An Open Letter To @elipowellsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #busy5 years ago


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I decided to write this as an open letter since I couldn't find Eli's email address listed anywhere. It is a step that I think she and the Steemit Inc team should consider.

Hello Eli:

I wanted to take this opportunity to give you commendation for the work you put in since you took over the day-to-day operations of Steemit Inc. The progress is operating on a much different level in spite of the reduction in staff and for that all of you should be proud.

In spite of that, there is something that I wanted to address with you.

I spent much of the last 30 years in sales and marketing. Over that time, as you well know, you view things from a different perspective.

That said, I will cut right to the chase: you still have a major image problem with the Steem community.

The trust is not there in spite of the efforts you took the last 6 months. Many feel that the organization is out for itself above all else. The stake that the company is holding is viewed as a hindrance to growth making the platform too centralized.

I realize the solution to trust is time and continued effort. Steemit Inc burnt a lot of bridges over the past 3 years, a situation you inherited.

Over the past couple years, the company did try to do some good with the stake it has. In addition to delegating to new accounts, it tried to support the community by providing large blocks of SP to some applications. As exemplified with the situation with Dlive, the results were mixed.

What I am proposing is taking this initiative one step further while also improving the image of Steemit Inc in the eyes of the community.

I can put together 30-40 Dolphins who are active and committed. From them, I am certain they can each provide a list of 25-35 names of Minnows and Planktons who are dedicated to Steem while doing their best to grow.

The idea is to pull together 1,000 of our most active smaller accounts. These are the ones we initially support.

For a period of 90 days, these 1,000 accounts are delegated 5,000 SP by Steemit Inc. This is effectively added 1,000 Dolphins to the platform overnight, at least in terms of voting power.

These accounts can use the delegation to grow over that period. After the quarter end, there are a few options.

First, we could simply renew it. Leave the delegation where it is and those accounts get to use it for a longer period of time.

The second is Steemit Inc can expand the program. Stake is something the company has and putting more of it to use can only enhance the entire ecosystem. Many of us have more than 50% of our SP delegated, there is no reason that Steemit Inc cannot do the same. Thus, we could add another 1,000 names to the list.

It is time for Steemit Inc to show a true concern for the future of this platform above and beyond the coding and future updates to Steemit.com. That is valuable to the community yet still a bit self serving in the eyes of many.

Is there any better way to show concern for the community than by supporting the smallest of the dedicated pool of users?

Since the organization was able to leave survival mode, the need to unload so much SP each month to cover expenses is dwindling. Thus, it is the ideal time to start an initiative like this.

Here are the advantages as I see them:

  1. The reward pool is severely altered with a great deal of VP placed in the hands of 1,000 smaller accounts. This should help distribution since the smaller accounts tend to flock together and now there are some larger stakes supporting them.
  2. Steemit Inc is adhering to the proverbial "putting its money where its mouth is" by actually placing the money in the hands of those who need it. This shows the concern for the community that is always discussed.
  3. Steemit Inc cannot be accused of playing favorites since it is a community initiative put together by active Dolphins (who tend to interact with the Minnows and Planktons.
  4. Very little work required from Steemit Inc. Simply power up and enter the list of names in the delegation bot. With so much on your plate, the last thing needed is taking valuable personnel off ongoing projects to start something new.

The other aspect to all of this is the fact that word will spread. If the project is expanding each quarter while the ones receiving the delegation are being rotated, others are going to work hard to get on the list. This means activity will increase with people trying to get noticed. One will not receive the 5,000 delegation by spamming "nice post" comments or putting up a links to YouTube videos as posts.

Simply put, this idea can exceed the 1,000 accounts in terms of impact. We could see a ratio of 10 to 1 meaning 10,000 accounts see results. For a platform with only 40,000 daily transacting accounts, that is a significant percentage.

At this point, I feel it is time for the largest stake holder to get involved with the daily support of the smallest stakeholders to help them move forward.

This is a program that I believe will help to achieve that end.

It also will change the perception of the company in the eyes of thousands of Steemians.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

@taskmaster4450
Discord taskmaster4450 #9768


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Steemit INC is giving minnows plenty of opportunity to get involved.
26,000 chances a day, 800,000 chances a month.

