"I personally will shift my completely focus as a Witness, Stakeholder, Steempreneur, Developer & Steemian effective immediately towards bringing value to Steem."
And how are you planning to do this? Or to rephrase, what will change?
If it means just more features to smartsteem and more "Steem is fine, we just have to believe together" posts, I'm not sure the direction is correct. These might make the insiders more happy, but to outsiders it looks just more of a cult than it already is. Also, some could argue that bid bots have made this place the ghost town it is, I've noticed the change in my behavior since I started to sell votes. Probably about 80% drop in manual voting is the result, I wonder if the effect is common.
Sorry for being a bad cheerleader, I only have little stake here. For the first time ever, I'm afraid Steem will be a total failure though. Seeing Ned's incompetence as a leader and now 70% layoffs despite huge ninja mine. If Steemit inc ceases to exist, which could happen, since Ned's talking about wanting to survive already, I wonder will Steem cease to exist with it? How decentralized are we really? I know there's very little blockchain development happening outside Steemit Inc, but reading how it literally takes millions to run their systems, should we all be powering down before it's too late?
I hope this isn't just seen as fearmongering, but rather serious questions that I'd like to hear answers to and probably thousands of others as well. There's reality and then there's delusions, hopes and dreams. Let's stick to reality, at least for a second. It seems serious discussion isn't happening... at least on these top trending posts. No offense, just wishing for change.
But now, let's continue to sing kumbaya together!
It has contributed, yes. Just another way folks sell out our future for short term gains.
I do believe we will come back from this better than ever, however! The low price has allowed many of my friends to buy #Steem for their first time ever! xoxoxo I believe this deep drop is a real blessing.
What everyone wanted when Steem was at $8. Ooh they just wished it would drop so they could buy some. That's what so many were saying. And now look lol.
The true visionaries of Steem will see this through. The ones who can see the long term. Steem is not going anywhere, even if it hit 1 cent. We are still here. We are the value. Humans are the Value of Steem.
Appreciate the reply. Yes, what we have been lacking is good distribution. The wider we can spread Steem to people that really care, the better our growth will be in the future. The initial distribution was horrible. A social platform where ninja mined stake gets to be the whales and decide what's valuable and what's not? That's like letting Zuckerberg decide where the new Steem would go, imagine that :) We're still suffering from it...
What I'm questioning is can Steem survive without Steemit Inc, that's what I'm hoping to get answers for. What is Steemit Inc spending millions for in a year, and if they go bankrupt, who will run these services? That's what I'm asking, can the blockchain run without them. After that comes the issue of who's going to continue developing it. It would put my mind at ease knowing we could survive these worst case scenarios.
I am sad to hear you say so iggy -- But I have just put some money into STEEM now that it is down so much, it's a nice buy in.
I think crypto as a whole is just crippiling along... so until crypto has some new life breathed into it, there is little hope for Steem. Cause and effect here. That being said I think if it does go down the way you say. Well we need the shake up! We have people who have always believed in the platform... if it is a cult like tribe as you say. So much the better for the people will have to figure out a way to get back that which they knew was always theirs to begin with. Personally steemit will always be my form of expression. I just might put it down sometimes. It is time to change the platform. It is time for someone else to heed the call and take up the mantle.
Steem needs a take over by the people. The stakeholders - you and me IGGY
I challenge you iggy
What can we do together to change this place?
We don't need these people. We find the right people! Talent has seeped through these digital walls. You know that as well as anyone. What can we two do? What can we start. What was your dream for Steemit? What rallying call must be rung so this place can stay for the people?
Well my biggest worry is that Steem the blockchain itself is in danger due to it relying too much on Steemit Inc. If that's solved, I think Steem will survive, one way or another. I do have big hopes for SMT's since they will enable people that care and share ideals and moral rules to organize and build their own ecosystems. One of the biggest problem has always been the distribution of Steem. Those who hold stake in systems like these play huge part in how successful it is, so SMT's that manage to give largest stakes to entities that think long term and can view ideas from far away perspective will prosper.
