The cat and mouse game continues. Slowly both sides are increasing the total vote power to its witnesses. At moment of writing, 8 original Steem witnesses in the top and 12 TRON witnesses. Deadlock situation which may continue for some time to come since we have several large SP holders in our community who strategically place their witness votes to keep the status quo wrt the top 20 witness distribution. A clear sign these Steemians want us to sit at the table with TRON to start talking in a constructive manner to try and come to mutual agreeable solutions.

Last two days I've not been in any of the online sessions, hence am not sure what is going on right as we speak. Following some of the witnesses and high SP holders on Twitter, it seems to me we are still in a phase in which high level demands are made none of the sides want to give in. In summary these are:

• Steem Witnesses demand TRON to remove their witnesses in order for the Steem community to gain complete control over the chain before any discussions can take place.
• TRON demand the Steem community to 100% guarantee it will not lockup the acquired Steem stake in possession (and owned) by Steemit Inc, again.

Either side don't want to give in, and honestly, both sides will not give in, until it becomes clear a game-over situation is reached. However, I think both sides think they'll be able to win the war and both sides have sufficient resources to continue the cat and mouse game for considerable time to come. The strategically voting Steemians will make sure we'll keep the deadlock situation we have at the moment whereby no side can make any changes to the chain (16 top witnesses are required to be able to push chain changes through).

_{image published by Metal Toad (source)}

Whether we like it or not, we shall sit down with TRON. We need to start in-depth discussions. We need to understand what possible options can be considered by TRON as well as by the Steem community. Time for none-constructive blake/white statements and demands has past. Now we need to start seeking common ground. I think we will be able to find this common ground; TRON/Justin don't want to write-off their investments in Steemit Inc and Steem itself that quickly. On the other hand, the Steem community could decide to continue with its own forked chain, but this will jeopardise a whole lot more and may even result in the new chain to become totally irrelevant.

In the discussions we need to have with TRON, we shall start thinking in scenarios. The 'What If...' question needs to be asked a lot. To TRON, and TRON shall ask their 'What If...' questions to the Steem community. Answers not necessarily need to be given at the mediation/negotiation table, its standard practise in business anything discussed at the table is brought back home to further analyse the (new) information and standpoints and to refine its own position before going to the next table session.

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In support of these discussion I list a few 'What If...' scenarios below with questions that we may like TRON to give us their answers to:

• What if the Steem community wants assurance and guarantees the Steem ecosystem continues with its own blockchain?

  • Does TRON respect this requirement at all times in the future? What guarantees can be given? How will these guarantees be given?
  • Why did TRON initially wanted to bring the Steem chain into the TRON ecosystem and since then changed their views? How can the Steem community trust this change of opinion?
  • Will TRON launch its own social network on the TRON chain?
  • Will TRON launch other TRON services on the TRON and Steem chains?
  • Will TRON promote cross-chain Apps?
  • Does TRON recognise the independence of the Steem chain?
  • Does TRON see the benefits of the Steem chain, being one of the most scalable chains in the world, as well as one of the fastest chains in the world?

• What if TRON believes in the decentralised character of blockchains and cryptocurrencies?

  • Will TRON support actions that need to be taking in the Steem chain governance to better protect its decentralised character?
  • Why TRON took non-ethical steps to take control over the Steem chain?
  • Why TRON thinks centralisation (even when temporary) of the Steem chain (or any other chain for that matter) supports the credibility of cryptocurrencies?

• What if TRON is able to do whatever they want with the Steem stake of Steemit Inc?

  • After all the Tweets and proof given wrt Steemit Inc promises regarding its Steem stake; Is TRON still of the opinion it is entirely up to TRON to do whatever they want with the funds?
  • Will TRON reserve part of the stake to the development of the Steem ecosystem?
  • When not, how will TRON finance the development of the Steem ecosystem?
  • What guarantees TRON can give the Steem community for continuous developments of the Steem ecosystem? Keep in mind: promises are essentially not enough. Promises can only be acceptable when both parties do trust each other, but we are not even close.

• What if the Steem community wants TRON to reserve X percentage of the total Steem stake of Steemit Inc for development of the Steem ecosystem?

  • Is TRON willing to donate X percent of the Steemit Inc Steem stake into SPS (Steem Proposal System)?
  • How small or large is this X? Can this be 75%? 50%? Other number?
  • Is TRON willing to move Steem or Fiat money into a trust fund controlled by both, Steem community and TRON? This trust fund holds funds to be used for the Steem ecosystem development.

• What if the trust in each other stays at low levels as it is today?

  • Will TRON continue to seek solutions to give a future to Steem, its community and ecosystem?
  • Will TRON float part or all of its Steem holdings to the market?
  • Will TRON divest in Steemit Inc?
  • Will TRON sell Steemit Inc? Or dissolve it?
  • Will TRON consider a buy out of Steemit Inc by the Steem community? What will be the prime conditions?

...I can go on and on with these scenarios and questions that we shall bring to the table and get TRON to answer, but I won't...

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...I think we shall create three teams to go in more depths of what we want and need to discuss at the table, to create a strategy how we go about the clarification, mediation and negotiation rounds, how we will involve the community at large in this process, which Steem members we will appoint to lead the discussions with TRON as well as the Steem community, and so on and so forth.

These teams will work independently and come up with their own plan of approach which they will share with the other teams in a joint session. In such session (or more then one session if needed), a combined plan will be decided for. I think when organising ourselves this way, we will be most efficient in time, and most effective with the outcome.

Preferably each team consist of different type of Steemians: top witnesses, runner up (small) witnesses, investors, whales, dolphins, minnows and content creators including technical but foremost also none-technical individuals. It would be beneficial to have people with business experience in these teams as well.

To include the community at large, I think an additional (or multiple) team(s) needs to be formed to find solutions for how to involve the community at large and execute the tasks required. This could include setting up a Discord server, a website holding the latest information of the whole process, running polls, bundling feedback from the community, and so on and so forth.

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I'm of the opinion we need to have all options open when negotiating with TRON leadership Roy and Justin. We shall not block anything at the moment. We shall try and find mutual beneficial solutions. And I can't stress more, the solutions we agree on, the decisions we'll have to make, needs to have the long future of our blockchain in mind at all times! Everything needs to be thought through in-depth, based on facts, accompanied by in-depth analysis and proof. Ideas and solution without in-depth analyses and truthful conclusions are just opinions. No business survives based on opinions.

I'm not a specialist on blockchains, nor am I a specialist of the witnesses system and governance we have around our chain. I'm not a developers. I'm just a small fish. But a tiny fish with a big believe in what Steem started out to do a few years ago.

Regardless all the drama we've been through last years, the ups but definitely also our downs, I never got myself detached from the chain. I can call myself a passionate Steemian and that is the reason for me to write this post, to inspire our community, to support the next steps we have to make with TRON, and to share my thoughts. In case yo agree we shall work together, I definitely like to be actively involved in one or the other way. I have only one condition: We organise ourselves in a way that is practical, eg in teams and structure I mentioned before.

Lets Build our Steem Future Together

a STEEM original
by a Passionated Steemian

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^{steem blockchain curator for @illuminati-inc and @qsounds}