That's right @mattclarke!!

((sinz+cosz)2+(sinz−cosz)2)(sinz+cosz)2+(sinz−cosz)2+detIn=∑∞ζ=15⋅2−ζ.(666)

Otherwise:

Formulae.png

As much as I'd like to help distribution on the platform as you probably know by now with my efforts, I don't believe this is something that will be fair. There was a lot of drama from investors last time steemit decided to delegate to dapps which in turn rewarded accounts all over the platform and helped distribution for those that stayed powered up. The investors were promised the stake would not be used to affect the reward pool yet it was because let's face it, no one else would've stepped up to delegate to these projects when there was way more roi to be made by delegating to bid bots. On the other hand many investors also feel that even though it helped some dapps get started and going much of the stake was used poorly either way, for example dapps curating just for curations sake or as you so mentioned Dlive being malicious with their intent.

If Steemit were to again go against that promise I think they should work on a much better way to apply for delegations and the community to make sure it is being used in everyone's best interest. Just giving users 5k sp will mean there will be a lot less interest of those 10k users to buy Steem, jealousy and drama would occur and on top of that it's 10k accounts you have to monitor and check they aren't sockpuppeting and self-voting, etc, which already with only 5 people when @ned was giving out delegations became a big dramafest.

Other than that they should check that dapps and projects applying for these delegations have plans in mind that they'll become self-sustainable ASAP without the delegations, make the projects and communities increase the activity of our users, not free delegations.

Having said that I fully expect to get a lot of hate for this opinion. xD

Without a doubt there would be !drama associated with a proposal like this. Although, as we know, on here, there is drama with everything so we are accustomed to it by now.

As for the points you raise, that is why it is not a forever, guaranteed delegation. If one opts to stray from the parameters, there is a good chance the delegation is not reupped the next quarter. It would take a bit of monitoring by 50 or so people, but it could be done. I am certain there are 50 people on here who truly care enough to invest some time checking out the habits of 25 or so people who received delegation.

Plus, if Steemit Inc would step up and expand the program you are talking a lot more than 10K accounts being affected.

Finally, I disagree about removing buyers from the pool: users do not buy tokens for the most part, especially Planktons. If they did, for $125, they would be Minnows.

Make it a contest. First 1000 Planktons who buy the amount to be a minnow within a certain period of time get 5k delegation for a month.

If you like this, you can update your post.

Say I'm this dolphin who nominates some deserving individuals. I think they deserve it. Then suddenly I'm seeing some funky business that doesn't sit well with me. This could be someone I've known for a long time, and care about, as an individual. How do I break the bad news to them? "Sorry, you're cut off and you'll most likely hate me now." Why would I even want to be responsible for that? How would I look, if who I choose turns out to be a bad idea? My reputation is at stake, I can't screw up, but I also don't live inside their heads to know enough about how things will turn out. What about the others who I don't select? They would feel like I'm picking favorites; left out. I don't want to leave people out, which is why I don't like picking favorites. Those feeling left out in the cold aren't going to like me too much. Money does strange things to people. It can break up families, ruin relationships. I don't want to be responsible for something like that. Let's say I'm chosen to be one of these dolphins and I refuse. Then, again, I look like an ass, because I don't want to hurt someone.

Although, as we know, on here, there is drama with everything so we are accustomed to it by now.

Some drama can be good entertainment. This kind of drama though? Turn this place into a reality TV show? That concerns me, a bit.

I'm not really a fan of handouts either. I think people should be investing time, money or both, especially when it's a big business they want to run. I'm far more confident about a project when I see an investor plop down a nice chunk of change, build something, and operate it, on their own expense, then turning a profit. That makes the place look shiny to more investors.

I'm already seeing one comment here where an individual is already concerned about how they've been here for a long time, working, like they should be doing, and someone could potentially take the helicopter to the top, while they're still stuck climbing the rocks.

What's Steemit going to be known for after all is said and done? The welfare state? We're so damn poor, and nobody was interested, so they had to just give it all away?

"Users do not buy tokens," you say. Well, let's give them a good reason to.

And just know, I'm not trying to be hard on you. It's nothing personal. That's just how I feel.

TL;DR = The idea makes me feel uncomfortable. Don't give up though, maybe give this some more thought.

