If You Care About Steem, Stop Using Steemit
If you are part of the Steem community, I hope there's one message you hear loud and clear: Steem (the blockchain) and STEEM (the token) are not Steemit (the company) or Steemit.com (the website).
January 2018
STEEM Is NOT Steemit. STEEM Is More Valuable Than Steemit.
February 2020
STEEM is still not Steemit, even if Tron buys Steemit.
The real currency around here is the relationships. The community. The people.
Truly committed people can't be bought at any price.
The Currency of Steemit Isn't Steem Power, STEEM, or SBD. <-- That post made over $1,300. Why? Because it struck a nerve and helped people ask themselves, why am I here? Is it just about money or something more?
If you're just here for some cryptocurrency or a neat social media platform then you're probably not much different than those who float from MySpace, to Facebook, to whatever's next. A blockchain is more permanent than that. You own your data and the interface you use to access it doesn't matter. It will be yours forever as long as the chain is still running and you have your private key. You're not locked into one platform but can freely choose to use any interface you like.
I get that some people don't care about this. They don't care about decentralization, censorship resistance, or the technical details of blockchain technology. Sometimes technology serves those who don't yet understand why they need it. If you build a following on a centralized platform and get demonetized or you find yourself in a country which controls what you can and cannot say, in that moment you may find yourself understanding what Steem is really about. If your very relationships are censored, you'll know why Steem is so important.
Witnesses are working to protect your content.
It's clear to me, the Steemit company, Steemit.com website, and Steemit brand are tarnished beyond repair. From the beginning, the promises made about the ninja-mined stake were not kept. Frustrations with the leadership were never resolved. Most of the employees have resigned. IMO, the new owners don't understand blockchain technology because they don't understand how consensus mechanisms rely on decentralization to remain secure. They worked with exchanges to entirely centralize the chain to be controlled by one person and didn't see a problem with this.
Those of us who expect our Steem based content to live on long after we die do care about this. Where's your content on Geocities, MySpace, Google Reader, or Google+ now? Centrally controlled services can come and go, but a blockchain is forever.
For that reason, I suggest you stop using Steemit.com
Not only that, I encourage you to tell others to stop using it also. Get some hashtags going like #SteemNotSteemit or #SteemitIsDeadLongLiveSteem or #BoycottSteemit or make up your own. Share your reasons on Twitter. Tell people why you no longer trust the entity behind Steemit who have no concerns about centrally controlling your blockchain. If they took that action, what else are they willing to do with the interface you use? Instead, look to the other great options available to you. There are many, but I'll highlight three here:
Steempeak.com
Busy.org
eSteem.app
Your content on the blockchain will live on for many years as long as the chain is running and you can trust the sites you use to access your blockchain data. You can also use great tools like Steem Connect and Steem Keychain to ensure any Steem-enabled site you login to can't access your private keys.
I believe the real value of the Steem blockchain is in the relationships and the community. I think that community has demonstrated its power and value over the last couple of weeks. If we come together to boycott Steemit and focus on community-run projects, we can finally get out from under the stigma of a centralized company and move towards a truly decentralized community.
I have made the switch to SteemPeak since this Steemit madness has happened but there is something I hope developers can appreciate....
What I enjoyed the most about Steemit was that...It was simple to use. Clean and not a lot going on. I know some folks love the details and in depth features some of these front ends have...And once you learn it, they are amazing....
But the majority of the people, that we are seeking to onboard, want things...Simple. They wanna pick something up, and use it. Nothing too crazy o complicated at first...And then get more people into the more feature rich applications later.
Minimalism will always win the day. It's how Google surpassed Yahoo and Facebook surpassed MySpace. I am trying to build a Steem project that follows that exact line of thinking for a very minimalist post-and-go sort of experience. I love that multiple platforms can exist without the need to try to be the only one because you can focus on a niche feature-set, but like indie art, it yields mixed results.
What I am working on will have no more functionality than posting, commenting, up/down voting, and filtered feeds. Being designed specifically for mobile and tablet responsiveness through an SPA makes it flexible, light-weight, platform independent, and extremely agile.
