ONE WEEK SINCE HF20 - did things get any better on Steemit?
 | It has been a few days since HF20 has been introduced on Steemit, and I've noticed that the latest fork has been creating some serious tension on this platform. Today, I would like to share my experience so far and would also like to know what your views are on HF20. |
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INTRODUCTION
It has also come to my attention that the latest update (HF20) has been announced to be a big success right away. And to my surprise, I couldn't even post a single comment. Also, that huge unfortunate screen popping up, explaining that I run out of RC (Resource Credit). I quickly learned, that Im not the only one having similar issues.
Right now things seem to be back to "normal". Personally, I cannot find any other change on Steemit except of the mentioned implemented RC. I expected "communities" to be introduced but this didn't happend. Or perhaps I've missed something?
SHARE YOUR OPINION
I had a chance to read several posts related to HF20 and spoke with few people about this update, just to realize how much frustration it has caused between Steemit users. I would like to know what your current experience is with this platform at the moment. Did HF20 affect you? What do you think about latest changes?
I'm wondering if new users, with no Steem Power are heavily affected by the current limitations? Im also trying to figure out how many of those who I keep in touch with will abandon Steemit because they are tired of those changes. I’ve so far come across a few users who decided to "take a break" from the platform and perhaps they will never come back.
What's your opinion? How do you see HF20 and its latest update? Did anything else changed on Steemit or did they only add RC?
MY OBSERVATION SO FAR
So far I believe that introducing RC (resource credit) can reduce the amount of spam by a little bit and is forcing bot owners to power up (so spam could continue). At the end of the day each activity (upvotes/comments/posting and even sending memo) costs us some resources and those are very limited. Bot's with no Steem Power (SP) will pretty much be useless. So the amount of spam should be less, which is definetly a good thing.
Im still not impressed with the fact that regular users may not even understand what RC is about and there is literally no place on the platform to manage/view your current level of RC. The only way is to use other sites like http://steemd.com/ to verify your current resources level. That's just wrong on so many levels. How are new Steemit users supposed to know about it?
Not to mention, that this screen explaining that I run out of RC, as well as the need to purchase Steem Power in order to continue ... imagine reading it once you're a new user. Or reading it while you're testing some new platform. Wouldn't you right away click the "close" button with a bitter taste in your mouth?
There are number of things that could have been done better. My impression is that the Steemit developers took care of technical issues and perhaps they made this platform a better place, with very little spam. Perhaps. What I know is that they seem to completly forget about "user experience" which is only getting worse.
Will Steemit turn into a ghost town? I honestly think it will. But perhaps Im wrong.
Please share your opinion with me. I would mostly like to know how HF20 affected each one of you and if you will still be around or if you’re giving up on Steemit?
WHAT IS RC AND Voting MANA?
I've found this explanation very well written by @honarparvar which I totally recommend checking out: https://steemit.com/steem/@honarparvar/voting-mana-and-rc-confusions
HIDE RESTEEMS
I also just noticed a new feature a moment ago. When you open anyones blog on Steemit you will see “HIDE RESTEEMS/Show all” button. I wonder what to think about this solution. The good thing is that as a default, this setting is showing all posts (including resteemed). I hope it will stay that way. Otherwise resteeming posts will soon not make much sense.
SUPPORT @danielwrites
Allow me to write this small recommendation:
Good friend of mine @danielwrites published his own review about NOIA Network project. Daniel is one of the most supportive Steemit users I've met so far and he is passionate about crypto and blockchain technology.
Check out his latest post and show your support. Drop some interesting comment and resteem if you have a chance:
https://steemit.com/crypto/@danielwrites/improve-your-internet-speed-and-earn-passive-income-with-noia
Yours
Piotr
Hello my friend!
I have mixed feelings of the new HF. In some ways it was just an awful PR nightmare and in other ways it shows what the strengths and weaknesses are here. One of the biggest weaknesses I saw was just a sheer abysmal testing and vetting of the data before forking the platform. One of the biggest, most important things a developer does is run a mirror image test platform! It may be difficult to do to full scale but they can at least create one with a good representation of users with varying degrees of power, reputation and the like. This was obviously not the case in these developers minds.
The fork also highlighted how few people were truly involved in the process. As users we typically think that all of the witnesses have a say. I think a lot of people thought the same but alas it is not the case. Who truly has a say? I’m not sure but the witnesses that are the biggest stakes are the top 20 folks. This information led me to do what some others have done and changed our witness votes. I originally voted for several of the top 20 witnesses. I have since removed all votes from them and instead voted for witnesses in the bottom 100 until I ran out of votes. These new people are the future of the platform; some newer witnesses like @fulltimegeek are racing to the top 50; he started his node a week ago I think and he’s already at 70 last I checked because he engages with the community, he’s smart and is willing to work.