Now that you mention that, I do have one project that you might be interested in. We should chat on discord about it some time. It's too late
for me to touch upon your comment fully, but I'll just say that I saw Steem as a platform where people would reward good content they personally like. If millions would do this, the trending would be really interesting place to visit, attraction that non stakeholders would also want to visit, every day, but sadly this isn't happening. Perhaps some day though, with the help of SMT's!
The #Steem blockchain can absolutely run without steemit.
Have you ever used any of the other interfaces? Try out steempeak.com, it's awesome! Lots of folks use busy.org, people with phones use partiko app. There are many many ways to access the blockchain!
We are all stakeholders in the Steem blockchain. Not steemit.
Lyndsay, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface... These are just interfaces that show what's on the blockchain, I've developed few myself actually so yes, I know. Thanks for the reply though.
Ok, cool. So what are some solutions you have thought of?
We just need to make sure the system can operate smoothly even if Steemit Inc ceases to exist one day ( they do a lot more than just upkeep Steemit.com ), I'm not going to jump into details with my limited knowledge however.
The biggest problem is that the costs of running API nodes is so high. And normally, one API node is nearly not enough.
You can ask @themarkymark, who ran by far the fastest community RPC node. It was really expensive and got more expensive with time.
Now, I'm not argueing that this has to be fixed, but Steemit Inc. are doing exactly this - making it much cheaper to run API nodes and once that is done - the community will hopefuly stand up.
At least I know that I will work on something.
One thing is bad distribution of STEEM / SP, another is bad distribution of rewards. Of course these go hands in hands, but maybe we could do at least about the latter.
Posted using Steeve
Yes, the latter we can do something about, but that would require offering stakeholders an option to just receive their rewards without actually selling their votes or using it to vote content without curating ( vote circles, self voting through alt accounts and such ), that will just mess up the content discovery and diminish any true curation efforts, eventually forcing everyone to become a rather passive stakeholder if they wish to not feel utterly demoralised and just leave Steem as a whole.
We have a lot of people who would love to find great posts, I'm sure. And I can't be happy with Steem until real curation has an meaningful effect.
How things work now:
Top 20 trending is decided by who pays most to the passive stakeholders, these stakeholders aren't doing anything, yet they get rewards that match about 10 self votes a day + curation. This activity draws a lot of rewards from the reward pool, so the reward pool that is actually in use for manual curation is already diminished. This passive vote selling doesn't care about what gets seen on our trending, that the outsiders see first and judge the whole system by. And yes, it isn't pretty, but what can we expect when it's decided by who pays the most? So since this kind of activity is going on, even I with close to 6k Steem Power won't bother with curating. I don't have an effect, and if I do manually curate, I'm losing out on rewards and on effort needed.
This is a devious cycle that will lead to majority of people just opting to sell their votes, so a trending can be formed that nobody truly likes or is proud of. Quality content doesn't matter, and it will be obvious to anyone who isn't deluded by their stake in the system, hence hoping for better. I'd like to be proud of Steem, but self appointed "community leaders" with their feel good posts, who at the same time sell Steem's dignity to the highest bidder makes it harder every day.
How Steem could work:
Divide the reward pool by rule like it already is, between passive investors and active ones. Doing this we can actually save the curation process from the devastating effects that passive investors currently have on the system and actually make the work of active investors worth more, since they get to decide what gets rewarded and shown to everyone visiting Steem. They'd actually feel appreciated, who knows! Encouraging more curation by people who wish Steem to succeed long term. There are people who would like to do that job, even if it would pay a bit less, but now their work is muddled by passive voting, indifferent to quality of the posts. And it's a sad, sad state. Not sure how long I can take it, I might just take a hiatus and wait for SMT's and hope they can solve this issue.
I share your feelings and agree with your description of the situation. However, what you suggest as a potential solution can be already done right now! At least most of it.. :)
We at Steeve are boosting manual curation. You can read more about how we are doing it in this post published last night.
Our idea is to use AI to process the vast amounts of new content created every day and learn the taste of our users. We can then use the AI for giving personalized recommendations of potentially interesting posts outside of user's regular feed. We will then upvote the most popular posts on our platform. This should improve the reward distribution, as good quality content will have a better reach and curators will be actually rewarded for their manual work, not like now. This should also motivate curators to accumulate more SP and thus improve the ecosystem overall, including the price of STEEM.