At any rate, I think your point is even more crucial than most smaller dev teams end up realizing and so they OVER work the problem. You get so wrapped up in "what could be done" that you forget "what should be done". It doesn't need to be Rube Goldberg, but you might still get your fan/user base that way, too.
Busy.org is clean and almost minimalist. It's sad they stopped working on it and it's gone down the drain in the past years.
The other day steemit.com and the tribes were also down I think but busy.org stayed up. That site always seems to stay running when everything else crashes. Steemit was not down for too long though.
Yeah my thoughts too....Busy never really seems to work for me. It was amazing at it's prime.
For the same look and feel, check out https://Steeming.com website.
I hope you try it.
Hi @jongolson. I switched to SteemPeak almost immediately after joining Steemit. With SteemPeak you can save your work in drafts, create templates to make posting easier for contests, speciality blogs such as Freewrites, and Curation Projects. It's a timesaver for me to already have my headers and footers in place. All I have to do is insert my content.
The other feature I like about SteemPeak is the Scheduler. I have frequent internet interruptions, and it takes my ISP several days to respond. By scheduling my post, I don't have to worry about not publishing on a particular day.
I wouldn't switch back or use any other front-end. Also, SteemPeak allows me to utilize 10 tags for my postings. I love the side-by-side preview so as you input information in your blog, you can actual see how it will look when published.
Can't say enough about SteemPeak because it's easy to use. Take care, and have a great day.
Yeah it's brilliant. I really do love how easy you can switch between accounts too....Easy to manage this account and CTP's.
Steemit has drafts.
Hi @joeyarnoldvn. I didn't say that Steemit didn't have drafts.
Oh ok. Good. Well, I am beginning to like Steem Peak and may move over someday.
The other thing I like about SteemPeak is the Scheduler. That way I won't miss a deadline on any contests, etc. My internet is frequently going out, and it takes my ISP several day to get someone out to check our neighborhood hub to see what's going on.
So, you schedule out posts? That is tempting for me. Someday, I hope to find ways around my ISP to access the Internet via more decentralized methods perhaps.
I need to check this out. I love templates.
Posted using Partiko Android
Fully agree with the fact a UI shall be clean. For curation I still prefer the Steemit UI a whole lot; Much easier to navigate through hundreds of posts in a s less time as possible.
I love simplicity, so that's why I always loved using Steemit first....But now who knows what is going on there LOL SteemPeak is proving to be fantastic for me...Even if there is a bigger learning curve.
I've been using SteemPeak for sometime now. I love it. I would like to see a more robust content search feature.
I have been dabbling with it for a while now, but really went all in after this Steemit drama....So far, it's been fantastic!
I could not agree with you more. I have not a single negative thing to say about SteemPeak ... except I haven't been using it for the very reasons you stated. I dread having to learn the interface but I will because Luke is right about this.
Minimalism is the very goal we strived for with the Steemhouse Literary Journal site as well. I kept saying over and over and over: "Just the stories. Nothing in the sidebars. Nothing flashing. Nothing to distract." We finally got it live to my satisfaction, but I had to fight tooth and nail to keep the design clean. Everybody likes bells and whistles, it seems, except for me, and you, I suppose.
Yeah I really love simplicity and I think something as complicated as Steem should be easy for the everyday person to jump on board at first...
Get them to poke around and learn what is what....Then graduate to more in depth and feature rich front ends.
Exactly.
A question please. I have always used Steemit because I trusted Ned wouldn't be dumb enough to hijack my wallet (which is now owned by Justin Sun). I have never shared my password with any other site, or the Steemconnect etc. I don't know that I can, as I know nothing about those people who own and run those.
So how would I go about learning who these people are who run and own these alternatives? As much as I disapprove of what Sun is doing, like with Ned, I don't see him raiding my wallet either. I would prefer to have that same confidence before entrusting one of these alternatives with my keys.
It's a good question and thank you for asking it. Steem Connect has been trusted by the community for a long time (github here) and core Steemit developers worked on it as well. Steem Keychain is also used and trusted by many in the community (github here).
I was curious as to why @esteem and @steempeak require an active key through Steem Connect rather than just a posting key?
