Enjoyed reading yet another good perspective on this current hot topic!
From my perspective, which is that of
a) a newcomer
b) not a developer
c) only a cryptocurrency enthusiast in the most peripheral of ways
d) a 20-year+ content creator including some "peer curated" sites
I'd like to really bring to the forefront the importance of curation as a tool for encouraging active participation as well as account retention. In a sense, curation can be the "secret sauce" in answering the broader user question (and I am talking about core stakeholders, here) "why should I care to put any time and effort into this site?"
It may not matter so much right now, but let's look at a roadmap plan perhaps called "siphoning off Facebook's most alternative thinking 1%" (+/- 18 million users), they may come for the rewards or incentives, but "fair treatment" is going to be what makes them want to stay and be active community members. And not that many of them are going to be techies or developers.
Thank you! Good to hear. This is not about finger-pointing, it is about realisation of the status quo, the consequences of doing nothing and the responsibility of the 67-400 people who are overseeing the reality of day-to-day steemit.
Exactly right. While some people see curation rewards as unfair or unnecessary, others see it as a way to engage users and actually earn stake without having to be a content creator. And this is the most vital role that it can play - a means for onboarding readers and voters who have no desire to create content, but still want to actively participate on the platform and earn STEEM. It's also one of very few reasons for holding SP and may be the only reason for holding it right now.
No matter what we think about fairness, curation rewards have more than one valuable purpose for the platform overall.