To start, how would your name be tied to anyone. The list compiling would be done by a number of people, with many individuals overlapping.

What's Steemit going to be known for after all is said and done? The welfare state? We're so damn poor, and nobody was interested, so they had to just give it all away?

How is delegation considered welfare? Do you really believe that?

I'm already seeing one comment here where an individual is already concerned about how they've been here for a long time, working, like they should be doing, and someone could potentially take the helicopter to the top, while they're still stuck climbing the rocks.

If the person is below 5,000 SP, he or she could still be the receiver of the delegation. As for the rest who are above it, this is no different than any larger account delegating. Steemit Inc has the largest stake sitting there helping nobody. We have a distribution problem with the token that is changing very slowly. By putting that to work, targeted at the smaller accounts, it could spread the payouts around, especially with the 50/50 payouts coming up.

"Users do not buy tokens," you say. Well, let's give them a good reason to.

After two years one, there was little reason to buy STEEM by users. While I like your post about the business of blogging, this simply is not how most look at it. So while I am in agreement with your views, the masses say otherwise.

To start, how would your name be tied to anyone. The list compiling would be done by a number of people, with many individuals overlapping.

Okay, good point. Anonymity.

How is delegation considered welfare? Do you really believe that?

To an extent, yes. I'm certain if I wrote a post every few days asking for upvotes, I'd be considered a beggar. Some delegations can be helpful, I get it. Many content producers struggle these days because like you said, "Half is delegated away." I think if more removed their delegations, we wouldn't need to be asking Steemit to delegate. Kind of a vicious cycle, not really helping things in the distribution department. It's up to us stakeholders to help distribute but if we remove our ability to do so, we're not exactly helping. I'm comfortable with taking some of the blame there, since I'm part of the community, but I have full control of my SP. To each, their own.

If the person is below 5,000 SP, he or she could still be the receiver of the delegation. As for the rest who are above it, this is no different than any larger account delegating. Steemit Inc has the largest stake sitting there helping nobody. We have a distribution problem with the token that is changing very slowly. By putting that to work, targeted at the smaller accounts, it could spread the payouts around, especially with the 50/50 payouts coming up.

I've always believed building a strong middle class is crucial to our survival here. I know that extra could help, but I'm old fashioned I guess and think people should have to work for theirs. I'm flexible though. People will need to be out helping during this 50/50 change, yes, and I'd like to see everyone doing their part, not finding a way to continue sitting on their hands, as they pass the responsibility over to thousands of "lucky" low SP holders.

the masses say otherwise.

They'll catch up soon enough ;)

*edit: And I should add. This:

What's Steemit going to be known for after all is said and done? The welfare state? We're so damn poor, and nobody was interested, so they had to just give it all away?

I don't believe it's full on welfare, but I'm showing how no matter what someone does, it's easy to spin things and make a good thing look really bad. It was more of a question. How could it all really improve the image, when people will do and say all kinds of nasty stuff to tarnish that image, regardless. So there's the spin and there needs to be a counter for it prepared in advance to negate the effects of said spin.

I can see your points. My feeling is that many of the "bad actors" will jump ship after hf21, if they haven't already. Granting curation powers to long time Steemit advocates will do good things for the platform, I know I would be delighted if even one of my followers suddenly became a dolphin.

When I first joined Steemit, I got a free temporary 200 sp delegation. It only took a few months before I bought my first Bitcoin, traded for Steem and powered up. The delegated sp did not discourage me from buying at all, it actually encouraged me to buy.

Posted using Partiko Android

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well unless I read his letter wrong, @taskmaster4450 is not suggesting it go to Dapps. He's suggesting that 30-40 dolphins be able to direct the delegations to minnows to help them grow on the platform. If the changes in HF21 are all they have been promoted as being.. then those accounts with the delegations will be actively growing and curating.

The biggest problem the program is going to run into is smaller accounts going inactive and the delegation sitting there unused to any benefit. That is where the program can get time consuming.

I help a project on the platform by delegating to their trainees until they reach the same amount of SP I've delegated to them and can start growing on their own. I do have to periodically review the accounts I've delegated to pull delegation from those who are inactive.