Would be curious to hear what you think about it :)
Posted using Steeve, an AI-powered Steem interface
Any steps taken towards quality content being found on here and brought to light is step to right direction. There's multiple ways to do it and AI is interesting approach, but one that tweaked right could provide a lot of value that sets your service apart from the rest.
Actually, I'll be switching over for Steeve for a while to see how it feels in action.
Different Projects that have the primary goal of bringing value to Steem.
No. This post was created to keep the energy and positivity up on Steem. The 70% lay off is huge and should be taken seriously, but Steem is much more than Steemit. Don't you think it's important to act as a positive leader for the community?
Smartsteem will, of course, be maintained and kept on an innovative level. This project gives me the ability to work on projects which don't have a revenue stream and have the single goal of bringing value to Steem
For all of my current projects, check this out: https://therealwolf.me/projects
For future projects, follow me and watch out for posts :)
If it weren't for promotion services, I would have left Steem very early. Who wants to be on a platform where manual curation is flawed and the chance of being seen is based on the luck of having a stakeholder rewarding your post.
I understand and I can sympathize. Fact is, words are worth nothing. So instead of me trying to explain everything, let me work on bringing value to Steem, before it's too late.
I mean this respectfully. That line bothers me. ACTING and DOING are two different things. I'm not singling you out, I know there are more, like you.
If I wanted your support, I'd have to purchase it. I get it. Maybe you look at us and see money instead of people. I don't know what you see.
You can ACT like a leader here, and say the right things, all you want. When will you be able to see the damage your services have done to this community? Specifically, I'm talking about the vote selling and bidbot. You're not the only one, and I know this, but I'm talking to you right now. How have you been able to maintain the ignorance it takes to NOT be able to see the problems voteselling and bidbots have caused? As someone who offers a service that is actively harming the community, for profit, how do you see yourself as a leader? Who are you leading?
This thought also came to my mind. It just seems so paradoxical.
There's no community involved at all when it comes to deciding what posts gets to trend on Steem.
Thank you for voicing this
I mean this respectfully
If you'd open your eyes and stop living in your bubble of Steemit 2016, you'd realize that I'm actually DOING a lot.
I don't want and need to be the leader for everyone. Those who find that my message resonates with them can follow me and those who don't, can do something else.
And you know - you're making a lot of assumptions against me. Just because voteselling & bid-bots don't fit in your world, doesn't give you the right to act as if I'm the profit-driven, unhuman and unemphatic IDGAF devil on Steem.
How about you actually read my posts? Do I write valuable and honest content, or not?!
Read the comments of this post, you're seeing a lot of people who find my post inspiring, who said that it gave them energy and removed their fear & uncertainty. Would they have seen it, without me promoting it? Probably not.
I see the problem of abuse of promotion-services and I'm in favour of implementing a downvote-pool. This would solve the problem of promotion abuse.
Every time I'm seeing one of your comments, it's full of sarcastic, negative energy. And I'm done arguing with someone like that.
If you want to ignore all the other flaws in the system, which gave their fair share on turning away users from Steem, (circle voting, unfair stake distribution, horrible content discovery, low quality of content, spammers) then do that. But don't expect for me to give you any more of my time.
And I mean this respectfully
I was truly hoping you wouldn't take my response and questions personally. I'm sorry that it comes across as sounding negative, that was not my intention and coming to you with respectful intentions was not sarcasm, I truly meant it but knew full well my questions might take you out of your comfort zone. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot.
I've been here since 2016 but I do not live in a bubble for I have been here since 2016 meaning 2017 and now nearly all of 2018 exist as well. I'm fully capable of being able to see problems, regardless of what year it is. If it offends you that I've been here since then, I'm sorry.
One of the biggest problems I've faced since I've been here is the fact that when I come to these places to express myself, I'm consistently struck down and shunned by those who I'm attempting to speak to. It has become frustrating and some of that frustration has been visible in comments I've left around here and there. I am not ashamed of being frustrated, nor am I proud of how these discussions turn out.
