Why @jesta Is Wrong About Steemit Being An "Unaccountable Actor"

@jesta wrote a powerful article the other day detailing some of the events that transpired over the last week with Steemit Inc, backroom discussions, and personal views on the entire situation. It birthed a host of conversations in the comment section which are enlightening.

If you haven't read it, it is well worth the read. I will hit upon a few of the highlights here.

https://busy.org/@jesta/the-recent-controversy-between-steemit-inc-and-the-community-the-premine-control-and-where-it-leads-this-blockchain

Many of the events are known by this point so there is no need to reiterate them. The gist of the entire article is that Steemit Inc is a "Unaccountable Actor" who is beholden to only itself.

In other words, Steemit Inc is not accountable to the community, the witnesses, or investors. Ned's single focus is on Steemit, both the corporation and the website. For these reasons, Steemit Inc and Ned are free to do whatever they want without regard for anything or anyone else.

That is the basic conclusion that @jesta presented, which was spelled out in a very persuasive way. Yet there is something major that was overlooked.

To figure what it is, we only need to look at the venom. Where did it come from? When did it arise? What was the one thing that got the backs of Steemit Inc and Ned up?

As was explained in the article, the discussion about a possible fork got them going. The simple mention of this showed exactly what the situation is.

Steemit is not an unaccountable actor. It is answers to one thing: STEEM.

All hail the almighty STEEM!!!!

This is what Steemit defends above all else. It is their oxygen. What is it Steemit has? A crapload of STEEM. That is it. They need to defend that with everything they have.

And this is where the stars begin to aling.

It is Steemit's need to defend STEEM that makes them accountable to all those they prefer to have little to do with. There is a fundamental issue that is impossible to overcome: they cannot make STEEM valuable on their own.

If someone builds a blockchain and nobody uses it, can we still call it a blockchain? (I will answer after I figure out about the tree falling in the woods)

The blockchain industry is a very small one at this time. It is easy to make a name for oneself. As the original article denotes, people flock to this who show a bit of aptitude. It is like the early days of the Internet.

Do you know what advantage the Internet had that blockchain does not?

When the Internet was starting, there was no Internet.

Today, there is an internet. Hence, the name one makes, is spread all over. The question is whether that name is caviar or mud. It does not even take failure for it to be broadcast everywhere. Do a web search on Steem controversy or something like that and see what is already out there.

Therefore, Ned is going to do the right thing. He might not want to or innately have the desire. Perhaps he is incompetent like many say. I do not know. Nevertheless, he will come around since he has little choice.

His name and Steemit are all over the Internet. Things go south and there is no hiding. The world of blockchain is still very small.

This is what happens when one is in blockchain and his name turns to mud.

Royalty Free Stock Photo

Things go to hell in a handbasket, that hat will be worth more than tens of millions of STEEM Steemit and Ned have.

Steemit Inc implemented Hivemind which reduced the size of the ram on the master nodes. They are working on getting RocksDB done to further reduce the size. Did they do this to decentralize the blockchain? No, they did it because they couldn't afford to keep up the payments the way things were.

When they are done, Steemit Inc will have decentralized the nodes to the point where thousands of them can be set up around the world by applications and, even, individuals. Did they do it because they wanted more decentralization? It really does not matter.

Answering to STEEM really sucks.

Steemit Inc is going to do the right thing and sell of part of their stake. Again, is this because it was complete decentralization? No. It is because they have bills to pay. They need the money.

And the longer the price of STEEM is down, the more tokens that are unloaded.

All hail the almighty STEEM.

For the past year, we heard a lot about the Smart Media Token protocol only to have it shelved. This is a game changing idea which really could help the blockchain and the attractiveness of other projects. There is little out there to match it. Yet, the lack of it materializing has many worried.

It will come into being. Why? Because it is the best chance that Steemit Inc has to make STEEM valuable. They need SMTs to provide enormous value to STEEM.

Once again, the master is pulling the strings.

There is a lot of childish behavior. The mindset is completely obtuse. Arrogance, insecurity, and tantrums seem to reign supreme at times.

In the end, control is an illusion. We say that about those outside blockchain; it is especially true inside it. The crypto world is made up of a bunch of really smart anarchists.

Here is the real deal:

Talking about a fork is not a threat. The real threat is a few people who do not say anything; they just fork Steem. They create a token that is airdropped on all stakeholders EXCLUDING the premined ones in question. This is broadcast to the community including the developers. They then can decide which chain they want to operate upon since they have tokens to both.

If the new one operates without the friction of theoriginal, that is going to make the new chain a lot more attractive. An upset community could move en masse since their financial interests are protected with the new token. This would not destroy the Steem blockchain since it would still be running. It would, however, devastate the value of STEEM if the traffic jumped to the new chain.

All hail the almighty STEEM.

Ned and Steemit Inc will do the right thing. They have no choice.

They simply cannot get away from their accountability to everything they want to ignore because of their dependence upon STEEM.

Keep in mind, open source blockchains are designed to destroy centralized power structures regardless of where they are.

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