IIRC @surpassinggoogle did admirable things with the @ned delegation, even if the others didn't. Science is a process of testing theory, and building on experimental results. I'd strongly advocate even random delegations and immediately withdrawing them if the delegates began extracting rewards for themselves rather than upvoting others.

Delegation is practically a no risk undertaking, and even if only 1% of delegates prove worthy, that's a significant benefit to the platform.

I do not expect such delegations, because Stinc serves the whales, and those delegations would cost the whales money. Wish I was wrong, but don't think I am.

While I follow @taskmaster4450, this indicates interest in his posts, not trust in his judgment. No disrespect intended, but I'd actually prefer the delegator to choose to whom to delegate, rather than availing any outside party of the authority to do so. Neither do I think Dolphins particularly appropriate targets for such delegations, for reasons.

I recommend modest delegations, in order to create an effectively better distributed stake, precisely because it would cost the whales money. Either stake gets distributed better, or Steem fails to grow. If Steem grows, capital gains will result, and whales will be but temporarily discomfited. Cash being king, I know of no whales that will endorse this, and the present state of bidbots and rewards extraction is a better gauge than my opinion.

Sadly, I am pretty confident nothing will prove me either right or wrong, as it would be necessary to do some delegating to do so, and that's not gonna happen. EIP seems certain to eventuate, however, and that pudding will provide proof when it's served.

I'm not gonna say he's completely worthless, but citing him as the paragon of using @ned's delegation is a far stretch. VERY far stretch.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@littleboy/how-surpassinggoogle-s-showing-love-impacts-negatively-on-the-steem-blockchain

Eventually, he did take steps against abusers, but hey, the gravy train was great while it ran.

I reckon he undertook to distribute Steem to the best of his abilities, rather than seek personal financial returns from that delegation. Given his situation, education, and abilities, it would be unreasonable to expect flawless execution of curation. He began several initiatives and Ulog continues to be used on Steem. #steemgigs was a great idea, and it's really too bad it's not today providing a gig market of consequence.

He wasn't trained in business, and I reckon he was biased in favor of 'the little guy' due to his experience with corrupt government, and this made him vulnerable to scammers. We all have faults, but I see no basis for claiming that personal aggrandizement was one of his. With better help, I think he'd have been more effective.

But then, we all would.

Having said that I fully expect to get a lot of hate for this opinion. xD

No worries, haters ( read as 'people who criticize steem')....are comic relief for eli, apparently.

Says the prostitute who literally reasoned that the best way to deal with people with mental illness is by making fun of them.

Drumming up any shit you can? Here's another flag and lol.

Are you expressing the belief that someones occupation somehow denies them legitimacy to an opinion
Or is that a really weak insult? lololol.
(or just being pathetic ?)

To drum up shit would mean there is actually shit to drum up.
Good to see you acknowledge the shit.
I was merely repeating the shit, not creating the shit.

Nice to know that I'm still living rent free in your head.
lmao.

The amount of energy you put into my posts and comments (and it's the only thing you'll ever be putting into me, btw- sorry to disappoint), speaks volumes.
Scared soy boys/girls are a vicious, nasty, lot.

Turn you predilection for masochism, to the positive.
(My rates are very reasonable, if you want me to teach you how.)
It is abundantly clear you have absolutely zero idea.
(about so many things, btw, not just masochism).

You're funny.

Are you expressing the belief that someones occupation somehow denies them legitimacy to an opinion

You wish you hoe, I'm ridiculing both your career and your opinion.

To drum up shit would mean there is actually shit to drum up.
Good to see you acknowledge the shit.
I was merely repeating the shit, not creating the shit.

No you wouldn't make something like "I think @informationwar is infiltrated", you're just taking what someone else said and trying to bark up for any kind of support to your nonsense opinion about what was said, as if somehow what was said was any worse than justifying mocking people with mental illness, but do keep trying to vilify those words ya whack ass slut.

Scared soy boys/girls are a vicious, nasty, lot.

(falls out laughing)

https://steempeak.com/blog/@lucylin/who-is-baah-who-cares-information-warfare-up-close-and-personal

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make the projects and communities increase the activity of our users

@steemflagrewards does this but for a very specific purpose that is, of course, fighting abuse.

A Steemit Inc. delegation would go a long way in supercharging that activity and improving content discovery on this platform.

