The next stop
As SMTs once again come back into focus and the mentions of Hivemind communities increase, has anyone thought what they are willing to do to be part of some of them? Although this is a decentralized community, the way SMTs work is that while they are bound to the rules of the Steem blockchain with things like 3 second transactions, they are able to add other rules atop the infrastructure. This means that they are able to moderate their own platforms in a number of ways.
Using an obvious example, it should be possible for an SMT to require verification of the user in some way in order to cut down on abuse or potentially, for the way their platform needs to operate. Although the technology itself is decentralized, the rules of the Dapps are centralized to do with what they please and while under their roof, their rules apply. This is obviously one area that if a Dapp asks for verification, some users will avoid.it like the plague while others won't mind in the slightest. It can become a point of differentiation and potentially competitive advantage even of used intelligently.
There are going to be other things that enter into the SMT rule books also that will change things up like reputation based voting or reward structures that might use something akin to @steem-ua to evaluate users or even account termination for breaking rules that they have decided are in violation. Demonetization is still possible with an SMT even though it isn't likely in the best interest of the the platform itself to become the next Youtube. Or is it?
If an SMT platform is able to keep itself clean through centralized policing, for average users who don't care much about such things as freedom of speech (as long as they aren't censored) and the risks of centralization, a platform devoid of most scam and a spam might give them a place they feel safe to create. Remember, that they will eventually be coming across from centralized platforms where they have felt comfortable already but want more control over their own data or, earning potential which means they might be much less the stereotypical desire for anonymity types than the average crypto enthusiast.
SMTs offer a veritable smorgasbord of options for developers to build upon and they are likely going to try and find ways to limit what would be considered abusive or toxic behavior to make their platforms friendly to contributor and consumer alike. As well as much more suitable for mainstream advertisers who generally want a certain amount of control (tight) over where their ads appear. Even though we might not want adverts on Steem, they will definitely be brought in to SMTs or, already exist.
Remember that SMTs can be applied to pre-existing platforms as a payment/ transaction layer and if implemented by an already well established content community, they will want t to conform and support the culture they have already cultivated and their users are comfortable with. I think that many are going to find however that the introduction of economic value to users is going to fundamentally shift their cultures and they will need to relearn and adjust accordingly.
As Steem users though, we are also going to have to come to terms with living in some more restricted environments if we choose to use and benefit from some of the Apps and communities that are to come. Compromises and concessions are going to likely need to be made in order to have access to some content or, value streams. There are likely going to be some tough decisions made by some users between earning and their personal stance on some aspects like privacy.
Mass adoption of the platform directly or through SMTs is going to massively change the way these economies work as well as the way the various cultures and sub-cultures across the platform interact and develop. Some of these Some of these decentralized/ semi-centralized platforms are going to offer such compelling opportunity for users that people are likely going to relinquish some of their personal control in order to have access or, simplified usage and experience.
Also, remember that mass adoption means friends, family and known enemies are going to turn up here more and more as time progresses. This means that in order for everyone to get what they want and have access to Facebook like size but distributed financial returns, there has to be a vast increase in the development of network users and this inevitably reduces chance of continued anonymity.
Mainstreaming is a long way away for crypto and for Steem but when it comes, it is going to present dilemmas that most of us have never faced in the walking work before. If you currently have a 10 cent vote at 100 dollar Steem, your wallet produces a 10 dollar vote from the pool 10x a day. What do your friends, family and community expect from you? Will they be happy you voting on the random things you enjoy here or, do they think you should spend your vote a little closer to home?
We aren't there yet but it is good to think about some of these things so we can get an idea of what could happen if we were to truly reach our community's potential.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
I have an early start tomorrow and will be going to bed soon so if you comment, I will get to them hopefully on my lunch break.
Lol. My picture will change if family and friends suddenly arrive. Tell them I have delegated or something. Hopefully it will be so busy we will be lost in the crowd.
Unlikely, those with stake are going to stand out like sore thumbs.
True. Beacons of hope. Seeing you they will think they have reached the promised land lol.
lol. not just me. 100 dollar Steem changes everything for almost everyone currently here. But with 10m users we are going to be rare.
In a way, Steem is already like friends and family, as people who didn't know each other before quickly become like proxy friends and family, with all the pains in the rear that entails.
What scared me was the ominous bit about "known enemies" lol!
I really hope STINC's marketing team is up getting other platforms to adopt SMTs, as it's a bright future, if done right. :)
There is a lot of opportunity to come and hopefully it won't all be painful experience and avoiding family in real life :)
Nice :) Some of what's being going round in my head recently here.
I'm wondering if an SMT could out-value STEEM down the line, any thoughts?
I think it could definitely in coin value but not market cap perhaps as some might have very limited supply. But also, why not? if a large platform does a good job of implementation and can attract value, it might outperform steem as a coin while still transacting on the blockchain. Interesting times :)
Hah, this will be me. I am tired of giving so much info about myself to others. The way I see it, one of the issues so far with the apps is they don't give much info on who they are yet want access to keys to use their apps. I avoid those like the plague. Busy/Steemconnect for example has no about me page even on their websites, I know nothing about them. While I know many of you use them, I am not instilled with confidence when websites wanting that kind of access don't even tell me who they are. Nor how they secure said keys.
I figure I will ride Steemit out until such a time as they may close it down, or the communities make enough barriers that it isn't worthwhile for me to post here any longer.
It is going to be interesting as it pushes forward because even though some will find ways to avoid it, (maybe youself) for the most part if there is significant opportunity available, they will give up privacies. we see it in the world now.
Steemconnect is Steemit centralized.
Could you explain what you mean by that?
Steemconnect is controlled by Steemit Inc now. Busy etc don't have the keys at all as far as I know.
I had never thought about this... friends and family here in masses... looking for handouts like my real life... I have found the first reason I am not excited about the future of STEEM adoption. However, I hope my journey will be a great experience in the meantime so that I could have more than enough for everyone!
As i was saying to @cryptoandcoffee, those with significant stake are going to stand out here in a mass of the stakeless. It is going to get weird potentially :)
I don't know about some others, I don't think there's a problem with centralisation as such, just when things are as centralised as they are currently XD A bunch of small centralised things still registers as distributed to me so a bunch of little kinda-decentralised dapps operating on a mostly distributed network is fine. If someone doesn't like something on a dapp they can decide if they dislike it enough to want to jump ship or if the other features make it worth putting up with the thing they don't like, or if they have the inclination to spin up their own thing without the things they didn't like. The only way we'd be able to completely avoid centralisation is to do something like what Akasha is doing where everyone is running their own nodes.
One of the decentralised/distributed socnet things (not on a blockchain) I was playing with some years ago had a solution to the anonymity/pseudonymity issue by utilising profiles. From memory you could have as many profiles as you wanted with a single account, and you could have different display names and avatars for each account, and add different people to each account. I can't remember if contact overlap was allowed, but basically anyone you added as friends on a profile would only see that profile. You of course had to take some care if you wanted your work profile to not find out about your bdsm profile but otherwise it seemed to nicely handle cases where you wanted to use your legal name for family and work contacts but were known by some psudonym to online friends.
I don't know how capable steem dapps would be of that though.