Comparing Steem PALs

PALnet.io has been up for almost two weeks now and it seems to be going along well and shows something that I have been trying to push for a while, *that there is the potential to earn on platforms that are paying in a smart token yet still running on Steem.

But it shows something else that is interesting also.

Steemit	PAL

That is the voting list from Steem v PAL which in case you don't know, is ranked by vote amount added to the post. I find this encouraging as while on the left there are some heavy Steem hitters, on the right those same accounts are in a different position. What this means is that the accounts that distribute Steem are not the same accounts that are distributing PALcoin.

What does this mean for content creators? Well, those that haven't been able to gather support from larger accounts on Steem have the chance to gather some from larger PAL accounts. But, there is obviously other aspects to this too.

• It is possible to buy into PAL and have a larger relative stake than on Steem.
• It is possible that smaller accounts that have supported in the past have decided to buy into PAL

One thing I wish would stop however is people thinking that they are entitled to get support. Pretty much, whatever support you may get be appreciative of it and don't take it for granted ever because someone is choosing to add some of their value to your post. On top of this, today's Steem Redfish could be tomorrow's PAL Orca.

Remember that this is stake-weighted voting and the distribution ability is relative to the size of the pool and the amount of active stake drawing upon it. At the moment, there are only something like 200 active users of PAL each day. That means that the competition on PAL is lower meaning there is more chance of getting content seen.

Another thing that is shown by the introduction of PAL is that there is interest in obtaining the coin and there is even volume on steem-engine.com, but it is scarce and the amounts being traded are small. That is because most sellers dumped their airdrop early and now there are a few holdouts, some speculators that bought and people who are selling their payouts as they come in. Low volume with only 21,000 STEEM worth sold in the last 24 hours. But, that is 24,000 Steem worth, which at the high of 8 dollars would have been worth 168,000 dollars - a high I think Steem will exceed later.

In fact, at the current prices, PAL is worth well over 2 million dollars, not bad considering it is 2 weeks old. The price is going to likely fluctuate wildly, but with it still being a staked coin that mines PAL from the pool like Steem does - those who are just dumping whatever they get might be upset later, just like people were with Steem.

But of course, everyone likes certainty and for many that means that they are not going to invest whatever they might be able to into a very uncertain future. This is a pity in my opinion as it tends to be the same types of people over and over. What I am glad about though is that there are names appearing in the voting lists I haven't seen much of before, which means there are some people who are taking the chance on uncertainty and I hope it will pay off for them.

It is a long game however and there is a great deal of conflict to come and I am quite certain that in due course, the FUD is going to set in on PAL also and people will be saying and spraying whenever they don't achieve what they think they deserve. Deserve is generally another face of entitlement when one self-evaluates and chooses a prize as the view is rarely accurate.

PAL s a good example of what is going to happen with Smart tokens and while there will be varying degrees between astronomical success and complete failure, I am hoping that people are learning all they can and understanding that often, the system is less the issue than the behavior.

These platforms are dumb and just tools with algorithms, but users are able to make choices for themselves on how they act, interact and develop. While some people think that whatever they do should be rewarded, others adapt to the changing ecosystem -and the ecosystem is in constant flux. I see people doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result yet, they have not considered whether what they put forward is in demand or of any interest to enough people. There is no problem with that behavior other than the expectation that others should act in a certain way.

For me personally, I like all of these experiments going on and while I can't grab all the data, it will be interesting to see what kinds of accounts are getting rewarded and by whom on PAL in comparison to Steem. It is also going to be interesting over time to see which account behaviors are going to emerge as the larger staked players and, what those accounts are going to do wit their stake if they have not wielded that kind of power before.

These activities on Steem will expand across more use cases and there could be a host of tokens that either individually or together eclipse Steem in valuation and still run on the Steem blockchain. This is the power of the system and also why I am a keen investor into the Steem blockchain for the future as I believe that all of the tokens will live a more fruitful lifecycle when underpinned by the Steem protocols as it allows them the possibility to play off each other, share communities and protect through the distribution of users and invested stake.

The power of a distributed network can be incredibly strong when people take a stance of personal and community interest combined across use cases. In time, there will be economic and transactional mass on many nodes of the network and while some may fail, the chances are higher that more percentage-wise will survive as they an leverage each other in many ways. Even small applications with few users could get a fair amount of support as they integrate in to serve a portion of the user base of a larger application.

For many though, no matter what happens they are going to complain and feel victimized because they believe that the Steem world is against them, as if they are being singled out by the code itself. An interesting position considering the code is what it is for everyone equally. I have spent my fair share of time complaining about Steem in the past - these days I more prefer working out how to enjoy Steem now and in the future.

But, nothing is stopping you from complaining if that is your kink. To each their own.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]