I think we have established ourselves as a community that are good stewards of the Steem power that has been entrusted to us.

I only wish we had the potential to reward more flaggers intent on fighting blockchain tomfoolery and misappropriation of the reward pool due to irresponsible vote selling.

As such I think will produce a change in culture. More engaging, thoughtful and funny posts on Trending and less banal drivel.

That would be nice.

Posted using Partiko Android

I was thinking the exact same thing. I can see smooth losing it over such an idea for example, he's been very vocal about Steemit's stake affecting the reward pool.

The truth is that as much as this could work, policing it, because it would be necessary in order for it not to be abused, would take lots of work, and it would not be something people would want to volunteer for (policing it).

I'm sure the list of steemians would mainly be of people seen as good, and I'm sure the majority would be, but... If you leave your bike in the park leaning against a tree, the first one to see it normally takes it.

I don't think you're wrong overall, but I can see a very simple algorithm being employed to immediately withdraw delegations if certain actions were taken by the delegates. What concerns me about the prospect is more the perspective of the potential delegator: there's a reason Stinc has that stake, after all.

The spectrum of principles of Steemers ranges from the utterly rapine to the completely sacrificial, and current substantial stakeholders are in the former camp. Were such delegations to be undertaken with the intention of increasing selfvoting and bidbot delegations, this would not improve the society upon which the Steem economy depends.

Because of this, I remain ambivalent about the proposal under consideration here.

I think your opinion is spot on, it’s been done before (many times) and nothing good came of it. Just because someone thinks they can pick better people won’t change anything.

I’d rather see the stake used to build this community overall as well as things people actually want to use (well designed front ends etc) rather than continue to have the mentality that we have to bribe them to use it, while hurting the overall value of Steem.

It’s a nice idea.. let’s just give all the small accounts free SP, but at the end of the day it solves nothing imo. I’d rather see the ninja stake burned or sitting idle rather than this idea or how it’s used currently.

If there was some way it could actually be used to grow, develop and build the Steem ecosystem that benefits the price of STEEM long term, I’m all in.. but I haven’t seen that at all.

No hate, sir.

@DSound and @DTube. No drama, just large communities of creatives with both a social and economic incentive to post. Absolutely 0 percent chance I would still be around here without the communities that sprung up around judicious use of Steemit's delegated voting power.

Drama cannot be avoided when there are dramatic people online.
!dramatoken

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Everyday, every single day (even on Sundays) the STEEM blockchain shines with awesome ideas and intelligent people. I love sharing ideas in the #newsteem

They can use the palnet and steemleo claimdrop and airdrop lists as a starting point.

I'd be pretty pissed off if I'd spent 2 years working for and buying + powering up steem only to have a bunch of random accounts jump past me like that.

Then there's the fact that there would definitely be many that just sell their earnings and use steem as a faucet, pushing the price of steem down even further, especially if they're not adding value to the platform in my eyes. And in my eyes, the only things that add real value to the platform are development and onboarding/retention.

Proof of stake, not proof of receiving freebies.

how do you know that you will not get that delegation?
for retention you need to give something to new accounts, and i must say the distribution kinda sucks for small acc. and you see that in an simple example. i was in first 200 in distributing to acc with less than 55 reputation. i am sorry to say, i can't really distribute a lot :D

The distribution does suck but I feel that handing out free delegations for no specific reason in a proof of stake system defeats the whole point. People won't be motivated to buy steem and will be motivated to sell if they get a delegation.

And new users will expect delegations when they join and get frustrated when they don't get one which ultimately leads to them leaving cause they weren't chosen.


edit: plus that's an extra $400,000 being taken from the reward pool every year

It would be easy to design an algorithm to withdraw delegations from folks that simply sold off their rewards. Also, delegations aren't gifts. The delegates wouldn't have more Steem than someone that owned their SP, they'd just be able to curate with it.

If you don't find creation of content and curation to add value to the platform, you don't grasp the network effect. Ultimately, it is that content that draws eyeballs that creates a market for Steem, and without creation and curation Steem would have no more value than rare pepes traded by nerds. It is the market, comprised of users, that creates value.

Would it not be fairer to give everyone 5k SP delegation and take it away from people that start powering down then?

