What is it about STEEM that its tanking so hard? // An open letter to STEEMIT.INC
I have been thinking lately as to why STEEM is performing so abysmally compared to all other cryptocurrencies.
We can talk all we want about the bear market and how every coin is performing badly in relation to USD but as someone that doesnt really care much about fiat values, i cant not stop and look:
48th in market cap....
With all this talk about community and friendships and belief in the "power of the people", we are slipping. Remember when we talked about Blocktivity?
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Not many are talking about it now. Steem is dropping down the ladder fast in every regard. Where is this community that we praise so much? The user base?
What is it that we have here that should reassure us that STEEM will regain top 20 in market cap after some time?
It surely isnt STEEMIT.INC.
I put all my chips on SMTs. Every sliver of hope i had for this blockchain to succeed i had riding on SMTs.
And now that is pushed back with the layoffs.....
I wanted to migrate my business here. Run it atop of the STEEM blockchain and now im looking and all i see is STEEM sliding into the abyss.
How in the world have things gotten so screwed up?
Remind you, i dont care about USD values. Im talking in relation to other blockchains.
We have a entry level blockchain with huge potential for growth, potential for creating a whole society on top of it and we are going down the shitter.
Steemit is basically Facebook that pays you for upvotes!
HOW CAN SOMEONE FUCK THAT UP?
Look, i dont know whos to blame, but with anything in life you always need to go to the source. And the source is @ned and @dan.
Dan left and Ned took it upon himself to run the majority stake in the STEEM blockchain. And as much as i always am behind the management of whatever company i might invest in..... and as much as i can have understanding for someone running a multi-million dollar company, i have to say that this is really bad.....
It gotten so bad that @ned is looking for allies in Tron. In Tron.
Now... its relatively easy to disregard opinions of anyone that criticizes Ned. "They dont know. They never done what hes doing"... But the truth of the matter is... Ned is fucking up. Big time.
I dont care about the premine. I dont care that Steemit.inc holds, 20%,30%,40% of all stake but i do care when they show gross mismanagement of that stake...
There is absolutely no way that someone can lead a company to 70% layoffs without suffering severe consequences.
And Steemit.inc and Ned try to pass this off as something "normal"... As a consequence of "the bear market"...
No.. that explanation doesnt cut it.
I have worked with people that could buy the whole blockchain 10 times over...People that jumped from a ship in the New York harbor with nothing in their pockets and became multi-millionaires in their lifetimes. I even tried to contact Steemit.inc about trying to attract those investors i know, but half way i realized that putting my reputation and the reputation of my family, that took 3 generations to build, on the line while STEEM is slipping down to obscurity was an extremely idiotic thing that could hurt me badly...
I hold some pocket change in STEEM. 3-4k STEEM in total and my influence is basically 0.... I tried to be a part of communities, but my stomach turns when i see the absolute incompetence of leadership even at those low levels. Echo chambers and petty power games for a few dozen STEEM.
Never once is the power of the community utilized, or even attempted to be used in any regard. @timcliff being the only one ive seen that tried to do that and that mostly failed due to "lack of individual short term gain" for some.
Everything has become perverted. Communities locked in self gratification. "Feel good" meetings where the sole goal is immediate motivation to "not quit".
Im a part of @helpie (after today i probably wont be) and that group of individuals are extremely capable in absolutely everything they do. Each of them screened before accepted into the group......
And do you know what the weekly meetings look like?
They shill posts and spend time rewarding those that "make the most comments on posts".
One of the most influential communities on the STEEM blockchain spends time on kindergarten nonsense.
Give me a 100 people and ill move a nation.
To hell with communism, but Lenin started the Bolshevik revolution with less.
But it all starts with you @ned. When people see that STEEMIT.INC isnt doing anything in regards to "spreading the word", isnt putting in any visible marketing efforts, then the community leaders play kindergarten games and dont do jack as well.
You are a role model for everyone here, for better and worse. Even for those that criticize you the most.
In my country of Croatia we had a prime minister (Ivo Sanader) that was corrupt, that pushed us back 10 years and at that time the general sentiment was to follow in his footsteps. Most in position of power and young people copied how he acted and what he did.
Same thing here on Steem..
If Steemians perceive you as static and incompetent, then they will not put in the effort to do anything of value.
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Its never good when a change in management happens, but the truth of the matter is that you need to step down or you need to get HELP...
To end this post with some kind of recommendation as to not having it seem as im criticizing without offering a solution...
