RE: New STEEM... It's not like OLD STEEM
Okay... I've been here only since March. I've done well, but I have a certain toleration for being able to do what I need to do in the midst of head-spinning situations (thank you, teenage migraines), and picked up key support early...
But I read @penguinpablo every day on his Steem stats report, and Steem has three HUGE problems that interlink. Massive power downs, DAILY, in an environment in which activity remains steady and new signups are tailing off and HAVE BEEN tailing off steadily. The power downs, I don't have a suggestion about -- out of my minnow league (but hey, @streetstyle, getting folks to power up on a GRAND scale is your league, so maybe come speak on it).
What I do have a suggestion about is needing to find a way to onboard people and show them a path to success -- engagement, some kind of steady drip of cash -- SOMETHING. The stats show the system is losing steam -- there is no way around that, because if you have 1,400-1,500 new people coming in every week but engagement stays roughly flat, that means 1,400-1,500 have STOPPED engaging in that same time period. We are bringing fewer people in the front door while about the same amount are going out the back, along with those massive power downs.
Here's how we solve this: get high-value prospects on a curation trail at the start, just for them. I stayed because a kind orca/whale (I don't know the exact breakdown, but thank you, @carlgnash) delegated me enough SP so I could thank all the people who came through on my first posts, and that led to some decent early payouts in Steem terms for a red fish as those that I engaged with decided they would follow me. That was my early trail -- but that was not guaranteed. Let's make it guaranteed for those for who bring quality to the blockchain.
I came to this epiphany this week, when I realized: a lot of my support is from curation trails from different communities of Steemians ... I sort of backed into this position, not knowing what was going on. Now, all I have to do is maintain quality, and post regularly ... those trails provide me some income, and I realize I can now go take quality work and introduce myself to new communities that have trails. Not that many people are staying around to go through the process of backing into this position, and we can't afford not to retain the quality people among the 1,400-1500 a week that are coming in. So, start folks off right: get them onboard, watch how well they perform with #introduceyourself and just after, get them on a dedicated quality newbie curation trail, teach them how to position themselves to find other support.
We need to be INTENTIONAL about this, and the stats don't suggest we have a ton of time to figure this out. At the present rate of decline, we will have a situation in which more people are going out the back door than coming before the end of the year. Don't believe me? Here are the stats again; scroll down until you see the stats of new users, and tell me what direction they are clearly trending in. Engagement, combined with a little steady cash, will give new users incentive to stick around and see how great Steem is and can be -- we can solve this problem within existing resources AND, since HF21 gives more to curators, even make that an advantage to EVERYONE.
I agree with you. This is not an easy place to be. It is not just social media or a nice platform where you find a warm welcome. I left and came back after months. I know many who came with me and they left.
I find it hard to promote something I hardly understand myself.
Many contents about steem start in the middle of... and you need to be an insider to understand how or what.
Another problem is the language.
The faq is not easy, it's all in English and to most English is not their native language.
The step by step guide is missing, so are the ways how to be able to post and comment.
Not able to do so if you are new is the most ridiculous thing a platform can have.
There is no way you can search for "how to power up/get more SP", " why can't I comment on a post". I know it cost me a lot of stress.
I believe many switch steemit for palnet now (although it beats me how to stake and sell/buy there) and who knows steemleo or publish0x suits more people too.
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Hi @wakeupkitty have you tried some discords like PAL ,or Steemchat discord ?
You can meet a lot of great people. It can be sort of rough on Steem to get traction with people.
This may surprise you, but at under 5000 SP myself I am a minnow :) But I was happy to delegate some SP to you at the beginning of your steem journey, and happy you are still here.
I think in general, people need to be careful about conflating users/retention with value for Steem, and also about conflating STEEM (the token) with Steem the blockchain.
Users who power up Steem add value to STEEM the token, while users who power down and sell lower the value of STEEM the token - but of course, in both cases, by far the major driver of price of STEEM is speculative investment (or in the case of STEEM, lack thereof, currently). It is important to note that simply being an active user is neutral to price of STEEM, what matters is how much STEEM is held vs. how much is sold. I am of the personal opinion that the current situation with low STEEM prices and major holders powering down is actually good for Steem, the blockchain. For the first time in the history of Steem blockchain, the wealth distribution is improving. Whales powering down and a growing lower/middle class of users powering up = good for Steem the blockchain, even if it is bad for the price of STEEM the token.
