The maggot at the core of the Steemit apple
It's not really working is it?
I might not be an expert on Steemit. I'm certainly not here all the time, in fact I have a list of post topic sat next to me that has been there for weeks and I've not done anything about it. I could even be shooting myself in the foot and inviting a mass flagging for even broaching this topic.
I'm going to say why I think Steemit isn't really working...
Quality of content
The basic premise was, users upvote quality content which in turn pays out more to quality producers and less to spammers. It's a GREAT premise and I 100% support this. So why isn't it working?
If a million people liked this post, that would make it amazing content. Of course that would depend on who those million people were but it certainly forms a consensus.
What if only 5 people liked this post? Would that indicate that it was good content?
What if those 5 people had more voting power than the 1 million above?
You're starting to see where I'm going.
What if 1 million people liked this post, but those 5 people didn't, and downvoted it? It would be a worthless post despite being popular with the majority.
So what are you saying?
When you place the opinion of 1 person above the opinion of another person you are indicating that this person has a better understanding of good quality content than the next. When 1 person's view is worth more than the views of a million others, you're going to have a bad time.
When one person can look at a post and say "I'll add $1000 to that post" or "I'll take $1000 off that post", we're giving that person FAR too much credit. But where does that credit come from?
Voting with your wallet
Basing voting potency (to avoid confusing voting power) with the size of someone's wallet if a fundamental flaw in Steemit. I could buy steem, but that wouldn't make me a better curator. That's the crux of the issue.
Amusingly with all of the flak that YouTube has got recently, thanks to declining revenues and Adpocalypse, their model doesn't value any user above any other, with regards to payouts.
What can we do about it?
Well, I have to appeal to witnesses. They are the only ones that can effect (affect? I never know) change here and change NEEDS to happen. Ideas?
- Cap post payouts at $X?
- Make the potency of votes diminishing with SP?
- Make SP irrelevant for voting (dear lord, the implications that would have....)
In short, I don't know. But I'm losing faith in the platform despite doing well. I want it to work, I'd love for it to work, but I can see the writing on the wall.
It's clear though that in this system, the rich are getting richer. The poor are, relatively, getting poorer (yes, you're gaining but slower than others so effectively "below inflation").
The key point I want to make, perhaps badly, is that:
Firstly, your post indicates a big problem with Steem: fear of being flagged for having a discussion. Flags are not there to punish people who's opinion you disagree with and on such a decentralised platform, people should not have to think twice about what they can and can't say.
The only effect witnesses can have on the situation you pointed out is by agreeing - or not - with proposed upcoming forks. It's up to the devs behind Steem to submit any changes in the way curation and the reward system works.
It happens about level 40 and up, you start to realize it is not utopia, it is in fact more like Los Angeles or Berlin or Lagos or New York or London... you get the idea. Good actors, bad actors, outright criminals and thieves, and success stories and cinderella stories and charity and love and anger and peace and destruction, both outward and inward.
Stay strong to be useful.
Adapt, improvise and overcome.
Teem Work Makes The Steem Dreem Work!
-SirCork
Witness #77
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by Stormriderstudio from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.