1.Utilize the power of the community. I made a post about this a few weeks back and i emphasized that "call to action" like the one we had during the NETCOINS hype needs to be repeated time and time again and used in any way possible. Simply because ITS FREE.
2. Use the damn devs you have on STEEM that believe in the success of STEEM. @heimindanger acts like an ass with his childish feuds with Bernie, but ive never seen someone so invested in the success of STEEM. FFS he earns less then most Dtubers. There are so many like him that will put in the work if their voice is listened to.
3. Shove your ego in a box and beat it with a stick @ned. Your last youtube livestream was painful to watch. You didnt even acknowledge @andrarchy was sitting next to you. If you dont show appreciation for others then you will never be seen as a "strong leader" or a capable CEO. All you will get are ass kissers, and those you can find where ever you look.
4. Cut everything else. Go with @smooth proposal and move attention from STEEMIT to STEEM.
If you can pull off SMTs then that is something that could turn everything around. But dont do anything if you cant back it with a strong promotion.. Promotion, brand recognition and marketing in general is everything in the crypto market.
If you can pull off SMTs then that is something that could turn everything around. But dont do anything if you cant back it with a strong promotion.. Promotion, brand recognition and marketing in general is everything in the crypto market.
@jerrybanfield, for all his dishonest and borderline fraudulent conduct and having the STEEM community label him as a lunatic has done more for promotion of the STEEM blockchain then all the community leaders combined. And we all know thats the truth..
Let me tell you a story.
During the war of independence in Croatia in the 90s a high ranked military member came to my fathers small town of Dugopolje to gather those that will defend the country. All the families came together and met on the main square in the town. Young men came forward, their mothers and fathers speaking in their place...
"Hes a nice young man. Never gets in trouble. Always does his chores and works hard."
One after the other came and always the same story was told while the military man stood and watched unimpressed..
Finally he spoke and said:
I dont need nice young men. I need those that can shoot and kill another man when it comes to it...
I know its harsh but STEEM doesnt need hugs, pats on the back and kindergarten playtime. We need motivated individuals that can do what needs to be done.
Thats about it... Ill bot this a bit for exposure.
In my opinion, the reason it is tanking so hard is too much apathy about immediate (in some cases 'small') problems and not enough fanaticism driven toward continuous improvement. Big initiatives with many months or even years of time horizon take precedence over immediate issues, coupled with a poor track record (which just got poorer) of actually delivering on these bold ambitions.
To make an analogy, imagine you have a small restaurant, and you are planning a big relocation and expansion in 1-2 years. Does that mean that you stop mopping the floors, changing dead light bulbs, fixing broken windows, ensuring that food is prepared well and comes from quality vendors, employees are providing excellent service? No, because if you do that, by the time you get to your big expansion, you won't have any customers (in the case of Steem, users and investors). What you want to do is passionately maintain and improve your existing restaurant so that by the time the expansion is ready, you have a long line of customers out the door every day who can't fit in your smaller restaurant who can't wait to fill the bigger one.
Now what happens if you don't clean the floors, pick up trash, don't change the dead light bulbs, fix broken windows, the employees give crappy service, and the food is garbage? You will have no customers and potentially run out of money long before you even get to your planned expansion opening. Or if not, then you may instead fail when your expansion opens and it is empty. Any of this sound familiar?
Success in competitive markets goes to those who channel extreme fanaticism into effective execution (which means being able to both plan a 'major expansion' and fanatically deliver continuous excellence and continuous improvement on what you already have). That includes a lot of 'boring' details and hard work (and often, long hours), and effectively multitasking between the small maintenance tasks and working on the bold exciting future.
In all honesty I don't know if it is possible for Steem's (and Steemit's) development process to operate in this manner. It is radically different from the existing culture, and that sort of change doesn't seem easy, even in a time of crisis. I hope I'm wrong.
For too long most of us were unaware of the issues present with Steemit.inc operations. Not many people have access to Neds Telegram chat room or his email address, phone number... Up until now, it was all guesswork as to what was happening. But now the issues are clearer.
The main failure i see here is actually something Ned did say on the livestream. But he said it in such a way that he used that failure as almost a positive attribute of himself and his team..
They spread themselves thin in every regard, like butter over a football field sized slice of bread.
Thats what i mean when i say mismanagement. Ned can say that they are hardworking and "do a lot of stuff" but its on the CEO to allocate resources in a effective and sustainable way. That clearly hasnt been done.
