The Reward Pool Is A Gift
It Doesn't Belong To Anyone
Someone, somewhere has decided to allow all of us here, and many more of us after, without any qualification other than a desire to sign up, to have access to a reward pool that we did not create, nor did anything to deserve.
Image source
Okay, who threw the pineapple into the reward pool?
(When I say we, I'm talking about the vast majority of users who have come on board since 2016 who had nothing to do with the creation of STEEM, the blockchain or Steemit.)
And here we sit, fighting over something that isn't ours, nor ours to control, because we have been around for a while and we think we have some say in how things should be run.
Why?
What did most of us do to earn any right to say anything? Because someone said we have it? Someone granted it to us, bestowed it from on high?
Or because we have stake in it? We put in some of our money, some of our own sweat equity? That entitles us to make rules and force others to comply?
It's amazing how much grief is caused and how much damage is done all in the name of fairness. There is so much collateral damage done here, so much disrespect and hurt. All over something that really isn't ours, that really isn't money until it goes through a rather convoluted conversion process.
This place is supposed to show the better way. Those of us here are supposed to be among the most enlightened. The ones, if any exist, that have the best chance of making such a thing work.
And yet, here we are, willing to waste time and reward pool money and effort on all kinds of negativity and division and whatever else you want to call it, all in the name of some sense of justice we think we're performing.
A lot of blame gets thrown around. Hypocrisy abounds. Complaints without solutions. Frustration and more frustration.
I've felt the frustration. I've posted about it and posed questions and possible starting points for the solutions. In doing so, however, I can't help but feel like I'm adding to the problem, not helping to solve it. There are ways to go about things, and it involves having some kind of standard and sticking to it, no matter what.
I believe there are folks like that here. Maybe they are the majority. It's the vocal minority that always stirs up the rest, always seem to be more than what they really are, because they yell the loudest, curse the longest, pound and pound until the rest of us either don't care anymore or give in to our baser natures.
Well, I'm sorry. I'm not going to do that.
There needs to be more decorum on this platform if anyone expects to see the hundreds of thousands or millions of people coming here and staying here. If all they see is infighting it won't be the reward pool's fault, or even the reward system, or lack of visibility, or not-so- diverse, original or quality content. It will be the total lack of human dignity, of diplomacy, of decency, from all parties choosing to join in. The masses will look at it, if they haven't done so already, and think, "This is worse than where I'm at right now."
You want people to behave a certain way. Lead out. You do it. Don't say it's bad then do it yourself. For any reason. Talk to people, don't yell, curse, or throw a temper tantrum. It doesn't really convince anyone, and it's really ugly to watch.
If you want people to aid you, then don't come in and throw your money and SP around. Build coalitions. Build consensus. Anything worthwhile takes time. It takes others who are likeminded and are willing to do something, just not at the expense of their good will or their integrity.
The reward pool is a gift. I don't know if it's irrevocable. I don't want to find out. You can have grievances. You can band together to do something about it. You can issue warnings, you can request a cease and desist, but when it becomes mob rule or mob mentality, when that's the only way things ever seem to get done around here, that's when things fall apart and drift ever closer to chaos.
We need to put forth our better selves. We're supposed to be showing the rest of the world the better way, not giving them the worst of what they come from. All over something that isn't ours in the first place.
Someday maybe. But not yet. Whenever that day may come that the reward pool and the system and all the decisions are turned over to us, I hope we're ready. It's certainly not now.
We're not ready for the world, and as it is, the world isn't going to want us this way.
Okay, first, that reward pool in the picture with the pineapple looks really refreshing. I felt like diving in and pulling out those pineapples myself.
I agree. The reward pool is a gift to 99% of us. I don't begrudge anyone for wanting to get their piece of it. But let's do it with a little more finesse.
Yeah, people want to right what they perceive as the wrongs of others and by attempting to do so, they compound the problem.
We all need to focus on what we can individually do to provide more value to the platform and stop the fighting. I hate it and it is a detriment to our development.
