I don't like the experiment, but how else are we going to reach a consensus other than demonstrating positive or negative effects it has on the community, platform, or STEEM price? We use flags to punish those who use, or those who provide the service? I hate flags. Only those with high SP power can make that happen anyways.
In a proper scientific study, yes we would use a control group, but that can't realistically be done here, right? So we have to think about how to demonstrate it imperfectly with the methods we do have available. I look at it as let this continue where a small percent of usability has minor effects int he aggregate which aren't visible much, which takes 1-2 years to slowly drag on the suffering as we slowly fall, and the gradualistic effect has people unable to see what is happening or attribute a cause to the effects. vs. getting the pain and suffering over quickly and ripping the bandaid off, where the short temporal timeframe of engaging in casual behavior to produce effects will be more visible and apparent.
In a short time of engaging in specific behavior, there is a degree of likelihood that the behavior produces the effects being seen, rather than assume other forces unless those forces can be shown to be producing those effects. Even if it's the anticipation of outcome, at least that gives u an idea of the general consensus about how viable it is. If STEEM booms because of a consensnus on how great it is, ok at least we have a consensus, the same with a crash of STEEM on how bad people think it is, there is a general consensus that is manifested through aggregate behavior that has a visible effect.
I'm not a fan of vote buying and I have no doubt that it one of the big contributors to people giving up on the platform. Seeing low quality content rewarded with very high earnings is indeed disheartening.
I agree. I just want to get a consensus formed somehow. Any ideas? Arguing gets us nowhere, some people just care about the money and don't see long-term consequences or how applying a behavioral model across the platform demonstrates it's not a viable method of operation. That's why showing it with the free market and causality is what I thought of.
RE: Steem is a Free Market, Therefore Buying Votes is Voluntary and Not a Problem (or is it?)