Why Can't We Make Steem Become More Decentralized? Some Random Thoughts After The 'Crash'
If crypto succeeds, it's not because it empowers better people, it's because it empowers better institutions. - Vitalik Buterin on forbes.com
Some may have jumped out of their seats after reading the title of my today's blog post.
How could she dare to argue that Steem wasn't decentralized!
Now here's my bold theory: The Steem blockchain is architecturally decentralized, but the way we use it is not. The options a regular user has (excluding blockchain developers for a second) to access, sort and display data being stored in the chain, are clearly limited and predetermined in a centralized way.
IMO as long as users are required to adapt the way the blockchain is used from a centralized authority, our doings can never be considered decentralized.
Chances to decentralize Steem are obvious, but it seems that not everybody wants them to take.
d(ecentralized)Apps built on Steem - do they even exist?
@surfermarly thinking out loud
What is a dApp?
As the concept is still in its infancy, there might not be only one definition of what a decentralized application is.
However, independently from the source you consider there are some features that are commonly used to describe a dApp:
- It's open source, being changes ideally be decided by consensus.
- It's decentralized, being all records of the app stored on a public and decentralized blockchain.
- It's incentivated, being validators of the blockchain rewarded with cryptographic tokens.
- It follows a specific protocol, such as PoW (Proof of Work) or PoS (Proof of Stake).
Now I'd like to direct your attention to point 1 on the list.
Changes on dApps being decided by consensus?
As far as I understand the current situation in the Steem network, consensus is only required on blockchain level, needing a new hardfork to be approved by 100% of the top 20 witnesses, for instance.
Wouldn't it be great to see updates on applications requiring a consensus as well?
Getting back to my initial theory, I think that there should be manifold options on how to use data from the Steem blockchain to make it become truly decentralized.
Why can't I sort and display the content the way I want? Why do I have to follow a predetermined algorithm? Doesn't such a standard remind us of Google and Facebook?
Wouldn't it be great to organize Steemit.com's starting page the way every user individually wants? Why do we even need a trending page that is equal to all of us?
I'm pretty sure that most of the discussions we have about content quality and excessive vote buying and its consequences would be obsolete if content could be structured and organized in a different (personalized) way.
Decentralization means that we - as members of this community - should have a choice.
Investment opportunity
Do you wonder how interesting it would be from an investment point of view to announce that Steem hosted the first truly decentralized social applications on a blockchain?
Wouldn't it be revolutionary to offer a social media app where users decide how they want it to look like on a daily basis, like a truly dynamic space that is in constant motion according to the community's input?
Wouldn't that be truly innovative?
I'm pretty sure that such a product could become a killer app, altering the whole crypto landscape.
And from a technical point of view, the applications that are currently running on the Steem blockchain are not even decentralized.
Why leave it to a centralized authority to decide on how we want this place to look like?
I wish I was a software developer or had enough money to hire one.
But hey, if you're a developer and read this: my idea has no copyright. Just remember me once you're rich, then you might want to invite me for a coffee or so...:-)
Much love,
Marly -
Steem Ambassador
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This blog was created in July 2016, aiming to provide thought-provoking content for open-minded people who go on adventure, step out of comfort zones and embrace the new.
Thanks for being part of the journey!
PS: All my blog posts are created and submitted via eSteem Surfer 1.1.12 - my favorite Steem desktop client that was developed by @good-karma's @esteemapp team. Check out their account for more information.
Original content. Quote found on quotefancy.com
Valuable points here @surfermarly. I would also like the customization option to tailor my Steem experience to my individual tastes and desires. Being as this platform is only 2 years old, I believe many positive changes are coming soon which might even include this ability. As it stands right now, I am a HUGE fan of the projects being built on top of the blockchain as I know you are as well. Those of us users who stick around through the thick and thin of this blockchain development will see the greatest rewards in the end. Steem on!
-Ken 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by, Ken! I really appreciate that.
Sorry for replying late btw, after this post I lost the control over my account - so that's the only reason why I haven't got back to you earlier :-)
I agree that we're still young and that there is still a lot of potential for development and growth. However, I feel that there is not so much progress in (really) wanting to decentralize the apps build on Steem. Just consider DLive for instance: after their today's announcement it's pretty unclear what is going to happen with our content being stored on the DLive servers. Nobody cared about that until today...
Let's keep talking about it, I really think we need to improve in that manner.
There's one more argument that Steem is not as decentralized as we might wish and this might not be so obvious on the surface - not all Steem witnesses run their own nodes, even when in the top #20.
Outsourcing Steem node operation should be a red flag to anyone who is choosing their witness, and since there's not many people who can effectively run Steem nodes, those nodes end up being controlled and maintained by just a handful of individuals.
Fabulous post - intensely thought-provoking.
Thank you!!
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One thing that irks me a lot is that (probably?) all interfaces (steemit.com, busy.org, steempeak.org, eSteem on mobile, etc - haven't checked the eSteem Surfer yet) went completely down. Seems like all the steem nodes crashed down - how difficult can it be to get some steem nodes up and running without syncing content with other nodes, just so that the content could still be visible on all those sites? There isn't much point in a blockchain when it can become completely inaccessible so quickly.
Well it's actually good that it went down, since the blockchain stops operating mostly for security reasons. If the blockchain would go ahead operating, even though it received an inconsistent information, then this could seriously harm the whole chain/network.
I have deep respect for blockchain developers in general since I feel that most of us have no idea how complex such a system can be. So I'm just full of hope that with every setback we'll be wiser and better and be stronger :-)
Wishing you a great weekend!
Btw I only replied late due to the issues with my account... sorry for that.
I sure hope so, and I agree very much that "freeze" is a lot better than a long-lasting chain fork with the risk of double spends, etc.
Still, I think it's very important that historic data from the blockchain is always available, and it should not be that difficult to achieve, even in a frozen blockchain. After all, long-term immutable robust storage is one of the selling points of the blockchain technology, then it looks pretty bad that a small bug causes a total outage.
Schöner Gedanke! Macht wirklich nachdenklich...
Danke dafür
Gerne!!
Jetzt komme ich endlich mal dazu hier alles zu beantworten. Das hier war ja der famose Post mit dem Phishing Link....:-(
So true. It needs to be more resilient.
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where have you been surfing lately?
on the blockchain :-))
Couldn't agree more predetermined algoritym
Great read @surfermarly. My opinion is that people don't know what a blockchain's intended use in the first place is. It's set up so that everyone has a piece of it on whatever technology that their using and it's basically just a records keeping big file that cannot be manipulated without being noticed. Everything else is new files on the outside being added, for example steem.
And decentralised is a double edged sword. Or it has two halves let's say. It used to mean that people could do what they want without being traced or without interferance from outside sources. Most people don't mind that now but now it's taken on a different meaning. Basically what people want is to customize an app that makes it easy to post on a platform and make it look the way they want it to look and be quick and easy. Apps like steepshot have that right now but it could still use a tweek or two in order to mame it perfect.
Like it or not the wild west is pretty much over in the crypto world if we want mainstream adoption. The money will pour in once there checks and balances so that nobody get's away with stealing currency and the rest of the greed driven tricks. But the brightside to it all is your in on the ground floor and have a start to this new way of doing things. The regular public will be here soon enough so we have to do our best in order to set it up for them and hopefully it's interesting enough for them to want to join in, but it has to be made easy. Very easy or they won't partake in the festivities. And using the coins has to be not as conviluted and has to be stable. But other than that...let's have fun and keep on doing what we do best as content creators and sharers.
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