Steemit Improvements - Suggestions and Recommendations

So I commented on my first steemit post yesterday. Its not something I expect to do very often but this particular post related to the future of the steemit platform.

The post was Why you should stop powering down and rather buy more steem now!!!!!

Whereas I left comments, I wanted to make my own post about suggestions and recommendations that I believe could help the future growth of the steemit platform.

Reputation to combat problems

Much of what I am going to recommend it terms of reputation, comes from my experience using the various stackexchange platforms.

New User Reputation

I think a new user of steemit should start with 0 reputation points.

I believe when you have less than 5 reputation points, you should be limited to only being able to leave 2 comments a day and not make any posts.

I believe comments should required to contain a minimum of 40 characters (no drive by comments). I believe comments should not be allowed any links or images to be attached

I don't believe you should be able to make any posts. You should receive 1 reputation point for each 2 comments and 2 reputation points if the comment is liked by at least 3 other people.

New User 5 Reputation Points

After one reaches the limit of 5 points, I believe they should be able to make 5 comments per day and 1 post per week.

I believe the comments should allow internal linking to other threads but not allow offsite links.

Each post would have a reputation value of 5 points.

This should be the limit until they reach the 25 reputation point value.

Doing this, I believe will help combat spammers and trolls from making multiple accounts as they have to actively create an account, leave comments, leave posts, and work towards the rewards of earning and utilizing steem power, steem dollars, and steem.

This would also help prevent the abuse of people creating multiple accounts trying to cheat all steem members of their cryptodollar values in steem.

After 25 Reputation Points

After the 25 point level I think things should work pretty much how they do now, with the exception of the flagging system.

I believe users should not have the ability to flag comments. Down voting, absolutely. However not flagging, at least not at the 25 reputation level.

100 Reputation Points

After one reaches 100 reputation points, I think they should be able to flag comments as spam, off topic, or trolling.

I believe after a comment has been flagged 3 times, it should be removed from view of the page, and put into a "needs review" queue.

This would pretty much eliminate spam and trolls by allowing more seasoned and trusted users to remove such comments, however it would not give any one person such power that they could abuse it.

By requiring 3 flags of people with a reputation over 100 you cut down greatly on the chances of 1 single person being all 3 accounts.

Even in the event that happens, the comment has not truly been removed - simply moved from public display into a pending queue.

250 reputation points

After one reaches a level of 250 points, they would then have access to the flag queue where they could remove a flag thus adding the comment back to the post.

If they opted not to do that, the flag would simply stay in the pending queue for a period of what I think should be 180 days.

This would free up time of the core team from trying to find duplicate accounts, spammers, trolls, etc. and instead allow them to focus more on ways to develop and ways to increase the value of the currencies themselves.

They could from time to time review the message queue to ensure its not being abused, and remove spam accounts and other trouble makers.

Increasing value through paid reputation

All these reputation plans, can also help further the value of the Cryptocurrencies used to run the steemit platform.

If someone wants to prove they are in fact trust worthy, they could buy up directly to the 25 reputation level and bypass the initial limits.

The funds from this could be put right back into steempower to help keep values up even as people power down.

Features to increase value

In my opinion one of the biggest flaws in the steemit platform is no ability to burn the steempower through spending it on feature upgrades.

I believe giving people something to spend their steempower on, helps steem keep the overall value up, and helps prevent people from powering down and cashing out.

So I decided to compile a small list of features I would absolute spend my steempower on and the values I would spend for those features.

1. Domain name accounts - Giving user the ability to register and point domain names at their user accounts would be invaluable to many users I am sure. Value: $100 USD worth of Steempower per year
2. Delete Comments - Giving user the lifetime ability to delete comments on their own posts. Value: $25 USD worth of Steempower
3. Profile Themes - Giving user various layouts for profiles. Value: $25 to $50 USD worth of Steempower per layout
4. Comment Whispers - Giving user the lifetime ability to reply to comments that only the comment author can see. Value: $100 USD worth of Steempower
5. Profile Links - Giving user the monthly ability to add custom links to their profile menu. Value: $10 USD worth of Steempower per link
6. Profile Advertsing - Giving user the yearly ability to add a small link with text and/or banner add to a profile sidebar Value: $500 USD worth of Steempower

Only by sharing our wants and needs can the steemit platform have any true chance of success. Developers are not mind readers and if people don't tell them what they want, then it doesn't get developed. So please share your thoughts on my ideas and by all means add your own!