Steem: The Most Important Change In 2018

As we near the end of the year, I wanted to write about what I feel is the most important change that took place this year.

There is a lot to choose from with Hard Fork 20 and all the advancements with the applications. This year, in spite of the FUD and the bear, was a sensational year for the Steem blockchain. We are light years ahead of where we were at this time last year even though we were all flying high with the price of crypto through the roof.

Of course, unbeknownst to most of us, there were underlying problems. Not only was the industry in for a "reset" but Steem had something lurking which required attention.

With problems come opportunities.

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In the end, if the problems are approached properly, the result can be a stronger situation than was before. That is exactly what happened to Steem.

Therefore, my choice for most important change in 2018 was the shift from top-down to bottom-up structure.

I know this sounds a little odd to write about a decentralized blockchain but it is exactly what took place. Even though we touted ourselves as being decentralized, the truth is the overall mindset was one of centralization. I cannot tell you how many times I saw someone post something along the lines that @ned needs to fix this. It was simply baffling to me how so many looked to Big Brother to solve the issue.

The reasoning behind this could be twofold. First, we are conditioned by society to look to others. Our entire political system is based upon pointing out who is to blame. It is always "that person" who is at fault. Secondly, Steemit Inc's interaction with the blockchain tended to drive this point home.

I stated a number of times over the past 6 weeks that the bombshell Ned laid upon us about Steemit Inc's financial situation was the best thing to ever happen to Steem. It was the wake up call the community needed.

In short, we had a blockchain that was run by an entity at the top. Our entire existence was in their hands. Without their support, the blockchain was going to suffer greatly. This is not decentralization and is really not an effective style for growth.

Since that time, the decision was to convert things over to RocksDB. This will allow the master nodes, key to running the system, to be set up by others outside of Steemit Inc. In fact, from what I read, thousands of us could set up one rather inexpensively. This will be a great advantage for the applications.

We also see the applications stepping up and taking on more responsibility. The on boarding, which was made possible with Hard Fork 20, is starting to filter outward. Over the next half year, I expect the applications to make a great deal of progress in this area.

The beauty (and power) of decentralization is that control is not in the hands of a few. We need things to spread out across thousands of different entities and hundreds of thousands of people. This is the way to have a thriving ecosystem. When the power is in the hands of a few, egos get in the way. People think they know what is best and are smarter than everyone else. Looking at how society is today, I think we can safely say that is not the case. It appears those in control are totally clueless as to what is going on. That or, perhaps more likely, corrupted to the point they do not care.

Either way, it does not benefit the masses.

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Blockchain is designed to benefit all who use it. It is innovative, creative, and expansive. Ultimately, it mirrors the universe in that it is evolutionary. The continual development means it is consistently moving forward. Even if some leave, others appear to take their place.

This will only happen when people have some influence. A developer who spends a lot of time and money only to have his/her application sabotaged will not remain for very long. Even worse, other developers will see that and shy away from here. People need to realize that while one might view this as social media and a place for fun, there are people who are making it their business.

Anyway, that is the subject of tomorrow's post.

2018 was a great year for Steem in spite of the industry problems. Entering 2019 knowing that one of our main objectives needs to be moving control outward to the masses gives us a leg up. No longer can we hide behind the idea that it is another's problem. This is our blockchain.

Even the non-technical people have a big hand in this. It is up to us to support the Witnesses and applications that are taking the actions we feel are benefiting the entire ecosystem. Recently, we had the opportunity to assist by going on The State of the DApps and voting/commenting for Steem applications. Did everyone do that? At the same time, we can log onto different applications each day and leave a comment or do an upvote. Every action helps.

Often, the greatest changes in the world start with a change in mindset. I feel the forty thousand people who are on here daily had that change. We now realize how important it is to structure things differently. Dependence upon one entity will only recreate the ills of society.

We need to do better. Blockchain offers us that opportunity.

On Steem, I have a feeling we will take advantage of that in 2019.

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