I was looking for some kind of refreshing mountain spring, but saw the pineapple pictures first. :) You're more than welcome to dive in after them.
To be specific, it looks like Haejin will get his comeuppance. It's the might makes right mentality, I guess. Maybe it's the glee or the casualness. I'm not sure what I'm really objecting to, to tell you the truth. The feelings are there.
I think there needs to be a way to make and address grievances. I think people have a right to express their opinions. Whether or not those opinions are seen, agreed with or acted upon is probably another story, but they should be allowed, and really they should be heard and discussed. Just leaving things to fester isn't a good thing. Threre's got to be a middle ground.
The fighting does need to stop. It's worse than childish, and it is compromising development. I couldn't agree more.
That's usually the most annoying thing to see here and you can see it a lot. Like people going around flagging stuff to "protect the reward pool" and suddenly starting to upvote themselves fortunes in comments. Talk about behavior lacking even a shred of integrity.
I agree wholeheartedly, we do have to try and the our best selves, but unfortunately, posed with a chance to earn a bit more, most of us suddenly start finding rationalizations and excuses to be self-serving.
There is a huge psychological difference between being the one taking advantage of a gray area and seeing somebody else doing it. It's like Steve Jobs who was outspoken and unapologetic about stealing good ideas, but suddenly become a crybaby when Google stole an idea he felt belonged to him and his company (Android).
You see that here all the time. People condemn things until they come into the position to benefit from them. Then they suddenly become OK. At least for them personally.
The reward pool is indeed a gift, but once it has been left loose, it's irrevocable.
There appears to be a degree of acceptance when it comes to all of these things. It's okay as long as your small. It's okay as long as it's under a certain amount. It's okay because my content needs to be seen. It's okay because it is what it is. It's okay because it's been worse. It's okay because blah blah blah.
It is really hard to take the high road and keep it. Any one of us in any given moment can wind up going back against what we thought or said, or passing the line we say others should never cross, either to make the point or to defend our position. I don't know.
This whole lawless things is great if people can agree on proper ethics and etiquette, but when they either continually disagree, then take the law into their own hands, or come up with ethics and etiquette that are unjust and invite rebellion, it's not so great. Surely there's someway to keep the peace and provide opportunities to reward hard work.
It's here. It's available. We just have to take hold.
Yep, a lot of acceptance and rationalization. Some temptations too.
Those are some good points. We didn't earn it. We are "entitled" to it. At the same time, we can choose to go elsewhere. If we don't feel we're getting a fair chance to "win" rewards because of how the system is set up, or because of how certain players are using that system, we can take our ball and go home. If enough people do that, all that's left are the people who were exploiting the system...and the bots. There's not much value in that, so their rewards will plummet as no one will want to buy shares in a bygone social media experiment.
That being said, yes, there does need to be a certain level of decorum. It's a shame that people can't just talk some of this stuff out. I know it's harder to do since we're all behind screens, not in front of each other. But still, there's got to be a way that we can reach an agreement that's in everyone's best interests.
Exactly.
Building anything worthwhile takes time, effort and other resources. Destroying is a matter of seconds.
Steemit is a great idea. The best part of it is the potential it offers to better the lives of so many people, and not just those on the platform.
It is a microcosm of the human world - there are always those who want everything for themselves whether they have created it or not, those who follow them because they like being part of the crowd...
Then there are those who imagine a better world and understand that this is only possible when we do our little individual bit to support efforts in this direction, even if we don't make the initial moves ourselves.
And you're right, there are a few on this platform and what they are doing is simply marvellous. The Writer's Block and Sandbox, for instance, are inspiring projects. These and others highlight Steemit's potential.
It is. It's amazing how great an idea it is. It's so easy to get caught up in the drama that how amazing an idea it is gets lost, even when people are so focused on preserving it they lose sight of its whole reason for existing. I don't know. I don't know how any of this turns out, but we will probably be finding out soon enough.