Question: How does the website interact with the blockchain
Hello,
It is obvious that this site is run by a company, while the core of steemit is a blockchain.
I read the white paper. What i don't understand is what is written/stored in the blockckchain, what is managed by a website and company. Looking at steemd i can guess a few things and i guess see the blockchain or parts of it, but overall I don't get it and haven't been able to find how things work.
Another big question to me is how is functionality enhanced?
Is there some overview or can someone maybe explain this.
Also how does the company that runs the site make money and what is their business model?
Thanks for the answers. I will sure up vote anything that is useful.
At first I was not really a fan of a centralized use of a blockchain. But if Steemit will promote their own Blockchain for other developers to get into it and create other services on top. Maybe a another reddit clone, like steemit.com itself. So it will create a new compitor service, so after steemit.com goes down, other services are still alive. After the downtime yesterday I thought alot about the centralized problem on steemit.com
Well is it centralized though? Thats what i am trying to understand. there are things that work better in the old word and its important to connect new technologies with old infrastructures.
It looks like steem has done just that. But i don't understand the details enough and I am worried that this part is a bit omitted in the doc etc.
The interesting part at steemit.com is that only the website (steemit.com) is on a server somewhere(so centralized). But the System which gives the website the information and the knowledge is inside a blockchain(the steem blockchain) which is decentralized. You could create your own website which uses the steem blockchain :)
I believe the blockchain has these posts integrated into it. If you want to you can create your own website with the blockchain incorporated, integrate an exchange and have your own user's trade steem and post content. Sure the big players will always be the original creator at any crypto currencies start. Who ever believes in an alt and invests in it are usually the ones who control it.
You can also make calls and read posts through piston which allows command line integration into the post blockchain. Check out this steem post which shows you this tool: https://steemit.com/piston/@xeroc/piston. My point isn't that this site isn't a huge player in steem, it is that steem is a currency based around a community of posters. If they do it through a custom UI or their own application it is acceptable and actually encouraged. But there is a barrier to enter the space starting with the time it would take to implement something like this.
But the content of the posts, i.e. <<<< the stuff i just wrote. Where is this stored?
If it is on the blockchain then another site could simply provide a copy of the steemit website. But if the site stores content in a separate way than part of the solution is centralized.
Take a look at my article describing the possibilities for something of this scale: https://steemit.com/steemit/@ungratefulchump/think-big-picture
I really don't see this as a scam or a hyper inflated scam. Maybe I didn't understand everything in the white pages, but this seems to make sense. At least as much as bitcoin and other similar currencies. Only this one can be used as a social media platform which means huge adoption rates. Even if this is a company, this company will do amazing if they allow user's to gain access to cryptocurrencies through means they are already use to. I really do believe this will be huge.
It is irrelevant. I am unaware of the exact mechanics, but I believe the posts and content are stored within the blockchain. I am still learning just like you. And if this were truly a company running this site they would have nothing to gain from allowing people access to the content through this apps. The real money and investment opportunity is the currency surrounding the steemit site.
ok. That would be so amazing. It would also show that a blockchain is truly scalable. But it would also be a challenge technically I believe.
I have always been impressed by how the bitshares guys improved the blockchain. It looks like they figured out how to make something truly amazing.
Your link seems to be broken at the moment...
Do you know of any other front-ends that have been written?
I just registered, and right now the whole thing reminds me of Ripple: a blockchain and a nice web front-end run by an organization more or less named after the blockchain. And with Ripple, the big organization eventually booted all the normal users off their front-end and went on to focus on working with banks. So having more than one front-end is really important.
Essentially everything is on the blockchain. The web site provides a 'view' of the blockchain.
As far as the business model of the company, it owns a large portion of the initial supply of Steem so it profits from the increase in value of Steem. There may also be some premium services or advertisements on the web site, but nothing specific has been announced.
You can read more about the initial distribution of Steem here: https://steem.io/roadmap/launch-and-sale/
"Essentially everything is on the blockchain. The web site provides a 'view' of the blockchain." Does this mean that the content is stored on the bs as well?
with bs, do you mean blockchain? If yes, you are absolutely right!
Good post! I like it! Good Luck To You!