So, create alts. Votes with delegated account. Cash out via alts?

Plenty of dolphins+ have many accounts already set up.

Were anyone interested in restraining profiteering, algorithms detecting circle jerks aren't too difficult to design. If there was any interest in undertaking to distribute stake via delegations from Stinc, it would be trivial to detect the extraction of rewards resulting from delegates curation.

The platform is presently afflicted with profiteers, because the ninjaminers were not experienced investors, but clever devs, and the code extant is the shortest route to profit. Experienced investors seek capital gains, and it is obvious that capital gains are not availed by deployed code.

Profiteers running the show have no interest in detecting profiteering, so such algorithms have not been employed. This does not mean they could not be.

How would that affect curation trails?

I don't think it will, since I don't think these delegations will ensue.

Exactly. However, powering down would be unlikely, as the rewards from curating, self-voting, and etc. aren't necessarily SP. Since delegations aren't gifts of Steem, powering down would not enable delegates to sell their delegations. In order to profit from them financially, they would need to keep them powered up.

It would be trivial to use an algorithm to detect profiteering by delegates and trigger withdrawal of delegations. Delegations that remained in effect would be those that were curating such that stake was being distributed to users meriting it. Merit would be impossible to ascertain with an algorithm, and that's why delegating stake to users is necessary.

I cannot more emphatically support this proposal, in totality. I am testament to the power of Steemit Inc's stake keeping people in the "euphoric" state of MAKING CONTENT --> MAKING CRYPTO --> BUILDING A COMMUNITY that Steemit circa early 2018 was breathing fire with. @DSound had a healthy delegation from Sreemit that @prc assembled a legitimately motivated team to curate 24/7. An entire community of people sprung up around this single large, curated upvote, and becoming a regular recipient of it felt like a rite of passage ... first and foremost socially and (admittedly) economically. The removal of the delegation with zero warning was such a PR fail. 1m SP costs next to nothing to delegate and was, without question, some of the best money Steemit Inc -didn't- have to spend.

Interestingly enough, in the months since losing the delegation, many if not most of the regulars stayed onboard and continue to post content. Many of us delegated to the master account to continue to communal spirit. If anything like @taskmaster4450 's excellent proposal goes through, I can't stress enough that in the "real world" of actually using this platform ... generous and aggressively / passionately curated large upvotes from the major DAPPs, powered by judicious use of Steemit INC's stake is a really, REALLY good way to get a whole bunch of content creators motivated to check out this whole Steem thing.

In an overwhelming environment, these big upvotes from the platforms themselves is a dot on the map to aim for.

That's a problem with these delegations. The first content producers in are basically handed an airdrop in the form of a vote. They're then responsible to be the curators of the second generation, but many refuse to power up. They cash out and shoot themselves along with the platform in the foot. Took the delegation for granted instead of preparing for the day it's gone. Were those responsibilities of the first generation producers ever explained to anyone? To me, it's no shock to see the delegation removed. It's supposed to be a stepping stone, not a free handout. When it's treated as a free handout, everyone tends to view what comes their way as a free handout. Gotta plant those seeds instead of eating them. How much SP was handed out, total, to those who received the upvotes? Was it equal to or more than the delegation? If it was, then I think it's fair to have it removed because technically that SP should still be there locked within that community, in the hands of many, instead of one.

Are you talking about @dsound and @dtube specifically? These are the only working examples I’m talking about, the only two platforms on here that function as intended and short of maybe two people off the top of my head, @dsound at the very least has been some of the best curated, most actively engaged communities I’ve seen, -especially- considering the vast majority of people I’ve become friends with there have stuck around as their average vote went from $60 to $1. If that’s not worthy of support from Steemit Inc’s massive stake, I don’t see what is.

Thinking it’s a free handout, or was seen that way ... to be honest that sorta tells me you haven’t spent appreciable time on the discord or met the people there. When the @dsound vote was 1.3m Steem, I promise nobody saw it as a handout. It was absolutely a carrot (and absolutely a source of mild drama as regular contributors struggled to be recognized and seen by curators...but good lord if that’s too much for you, this is empirically the wrong platform).... that generous upvote, applied intelligently was something simple and understandable to aspire to as a new steemian ... especially considering it was actively being curated by a small handful of motivated people .... and receiving it was a HUGE morale boost as I figured out how to MAKE MONEY ON STEEM which is WHY PEOPLE WILL SHOW UP.

