You definitely add some good points.
I'm not sure how you really solve the bot and up voting issue but if the platform takes off it will definitely become something that is going to come into play far more than it is now.
From my perpective what they really did here was gamify blogging. The whole point is to try to accumulate steem power, the fact that it actually has real world value in the market only makes the gamification stronger. Bringing blockchain into the game throws in a unique twist though.
Because it's decentralized and only censored by agreed upon code there are far more ways to play the game because the rules have been built to reward and the blockchain, by design, is made to be interacted with.
Just because the easiest way to play the game is to engage with the platform doesn't mean that's the only way. So when you take into account that the real goal of the game is to accumulate steem then you realize that the game is going to be played on many fronts. Buying on exchanges, loaning, delegating, contests, betting, marketplaces, bots and all kinds of other yet unseen ways.
So yes, Steemit is going to have to address some issues, but if it's at all even mildly successful and as a result brings enough people into the ecosystem where we see sustained usage then we're going to see all kinds of other markets and products pop up around the Steem currency that will eventually render the success or failure of the actual Steemit platform irrelevant.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I only really see the price of Steem tied to Steemit until it hits a critical mass, at that point, Steemit itself will just be one more way to play in the Steem world.
Make no mistake though, if that's ever to happen, it'll be because Steemit was the catalyst.
Yes, you are so right, but if the bot and whale front succeed in this battle, everyone else will just leave... wouldn't you agree?
What do you mean by whale front succeed. Whales are ultimately the guys who enable lots and lots of the users to succeed. What we need is conscious whales that will support good work and not some reward-pool-rape pricks. Also some of the bots are useful. What you’re doing here sir is strict categorization and that frankly isn’t going to help anything.
If you’re addressing the buy-upvote bots, then it is completely legitimate way of any whale how to work with their accumulated SP. As long as it is worth it for both sides it will flourish and when the whale gets too greedy its bound to lose in the competition that has already grew quite well here. None of the Whales is going to sell their "whale status" (too much Steem) and the only option left is to either buy in or work yourself to their level (frankly even big minnows now have quite some influence. You don’t need 70 bucks upvote to make someone stay. Regular 10 cent upvote just from one minnow is pretty awesome too (it will help you grow get some views and stuff).
If you’re addressing the spamming bots than I agree. Flag them. I have stopped caring about those long time ago and when I see a spam I just flag it, there is no need to speak about it. We all know that it is bad and our responsibility is to censure it. When people realize that there is no way how few individuals are going to kill all the spam and everyone will start using their flags, spam will disappear in time.
Also to address what you said in the other comment above. Creating new account and delegating SP to it will totally kill your suggested solution. It would need to go hand in hand with some restriction on creating accounts and that is probably never going to happen.
Great comment, I tend to agree with your take on the responsibility of the whales as well as the up vote bots.
Personally, I love minnowbooster and think they fill a completly legitimate role on the platform.
If you're a whale there's certainly a lot of pressure from the community to behave in a certain way and I think as long as they have a viable means to earn a good ROI on their investment through community approved use then they'll likely follow one of those paths, ie. delegation/loans/curation etc.. rather than just blatantly upvoting worthless content for the rewards.
I also agree on the spam. You've got to just flag it when you see it. Right now though, I think it doesn't happen enough because there's a lot of fear of what kind of backlash you'll incur. Everyone is worried about their reputation taking a hit if you accidentally piss off the wrong user. I think as the user base grows and matures and we get more high level reputation users, we'll see more flagging. This will make it much harder for spammers to get any kind of foothold.
I do led out my SP through @minnowbooster too when I have no time to curate myself. We do have similar vision of Steem/it’s future:).
Perhaps, but only until a certain point.
At this point, I don't think the bots and whales are an issue. It's still possible to play the game, and win at it, even with both. More importantly, the platform still adds value to the user and is fun to engage with (for me at least).
If that scale tips before we hit a critical adoption point then Steem will die. On the other hand, if that scale tips after we hit a critical adoption point Steemit will die but Steem will be just fine and another product will step in that learns from where Steemit failed and deliver the service in a new way.