The benefits of the fork are that it cleaned up a lot of those obnoxious bots yes but it also connected more people on messaging platforms. We are all part of unique little communities here on Steemit and most of us talk only here. Since we couldn’t comment but once a day or so that comment was often used to complain and drop info for discord or telegram for us to connect offline. It would be a big loss for us here if folks like yourself stopped using the platform. It also is paving the way for future innovations here on the platform such as SMT’s which I know next to nothing about but most are excited about them. Lastly as I eluded to earlier it has led new people to dip their feet into the waters of becoming a witness. Since the fork I have seen 3 fresh witness nodes go online because people want to become more apart of the process and hope to help the platform avoid another awful failure that we just recently went through.
My opinion: this place has its troubles for sure, you can get caught up in the riff raff of negativity if you want but this place has much more to offer than others do. We have excellent communities here that other platforms don’t; we can make a little bit of money doing this and we can’t forget what drew so many of us here in the first place: to learn about the technology of the future that is blockchain. I will ride this out; I am comfortable with my position and am gaining friends, learning about all kinds of stuff daily and I earn a little bit of crypto in the process. Pretty good deal if you ask me!
Cheers.
I am viewing from the other POV. I'm very much involved in the Chinese community, helping them to grow the community since I mostly blog in Chinese. What I noticed during this fork is, idiots who are so selfish that they've delegated 95% of their SP for the bots to collect profit, and they rather suffered with low RC. Hence, do we still support this kind of people? So far I have seen problem, but these problem exist due to users action.
Posted using Partiko Android
Yes that's a waste of resources in my opinion! I dislike bots very much but they can do what they want if we want to make the platform inviting for everyone.
hi @davidke20
Those kind of people surely we should not support.
But what about those who actually delegate SP to others? I'm not the only one who used to delegate almost all my SP to several bloggers, trying to help them build exposure. HF kind of forced me to cancel all those delegations.
Of course I understand that there is no "golden solution" to this problem. Just sayin`
My biggest concern regarding RC is the fact, that new users may not even know what RC is and how to check it.
Yours
Piotr
Not here for the money, but the rewards don't hurt :-D!
I am not here strictly for the money but it makes it easier to stick with it when there is some incentive behind it. I am here to learn what I can about the technological future. I was not expecting to be involved with great communities that are here. Since I've discovered these communities it has further cemented my place here.
I love to see how responsive you are @cmplxty
Steemit need more people like you buddy :)
enjoy your weekend
Yours, Piotr
Great to hear from you @hotsauceislethal :)
Indeed rewards do not hurt :D
Yours, Piotr
Hi @cmplxty
This is like the best comment ever. I appreciate your time and big thx for sharing your view with all of us.
I see that we're pretty much on the same page with our experiences regarding HF20.
Always great to hear such a words. Thx :) Vice versa my friend.
Im not very familiar with witness program. Would you mind telling me what's their responsibilities and benefits? What do they do and how are they rewarder? any idea?
Yours
Piotr
The witness role is to run the blockchain here. The top 20 witnesses get paid 7000 Steem per month for their role. These 20 witnesses also validate the most blocks that are produced. The other witnesses get less blocks but still validate some, the number I don’t know.
When we do a fork like we just did the majority of the witnesses need to also update their version to ensure continuity. If 15 witnesses update their node but 5 don’t then that creates a problem and a separate chain gets created. I don’t know if you’ve seen the ethereum split; there is now Ethereum and Ethereum classic. This is because they tried to fork but a bunch of people said no so it divides the chain.
The new witnesses get to add their node to the chain to ensure continuity but also learn more about the programming. What I’ve heard is the scripting here is not intuitive at all and difficult for developers to get used to. I don’t script so I can’t say if that’s true or not but the more people that add a witness node the better. The top 20 witnesses have mostly been there for so long that lots of the users who voted for them have probably quit so they aren’t necessarily the best to run it, they are just staying there by default almost. This is why I’ve removed my vote for the top 30 witnesses and voted for those I know or are in the bottom 70-100. The new witnesses are who are going to improve this place in my opinion, not necessarily the current top 20.
Thank you @cmplxty for another amazing and valuable comment.
I appreciate your never ending support a lot. I mean it.
Yours, Piotr
#hf20 must be one of the most popular tags on STEEM right now!
Well let's get to it. Short bullet point "post hf20" FACT summary:
Short personal opinion summary:
Great comment @eccles
I believe you're right! :)
Thank you for your great comment. Appreciate.
Yours
Piotr
yeah... sometimes i realize it also.. i'm hardly an programer to use this experimental media social and kinda hard to understand in many technical term so yeah, i hope for the best for the steem it self.....
Thank you for your comment @jumps
Just checked your profile just to realize that we seem to share a number of interests :)
In particular that we both share a similar passion towards cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology :)
Yours
Piotr
Hello my friend! Agree with you in this post. But I think that everything will be fine! ;)
look who's here :)
thx @bitboys for your comment.