You just cant spread your resources on so many different things in a volatile market like this. Its an enormous burden and something will give eventually.
And the large stakeholders who had/have the most to lose watched all this happen and did not try to take out the garbage or reward the good servers and the hosts.
They staked and burnt coins and continue to ignore those who were and are trying to build engagement, hold stake, and attempt to do the cleaning.
We all played a role in where we are today, it seems that talking about went wrong is still a greater priority than fixing it.
This i think is a good point Smooth made though its made in another context then what i will say.. Imo, there has been too much focus on talking about engagement and rewarding quality creators/contributors (even if that hasnt been realized to a great degree) in comparison to the focus we have on external presence of steem in the crypto ecosystem.
Everything else equal, a nation with 2 million people is twice as rich as the nation with 1 million.
We have the tools we need but we lack any kind of leadership. It doesnt need to be a single guy, it can be many but those many act like kindergarten teachers.
I really hoped that community leaders would learn a lesson from the Netcoins, "call to action" hype.. What clearer example at what can be done do you need?
But no, ship is taking in water and they are playing kindergarten games.
I dont have to power to do anything and after this, even if i tried id be shot down, but maybe this post rattles some feathers and those "leaders" start moving their butts.
You are not alone thinking like that. I've met many people sharing your way of seeing things. I haven't lost hope, perhaps you'll hang on tight too and at some point we'll come up with a solution.
Oh if Steem goes down im going down with the ship. No doubt about it. 50 feet under water ill be holding my breath and waving my bucket around as if im throwing out the water.
Still. Id rather it not come to that. 😉
There is only one 'large' stakeholder that matters here.
People with 1/2%-3% are not really large stakeholders and they certainly have little say in how development happens (believe me, we have tried).
Your points about rewarding engagement and such are focusing on the social layer which can help things to some extent but has desperately needed improvements for years but has been ignored in favor of long term initiatives that have largely been a bust and probably a huge waste of money (though I'm not privy to the spending records).
There is no substitute for effective development when you start with a system that was barely a proof of concept at launch. The first several months saw a good deal of continuous improvement but after that things went badly awry.
Okay, your points are valid. I just can't see continuing to depend on what has proven to be undependable.
When there is still only one large stakeholder there isn't a choice. Other than a community fork to redistribute stake, and that's a big can of worms.
Like it or not when you hitched your wagon to Steem, you hitched it to Steemit too. Let's hope they can get their shit together, because such hope or just writing it off as a loss are the plausible alternatives at this point. My comments are meant as constructive tough love. I think they are that too.
You've always been blunt and honest and hence someone who's opinion I value.
Which is why I am disappointed to hear you say this, because you are likely right.
Being blunt and honest doesn't necessarily make me correct. I could be completely wrong, though I don't think so.
I've been somewhat of a skeptic but have also kept an open mind on things and sometimes defended Steemit Inc against what I saw as unfair or incorrect criticisms. However, after enough experience, one can start to reach some stronger conclusions and this case they are not favorable ones. I do hope that they make some big changes. If not then the time will likely come when those who, despite further failures and disappointment, continue to support Steem as a blockchain (of which I may or may not be one) will need to consider a strategy for a post-Steemit Steem.
Stronger conclusions based on experiencing further failures and disappointment. I can relate with those words. I tried to envision a post-steemit-steem blockchain. It's non-existent.
Constructive tough love, when directed at the insecure and those with a fragile ego, is only ever seen as personal attacks....unfortunately..
A-fucking-men, and I was the bad guy for yelling all this for over a year, now I'm just annoyed that people are only NOW figuring it out and any "I told you so" is pointless. I wrecked a good portion of my real life for this place with personal investment in time, energy, educational assistance to thousands of users, charity, contributions to communities and individuals and trying to to wake people up, and I brought similar scale investor connection potential and over 30 years of tech experience to the table. Too late now, for me to give a rats ass. Myself and others like me are "over it" now, and all the rah rah ass kissing, kool aid drinking pedantics you defined so well.
When the go-fish non-game card game dries up in interest (remember crypto kitties on eth? Yeah neither does anybody else) this place is done for, if DRASTIC changes aren't made. Yes I was shouting iceberg for a fucking YEAR or more and now I think it may be too late to turn the ship.
Great post @lordbutterfly and I have to disagree with @ned in saying it is 'profane'. You are not the only person that feels this way, and this is mild way of putting how a lot of the the community are feeling. @ned should take note, the is a lot more profanity elsewhere.
