Steem Blockchain: STU, Reputation, Author/Curator Ratio, etc.- Steemit Crypto Academy- S4W7- Homework Post for @sapwood

Hello friends and welcome to my assignment task by professor @sapwood, In this assignment, I will talk about the concept of Steem Blockchain: STU, Reputation, Author/Curator Ratio. I hope you enjoy the class.

Question 1

What is STU? What is the break-up of STU? Take a real example to indicate the STU and calculate the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from your last Post Payout? (Screenshot required)

• What is STU

Before I explain what is STU, I will first explain what a Post Payout is. The Post Payout is the overall reward given to both the author and the curator, which matures after seven days.

The STU which is also known as STEEM TOKEN UNIT is a term used to describe the Post Payout mechanism. This is because the Steem ecosystem does not majorly base its reward on just one token, rather it is a combination of both the SBD and USD, which also entails a break-down to other units of tokens used in the Steemit ecosystem, which include SP, SBD, STEEM and TRX.

The Post Payout mechanism of the content is shared 50%/50% between the author and the curator, but the value of this payout can either decrease or increase within the seven days before the payout matures. The decrease and increase are based on various factors which include, a decrease or increase in the value of Steem, downvotes or upvotes from curators and removed upvotes or downvotes.

• What are Author Rewards

Author rewards are the Post Payout awarded to the author for creating content on the Steemit platform but is bound to receive only 50% of this Post Payout.

• There are 3 types of Author Reward Setting:

• 50% SBD/50% SP
  The 50% SBD/50% SP setting means that the reward will be paid out in SBD and SP or SBD, SP and STEEM based on the Debt ratio.

• 100% Power Up
  The 100% PowerUp setting means that the payout or reward will be only in SP

• Decline Payout
  A declined payout setting means that the author will not receive any reward from the reward pool.

But every account comes with a 50% SBD/50% SP default setting

• Curator Reward

The Curators reward are rewards given to curators for identifying content and upvoting it, the curators receive 50% of the post payout which is always distributed in SP.

• What is the break-up of STU

The STU or STEEM TOKEN UNIT is shared between an author and a curator at 50%/50%, but this is not just what it entails, I will clarify this below.

For example, if an author is using the Default: 50% SBD / 50% SP setting, this means that the author is bound to receive 50% of the post payout in SBD and SP.

• Breakdown of the Author Rewards

The author rewards which is 50% of the post payout are split into two which then becomes 25% SBD/ 25% SP. The 25% SBD has an equal value to the original price of SBD in the market and has nothing to do with the USD, while the other 25% SP is the USD worth of STEEM which is expressed as SP.

• Breakdown of Curator Reward

The curator receives 50% of the post payout reward which is always in SP, of which the SP is the USD USD worth of STEEM which is expressed as SP.

• A real example that indicates the STU and the calculation of the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from my last Post Payout?

My last Post Payout is divided between the author and curator as follows:
-Post payout: $99.2

• Author $9.55
• Curators $9.51

Therefore to calculate post payout breakdown into SBD and SP, you have to make sure that the print rate of SBD is 100%, which means that the debt ratio is still below 9%.

To Calculate the Authors payout which is $9.55 (using the default setting of 50%SBD/50% SP)

SBD 50% = $9.55/2= $4.775 SBD

Thus the actual value/price of SBD in the market is $7.07

Therefore 50% of SBD = $4.775 x $7.07

Therefore 50% SBD = $33.759

Therefore Total Author reward = $33.759 + $4.755

Total Author reward = $38.514

The remaining 50% of the Authors post payout which is supposed to be in SP, is the USD worth of STEEM which is expressed as SP. But I also have to consider the current price of s=STEEM which was at 0.565 at the time of the payout

Therefore 50% SP of the Authors payout =$9.51/2 =$4.755

Therefore 50% SP = 4.755/0.565 = 8.42 SP.

To Calculate the Curators payout which is $9.51 (using the default setting of 50%SBD/50% SP)
The current price of Steem which is 0.565 should be taken into consideration.

Therefore Curators Reward 50% = $9.51/0.565

Curators Reward 50% = 16.8 SP

Therefore Total payout = $33.759 + $4.755 + $9.51

Total payout = $48.024

Question 2

An Indication of the Raw reputation score of my Steem Account and How I calculated my Reputation? With a Cross-check of the Reputation score displayed in Steemworld.org.

• What is Reputation

Reputation is the opinion or strong belief an individual has based on his character, work or products, it can also simply mean the level of Trust that someone holds towards an individual. Reputation has to be built, because you cannot trust someone blindly, or else you might get disappointed. for example, if a producer of Bread started producing in an area, he or she has to win the heart of new customers to trust his product and to do that he /she has to make the best quality Bread to receive good reviews, which in turn will boost his reputation or trust level in that area.

