There seems to be a general consensus that if "rich people" are making decisions, "poor people" are going to be harmed by them - perhaps it is because often, this is true. Is that the case on Steem?
Steem witnesses are on average and when compared to "the average" Steemian, better off than most - at least from a Steem perspective. People forget that Steem life is not the only thing in life however, but I would suspect that "on average" Steem witnesses probably do "better than average" in the real world too as most of them are experienced professionals in something. Does there "better than average" holdings mean that they are out to get the little folk, to crush them down? I doubt it.
HF21 is coming and I suspect that it will likely go through and the chain will Hardfork and as soon as it does, people will be up in arms complaining about change, even if it is going to work out better for them in the longrun. I got a comment last night saying that every hardfork has been a failure but, I would strongly disagree because of 20 so far, Steem is still ticking along transacting blocks every 3 seconds, distribution is not great but improving slowly, developers are getting more creative and, users are starting to see the bigger picture that Steem is not only a blogging site.
I wonder though, if instead of the generally "above average earning top20" witnesses deciding on what should happen to the protocols on the platform, would people prefer "20 below average earners" making the economic decisions. remember, not just 20 below average on Steem, 20 below average in general. Would a hardfork conceived, developed, organized and executed by the "bottom20" go more smoothly?
Do you predict that you would you be happy with the decisions and execution? Do you think that the decisions made would be in your best interest and, do you think that it would be in the best interest of long-term viability? Do you think you would be able to create a fairer system, or would you favor your own needs and beliefs over those of others? Do you think you would be an impartial witness?
I am not going to vouch for them all, but I met quite a few of the top20 at SteemFest3 and I can at least say that, they don't appear to be monsters with some plan looking to extract value from the "little guy" to line their own pockets - At least most of them. If anything, they seemed to be much more interested in building a system that works better for all, even though they might not always agree on what that may be.
The problem is that whenever we are in need we tend to become manipulative animals that will use all kinds of behavior to satisfy our desires. Whether it be to get money, love, attention or drugs - we are addicts. With most of us living with a scarcity mindset provided by experience and social programming, we are wired to manipulate for our own better position, even if it costs others.
What do you need from Steem?
Have you asked yourself that question? Perhaps you should - and then meditate on it, reflect on it, let it ruminate in your thoughts awhile. Write a post about your findings.
As said, I think hardfork 21 will go through eventually and I believe that it will make the place better because it will put more stake in the hands of the community by providing downvotes that can reallocate back to the pool making the upvotes more valuable by 25% (if people use them).
Will everyone benefit equally? Unlikely. Will no one be disrupted from their current behaviors? Unlikely. This Hardfork is meant to disrupt behaviour. It is meant to change the benefits for some groups over others. You think it is all about greedy whales and "the rich" who are out to get you because you have less Steem than they? How vain. Perhaps it is a good thing you aren't a witness after all.
After HF21, I expect my Steem earnings to go down because I am going to pull my earning stake from @ocdb so I can downvote and, that will likely attract downvotes on my own content. But, the Steem pool is the same size for everyone and every downvote I issue will put the equivalent amount back into the pool to be gathered by those who do produce content that the community believes worth while.
Lower the shit down a few pegs, raise the good up a few. I urge everyone to flag with discernment, but often. Find that shit that is bidbot voted to the moon and flag it to what you think it is worth. Remember that 100 SBD on a post at these prices is 250 Steem. If Steem was 10 dollars, a 100 dollar post is 10 Steem worth. This is why discerment needs to come into it, not just the price on the post but in the future, I see people getting very little Steem and being very happy with their earnings.
There is 887,000 Steem in the pool at the moment and it is worth 360,000 dollars at these prices. At 10 dollar Steem that pool is going to be worth 8,870,000 dollars. Your 1 Steem post earning will be 10 dollars worth and small amounts of significant value could go out to many more people without 750 Steem going on one post in Trending because, it got flagged to fuck for trying to make a 7500 dollar post. What was it you wanted from Steem?
Ah right.... the witnesses are out to get us by increasing their own value along the way.
Is your content good? I don't know what good content is but it has to at least be seen for an evaluation and, most of it isn't getting seen at all. After HF21 perhaps some better authors will get seen as Trending reshuffles and active stake and eyes return to the pool. It might not work that way at all but at the very worst, we continue on having a very broken economy for a little longer until the next proposal comes along.