I do. I recently started following you. I even took the time to leave a lighthearted comment in the form of a meme for a recent post you did asking for a meme.
I think I now know why you blew me off. The meme was a joke. I typically write humorous comments and have a lot of fun here. We don't get to see that so much on the trending page here, when I speak to anyone. I'm actually a humorist, most days, and an artist as well. Most visit my blog to have fun and smile. It's unfortunate that I can't seem to be that guy here, in this space.
I realize now, speaking to you was a bad idea, and I will stop.
Have a good day.
I respect and appreciate your comment. I guess we started on the wrong foot. I only want the best for Steem, if I could fix all of Steem's problem right now, making it as good as possible for User to be active here, then I would.
But there are multiple depths levels to it, including blockchain relevant coding changes requiring hardforks, which is difficult.
And I actually saw your meme, maybe that's why I took it personal as I thought we were over this topic. The last thing I want on a positive post, is someone questioning my ethics. Especially since I'm all in on Steem.
So, with that said: I apoligize for understanding your comment the wrong way and hope we can start over fresh.
So would I.
So am I.
Good idea.
If everyone, whatever role they play, from all walks of life, here, could meet on the same level, instead of working against each other, or thinking their way is somehow the only way or the better way, we'd be on to something. That's where I've always stood, even though it might not look like it on the surface.
There are things I'd like to say, but until the whole positive/negative everything is black or white; good or bad; up or down; here or there mentality is thrown out the window and replaced with something more realistic, those things cannot be said.
I'll see you around.
Silencing dissent is your answer to criticism?
Again, I appreciate you taking time to answer my lengthy post. Earns my respect for sure even if we might think differently on certain topics involving Steem.
You kind of answered your own question with "Fact is, words are worth nothing." - When I go to trending I'd rather just see some interesting content that community has upvoted through organic curation rather than "positive posts to read when the price is down". Well, I'd settle for just interesting content since bid bots dominate trending :) Imagine if Reddit was a publicly traded company and when the price of its stock plummets for a while, their trending would be filled with "feel good" posts suddenly. I know it would drive many users away and fast. I'd like this place to also serve people who don't actually have stake in here already. That's why I don't like bid bots, the normal end user gets the short end of the stick with them.
Yes, the manual curation was flawed since many stakeholders chose self voting or voting circles instead of actual real curation. These people also happened to be ones with biggest stakes so it set a bad example for everyone. We need to offer a solution where passive investors can have their rewards without messing up the content discovery process, where real people vote on content that a) They actually like b) They think others will enjoy
I think the idea of dividing Steem Power to two camps, passive and active is one of the best ideas I've heard so far that could solve this huge problem.
Has bid bots improved curation? Who wants to be on platform where trending shows posts that just have paid the most? Isn't that just plain advertising? We could call it promotion yes, but there's no difference other than the term used or is there?
That's not the only negative effect bid bots have. I'm sure you've heard them all but most probably haven't seen all the cons. Top promoted posts set certain expectations for people, and when their own posts don't meet them, it makes many feel very negative vibes, the opposite you're trying to bolster with your post here and they'll just leave when they see the system inherently as unfair and broken. At this state buying votes is almost required to have any change of hitting top 20 trending, so we're requiring new users to pay to comment and post and then pay hundreds to have their post seen on trending. How attractive is that on its own? Yes, rewards are paid back but it's still an obstacle.
I'm not even going to bother listing more cons since this reply would turn into a book rather than a comment.
I hope your new projects as big success as Smartsteem, keep up the good work. I hope you consider this input when it comes to deciding on what to improve next :)
It's true - I used to do quality content for this platform until I realized it was completely rigged - So I resorted to shit posting because it really doesn't matter for a little guy either way. The system literally makes you have to find other reasons to stay other than a chance at trending,or reward. Otherwise you feel like shit for putting in the work and not seeing anything come from it.
Painful truth that no one wants to say out loud, because it doesn't get upvotes. But here, have one from me. We need more real talk here