On the Steemit platform, Reputation does not seem so different from the explanation I gave above. Reputation on the Steemit platform is seen as the trust level of a content creator or an author, which has to be built or increased over time based on the Value and quality of content the Author can publish or provide on the Steemit platform.

Posting or publishing this content is not enough to build your reputation because Curators have to identify and curate your post by giving you Upvotes or Downvotes based on the quality of the content. When a curator Upvotes or Downvotes a content the author will receive rewards in USD which is based on the amount of influence the curator has in the Steemit platform, but also the author will receive an increase or decrease in his Reputation but it is also based on the voting power of Mana the Curator has. Other criteria in respect to the increase or decrease to an authors reputation are if the curator has a higher or lower reputation.

• How to Calculate your Reputation

The calculation of reputation by the computer deals with larger numbers but they are better simplified as double digits on our profile, for better comprehension. this means that the actual values of our reputations are calculated in Millions, Billions and Trillions.

The math behind the calculation of the raw reputation uses the Log10 of the raw reputation score, thus the calculation of my raw reputation score which is 107,379,553,898,968 is as follows below.

Thus the formula to calculate the reputation score is as follows:

Reputation = (Log10(Raw Reputation Score)-9) * 9)+25

Below is a better simplification of this calculation/Formula:

• Take the log base 10 of the raw score
• Subtract 9
• Multiply by 9
• Add 25
• Round down to the nearest integer

Therefore to calculate my raw reputation score which is 107,555,295,616,918

_{Image edited on Coreldraw. Image source}

Reputation = (Log10(Raw Reputation Score)-9)*9)+25

• Reputation = (Log10(107,555,295,616,918)-9)*9)+25

• Reputation = (14.0316318)-9)*9)+25

• Reputation = (5.031631798)*9)+25=

• Reputation = 45.28468618 + 25= 70.28468618

• Reputation = 70.285 (to 3 s.f)

_{Image edited on Coreldraw. Image source}

Observation:-
From my calculation, I noticed that the last significant figure does not correspond to that of the one on Steemworld. My calculation result is 70.285 to 3s.f while my Steemworld result is 70.283, even after rigorous cross-checks it still gave me the calculated result of 70.285 to 3 s.f.

Note: While making research on how to calculate the Raw Reputation, I referred to this POST by @digitalnotvir, it was very helpful you can check it out to have a clearer understanding of how to calculate your Raw Reputation.

Question 3

What percentage(of the Post Payout) was generated as liquid rewards(SBD) from your last Post in terms of USD equivalent? Explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics? As per your last post payout calculate the ratio of Author: Curator Reward in terms of USD equivalent?

From my last post, the 50% SBD reward equivalent to USD = $33.759

To find the percentage of liquid reward generated by the SBD, I will divide the USD equivalent of the SBD by the total payout in USD equivalent and then multiply by 100.

Percentage of liquid reward generated =($33.759 / $48.024) × 100

Percentage of liquid reward generated = 0.7029 x100

Percentage of liquid reward generated = 70.29%

• Explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics?

When the Steem Blockchain was created, The SBD was created to have a pegged price to the dollar which means 1SBD = 1USD, but since as of 2017 the SBD broke out of the pegged price, this made the value of SBD soar way over $13 by the end of the year.

_{Image edited on Coreldraw. Image source}

The image above shows the first breakout which was at $2, but later in NOV 2017 I huge Breakout occurred, with price reaching above $13, there was a retracement back to the initial dollar peg, but by the end of DEC 2020, there was another huge Breakout, with price reaching above $11.

The Reward pool which is 65% of which 25% is generated as Liquid reward, is distributed between content creators/Authors and Curators at a ratio of 50:50, with the Authors rewarded with 25% SBD and 25% STEEM, while Curators were rewarded only 50% SP.

Initially, the SBD was pegged to the USD which means that it had a value within the range of a Dollar. But with the price of SBD breaking out from the dollar peg, the split reward between the author and the curator is no longer 50%/50%. The Liquid reward being generated continually increases because of the increase in the value of SBD, therefore more STEEM supply is needed to curtail the demand of post payout requirement in STEEM because of the increase of the STEEM token is not proportionate with the SBD.

• As per your last post payout calculate the ratio of Author: Curator Reward in terms of USD equivalent

To calculate the Ratio of the Author/Curator, I will be using the values below:

50% Author Reward Payout = SBD = $33.759 and SP = $4.755

50% Curator Reward = $9.51 (Total% in SP)

Total Post payout reward = $48.024

Therefore to calculate the Author Reward Payout Ratio = (Author's reward in USD / Total post reward) × 100

Author Reward Payout Ratio = ($38.514/$48.024) x 100

Author Reward Payout Ratio = 0.8019 x 100

Author Reward Payout Ratio = 80.2%

Therefore to calculate the Curators Reward Payout Ratio = (Curators reward in USD / Total post reward) × 100

Curators Reward Payout Ratio = ($9.51/$48.024) x 100

Curators Reward Payout Ratio = 0.1980 x 100

Curators Reward Payout Ratio = 19.80%

Therefore the Ratio of Author: Curator Reward = 80.2%: 19.80%

Question 4

(4) Explain how & why an initiative like #club5050 can shift the demand/supply dynamics in favour of STEEM?

