will get to practice downvoting the abuse (And Yes, get upvoted by Bernie for downvoting his post....nice right? :D )

  3. Some will get to practice upvoting the deeper meaning and value of the lesson learnt.

  4. We get greater participation from bigger VP holders....someday you may have to play a greater role here too, we haven't yet have 1 big nefarious entity with >1MVest disrupting Steem, but when that days comes We Will Need Greater Participation

  5. We all get some laughs See point #5 of my reply to @trafalgar to cheer him and everyone up

Thank you for showing up, replying, downvoting, and giving more details....This is the Spirit of Steem.

Indeed. I didn't know what was going on, busy programming stuff these days, then I saw that $300 trending, my jaw dropped! I thought aliens had invaded my brain.

Hey @berniesanders,

So are you back? Man, I think we're all been missing you like crazy!

I gotta just upvote this post so the steem blockchain knows I was here during the great Steemit Beta Era of Bernie!

btw. BFF & little-bitch....hilarious! :D ;p

I would really be interested to see the levels of - rep needed to level down.

According to steem.cool berniesanders you are -76.914 Billion Rep.

Yet my rep, at level 53 is only 14,600 Billion. It seems it is harder to go deeply negative than it is to raise your level.

Basically, you are the equivalent of level 70. But negative. xD

As always with @berniesanders, his only error was to tell the truth, the unvarnished truth.

you are great! haha. awesome is as awesome does many laughs my friend!

As an immigrant, Muslim and poet, @berniesanders I'm grateful for your @speakyourmind initiative and have unbuttoned my lips to 'tell it like it is' in my last post :)

I do hope you enjoy the read and thanks, again, for this great opportunity!

That's why I continue to support you.

You Know IT

Bernie is G Yo!

ahahahahahah <3

I live in permanent fear of getting downvoted

Face your fears. Live your dreams.

I've been here a long time and I still don't know what is going on lol

Yeah a few months I've been here, no idea what this about

I read almost all above comments but still

Lol, how do you go from a positive to a negative, who did you piss off? Best of luck

I don't know how you dare to pick a fight with someone who has millions of Steem... - I wouldn't call myself afraid but I always try to think twice before writing things, as I don't want to risk my reputation, potential rewards or followers.

That being said, my rewards are a couple of bucks and those mean more to me than a couple of hundred dollars means to you, I guess.

And your famous reputation speaks for itself. Loud and clear. You don't take shit and you tell it as it is.

That's also why I'm a "bernie-fan". I think it's great to see people taking action, speaking the truth and do the "dirty work" necessary. No matter how hard or dirty it is.

Just wait till you post something bernie doesn't like and your rep and earnings get nuked.

I totally understand your point and that wouldn't be fun at all. However, that's also why I think twice before posting things. To sort of minimize the risk of making enemies. If bernie or any other whale or dolphin would start to flag my posts, my rewards and my reputation would take a huge hit obviously, but even a flag from a minnow is something I'm trying to avoid.

That's why I don't try to pick fights with people, but I'm still trying to be me and to do what I want to do. Sooner or later, I will be either rewarded or flagged for doing so. - That's how Steemit works.

Also, even though I might not agree with all of bernie's previous flags, I still encourage him to continue his work because he's not afraid of taking shit. Treat him bad and you'll sign your own doomsday. That being said, at least from my understanding, bernie is always man enough to solve things and let things slide too, so even though you might end up being "nuked" due to your comments or "bad" articles in bernie's opinion.. You seem to always (or at least almost always) be able to settle things in a good way, so the flagging stops.

One might hate or love bernie and his actions... And even though you might think he's doing things to hurt or harm Steemit, I am still certain of the fact that he's doing the things he does because he want Steemit to become a better place. Even with the use of unconventional, irrational or "crazy" methods sometimes.

Ok sure. But if your account ever gets nuked, just remember, somebody was doing it because they wanted Steemit to be a better place and you're ok with that.

Yeah, I know how this might sound... And I would obviously feel terrible if my reputation and my rewards where taken away. I'm not arguing against that part.

However, I do believe that bernie is working towards a better place. Even though I might not agree with exactly how he is doing it.

Most of the flags are due to disagreement on rewards. At least from my understanding. Someone like bernie could easily kill my account on Steemit within seconds. Most people could do that.

Sure, it's sad but it's also how the system works. Are we to blame bernie for how the system works too, just like people are blaming him for his flags?

I had mine killed it's on the blockchain if you scroll down to the flags and the one greyed out post not saved..thank you to the ones who bitchslapped the person who did that (who gets their SP from apparently some source who doesn't care how people weaponize it, it's on the block chain :) )
that being said, Bernie is an enigma, and can plant a flag in me any day

No, but the system should be blamed, and I don't see anybody doing that.

NObody should be able to have their account nuked because somebody with more clout decides to do so on a whim, and/or because they don't like the content (like bernie nuking the gal with the sick daughter because it seems he thinks it's impossible for vaccinations to cause harm, ever).

That's the death of steemit. People aren't going to mass adopt when they find out their hard work/time/effort/passion can be wiped out, with no protections nor recourse. It's fun for people with big accounts to swing their dicks around, but for serious content builders looking at investing into steemit....seeing that is pretty close to a deal killer.

I'm still hanging around, but I just can't justify seriously investing time/effort, when somebody can not like what I say and wipe that all out. Yeah, yeah, I can then spend the equivalent of a full time job trying to get others with clout to help me out and get my rep/earnings back etc, but that's not something most people are going to be willing to do, and again, no mass adoption, no increase in steem value.

Well, even though I do agree with you to some extent, or even most of what you've said, I believe that bernie's recent actions and posts are his way to blame the system. In a way.

However, instead of making posts like "The system is bad. Fix it!", he prefers to go head-to-head with other dolphins/whales, by flagging content they upvote for instance.

I have no idea if this is true or not, so you should definitely not take my word for it. And it might be way more than that too... But I personally believe, it's due to things like this bernie is doing what he's been doing.

I can't speak for him or his actions, I just usually enjoy the show because he's literally the only one doing something about something. And like I've said, I don't agree with each thing he has said or done, and I would obviously be sad if my Steemit account where to be killed too.

However, somewhere in all of this fuzz, I still believe bernie is a good guy working for a better place.

Amen Brother....Preach It !!

:D

Totally agree, nothing to add!

What to hell is going on here? :D Who let them fight? Why did you separate them? :D answers!