Yours
Piotr
Up before 🌄 (here) and, with the limited time I have, investing it in reading your post @crypto.piotr.
While a relative “newbie” on the Steem blockchain and even being online at all, I am definitely not a “newbie” at life. So …
In response to your request for input into the affect of HF20 on your fellow Steemians, here is the post I wrote about exactly that – Entry for the Pay-it-Forward Curation Contest - Week 26 ... then Boom! ... HF20 ….
While under no illusions about those “high over our heads” reading it, I nonetheless chose to have it “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” as, if you will, my “stake in the ground,” for future reference.
While still “in here,” for the time being, and continuing to support the community (@pifc) of my choosing, a major “withdrawal from the goodwill bank account” was made, for this Steemian.
As an investor first and everything else second, I sincerely hope a major “lesson learned” opportunity is not missed.
For the sake of us all, I hope a serious effort at “continuous improvement” is currently underway at SteemIt Inc. As well as with the highest ranking Steem Witnesses.
And that, as a direct result of it, "the rest of us" do not experience a disruption anything like that of HF20 again …
hi @roleerob
Thank you for your amazing comment. I also just had a chance to read your post "Chapter Two: My "Journey" and the Pay It Forward Community" and Im impressed by amount of effort you put to make Steemit a better place.
This platform needs more people like yourself.
Yours
Piotr
Up before 🌄 (here) and finding your comments @crypto.piotr. They are certainly encouraging to me. Glad to learn they have been deemed to be of some benefit in adding value to your post.
Yes, well, thank you kindly. You can count on me doing my small part, in the time I have available. We are (hopefully) all working together to add value to our Steem blockchain, so if it appears to be a "win" for you, it is certainly a "win" for me.
Have a great (mon)day! 😉 👍
Thank you for being so responsive @roleerob
Appreciate, Piotr
Oh! Your most recent post was about the HF. Yes I'll put more thoughts here then.
My 2c. cheers!
I appreciate your amazing feedback @eonwarped
News of Steem's demise are highly exaggerated....! Yes there have been issues, but as some have stated already, spam has been reduced, which is not for the worst. And i like the narrative that it is more and more about specific dapps for very specific topics, which has just starte d growing....
Thank you @conceptskip for your comment and never ending support :)
Trully yours, Piotr
I got forked hard by the hardfork in the first place and I am still yet to recover. The technicalities involved are quite too complex, not only for new users even for old users who have no technical experience to digest the complexity well.
Most of the issues of the upgrade would yes discourage new users, even before the upgrade a new user would have to keep asking questions and seeing video tutorials to know what is up on here but with these whole stuffs, that is tripled for them and I do not think that is good for the sustainance of the users and the site.
@crypto.poitr, you see, in life, humans as integrative as we naturally be love friendliness as against hostility thus we can change habitat consciously or unconsciously to get that. Now, steemit is making its habitat, which they supposed decentralised centralised with the HF20 by imposing such complex change without prior education, hostile and might begin to lose fame into naught when another platform much more friendly arises. Even now there is Weku. It would just be like the birth of gmail sinking yahoomail or facebook sinking all other social networks before it to the top.
The whole idea has merits and demerits, to me, the demerits are way too many than the merits.
Steemit owners have got to watchout as competitors are watching out on them to leverage on their mistakes and boom they show up and poof, steemit might go down.
Tomorrow shall tell better of steemit, hopefully.
@jodekss
hi @jodekss
BIG thx for such an amazing comment.
That's exacly how i see it too :(
Hopefully. Indeed.
Yours
Piotr
i would say that hf20 was targetted at cleaning the platform of bots and unwanted activities, without putting cognisance of the fact that newbies would need to survive in this ecosystem, i was believing in decentralization and how that the system is upgraded bvased on majority agreeement, now i understand it actually means, majority of witnesses agreement of what steeminc decides, we are all here and we will just have to adapt
Cheers
Thanks for your constant support and another great comment @iamchijamz
enjoy your weekend my friend
Piotr
I think you should understand that HF20 has just been implemented and it gives room for developers to create more of the needed functions. I am using a chrome extension by @archange and it show details of RC, VP etc. Check out this post
I would say this RC feature will affect and discourage new users and as well reduce spam but I'll rather prefer as it adds value to the platform.
I will not say how you got to know about the word "ghost town" but I will say Steemit will be far from looking like a ghost platform.
Thanks for the recommendation post!
I low the hide resteem feature and I think it is better this way. So many times, I tried checking some posts by some users I wonder if they are resteem bots. The stress of scrolling down through many resteem posts is just insane!
I have resteemed this post and that of @danielwrites
Ps. I have read your message on telegram but I planned to reply with a link and that would be today.
Take care, @ajongcrypto
Thanks @ajongcrypto for your comment.
That actually make sense if you put it this way.
And vice versa. Thx for your recommendations! :)
Going to check telegram now! :) Yours, Piotr