Ah @jerrybanfield, why do you think he was supported so much as a witness, he brought the traffic. But its not steemit incs job to market, and what I get from their message is that they want to focus on development, not marketing and its because they dabbled with other stuff, they lost focus. Now the shit has hit the fan.
marketing is required, no questions asked, but there is nothing getting in the way of you or I setting up a 'marketing' department, just like we have set up communities. Why do you want steemit inc to do stuff they are shit at? there are way better marketeers here on steem that the skills steemit inc now have. All we need is a great leader to do so. The business side of steem does not have to be done by steemit inc. its a decentralized blockchain, well its meant to be.
I previously set up a department here on steem, Blockchain Business Intelligence, people were actively learning to analyze steem blockchain data and I was providing free training for those that wanted to learn. Things were going very well until utopian came in and I could not match the votes lol.
Maybe if steemit inc see promising 'department' like communities the will consider delegations to help them add the business value that is needed. But right now, steemit inc needs to focus on the blockchain, scalability problems and creating SMTS.
So tell me, what business do you have that you would like to move, because I am personally in the process of moving mine and Id love to hear more about yours?
"Not Steemit.inc job. Not a job for @ned".
It doesnt really matter whos job it is, but Ned is the only leader we have however bad at his job some would say he is. Im all for decentralization but you need a leader, a face, to take you to a point where the platform could be self sustainable in every regard. We arent close to that point so our ship needs a captain.
Ned is being shy about it too much.
You can point to community leaders, but which community leader would you put forward and say: "This is the guy."
The community leaders we have arent "leaders", they are babysitters.
We need people with the quality of Bernie and Fyrst that push forward strong opinions and take no bs. Its just a shame that people like them seem to lack other leadership qualities necessary or they just lack the will to lead. Participating in petty feuds and on-chain controversies.
Cesar wasnt a great leader because he hugged his fellow Romans or play dice with them... He was a great leader because he marched his 13th legion across the Rubicon.
Someone needs to take charge and fast. When will we act? When STEEM falls to 60 in market cap? 80? How about below a 100?
My business isnt important because its silly to even consider it. I contacted a few devs before the layoff news in the SteemDevs discord chat. I talked a bit with them and decided to wait and see what happens. I work in tourism and had an idea for a front end on the STEEM blockchain that would act as regular website for my business with stake based purchases and crypto payment integration...
The market cap is what I look at too. Not the price and yes this issue bugs the heck out of me. I also agree there is a lot of hand holding and babysitting going on and not enough true leadership. I do hear what you are saying, but I respectfully disagree in the mindset of having one true leader of a decentralized platform.
Btw, i don't think its silly to consider your business options with steem , we still have everything to play for and you might end up regretting not being 'ready' to take action when the time is right.
I didnt mean a leader as to having 1 person to dictate everything. Which is why im saying to "dump" (rather fade out) STEEMIT.
What i do think is that we need a "figurehead" that will create "calls to action", that is able to move the community in a specific direction, someone that can develop a "cult of personality" around himself. Someone strong willed, opinionated and outspoken...
I could do analogies all day hehe: "A Steem Jesus with the community being his apostles".
Someone that can stand toe to toe with Tone Vays and Roger Vers of the world.
We need a guy like that. Someone that will leave the confounds of the STEEM blockchain and "take the fight" out there.
Ned just seems to nice. Like he played tennis in white sweaters as a kid and never got into a fight in his life.
We need someone and Ned is currently all we have. Question is if he will step up to the plate.
I'm happy to see you're all pumped up, full of piss and vinegar.
I personally think it's a terrible idea to dump Steemit. What was Jerry attempting to attract people to? Where did those people come? Why did some stay?
What is Steem Monsters without the constant barrage of Steem Monsters promotions. Where did the Steem Monsters community come from? Some of those producing content for Steem Monsters came from Steemit. A lot of the money from Steemit's content producers found it's way over to Steem Monsters.
Many of us became investors in Steem because of Steemit. Not many who now use other front ends started on those front ends, they started here on Steemit.
This platform is like the gate that allows people to cross the bridge that leads to a massive city of potential. I'm not trying to sound like a cheer leader either, I honestly can't stand that shit, but being realistic combined with my years of experience and observations over that time leads me to believe this token is nothing without this platform. Anything about any other development on this blockchain starts here, on Steemit. The witnesses wouldn't have been able to campaign to be top witnesses without placing words into Steemit and allowing members here to read them.
