Calling on All the Smart Folks Here!!!
Today I was talking with a close friend about Steemit and the world surrounding it. He is fairly tired of my cheerleading but is open to learning. He is a doubting Thomas when it comes to this place, what it can do, and how it works as a whole. He is an extremely intelligent guy and in all honesty...one of my smartest friends. He asks questions and raises points just to play devil's advocate and to learn a bit more about whatever the conversation is about. So it was no surprise today when we were talking that I began to get frustrated at nearly every turn as I didn't have the answers he was looking for. He questioned everything I threw at him and in all honesty, raised some valid questions that I just could not answer...but would like to be able to next time these topics come up.
So I am calling on the community here. I am asking all the smart minds that are here to help me in answering or even just clearing up the murky responses I was giving to him. Because I am now wondering myself. I thought I had a fairly decent understanding and grasp on certain things but apparently I do not as the questions kept on coming, and I kept on derping. Basically...I am stupid...so...help me please.
SMT's
For starters...SMT'S. I was excited about the idea of what these could offer. To small businesses, websites, communities. I have heard the phrase "Tokenize the Web" thrown around a bunch and it sounds great. As a small business owner, I think it would be great to have a turnkey system in place for me to intergrade my website with so I can offer customers a token that can be redeemed for exclusive merchandise, experiences, excusive content, coupons, and more.
His response was "What is different about that from a points/rewards system?" I threw out the idea of something like ESPN .com creating a token that can be used for the same shit I mentioned above and for their premium subscription. He said what's different about that from what already exists with businesses that offer a point system. He gave an example of Hilton Hotel Rewards or his Airline miles. He said that he earns them by doing things involved with those businesses and he can spend them on rewards and other nonsense.
I mentioned an exchange where these tokens can be traded or swapped out with other tokens and he thought that was more of a detriment than a positive which I didn't agree with. He asked a ton of other questions about SMT'S and basically said that he does not understand the draw as places already can offer their base a rewards through points or other programs as millions of places already do.
Creating Accounts
He was appalled at the fact that creating an account through Steemit.com can take upwards to a week or more. He wondered how many people we have lost due to that fact, and couldn't fathom any reason why the account creation process was not instantaneous. I explained that there are pay options for instant access like @steem.ninja and that there is basically a cost to create an account on the chain. This disgusted him even more and said that it was a major turnoff if people had to pay for an account. I agree that it should not take as long as it does.
I will speak from personal experience in trying to recruit folks through my shop, that one fella waited over 2 weeks and by the time he got his acceptance or confirmation email...he simply lost interest.
Simplicity
One of the biggest critiques of his was just how damn complicated everything is. Now this is not exclusive to the Steem blockchain...this is understand. But I do feel that until things are made easier for the average joe to understand and work with, we will never even sniff the thought of mass adoption. A few of these "complicated" issues surround...
- Passwords - The fact that there are several, long, complicated passwords used for different purposes is something that once again I have heard several people that I have personally tried to or actually did drag on...bitch about. I understand it's purpose. There is delicious money at stake here so it needs to be secured well. I don't know how to simplify this sadly.
- Steem/SP/SBD - My buddy still didn't understand the difference between Steem and Steem Power. When I explained it to him that Steem Power is just basically banked Steem, he just said "There has to be a better way of explaining this to people." Is he wrong?!?
- Search Function - He said he tried to search several topics to find anything about them and what came up was a nightmare. I will agree with him on this. This function is abysmal and seems to have gotten worse in the 18 months I have been on the platform. I had no rebuttal on this one...
Identity
We also spoke about what Steemit is...or is trying to be...or doesn't want to be. Are we a place where people of similar interests can come together and grow? Is is a place to come and earn money? Is it both? Neither? Something else entirely?!?
I kinda (poorly I am sure) explained my thoughts that this was a decentralized platform for folks to come and share information. In return they can be rewarded, own and take control of their content, reward others, and hopefully utilize those rewards in other facets. I love the idea of a regular Joe coming here and blogging about...whatever...in my field it would be something super nerdy like action figures or comics. In my vision they can (eventually) be in a community solely devoted to those specific topics of interest. They can discuss with other likeminded folks and earn a token that is coveted in that community as it can be utilized in games built on the platform, spent at a shop for merch., and so on. He asked where ANY of those things are and all I could say was that some of these things are being worked on. That it takes time and so on. He wasn't impressed with my defense...
Blockchain's Permanence
One thing that he hate's about this place is how whatever you pop up here...will remain up there for all to see forever. He cited the obvious recent issues plaguing comedians and prominent figures such as politicians, athletes, actors, and other entertainers. How yanking an old Tweet or post made years earlier could ruin a career. How people's opinions can change or differ over time and that the fact of not being able to delete posts can be troublesome. Thoughts?
There were other discussions as well but this is what I can kinda remember off the top of my head. So my plea is this...
Can you guys who are way smarter and more capable at answering these types of questions...shine some light on these things? What is being done about some or all of these issues? An SMT's for Dummies course would be awesome and much appreciated. I am going to see what kind of responses this garners and I hope he pops on here for some valid discussions. He is already a member and has an account. I hope to drag him back onto this specific thread for some tasty back and forth that I hope will be eye opening and educational for him, myself, and any others that are not super clear on certain issues. I look forward to the responses.