Note: still very much trying to figure out how to make money on Steem so uhhh monster dose of salt here.

I remember when I started. Struggled to gain traction. That curie group picked me up, but not every post, so that helped. I powered that up. I reached a certain point where I didn't qualify for curie votes. There was a short time where another group would vote, but those were much smaller. Then that group was abolished due to delegation mismanagement and community uproar. I was on my own after that. Been on my own ever since. I can't ask for a handout. Nobody to turn to, so I just post.

I know it feels good to make money. I see money beside your posts.

I respect your commitment and am happy for your deserved success on here. For that matter I sent a random writer friend of mine your way when he wanted to see what Steemit has to offer as a writing vehicle.

I just fundamentally disagree with the idea that the top DApps on the platform putting Steemit’s stake to work via curation teams is a “handout”. In my opinion that’s the best the Steem experience has to offer to new users who need communities to help the considerable learning curve on here. Your experience as a lone wolf entity on here is commendable, but for mass adoption I genuinely believe the path is well executed DApp/community centric curation and Steemit Inc could do themselves a pile of favors using the stake for good.

It does have plenty to offer, it's just not easy. I promise you, some days... Not fun. The good days and good times help balance it out.

We can disagree and still be cool. Maybe my wording is wrong. Handout doesn't sound good. I think I'm against it because I feel it's unsustainable. I'd really prefer to see more money coming in the door than what could potentially go out the door. That's how we make money here, when you look at the entire picture and not just your own blog. Did you catch this post? I explained a few things there I feel are important. We don't need to talk about that post here though.

I agree with you, what you're saying would help. I just don't feel it's sustainable. If we can't extend the lifespan of this project, there is no mass adoption.

I actually went and reread it and you make a lot of strong arguments, none stronger than: “In order for my shop to survive, the mall must survive.” I also concede reliance on steemit’s delegation is pretty unsustainable long term though I can’t deny that before I understood anything about how anything worked on here, I was mostly looking for a way to post music and make some crypto. I stayed entirely based on the community I found and still have yet to power down or take a payout, a year and a half later.

I think you and your blogging definitely help people think more big picture on here without reading like a corporate motivational memo. Our conversation has left me considering the big picture more and what I can do to help onboard people vs. looking at it as a crypto printing press. After all, as you noted, nobody spread the gospel of YouTube by telling people about this exciting new video hosting platform and all of its advanced features. They saw stuff people made and a way to get it. Creatives saw a way to get monetized stuff out there cheaper and faster. The end. 🥴

This might possibly be the greatest thing I've ever seen on steem! I am hoping she will address this proposal on her new weekly show, which I believe is set for Wednesday evening in the states, though I'm not positive about that.

Especially, with the 50/50 split coming this will almost certainly create a vibrant muddle class heading into 2020. In fact I believe we should call this amazing idea "vision 2020" !

Imagine if you will a mobile friendly front end that allows non account holders to interact on the chain. What better marketing is there than a test drive and seeing first hand what FOMO is all about as they witness a founding entity and community so invested in growing new or small accounts..

Mic drop 🎤 👇

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@fulltimegeek used his substantial stake to do exactly this, and created more than a dozen 'Stewards of Gondor' he carefully vetted and monitored. Sadly, he has been completely and utterly censored on all substantial front ends now, and had already withdrawn his delegations for that program long before that happened.

This has been done before, although not with Steemit's stake. Also, @ned made several massive delegations around that time, and most of them were used to sell votes. @surpassinggoogle however did great things with his delegation from @ned, and the two delegation projects did establish that some users will use such delegations to do a lot of good for the platform.

I think that's why Stinc will never do it. Delegating it's stake to minnows will reduce the ROI of whales delegating to bidbots and selfvoting. That would make them angry and harm Stinc. It's not going to happen.

A sobering perspective indeed...

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Delegating it's stake to minnows will reduce the ROI of whales delegating to bidbots and selfvoting.

