I think it's fair to say that this experiment within the larger Steem experiment could very well go tits up.

However, I'm going to remain positive for the most part and say that I think the Tribes have come at a good time as many of the chip on their shoulder downvoters have been refused access or banished and so there is somewhat of a safe haven in these communities.

Fair point that the value of these tokens isn't that much at present, but STEEM isn't exactly paying many peoples wages, and actually I think the 'low' price could well be a blessing as there could be less uproar over losing a few cents than a dollars a click.

I think many eyes will be on the larger accounts champion these changes, e.g. @trafalgar. Will he start using his stake to manage the rewards of others? And are other whales going to voice their opinion with downvotes towards him? Will @haejin be targeted, and if so, to what level is he going to go to pressure accounts into not removing his pending payouts?

Good point regarding the bots. Their combined stake is huge and could have a real influence on how things play out.

There could actually be conflict between the Vote Sellers but I suspect that they might band together and act more like a cartel to protect their customers (and therefore their profits).

This sounds rather terrible - safeguarding low quality content so that it remains the most visible would have to be considered a failed experiment.

!ENGAGE 100
dramatoken
and might as well get a bag of popcorn while we're at it