I wanted to check out Steem, so here I am with my first post.
First impressions
I first went to steem.it only to find out that it's actually steemit.com. Not sure how many other people have that impression.
Go to signup and am surprised by how hard it is. Here were my options:
Giving your email and phone number seems like very bad training for onboarding people into blockchains, where your email and phone can be used to try to hack you. And pay to sign up? I don't even know if I want to signup until I can look around and experience things. This seems like a big UX improvement opportunity -- perhaps by building the functionality that enables a friend to easily pay for you.
I eventually had @protegeaa sign me up. He didn't have any time yesterday, so he took care of it today and gave me my keys. The process was far more complicated than I was expecting, even given that I understand how this stuff works.
Wait....four private keys?
That's more keys than I was expecting, though I thought I understood that Steem had two different private keys. I'm still unclear what the memo key is for.
I also wasn't initially clear that the password line was for (one of) my private keys. I figured it was something else, given that the login line says password. Seems like there should be different nomenclature or at least a "what's this" thing I can click for a quick explanation.
But this multiple private keys thing is one of the things I came to explore, so it's pretty interesting. It's one thing to read about and another to experience. It's a different way of encouraging usability that's worth exploring -- and I think it could be better with improved explanations and UI.
I'm not convinced that it makes much of a difference since you still have one key that you can never lose, but it does significantly lower the stress of everyday actions.
Ok, time to write a post
Honestly I'm still not sure if my screenshots above went through. I'll have to post in order to find out. It seems like they did, because there's a ~ tilde there. But heck if I know -- that's very unintuitive to me to show a tilde in the UI rather than the image. Checking the HTML seems to indicate that they are indeed there.
If that tilde thing isn't the image I've uploaded, then I'm very confused as to how to upload an image. Also a few times I tried to add an image and didn't get a tilde. I assume because an image was uploading, though it was unclear.
[Post publication edit: I did not get it right and had to edit my post.]
Time to post
As I get ready to click submit, I realize that I have no idea whether I can edit my post. I assume that I can, because otherwise there would have to be some kind of UX warning.
However, since it's on a blockchain, it's likely that the original version is out there permanently...? That definitely seems like something that deserves a warning. Again some kind of little question mark that gives a little popup explaining more briefly and offering a link to learn more seems like a nobrainer.
Why Steem now?
Steem is under new leadership and I like many of the people who are involved now. They've been telling me I should check out Steem. So I guess they wore me down!
I am skeptical of DPoS as a longterm safeguard for value. However, my guess would be that positive cultures will be able to maintain DPoS chains longer than projects that have a quick profits culture. In that regard, I am more hopeful for Steem than other DPoS chains.
Steem's Reddit competitor SMTs are also something I'm interested in, because a Sybil resistant site would be a huge improvement, even if it isn't perfectly Sybil proof. I can imagine markets emerging for light moderation to heavy moderation, as well as providing some remuneration for those doing the work of moderation.
What next?
I'm going to play around with Steem a bit, and write about what whatever I may learn. I'm also going to try to make myself post every day for the month of June, so I'm likely to put those posts here.
Blockchains are all experiments at the moment. At the moment, Steem seems like an interesting one to check out and learn from.
I follow you on Twitter and love your insights. Excited to see you posting on Steemit.
I've been fascinated with the experiment here. I have no idea if it will survive, but there are a lot of vibrant discussions and thoughtful commentary here.
What intrigues me most is just how much human governance goes into Steem, especially with DPoS. The politicking of witnesses is fascinating. The epic "flagging" battles with whales (negative upvoting). The hand-wringing over self-upvoting. The lingering effects of a heavily stilted token distribution from the initial launch and the community's attempts to level the playing field.
I'm far more impressed with the participants than Steemit, Inc.
It's given me an appreciation for what PoW uniquely offers, but also introduced me to a meaningful use case for DPoS (and PoS). And yet, one can imagine the trainwreck this sort of governance would have for Bitcoin.
// and yes, the UX leaves a lot to be desired. For me, there have been even more frustrating discoveries -- like the fact that posts stop earning money after 7 days. So a warning about spending a lot of time on an evergreen post that would have a solid ROI over time. It's basically a permanent, free donation to the blockchain after the 7 day payout period.
You should post your "week in ethereum news" posts here. I find your work very useful. At least you could get paid some coin for it, and potentially troll-free... or at least troll-minimized.
It's good to see you on here, Evan. Steem is doing some pretty cool things and there is a lot of 3rd party development going on.
Welcome to Steemit. It can be confusing to new users, especially if they don't know the concepts behind blockchain. Having to give some ID is an attempt to deal with fake accounts, but there are still lots here. Steemit have to fund those accounts, but they have said they will withdraw this if they are used for abuse of the system.
I hope you enjoy your time here.
Awesome that you joined! I am a big fan of the newsletter.
Steem has some problems, but as you say it definitely an interesting experiment.
See you around steem!
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