If you know of someone who might be able to deliver and shed some light on these questions in proper detail, please tag em in the comments so they see this. Thanks a ton and shit...Steem is under .12 cents...go buy some and Power Up ya slackers!!!
Blewitt
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://iblewitt.com/?p=235
tell him if he's too cheap to pay 3 steem to join, we don't want him anyway lol
Too dumb to help with the rest:)
That.
Regarding SMT's
This isn't likely going to convince anyone, but already the first difference is that it is on decentralized infrastructure, meaning that the token owner is bound by certain rules regarding the token itself. For example, they cannot arbitrarily remove tokens from one's wallet.
The other is the ability to layer a reward system analogous to Steem that can reward based on votes. The white paper outlines the vision in detail.
You can point to all the different token sites like https://palnet.io as an inkling for what it looks like now (splitting into individual communities, in a sense), but I think the vision goes beyond this.
STEEM vs STEEM Power
The main difference I would point out is that SP gives you more influence over the reward pool, governance (witness voting), as well as other perks like getting part of inflation. In exchange, you lock an amount of STEEM up.
Identity
The way I think of this from an extremely high level is that we are building up a parallel economic system. The rewards encourages participants, as well as a system where SP holders can decide how a certain reward fund (coming from rewards minted by the blockchain at a predetermined rate / inflation) is distributed. Given a wide distribution, and wide participation (yes this is a bit problem right now), and developing goods/services/other value exchange, we can bootstrap an alternative economy that is not controlled by any government or individual entity (although to some degree a small number have significant influence over the direction of the blockchain itself, but that is limited in scope).
For example, I frequently am using steem to tap into things like SteemMonsters purchases, VPS (privex), or accepting Steem for certain programming tasks. It really can be anything as long as you have two willing parties .
Permanence
I'm just going to point out that the examples cited are also reasons why it doesn't matter. People change, so dated documents should be interpreted with that in mind. But okay, there's probably so much that doesn't get dug up because they were deleted, and that's fair (although anything that has been public at a given time has a tendency to be archived somewhere anyway). Nothing much to say here, but to interact with the knowledge that it will likely stick around forever. You can edit posts out to make it harder to see immediately but anyone that wants to dig it up (edit history) will be able to do so.
One can also interpret this as saying that permanence encourages better behavior. Not that it stops people from staying pseudoanonymous if they so choose, so there's always that option.
You shouldn't have to convince anyone or defend anything. Good products or services speak for themselves... Unfortunately anything Steem related is no where close to good. This is very easy too identify for the avg Joe. Having a vision and direction for the future is very hard. Steemit definately needs to start with solid direction and development. But Im not here to explain where things are going wrong and how to fix it. That wold cost you all alot of $$$$$. And no one would want to hear what is actually necessary in order to stop failing. They have to figue that out for themselves. Cheers Blewitt
I did, I did!
It is hideously complex. Tell him, he may not be intelligent enough to take all this in. The average IQ is 95 or so.. and everyone here beats that significantly?
No.., probably wont work. I intend to ask a LOT about SMT's at SF4. I want to create an Urbex community.. just for me.. to start.
Lololol
I’ll pass along that info to him. Lol
Yeah, I really want to know more about them.
Shit, I really wish I was attending this year but its a total longshoremen. Not impossible but very unlikely. 😞
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I'm sure you said that last year...!!
I actually did. Stalker...
Posted using Partiko iOS
I don't know if my explanation will help, but here's how I think about and how I"d explain it to my mother if needed.
Steem is a currency, just like the US Dollar or Mexican Peso. And like the US Dollar or Mexican Peso, it can be used to buy goods or be traded and exchanged.
"Steem Power" is a Savings Account that earns interest and let's the bank make loans.
"SMTs" are tokens that use the underlying infrastructure built by Steemit. They're a tradable, liquid good. Imagine going to a festival where they sell "Festival Dollars" that can be traded in that festival like money. Same thing.
This is all different from a points system in that the tokens and Steem are liquid commodities and currency that can be traded and sold for other liquid commodities and currency. Points on a credit card are not liquid currency. They're not even that liquid.
As for creating a Steem account and using it... yeah... that needs work. I actively wanted a place that wasn't Facebook to share my random thoughts, so I was happy to wait. I suspect most people aren't. And considering many people have a hard time remembering passwords, let alone four different keys for four different purposes, and we have a confusing interface. Fingerprint readers would be awesome, but certainly difficult to distribute. Maybe a good Two Factor Authentication system would help. Hmmm.
Performance of the Steem coin is also an issue, not only for users, but for all crypto. In my mind the biggest obstacle to taking crypto more mainstream is its volatility. 5-10% price changes daily, or hourly, do not make for a stable currency that can be used by the masses. I don't have a solution for that.
Anyway, hope this helps!
Very nice answer!
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You reckon you're a dummy? I read all the above comments and still don't get it, and I run a tribe lol!
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