We certainly don't want you to have to put your active key anywhere. However seems to continue to be a requirement of steemconnect interface.
Thank you for responding. :)
Just a little heads up... We are now testing another system that is similar to steemconnect that makes active key completely optional. Keychain is a wonderful alternative for desktop users however we need something solid for mobile users.
We need to hit the google play store with apps for exposure. Everyone has phone, but not everyone has a computer. Also Steem Monsters would be niiiiice as an app.
Steem Connect adjusts your account's posting permissions so the apps can post for you. Adjusting your posting permissions requires the active key. Here's an example from my account via steemd:
where do I undo these posting permissions? It's outrageous to have so many unknown online identities to be able to post / vote on your behalf. Huge attack surface. Got to prune this list ruthlessly!
Thank you for responding with a concise and easy to understand answer, it's much appreciated! :)
What does the 6.25% mean? Is that a percentage of payout or a percentage of something else that you do not get and which goes out to those apps?
It is the percentage of the listed authorities required to carry out a transaction. Since each is 6.25% and the Threshold at the bottom is also 6.25%, it means that any one of those authorities can make a transaction on your account.
I guess I should write an authority management app for that.
They have already deceived once, and deceived the second time.
Continue to use Steemit - it has a future. They have no future.
Who is they?
And why does Steemit have a future when most of the employees left? Justin seems to just want a return on his investment, not to build something valuable for this community. He's not part of this community, so why would he do anything for it?
Who cares about dinosaurs?
In your opinion, you can’t do something good and make money on it?))) What are you guys doing here then?)))
@thefirstwave You think we're going to listen to you on this? A rookie with a poor reputation, come on. The real question is, what are YOU doing here?
Am I not telling a lie?) Don't you make sculptures, don’t post them here and don’t get paid for it? Or do you not like making sculptures?
Steem-Key extension lives on your desktop. Keys are stored locally. You can use Steem-Key to access SteemPeak but Busy never rolled out support for it.
Seems highly likely Sun will abandon Steemit.com, particularly as the developers have all left. We need everyone to know about the alternative front ends. Particularly Steempeak.com which absolutely blows steemit.com out of the water.
Exactly. That's why I put this post together.
@lukestokes, this is a tiny change of topic, but are you and your family still living in Costa Rica? I'm out of the U.S. myself now, in Morocco. Would be very interested...when this Tron crisis is resolved...to chat with you about some business and banking matters related to Central America.
He will hire developers who truly can and want to work. He will push Steem to such scales that you have not even dreamed of.
Wow... That was... weirdly culty. I mean, if the developers that were there before Sun, the Mighty couldn't and/or didn't want to work, would you even be here? The fact that the ones who put in the work building it in the first place have left is a rather nasty sign of things to come and the intent of the person(s) that drove them to make that decision. Combined with the lengths he was willing to go to get what he ultimately wanted--knowing in advance it would potentially destabilize the community that makes it even worth existing along the way--sort of makes you wonder if he cares as much for you as you do for him.
I have no clue who or what the hell that was, lol. But I do know that "culty" is also launching a campaign to destroy the platform you use to spite someone else who may or may not be a threat to your individual control of it. There was not a wimper from these same witnesses that are now all of the sudden in a "power to the people" mode when this place was getting turned into a parking lot for bots and circle jerk voting herds. Losers came in here to destroy the platform, just like this, and nothing done or said because we are decentralized. Now we are all supposed to go to war because the wrong centralization is running the "decentralization," freaking give me a break. It's also culty to out people who don't for the witnesses you want them to vote, try to censor people with dissenting opinions on discord, whatever there is a public discussion/debate on it. Both sides have shown your ass. Luckily for Justin Sun this is not even a boil on his and this is a full body case of attitude herpes on the mob's part.
Its hard to argue with people that can't see what is clearly in front of their eyes. Its called "cognitive dissonance" and very common actually.
The cultists will say "we can't let 1 man control us", yet not one of them knows who controls @pumpkin and @freedom. Kinda funny actually.