@Ned likes to talk about how they proved to the world what can be done with a blockchain based app, so why take that proof and flush it down the toilet? If Steemit was a simple faucet, why are there incentives in place to hold the token so one has say in what goes where when it comes to content on this platform? What do all of these people do with their bag full of tokens if they can't be used as a tool anymore? What the hell am I supposed to do with the business I've built here if my business plan depended on the rules of the venue? Every business depends on the rules of the venue. What good is something like 4000 followers if there's no stage to perform on? Sure, I'll use another front end, but does that only mean I'm in the city now, stuck, not able to advance, because they closed the gate and blew up the bridge? Like I said, thinks like Steem Monsters are nothing without this bridge, and that goes the same for anyone else developing on this blockchain. Just because I'm doing art, that doesn't mean I'm not developing a business. I didn't come here to just fuck around and share content. I'm an entrepreneur, risking it all, trying to be a one of the first digital artists fully monetized on that digital currency and no site of a middleman anywhere, which is something literally unheard of in this world until now. Blow up that bridge, I feel like I've wasted two years of my life building a business, and this token loses another investor. So many others already left and took their money with them. How is that approach good for business? Alright I'm just going off here. So many questions. Probably wasting my time.
To be clear on this my proposal was never to "Dump Steemit". It was for Steemit Inc. to (via an orderly sunset process) stop operating an expensive UI and free node service (something no other blockchain developer does to my knowledge). There are numerous other UIs which access the same Steem-based social platform including eSteem, Partiko, steempeak, etc.,etc. Some of these also operate their own nodes and appear to be doing so less expensively than Steemit Inc.
The original steemit.com UI is already only about 50% of the usage and that is dropping (pretty much expected since it isn't being developed and improved and the others are). As far the actual steemit.com domain they can either offer a contract for someone else to take it over (possibly merge it into one of the other apps) or turn it into a lighter-weight, lower cost, and less distracting to operate site with just a wallet and a directory of UIs to access the social blockchain apps (or some combination).
This has no impact on your 4000 followers and in fact might help them grow faster.
Being clear is something everyone needs to be working on, including me.
Several UIs all performing the same functions. Will that be cheaper than one solid UI performing those functions? Probably not. If we're talking saving resources, I'd suggest everyone get on the same page. Too many cooks in the kitchen right now. In the long run it would be cheaper to pool those resources... but that's just how I see it, which is usually the opposite of everyone else. If one of those UIs fails, due to competition from another UI doing nearly the same thing, that's yet another unnecessary blemish. I'd go the other way. Put all of these resources going into several UIs all performing the same function, hand Steemit over to them so they can work together and reach that common goal, while Ned and crew do their thing behind the scenes. Google has Youtube. They don't have Youtube, Themtube, Theirtube, Thosetubes, all showing the same content for a reason.
Anyway. It's hard to work here with so much confusion. My business is almost starting to depend on confused and disorganized folks getting their shit together. It's hard to run a shop in a mall when the mall employees are having problems managing the mall and communicating the issues.
I spoke with Ned, here and left feeling at least somewhat confident again. So much has changed now in three weeks and he gave me a damn good reason to have trust issues after hitting the mute button, but I'm not pouting about that, it just doesn't help things. All I truly want to do is carry on, business as usual, instead of rambling like this.
I don't agree they are doing that. There are significant differences and they are all trying different approaches. Not only in terms of features and UI but also on the question of how to how to optimize and manage costs.
Steemit seems to have no unique advantage whatsoever in this area.
I know it's not all the same. I was oversimplifying. I've been thinking about all this for awhile. Came to the realization there's still far more to look forward to, these bumps in the road are nothing new, some things sink, some swim. The majority wants the best, this loud minority pulling the soap opera drama stuff is nothing new and usually fizzles out; just a distraction for now. Seen it all before.
It is the Schelling point.
Nothing beats that, it's a greater advantage than all the nice functionalities of the others. I write my posts on busy, I look appreciatively at the steempeak functionalities, I use eSteem and partiko on my mobile, I've tried steeve.app as well.
But nothing compares to Steemit.com. It might be just a habit, or there might be something else. Theoreticising doesn't necessarily do much here, but to me (and I'm sure to most non technical people like artists, photographers, most bloggers) there's almost only steemit.com
To outside people too, there's only steemit.com. If you discard that, people won't simply move to the other UIs, they'll simply lose interest and forget about the steem ecosystem wholesale.
