Following what has transpired in the last several hours with a late dubious entry of STEEM user @creativeblue - you can see his post and comments here - plus all kind of hits below the belt from user @crypto.piotr, I regret to inform you I'm not interested in receiving the awards for 2nd place anymore, eligible after @kiwiscanfly posted the preliminary results for the August #SPUD4STEEM contest here.
In other words, you can count me out & cut me off the list. For all the sponsors @xpilar, @reflektor, @hingsten, @bippe, @steemcurator01, @ciska, @kiwi-crypto, @steem-supporter, @stephenkendal & @steemchiller, please do not delegate any STEEM Power to my account. My good friend @georgemales told me third place seems like a good person with a neat project behind & I believe he should receive in full my 2nd place awards. I'm positive 4th, 5th and 6th are decent people as well so they should be move up one place as a result of me stepping down.
Unfortunately, what has happened today proved me once more that crypto is not in a good place. Hypocrisy & greed still runs rampant in the ecosystem and more often than not, mobs run the show with some vocal & despicable in my book human beings. There were simple rules everyone had to follow yet someone had to be the special guy and bend them to his or her own will just for the sake of taking down the big prize and earn some dough. I'm sorry but I can't accept that & this is why I refuse to receive my award in a contest that doesn't do anything to stop such actions.
@crypto.piotr talked about how I want some free tokens... well, guess what, I don't want them anymore and I would hate myself if I received them given the current situation. Some of us still have principles and dignity and do not accept all things with a price tag on it.
My problem with @creativeblue & @crypto.piotr is not that they have won, is how they won the contest & how fierce is @crypto.piotr is in defending the first place and attacking me every step of the way. It's not a problem of ethical or non-ethical, everyone can see what the first place has done is unethical. But at the end of the day, moral or imoral, ethical or unethical, he won the contest apparently and that's all that matters. Who cares about not uploading a screen with the SP before the power up even though the rules stated it was mandatory. You can verify on the blockchain, right? Well, not quite, at least from my perspective, you said the participants must do something, that means they have to do it otherwise they cannot enter.
I'm not going to comment about the way he powered up - I mean there is a big questions of ethics here, but I do agree is not necessarily against the rules & that's all that matters.
@kiwiscanfly, no matter my personal feud, I still believe you have good intentions with the contest. I mean it's a very good way to encourage engagement from the smaller accounts, no doubt. But you must penalize the users who want to take advantage of any flaws in the system in the future to make it worthwhile, that is my opinion.
Stay safe everybody & remember, evil prevails when good men fail to act. That's why crypto & the whole system in general is where it is right now.