Don't spend too much energy on 'em @cryptkeeper17, they probably still believe the taliban flew planes into the World Trade Center too. After all, those passports from the wreckage proves it ;)
Slow down guys, just talkin' about the verbage and trying to point out that there's no reason to dishonor the developers that put in serious portions of their lives. Also, I'm a dev, and I know what usually happens after a large chunk of the head of a project like this ups and resigns--it means someone stepped on the wrong line and there's a severe division of ideology. I don't buy tinfoil-hat theories. I know what I know and I know what I don't. In this situation, it seems a little of both sides are right--although, it seems one side took to some underhanded approaches out of pure self-interest--and I'll admit that even that information for me is second and third-hand.
As far as decentralization goes, I get that even limiting any power to a system of representation is centralizing it to a degree anyway. My primary concern in the aftermath of all this is potential censorship or bias starting to take deeper root and dividing the community even further than it already is and setting precedents that might not work well long-term.
Again, I could be wrong. I'll play my cards, you play yours, some of us will walk away from the table better or worse off, but let's not forget we're all still at the same table for mostly the same reasons--we like playing the game. Here, we get to play that game AND be part of a better next evolution of expression and technology working together to be something better than Facebook or Twitter. We still have the same goals; I think.
I don't have anything against you or anything you said... Many points you make I agree with you. Thanks for taking the time to write your comment and best of luck to you in the future!
Dear Leader will provide.
Prolly Sun or one of his sycophants trolling on his behalf.
not on mobile
That's a shame. Hopefully the steempeak guys are working on that.
We have used @steempeak since our private beta launched last year. Any other function usually carried out through a steempress linked domain.
How centralized is Steem ownership?
I prefered using Steemleo.com but I got banned there. :(
I've always used dapps like Steampeak, dlike, etc more than Steemit.
Makes sense. I'm happy to use steempeak and travelfeed.io, for example.
Isn't Busy abandoned? You can't even upload photos there anymore. Why are you telling people to go somewhere that won't be there in the future? No front end has any sort dependability that's why I use steemit. They make a percent of the pool, therefore I trust it to continue existing long after whoever runs steempeak quits. They all quit, the chainbbs and the dlives, I only trusted Steemit to be there tomorrow. How many non updated Dapps are there? The health of the steemit ecosystem is 100 percent linked to the health of steemit.com. No matter how much people repeat the steem isn't steemit mantra.
Witnesses should have forked away Ned's stake when Ned still owned it, waiting until someone else bought it to do anything is a dick move. This place was run was run by a bunch of greedy ned fanboy witnesses who stood bye and did nothing while Ned got stinking rich
#fuckthewitnesses
Thank you voice of reason.. There are like 6 of us left
Thank God I found u guys I thought I was alone( 7 now :) )
Completely agree about this mess caused by the people running the show messing up big time
The steemit funds should have either been coded as non voting or such ( not a programmer) or treated no different to any other steem owned by anybody else otherwise who's wallet is next?
Running a business relying solely on somebody's promise that they won't do a runner with a bag of swag well we all see how that ends.
It seems we might be better off if there is a bit of a shift of power as we could do with a bit of a tidy up and certain issues being
clarified like the selfvote/bot vote issue (best remove the option( my opinion)
And quite a few more
All week Steemgeeks have been saying - use other Front ends like Steampeak...
OK - I've been using Steemit since Aug 2016 - can I log into Steampeak? - NO, buggered if I can - I usually use Opera or Brave, but I tried Firefox, and still got nowhere.
All I got was confused. I know I am a thick fucker sometimes but so are 99% of people on the internet. Steemit is already way too hard to use, and a front end that most people can't log into is not going to help matters.
If there are easy to follow instructions I'll give it a go - but I won't use Chrome, or Facebook, or Google, or Github, or any other spywear to log in, nor will I sign up for any new apps or other bollocks or use any key other than my usual Steemit posting key.
https://steemit.com/geeks/@frot/do-geeks-comprehend-that-the-people-who-write-interesting-shit-are-not-other-geeks
Interesting how many people recently try to tell me what i should do and don't do.
Hear hear, the last thing I want to hear is do this or that bc I used to matter here and now I don't so much