The #club5050 is an initiative introduced by the TEEM Blockchain to curtail the High generation of liquid Rewards in the STEEM Blockchain. 65% of the reward pool were set aside for Content creators and Curators at a ratio of 50:50, of which 25% is generated as Liquid Reward, but with the surge in the value of the SBD, there has been a massive increase in the amount of liquid reward generated, with the amount surging to 70%.

The Club 5050 tries to encourage content creators/Users to power up their payout rewards, which is a way of staking their SP. By doing this the value of STEEM will increase and also create an increase in demand.

For Example, I will refer to the value of payout used in question 1. If I received the SBD liquid reward and converted half of it to STEEM, which I will then power up based on the Club 5050 initiative. I will then calculate the percentage of liquid reward generated should I power up half of the liquid reward generated in SBD.

Total Author payout 50% = $38.514 (in USD equivalent)

• SP 25% = $4.55 (automatically powerd up) (in USD equivalent)
• SBD 25% = $33.759 (in USD equivalent)

Therefore half of the 25% SBD = $33.759/2 = $16.8795(12.5%)

Therefore 12.5%SBD = $16.88 (in USD equivalent)

Therefore to calculate percentage of liquid reward generated SBD = ($16.88 / $48.024) × 100 (in USD equivalent)

Percentage of liquid reward generated SBD = 0.3515 x 100 (in USD equivalent)

Percentage of liquid reward generated SBD = 35.15% (in USD equivalent)

Therefore the percentage of liquid reward generated based on the Club 5050 initiative is 35.15%, in comparison to the initial 70.29% in which the Club 5050 initiative was not used. This shows that the more staked rewards will help boost the value and demand of STEEM, and in doing so bridge the gap between the SBD and STEEM value.

Question 5

Consider a user having a reputation lower than you, upvotes your Post-- Does it affect the Payout and increase the Rep? If the same user goes for a downvote, does that affect your Payout and Reputation both? Explain Why & How; with Examples?

• UpVote

Upvote on the Steemit platform is a mechanism used by Curators to credit/reward a content creator/author they have identified. For the Vote of a curator to count or have an impact on the reward or reputation of the Author/Creator, the user or Curator must have either a larger SP or Reputation.

Based on the question above the User with a Lower reputation can affect my reward and reputation based on the amount of Influence or SP he/she has, if they have a large amount of SP then they can have a significant effect on my reward and my reputation. This means that a user with a large SP will have a higher effect on my reward than 10 users with a lower SP. But there is also a situation where I can gather multiple downvotes from other curators such that the Upvote of the curator will no longer have an impact on my reward.

_{Image edited on Coreldraw. Image source}

The image above shows a curation that was done by two users, one with a higher reputation than me and the other with a lower reputation. The user with a lower reputation of 48 had a large amount of influence(SP) that is why the user could affect my reward and reputation positively, while the other user with a reputation of 75 had a lower amount of SP or influence that is why the user could only have a minimal effect on my reputation and reward. This means that a user can affect your reputation and reward regardless of the reputation of the user.

• DownVotes

Downvote on the Steemit platform is a mechanism used by Curators to discredit a content creator/author they have identified to have gone against the rules of the Steemit platform for example Plagiarism. For the DownVote of a curator to count or have an impact on the reward or reputation of the Author/Creator, the user or Curator must have either a larger SP or Reputation.

Based on the Question above if a user or curator with a lower reputation downvotes my content, the user/curator downvote cannot have an impact on my reward but not my reputation unless he has a large influence(SP), but if he does have a large SP it would reduce my reward and reputation. But in a situation where I gather multiple Upvotes, such that the downvote of the curator will no longer affect my reward.

Conclusion

STU is a substitute name to the post-payout mechanism of the STEEM Blockchain. The POB used by the STEEM Blockchain is a type of consensus mechanism, whereby content creators are rewarded for the value which they bring to the STEEM Blockchain by creating quality content.

The Club 5050 is a great initiative that will undoubtedly help to curtail or reduce the amount of liquid reward generated on the STEEM Blockchain, but I do not think that this will be a long term solution, because a lot of users on the Steemit platform do not follow the Club 5050 initiative, also the price of SBD seems to continually increase.

Thank you professor @sapwood for this amazing lecture.