Well, @carlgnash, you may just be a big minnow, but you have the heart of the noblest of whales ... your kindness tokens are off the chain ... or, I should say, on the blockchain for as long as the world lasts!
I really appreciate your taking the time to explain STEEM the token vs. Steem the blockchain ... so, the thing to watch for is speculative investment, which us newbies have no idea about on this side of the looking glass ... I'm glad to have the clues to use before I go look at the stats again. I do see in those stats what you are referring to in terms of wealth distribution also; there ARE a lot of mid-sized and small power-ups, and the fact that posts and comments are staying stable means that even with folks coming in the front door and blowing out the back, the committed Steemians might just be able to hang on and keep powering up enough until investors pick up on what is being done on an improving blockchain, and get involved in a sustained way -- which will then bring up the token.
I hope that you are right, @carlgnash. I still think it would help to onboard people in a way that gives them incentive to stay around long enough to figure out how this all works so that they, too, have something to power up sooner, and more often. But at least I don't have to be as concerned about what looks like a slow-motion crash and burn... and since I wasn't going anywhere yet anyhow, I suppose I will just take my newbie self away to go create my next post...
BTW I certainly wasn't meaning to imply that there was no need to do what you say and onboard people in a way that they stick around. That is actually one of the clearest and easiest paths forward that I see, and unfortunately, one that the new "economic incentive plan" proposed in the hardfork will make much tougher. At the top with the large stakeholders who make these decisions, there is a general opinion that the smallest accounts really don't matter. This is actually ignoring the reality of the situation, which is that the smallest accounts are the only thing working currently, and the best thing that Steem (the blockchain) has going in terms of users. There is a tremendous incentive to power up when you are a new user. The 15 SP delegated to you doesn't even allow you to make more than a handful of comments, so the first 50 SP earned or so is almost always powered up by an account that wants to be able to transact. Onboard a thousand new users into communities of supportive folk and they will power up 50,000 SP in short order. One new whale investor that earns 50,000 SP from delegations to a bid bot will sell that amount. I personally am fine with the price remaining low and the larger stakeholders selling, while the small accounts grow. Steem has always had a terribly uneven stake distribution right from the beginning, and the current system and price of STEEM is working to help solve that.
But ultimately, it isn't investors or small accounts using Steem blockchain as a social media / blogging platform that is the future of Steem the blockchain. It is DAPP development. Price of STEEM being low is actually a great thing there, it allows DAPPs to buy enough resources at a low price for their users to record custom json transactions to the blockchain. Until/unless the demand for SP to provide resource credits for DAPPs exceeds the short term profit possible from leasing SP to bid bots, Steem isn't going anywhere. When that point does come though, bid bot problem will solve itself.
@carlgnash -- I did go on and make my new post... people like me just don't understand giving up, and even under the new EIP, I expect to do well. I don't expect that you expect to not do well. What I don't want to see, down the line, is folks talking about "Steem is great, but there was no way for newbies from summer 2019 to find a way to enjoy it." I don't want that to be the case on Steemit -- HOWEVER, I do see that perhaps it could be another DAPP that will get the job done. I intend in the very near future to start exploring Steempress to publish more extended writing works, for example. Perhaps the Steem journey could best be thought of as a relay race... the whole team wins in the end.
About bid bots I have nothing of great intelligence to say, except that I know from those stats that they account for only around .44 percent of transactions. That must be a powerful .44 percent, if they account for all those massive power downs -- and yes, there is no way for Steem the token to rise significantly under those conditions. That said, it makes sense to just hang on with Steem the blockchain and just stack STEEM and power it up at this low cost -- especially before the EIP, when it is easier for authors to do that stacking. To me, nothing will be lost; the discipline it takes to do enough to get rewarded around here pays off everywhere. What will be gained by HODLing if things turn out well will be quite wonderful. So, off I go to start planning future posts... the stacking WILL continue!