Yeeey. Nonames. Honestly, i was about a 110% sure you would drop by. haha..
Its getting late so i wont be able to respond, but ill get to the comment tomorrow.
That's cool. I probably sound like a fearful maniac but that's not the case at all, I'm just so bloody confused now. I spoke to Ned a couple weeks ago, his response then sounded reassuring, and now much of what's going on contradicts the feeling I had when we finished speaking, then I found out he muted me after a peaceful discussion and since I've just been feeling like I'm worthless here, unwelcome, like my voice means nothing after going against all odds and being able to achieve what I've been able to do during this past two years. Come here and feel like a nobody for being successful kinda sucks... See now I'm ranting again. Wtf is my problem...
gave you an upvote to say: "your voice means something"
I see what you mean. I did probably phrase it wrong and didnt represent @smooth words as well as i should have. On his last livestream Ned did say that Steemit accounts for around 40% of the traffic to STEEM.
I talked here a bit about brand recognition and even though STEEMIT is great in the regard you say, what happened is people, looking from the outside, regular users and investors equate STEEMIT.INC with STEEM.
That is the general perception right now and ive seen even users that have been here for a long time not making the distinction between the two.
Now, im not saying dump STEEMIT all together, i mean fade out its importance compared to everything else built on the STEEM blockchain.
You say you want a gateway. And thats understandable and necessary, but why wouldnt Appics be that gate, Partiko, esteem, Busy, dtube, etc.
You say Google doesnt have 50 "xyzTubes" and thats true but STEEM is only 1 blockchain that can have numerous gateways. Numerous options for users to pick from based on personal preferences.
If google had 50 "xyzTubes" the user base would be split, engagement would remain on each of those respective platforms and there would be no contact between users..
Thats not the case with STEEM which is why i do think that STEEMIT can be faded out as to open more time and resources for the STEEMIT.INC development team to focus on other things.
Well, the way I see it, is if the outside world views this platform as STEEM, they're going to come here, so this place should shine at showing the world what STEEM truly is, not make them guess. They've been coming here for months only to be told Steemit isn't STEEM. Well then WTF is STEEM? Then you gotta dig and come across posts like this or worse and the place screws itself up the ass instead of showing the world what STEEM is, since they're here, because they thought STEEMIT was STEEM. One could easily place icons with links leading to all of the other apps that reside under a header that says, "We are STEEM." Right on the front page. Clear as day.
One of the easiest ways to market something is to take what people think and use it to your advantage. Instead, some of these folks want to change how people think, and that doesn't work, ever.
Yes. People need to be shown, the first step they take. I think Smooth for that very reason made the proposal he did.
I think that should be the focus point, how do we explain what Steem is.
I think thats another failure of Steemit.inc.
They are basically in the way of other dapps when they offer their service for free.
Not only did Steemit become Steemit.incs downfall since they cant cover costs but they are constraining the growth and success of other dapps by giving away everything for free.
Where I stand, now. Sorry to say, I don't really care. I'm seeing a lot of this drama unfold and viewing it more as a distraction, not helping anything. The conversation, though it's always good to share ideas, is a waste of my time. Nothing personal, just in general.
:D
It is isnt it.
Between you and me... Even though i try to make valid points in these types of posts... i wouldnt do this for a second if it wasnt fun. ;)
I get it. 100%. There's no business like show business. LOL
No you are not wasting your time, what you write resonates with me and I am sure with many others.
Now you are getting it.
As an space systems engineer, there is no room for failure. Our world revolves around root cause.
Root cause is poor leadership. I'm not saying that @ned doesn't have good ideas. What I am saying is that the entire business plan has banked on value of STEEM going up which is not a good business plan. Steemit Inc needs multiple sources of revenue that don't rely on market price of STEEM. I've given suggestions before with not any kind of response. It is clear that they have no interest in this. Months ago, I made a suggestion that would give Steemit Inc revenue to cover their costs with excess that could support the voting pool and providing security. It would not in anyway affect STEEM with intrusive junk like adds. It also would not rely on the price of STEEM. It would also create an avenue for people to join as STEEM users. It is very possible to grow the amount of users 10 times what STEEM has today in a span of a year.
What is crazy is STEEM provides a huge number of other opportunities to generate revenue and Steemit Inc just doesn't have the business sense to capitalize on them.
