Is @dStors A Steem Application?

There is a bit of controversy that arose with @dStors. It was started by some questions by @whatsup and spiraled out of hand.

To start, the questioning posed by @whatsup was legitimate. There is nothing out of line about what was asked and the concerns raised. In fact, that is what we are suppose to do here. Unlike the centralized world, we do not look to big brother to regulate who is legitimate. We research, question, and post as information becomes available.

I will say as a supporter of @dStors, I am somewhat taken aback by the response from the main account. I will agree with a few of the comments that it does give one pause.

That said, the points they raised, albeit with a poor tone, were valid.

Here is the first post that started the ball rolling.

https://busy.org/@whatsup/a-quick-little-note-for-all-of-you-delegating-to-dstors

As you can see from reading this, the questions posed are legitimate.

Here is the problem:

@dstors' website will not interface with the Steem Blockchain at this time.
and the tokens will be issued from Bitshares.

So, the only thing this has to do with Steem apparently is the funding.

This is fine as long as you are aware of that, but remember dlive and consider other than creating a market for crypto this really doesn't have anything to do with Steem.

The comparison to dlive is a poor one. Dlive came to Steem and did integrate into the blockchain. However, they showed up here with the intention of leaving. They were already funded through other means in addition to receiving Steemit delegation.

Using the logic presented though, we would have to conclude @steemmonsters is not a Steem application.

Does anyone in their right mind think that? Their website does not interact with the blockchain. In fact, I give them credit for that since doing so means all posts are put in the Steemit blog which can create a host of problems.

Realistically, didn't Steemmonsters only create a market for the tokens? I understand that the two main parties involved are both witnesses and do a lot for the blockchain. That I do not question. However, to the point of the project being Steem, they are no more connected to the blockchain than dStors is planning.

So I guess we need to consider what it means to be a Steem project? If one is not connected to the blockchain, is it considered one? That is something people will have to work out for themselves.

Personally, I do not feel the reasons presented here exclude something from a Steem project especially when the plan was stated repeatedly to integrate in. There are valid reasons for each of these projects not doing so. That does not mean they are not "Steem projects".

The other point is the part about Bitshares which obviously pertains to the part about STORS not being a SMT.

Here is a simple question: how can STORS be a SMT? How can any project have a SMT? The answer is that it cannot. The protocol has not been released.

To go one step further: Where are people's Hunt tokens? Or their AFIT? They are on a database on the servers for those projects.

So, technically they are not STEEM tokens either, In fact, there are no traded Steem tokens other than STEEM and SBD.

As for the response by dStors, this brings up a larger point. It is the centralization versus decentralization and it is here that centralization kicks the living hell out of decentralization.

The problem with decentralization is we let everyone post what they think.

We see it on here all the time. Everyone here wants STEEM to moon. We all want the blockchain to grow. All of us want more developers to create wonderful applications that capture the attention of the masses.

Yet we see stuff like this in posts:

• Steemit is a bunch of idiots. They don't know what they are doing.
• Ned is a crook and is scamming everyone.
• The Whales are all greedy and can only about themselves.

The we see:

• Why isn't anyone buying STEEM? Why is the price falling?
• How come our retention rate is so low?

Duh. Look at the posts. Is an outsider going to drop tens of thousands of dollars reading stuff like that? Would you if you were not on here and read posts like that? I do not think many would.

Johnson & Johnson just got slammed a little over a week ago by the Bloomberg article. Do you think they allowed every employee to go out and comment on the story? Of course not. It was only select people who were tasked with discussing things with the media.

Do you know who was not in that group? Investors. It doesn't matter if one has one share or 100M, they speak solely as an individual and not for the company. Period. It is their opinions and we know what they are like.

Facebook is the same way. That is a company of geeks. Do you know why they lock their geeks in a room and tell them to only code or they will hit them over the head with their keyboards? Because geeks do not understand the central premise of "it is not what you say but how you say it".

The message is structured and consistent. This is something that centralization has going for it.

So why did the @dstors account behave in that manner? I honestly cannot say that and that is something that the team will have to answer. They have some explaining to do if they want to maintain credibility of with the Steem community.

It is one thing for an individual to go off the deep end but the main account is an entirely different manner. To me, it is time to change who has access to the posting. Whoever it was, that person has no business operating on this end of things.

Once again, I love our developers and believe you are the ones who are laying the foundation for what Steem will become. That said, many of them should just stop interacting in an official capacity. Quite frankly, it is not their forte. There is a reason I do not try to code and leave that to others.

I was glad to see @kaliju put up a comment that explained things a bit further.

Here is the link to the comment.

https://busy.org/@whatsup/a-quick-little-note-for-all-of-you-delegating-to-dstors#@kaliju/re-whatsup-a-quick-little-note-for-all-of-you-delegating-to-dstors-20181223t031508374z

So where does this leave us:

• @whatsup should be commended for bringing these points up and providing a public service announcement.

• @dstors needs to find the person who was answering in the main account and, if that person gets near it again, hit his/her hand with a hammer. The response to questions that are legitimate is completely unacceptable. Firing back at people saying they do not understand is beyond comprehension. If an individual does it, that is one thing. But to have that done from the official account looks very bad on the project.

• @dstors has some questions to answer in detail. A good place to start is what was posed by @shanibeer in this comment.

https://busy.org/@whatsup/check-out-the-classy-behavior-of-the-dstors-crew-on-my-post#@shanibeer/re-whatsup-check-out-the-classy-behavior-of-the-dstors-crew-on-my-post-20181223t045505530z

It is often not what is said but how it is said. On this, dStors actually failed both miserably. This must be atoned for.

• Each person who is delegating to this project needs to look at it closer. It is a topic worthy of discussion. This is the key to decentralization: we do not depend upon Big Brother. It is up to us to decide what we do. To achieve this end, passing along valid information is required. We cannot depend upon just one person. Genuine conversation needs to take place.

• As always, people need to make up their own minds. None of this is financial advice. Nobody can tell you to delegate, undelegate or not delegate. That is up to each of us. While not at the level of J&J, dStors is now mired in some controversy, a good bit of it's own making. This adds another level of uncertainty that was not present before.

Personally, I will be awaiting to see what comes out from the @dstors team. I believe this project can be an asset here. However, as most of us are all too aware, in the crypto world, you cannot be too careful. The reactions exhibited raise a valid level of concern.

I hope they address this in a rapid manner.

Here is a follow up post by @whatsup that has some more discussion.

https://busy.org/@whatsup/check-out-the-classy-behavior-of-the-dstors-crew-on-my-postee

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