What I want from steem in the short-term are consistent moves toward economic improvement that encourages development and participation. Not just for the 20,000 active people here now, but for the 20,000,000 that could be here if this shit gets sorted out well, or the 200,000,000 that comes after that. If a witness is playing the short game they might get away with a bit of Steem now, but they would lose the potential for a mass of value later. When it comes to building a startup, economy or personal financial security - don't look short.
I don't think the witnesses are out to get me, nor do I think that they always have my best interest at heart - But my best interests are my responsibility and regardless of change or pain, I back myself to be able to adapt, survive and possibly even thrive.
What did you want from Steem again?
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
The question isn't their wealth status, the question is their experience and knowledge, and I don't mean with code or witnessing, I mean with managing expectations, business development and sharing a vision.
Steem is not just a currency, it also has an established group of people who are building and working on it. It would be in their best interest to be able to discuss the talking points for HF21. It would also be in their best interest to be able to explain how the changes will attract or retain new users.
Many who are watching these decisions get made and who are also relatively financially secure, don't like the change, because they can't communicate clearly what they hope to gain, how these changes are marketable and the motives behind the change seem strictly fear-based.
No one, including me wants to invest in a project run by a group of people who clearly don't have a vision, don't value communication and are responding to market conditions with fear.
Some times negative feedback is not complaining, sometimes it is just negative feedback. And if we are honest, we all need some feedback sometimes.
I know it isn't about wealth but there are also very few in the community who could code or test the testnet. i think the testing is open to everyone?
Aren't we discussing them? Most of this HF has been in discussion for the 2.5 years I have been here in some way or another.
This is the problem in a decentralized space isn't it? communication is always going to be an issue.
Nothing wrong with complaining - sometimes it is just complaining though too.
Solid rebuttal to good points brought up by WU.
I'm not going to butt in or really get into this but did want to address something about the testnet that came up in a conversation I had last night with a witness. They shared my sentiments that while it may be open for everyone it really serves little purpose except to see if there are any bugs that will be potentiality detrimental once launched.
This is because there's no real practicality of testing a fantasy version of steem where as it says on the header "nothing you do here is real" Which is funny, and should be considered for our motto but that's a side salad. My point is it's like determining how a high stakes poker tournament will go based on the results of a freeroll.. While I realise its not possible to do a proper beta test or to take a sample of various accounts and allow them to really tinker with the new paradigm, it does put the focus on the reality that nobody knows what will happen until it's rolled out and put to use for enough time for everyone to acclimate and calibrate to the system changes.
If it's a catastrophe it can be rolled back or sideways or whatever seems better when and if it's time to cross that bridge.
This has been a test of the emergency broadcast system, remember this is only a test and the only way a blockchain can move forward is to throw some stones in the pool and see what the ripples do. We don't have the luxury of real tests that centralised tech companies spend millions on so let's just all relax on the speculation and let the cards be dealt. I'll see yuns at the craps table until then..
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This is exactly what the testnet is for. It isn't to simulate behavior of the user group, that has to be done in the wild because even with significant amounts of users in the testnet, it won't replicate the reality and there will be a selection bias as the worst behaviors won't be present.
The "no one knows" component is exciting, isnt it? :D
Yes exciting indeed, and that is what I was eluding to that the testnet doesn't have a purpose that "anyone" would care about to "test" it. And that this reality and the no one knows aspect makes the test trivial for the average user.
I am pretty sure I could be a consensus witness on the testnet 😂
Yep, I understood what you meant. I wouldn't know what I am testing for but hopefully this time they have hired a few pro testers also for the case.
I also mentioned last time setting up a solid system for witnesses in case something goes wrong and and an interface that would aggregate witness positions and thoughts on the HF... What are the chances? :D
That would be most useful. Chances of worthwhile proposals being implemented might have a 10% chance of happening post fork 😉
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Yes, the testing is open to everyone, but only some get paid to do it, and did not want to share the burden of a massive overhaul. I've been told several times that the content creators are over paid and to clear, I think many here do make more from content that the outside markets would be. The community though is not overvalued in the least. Since under the new system I have become a content creator, even though I have never called myself that... Let' those who feel they need the higher wages earn them. While I know that could seem petty it is exactly what you get when you lead with petty. You get petty in return.
Yes, we are discussing them. They on the other hand have no strong message, no.. Hey guys, that bear market sucked, but we've got this... Literally... We are in trouble and we have to try something. It's sad really.
Communication is a problem when you don't have a clearly defined vision because you are panicking and want to toss a hail mary.
Complaining is nearly always a reaction to fear. Good communication and strong leadership skills are really a solid tool for reducing fear.
In addition, remember many of the people discussing this are not complainers. They have 3 years and tons of time and dophin to orca level stake as well. So, it also matters who is "Complaining".