The problem of the cost cutting measures is it is a band-aid. It fixes nothing except reduces some of the capital that is currently bleeding. What Steemit Inc needs to do is find revenue sources to cover their Dev cost so they can accomplish SMTs. Their goal should not be to sit and wait until their price of STEEM comes back.
Steemit Inc need to find a CEO that has the business sense to turn their business around. If they bring in a CEO that knows how to create value and find other sources of revenue, then they will create value that will pay their salary. This would alleviate the burdens that @ned must deal with running the business. He then can focus on SMTs, Destiny, or the next great thing. The CEO doesn't even need to know that much about cryptocurrency. They just need someone that knows how turn a business around to make it profitable.
The problem is, if Ned isn’t playing CEO, he’s really of no use to the company. He’s not a coder. He’s not a marketer. He’s not any kind of app/interface developer. If STINC goes with a new CEO, then Ned is just going to be unemployed. (And that’s not necessarily bad thing.)
I agree that STINC needs a new CEO. But I also think that maybe STINC doesn’t really need a CEO at all...or to even exist as a company, especially if it’s just going to be a few guys writing blockchain protocols.
They mined an 80% stake in the chain, dumped that stake and contributed to downward price pressure, and squandered millions and millions of dollars in funds...with almost nothing to show for it in over a year and a half. Perhaps they ought to just close up shop and burn the remaining stake that they hold, instead of dumping the rest with even less to show us all before the money runs out.
STINC is an albatross to this blockchain and its investors. The sooner it dies, the better.
To that point, a successful company or group of business people can come in and buy out Steemit Inc.
As long as it's not Google or Twitter or anyone. :)
PREACH! :-) There has been a lot of tech talk, and mentions of cost cutting, but no mention of generating revenue. No sales, no marketing. It's gonna be hard to pull this off playing defense.
It's tanking because it's not a decentralised blockchain. It's centralised money making ponzi of an oligarchy of 'top witnesses' screwing as much hard cash as they can and using whatever means they can and being funded by a load of regular folks who believe its a decentralised community and being grateful for the crumbs they are fed to keep them coming back....
Yup, think that just about covers it!
You just described "real life". :D
It is as you say but that's not why it's tanking. It's naive to believe that if it were a "decentralised blockchain" (whatever that means) it would have performed better
It’s not too late for me to tell everyone...
I told you so.
Ned and STINC were praised and worshipped while I and others who pointed out their many flaws and failures, and who had many genuine concerns, were vilified, ignored, muted, and lost community “support.”
This is what you get when cheerleading gross incompetence. I hope everyone can now live with those decisions and how they treated actual investors and those of us willing to create and build worthwhile projects and businesses for Steem.
I’m still accepting and waiting for apologies, if anyone has enough sense and humility to offer them. :)
I find it very unfortunate that you were not able to convey the points you wanted to make without pouring so much distorted emotions all over it. Meaning, that for the most part I agree with the necessity for action, I agree with the idea that we won't solve this by drinking kombucha and singing kumbaya, but you've gripped so hard to your ideas, and to what I can only describe as self boycott, that in this post, you've finally punctured the boat's hull.
Regardless of the snarky remarks against helpie, I won't say much more than this: I sincerely thought you valued people more than money, and this has disappointed me profoundly. But I respect your choice to set your own system of values. How horrible of us to treat people like people and not just like avatars.
At any rate, I saw that Ned responded here, so maybe this tantrum worked out in the end. And believe it or not, I wish you well, I always did, even if we started out with the wrong foot and ended with a twisted ankle.
Right back at you my friend and i do not need to say anything more then what you have said yourself here.
Good luck with the "ninjistics".
To add another thing... @meno. Dont twist this into me going against Helpie. Helpies are a bunch of people that i spoke here and speak openly as being amazing.. Helpie isnt the one guy in charge.
Nothing to be worried about Steem. We are still the Number 1 Social Media Blockchain out there. And yes Steem is running like all cryptos into pretty hard times but thats just part of every business cycle.
So don't worry about any unconvince that may occur and try to build this community. Thanks for sharing your input!
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It's a personal quirk that I'm always looking for criticism and suggestions. These are profane, but they are valuable. Thank you.
It is profane but nothing ever came from cushioned opinions. And Steem has become one big cushioned echo chamber. Ive had contact with politics all my adult life and what ive seen there, i see here as well. Maybe youve seen it, maybe you havent but not until i saw you flag a witness (agree or disagree with him doesnt matter) for some comments did i think you had it in you to make some decisions. First time ive seen you reach for your stake to make a point regardless of what someone else would say...
