Protect yourself because no one else is going to.... Blockchains versus Palimpsests

Most of us are used to centralized systems with a clear chain of hierarchy. When we enter this wonderful world of blockchains, we bring with us our expectations of security and safety. It's natural.

Yet Steemit is being marketed quite fervently to people on other centralized social media sites, to entice them with you "We pay you to blog". People are use to the Facebook experience, the Twitter experience, or their own personal blogs that are a palimpsest. A palimpset is a manuscript or document in which the original writing or drawing has been effaced, through scratching or chemical removal, to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.

Think of it as a chalkboard. This word harkens back to a day when writing material was scarce and hard to produce.
Your new users are coming from a chalkboard world where it is easy to edit, delete, and start again.

Steemit has been a wonderful introduction into decentralized systems for me. I was unaware of the potential for good and the potential for harm upon joining the site. No where in my introduction did it explain that what I wrote would be indelibly inscribed upon the block-chain. That there is no delete, no edit button. No one to ban a user who's harassing me.

While the freedom that comes with this technology is liberating for some, it may not be a good fit for a lot of adapters.

@smooth joined us in steemit.chat and cast much light on the subject for me. It was an awakening experience when they laid it out pure and simple. No one will protect you here so you have to protect yourself.

Me in my naivety, fresh off the programming of a centralized existence. I railed against this answer, as if maybe they hadn't properly understood what I was proposing (censorship, moderation, etc). Their frank honesty was freshing as they explained "look, it's not that I don't care, I do care, it's simply an inherent part of this system."

This flies in the face of expectation. New users should be met with a big red warning box upon setting up their account, or upon hitting 'post' about the rules of this new game. It's an alien concept to some of us.

Enticing, but also dangerous if not fully consented to. I urge the devs to consider such a 'declaration' of Steemit's inherent differences to other social media sites somewhere in the account creation. Make it clear and legible. I urge everyone who's marketing for Steemit to make sure you mention these inherent traits to your audience.

If transparency is law, then we should do everything in our power to make the inherent dangers of Steemit as transparent as possible as well.

images from http://www.texample.net/ and wikipedia