Is it those who hate steem and always complain... Or is it those who have been here every day working on this and trying to make it work... Because that matters.
I think she's said about everything I wanted to say
This is weird. I posted through PAL and edited the image on PAL from the boats to the eye.
Palnet preview:
Steemit preview:
HF21 is going to be a bad day for those who abuse bidbots, for people who only self-vote, for those who spam and those who plagerize. I just hope no one starts flag wars over disagreements of opinion.
I'm not sure about the 10% reserved for rewarding developers. If you are developing something that doesn't produce value on its own and is not attracting upvotes, why are we paying you?
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The 10% that witnesses get is not for development, it's for securing the chain. They need to be on call 24/7 in case some action needs to be taken. I think that a top witness gets about 30k USD per year which is peanuts compared to smiliar positions in the tech industry and of course they need to be able to read the code and test it.
Without them there is no blockchain, there are no posts and there are no rewards for everyone else. That is why they get paid. Ideally they should have the knowledge to propose changes to the code. It's not a prerequisite but it's definitely a plus (for example aggroed is not a developer). Our job as stakeholders is to vote for the witnesses that will run the code that represents our interests.
EDIT: I just realized that you might be refering to the SPS and not the witness pay. The SPS is not for developers it's for any proposal that could bring value to the network. Marketing, producing tutorials are examples of non-developer related projects that could be funded with the SPS.
I agree with the witness 10% I'm talking about the proposal to take another 10% and give it to developers working on proposals.
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My mistake.
It is a comment about the 10% for the SPS, I believe.
I just realized that..quietly I proceed to go to a corner in embarrassment.
fingers crossed.
Unfortunately it happens now and will happen more (for a while at least) later but, it still has to be dealt with.
It is a strange area that I haven't touched on much but, if it funds decentralized development, some of those developments will pan out at least. It also gives a chance to those who can't "go it alone" to get some funding to try. Who knows what it will inspire.
As long SPS isn't a fixed and costant percentage I'm happy with it. It should be spent on a project by project basis up to 10%. We need constant referendums too so the budget isn't wasted. If no valuable projects are happening I'd like to see it go back to the rewards pool.
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Of course people are going to flag over differences of opinion it already happens.
People are also going to use the downvote pool to troll and harass as well.
I hope they actually curate, as well.
I'm ready, if someone downvotes me, I'll downvote them back! The rewards can go back into the common pool🐱
Curating is important, especially when you comment and give a meaningful upvote!
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imagine how far would it go if witnesses told we believe in what we are doing and believe that this will get steem price up and we will give up 1% for it, because when steem goes to 10$ we will be happy with 2000$ a day.
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While I don’t agree with everything the top witnesses do and their lack of communication, I will say that two or three hardforks ago they cut their own witness pay by 80%.. so maybe something to remember when we think that not cutting “witness rewards” in this one is unfair. Just something to consider.
Noted and reasonable as always...
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witnesses were getting 1300 steem a day?
don't you think 1% would not be a gesture to show that they believe that what they do will bring results? becuse one of the talks is small accounts will be in better place, price will go up.
maybe i am wrong, but i live in a country where politicians cut pensions for 10% because we bankruptcy and then few months later voted to get parliament payment go up, so...
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There are pros and cons to the argument and while I think it might be a decent move now, later it might not be so great. Remember that eventually the pool will be about 6 million a year instead of 26,000,000 like it is now and that 10%ish might be an important component to make sure there are witnesses. I do think blocks should be spread further through the top, but keep the consensus with the lion's share of it still.
let's be real, if in 17 years steem is still at 0.4$ no one will be making blocks and no one will be here :D
exactly.
Optical recognition scan complete.
I figure I am screwed already, go ahead. :D
I did a darker creepier eye first haha
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I think it is really just an interesting community doing something on the cutting edge, the crypto world is in its infancy. To me it isn't really a platform I expect to make money on really just fun and a place for my to add content. It may be more than that for others and therefore would have more of an issue than I do @tarazkp
Earlier I wanted from Steem to be a place where I and others could share our thoughts while helping us build a foundation for the future.
But now I'd like for Steem to surprise me. This past month has been just that.
I would like to think they have everyones best interest at heart when making these decisions. I am just looking at the opportunities that come about every time there are changes and honestly can't wait. the ones who will bitch are the bot users as i don't know how they are going to work for them. 50 /50 has to make an impact on them as if you send $20 to a bot and get back $23.00 you are only getting back $11.50 now and with possible down votes you could be losing plenty.