With the latest layoffs and controversies i cant say i am convinced that it wasnt a one time thing.
Ned, things need to be done. Things Yes-men cannot do. And no dapp dev can do it, regardless of their coding capability. Either be a leader (and i mean that in every sense of the word) or step down. At this point there is no other option.
Actions and transparency about them is the best we can do. There are steps to take -- both in this company and with community -- including the needed communicating, which takes time -- and avoiding knee jerk reactions. Thank you for your support with this post and the suggestions.
@Ned please abandon this whole decentralize everything crypto-anarchist bull-crap. You are the CEO of a private company. You know what needs to be done better than "the community" or anyone else. Get with a small group of trusted advisors, hash out a plan, and then just go get shit done. The community will love you much more than if you make them feel good by making them 'feel' like they are being included... Just go do what needs to be done, and do it yesterday.
Why? What advantage would Steem have in a marketplace of centralized currencies?
I reckon decentralization - and the power to craft organizations and industry outside of extant (corrupt) mechanisms - is the shit that needs to be done. It is the potential to deliver a platform that can enable others to build outside of captive mechanisms that most promises success to Steem, because it will lure every nation-builder, independent entrepreneur, and outraged activist that faces the current paradigm with it's guarantee of ending up no better than feeder cattle for banksters.
Get your head out of Goldman Sachs' ass, and think about what Steem is, can be, and what it's competition is.
The whole point of Steem is to change that paradigm, not to be just another crypto. We don't need to get in where we fit in. Steem can better create a new table for folks to belly up to than wedge itself a place at the one that already exists.
There is a market for this, and I dearly hope Steem can deliver a very robust mechanism that can serve that market, because the market is practically everyone that pays 50% of their income in taxes, and the competition is strong, well-established, and corrupt to the core.
If you just want to make strong financial returns, there may be less risky investments. If, like me, you are interested not only in money, but the freedom to make money without making obeisance to the banksters (and paying their rent), then Steem is probably the only investment that could produce the returns you seek.
What makes steem any different than the other 2k cryptos out there? I hear you and I get your point about what a crypto could do. My point is, what makes steem be that coin when it is competing against thousands of others? It needs a competitive advantage within the crypto space. Otherwise who cares if it does things better than fiat money and legacy financial systems, 2k other crypto's do as well.
@ned Do you think you get the Smt stuff done in time (2019)?
I think it would be nice in a bad market to get some good news about steem.
Becuase i think if people can build there comunity and business on Steem blockchain, would be a unique thing at the moment.
Told you @ned was an amateur with no skills. Guess it took burning yourselves to find out the stove was hot, rather than listening to people with experience in business, tech and finance. Sorry, not sorry.
Ned, I have one question for you:
What are your thoughts about bid bots? When every post in trending has bought itself there, is it wonder that we're losing users left and right? What happened to proof-of-brain, manual curation? I've been here for 2 years, wish I wouldn't have gotten invested since I was promised something that I never got here.
So how about you push splitting reward pool for passive and active investors, two groups of people, where other just wants their wealth and other who care about Steem for long term and want to curate?
Do you visit Steem's trending ever or read any posts from it? Are you proud of it?
To me it's amazing that you've only said that bid bot activity is "interesting", activity that so clearly changes what Steem's is supposed to be. That alone speaks volumes, and sadly not in a good way.
SMTs will do this, with Oracles, and Communities creating those two filters - and myriad others.
Focus. It's possible that the rigors of channeling Steem and also delivering the many UX that Steem makes possible are beyond a single organization. In fact, I am certain it is.
Given that reality, it's necessary to empower, rather than disestablish individual enterprises, however unsavory they may be, because only a free market might moon Steem. Too rigid control over UX, including Steemit, is a distraction and reduces the potential of Steem to serve all markets.
This is a good trait, because only when we discover we are wrong can we then become right. There's much sound and fury signifying nothing polluting the stark truths that have great value, but successfully sifting through it will gain you far greater wealth than piles of Steem.
I do not envy you your wealth of criticism presently LOL, but hope you are competent to sift through it and gain the advantage the best of it potentiates.
My own view is that making Steem a platform on which unrestricted potential to craft industry, society, and associations is better enabled than it's competition, whether other blockchains, fiat, or whatever, will produce optimal results, for Stinc, for you, and for all of us, including those yet to come who may have never heard of Steem.
Thanks!
This: "Promotion, brand recognition and marketing in general is everything in the crypto market."