Uhm @valued-customer, seems like I fail to figure out why that would be the case. 🤔

Could you elaborate further and better why if Stinc delegates a laughable chunk of its stake to minnows this will reduce the ROI of whales?

Every upvote draws on the rewards pool. Stinc has significant stake which is not now drawing down the pool, and were that stake delegated and drawing on the pool, the portion of rewards extracted by whales would be reduced. While 5k Steem isn't a significant draw, Stinc could delegate to hundreds of users, and that would cumulatively be a significant draw.

Every upvote draws on the rewards pool. Stinc has significant stake which is not now drawing down the pool, and were that stake delegated and drawing on the pool, the portion of rewards extracted by whales would be reduced.

Well yeah! that's obvious. Every upvote any steemian cast extracts 'something' from the communal inflation rewards pool. No matter how big/high or small/laughable their SP is.

But then, is not exactly this The Law of this game? ¿¡DISTRIBUTION?!

Are just the whales the only ones entitled to extract the most of the collective rewards pool with the biggest impact and then get pissed off if someone decides to distribute better their inactive & frozen wealth with justice scattered across many more willing & active little souls to make the majority of the community thrive?

And then, the biggest mammals here pretend that we, the tiny species of this pond who create content and the actual consumer resource to generate the only product that can be mined in this muddy puddle, be also the ones who now should Ad Honorem carry the load of marketing, onboarding, recruiting, teaching, educating and convince a big deal of new slaves to throw their time, work, effort, blood, sweat & tears in the pool so they can extract the maximun rewards without doing anything else than put & lock out just a few dollars in their voluminous piggy bank?

How so?

I'm not saying the whales are so entitled to the rewards pool, but they certainly treat it as if they were, and stake-weighting does entitle them to it, because it enables them to extract it. They would be offended by a reduction in their ROI, and Stinc serves the market, which is almost the whales alone. I believe this is why HF21 will include EIP, which doubles curation rewards and halves author rewards, as well as taxes the pool to fund development. It also increases flags able to be flown by 25% of VP, of which whales have the vast majority. Flagging returns rewards to the pool, and whales then can claim most of those rewards too.

I have noted often that these whales were not experienced investors skilled at increasing the value of investment vehicles and attaining capital gains, and the code enables extraction of rewards via stake-weighting, rather than enabling capital gains. I have even speculated that given a declining market cap, user retention, and token price, the whales face diminishing returns from their business model of extracting ~90% of rewards, and that EIP is intended to allow a last gasp of profitable extraction that leaves Steem no longer viable, and allows the whales to move on to the next target.

Since their stake is necessary to extract the rewards, they are unwilling to abandon it until it becomes worthless, and the permanent blockchain is evidence that can be used against them in the event of tort actions - or more dire legal actions, since proof of death threats, extortion, sexual harassment, and more remains recorded there. Only if the witnesses quit and wipe their drives will that evidence be deleted. Without substantial income from Steem, witnesses will have little incentive to maintain the blockchain.

This is speculative of course, but the whales being Stinc's market, and extracting the vast majority of rewards is not. Given how disingenuous many of them are in order to attain those rewards, I am confident that were Stinc to reduce their ROI by massive delegation, there would be hell to pay in Austin.

I think STInc could do a lot to repair ties with the community to use its flipping voting power to help people out. 50 random votes of 5% per day would really help people and show that they care about the people who are here.

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Just brilliant!
The additional benefits will come with the psychological response. People will for the most part, then feel responsibility and thus act in a more community minded manner with their stake and use it accordingly, so paying it forward. This will then grow the rewards for more people and promote better behaviour.

Win win.

Top idea Tasky :-)

Some people are too worried about retaliation.

Not me, but I'm not very interested in my personal finances.

Most people are, and you're right.

The downvote pool will provide flags equal to 25% of VP. Whales have almost all VP. Flags return rewards to the pool, and whales extract ~90% of rewards due to stake-weighting. Whales will increase their share of stake, and no one will be able to do a damn thing about it.

Hordes of users won't be able to counter those flags, and not even Stinc delegating every Satoshi of it's stake to minnows will make that possible.

The key is that extra 25% (or whatever that percentage they decide on) doesn't allow the whales to control >50% of the active voting stake.

If they do, then there's the risk of the DPOS version of 51% attack.

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