Calibrae - A Steem fork / my take on the situation
@elfspice has taken it upon himself to fork Steem (which he is entitled to do and which was probably inevitable) and appears to be making progress. Check out his blog for updates or join the discord channel https://discord.gg/AmyB6ee
Why is this happening?
In a nutshell, it's happening because people never fail to disagree :) Just as Bitcoin and Ethereum forked, so shall Steem. Differences of opinion, the asymmetric distribution of information, technical issues, ideological differences and the rate of change are all potential contributors to the birth of a new blockchain. After all, you have to consent to the rules of the blockchain and if those rules don't work for you, well you must find a set of rules that do.
For myself, I have been deeply concerned for some time about; the rate of development, the self or buying vote reward pool abuse (as I see it,) the dev fund and latent premine accounts, some premine account activity, the appearance of unresolved technical issues (especially relating to scalability,) the inexplicably appalling communications from steemit.inc and their equally appalling community leadership and perception management.
I feel that opportunities to address these issues have been passed up once too often and that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing whilst expecting a different result.....so here we are.
I absolutely love Steem and Steemit. I've told everyone I know about it and I have been an ardent supporter since almost the beginning. I have risked precious time and resource on participating and trying to help it grow. I would like a great return on investment and to preserve the value I have so far, but I care about how that is achieved. What is steem and steemit? Ultimately it's an EXPERIMENTAL IDEA. Can we use a blockchain to build a social media platform that has the right level of security, utility and scalability to build enough trust to build an economy around it's native units of account? Can we use Steem to secure life, liberty and property? Well considering it's the first of it's kind, I think the signs are exceedingly encouraging!! I mean, well done Dan (and all those who contributed to the Graphene toolkit and the idea for a social media powered blockchain.) Well done Ned for supporting Dan. Well done everyone who has played their part to bring this community to life.
But......Steem has some serious issues that are persistent. I can no longer wait for clear information about status and what is being done to address those issues. It's time to act. Steem has been without serious competition, perhaps that is one reason for the issues, i don't know. Well now there is competition and I hope it works out well for both, one or the other. So far Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash seem to be doing ok.....though it is early days. I hope steemit.inc completely review their approach to leadership, communications and perception management and that they will be strengthened by the process.
I AM NOT AGAINST STEEM OR STEEMIT.INC. I DO NOT KNOW IF ELFSPICE HAS THE ANSWERS OR NOT. PERHAPS HE DOESN'T. I BELIEVE STEEMIT.INC HAVE ESCALATED THE LIKELIHOOD OF A FORK OCCURING AND I BELIEVE IN THE SINCERITY OF ELFSPICE. I AM NOT LEAVING STEEMIT OR STEEM. I WANT TO WORK HARDER TO GIVE BOTH A CHANCE. IF IT ALL GOES WRONG, SO BE IT, COULD HAVE HAPPENED ANYWAY. AT LEAST I CAN SAY I DID EVERYTHING WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE AND TRIED MY BEST TO PROTECT MYSELF AND THIS COMMUNITY BY RAISING UNCOMFORTABLE ISSUES, RAISING AWARENESS AND OFFERING SUPPORT TO THOSE THAT NEEDED IT.
My intentions
I intend to support the fledgling Calibrae community and @elfspice for the time-being. I've made a donation to help elfspice do the best he can do whilst he builds and gets things in place so others can help. I have no way to evaluate his technical capabilities, I just know that I have seen enough to want to give him a chance. He may fail anyway, but I believe in his sincerity.
I do not want to profit from any confusion or price swings related to market perception and do not intend to power down completely from steem ( I don't think it is possible to power down whilst delegating stake anyway.) I am supporting the Minnows Support Project and plan to continue to do so, whether it's in steem or calibrae, for now it's in steem.
I am doing what I can to hedge the risks associated with these experiments, I suggest anyone who has invested their time or money into steem to consider doing the same. You can opt into the Calibrae IPO here...
...just state in the comments that you would like to opt in.
Closing statement
I hope competition will galvanise steemit.inc and that Steem, Calibrae, both or another option will have a greater chance of succeeding as a result. I hope that Steemians or Calibrians or both are able to preserve the value they have gained (through investment of time or money) and that the community using this technology goes from strength to strength. The value is in the people who find utility in the tool and come to use and trust it. It costs you nothing to take a position in both other than taking a bit of time to read and perhaps contribute to more than one platform for a while....who hasn't been doing that to some extent anyway?!
Best of luck to all.
Happy Steeming
Thank you for posting benjojo.
Lovely well written, thoughtful article.
Appreciate your support of elfspice......and these posts bringing awareness through your queries.
Cheers.
Thanks very much bud. Its my pleasure.
Just one question sir @benjojo. How this steem fork would help to make steemit better?
This fork could offer a better overall solution or galvanise beneficial changes within steem.
Fair enough. I am also in support of this, I have read the whole article by @elfspice.
Appreciate the information @benjojo. I will check out the links...
I know little about the functional effects of forking and how it would impact a content community like this... as you say, this is a first time experiment. From where I am sitting, it resembles "factions" as I have experienced them on other content platforms... someone thinks "they can do better" (which is great) but the net effect tends to be that the breakoff group(s) tends to flounder due to (usually) lack of broad support and resources... while the original group struggles because now the light of doubt is cast on its viability.
Not saying I have any answers... just that this is potentially treacherous territory for all involved.
I don't think anyone can say how these things will turn out. Bitcoin and Ethereum, both forked, both written off umpteen times, both originals and forks going strong. There must be a way to adapt faster or to vent a build up of pressure.....forking would seem to be one viable means. Hopefully competition will help us to arrive at the best solution faster. You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I would rather things had been different, but they are not and it's no use burying our heads in the sand, we need to get on with it as best we can with as much integrity as we can.
Thanks for this information, @benjojo. I also opted in on @elfspice's posted just now. I'm all for a better tomorrow! And if anybody's trying, I'd like to believe in that person and hope for the best.
Yes elfspice seems to believe very much in an alternate vision and he's finally getting the opportunity to explore it. I hope he succeeds in presenting it and strengthening the market with a real alternative.
I won't be too surprised if another platform replaces Steemit. Facebook wasn't a pioneer either.
I'm not sure what you mean. Steem is presently without peer and is certainly a pioneer. Facebroke is nothing like steem/steemit.
Facebroke lmao
I meant those social media platforms that came about before Facebook were replaced as well. Wouldn't be surprising if Steemit is replaced.
Consider dailymotion, youtube, tsu (the odd bad one, but relevant due to your claim) and diaspora.
He is comparing Carlibr.ae to Facebook, and Steemit to Friendster.
Consider dailymotion, youtube and diaspora.
I need layman's terms here! What happens to my Steemit account if I opt into the Calibrae? Can I still withdraw Steem/SBD from my current Steemit account. Can I blog in both places with the same username. I am interested and I think @elfspice is quite brilliant, but I'm not really sure what is going on.
According to elfspice, if you opt in, you will simply have an account in calibrae with the same assets as you hold in steemit. You will simply have both a steem account and a calibrae account. They are two distinct blockchains. Nothing will or can be changed with your steem account.
Doesn't that mean that your assets double?
Assuming there is no alteration to the total amount of Calibrae when compared to the total amount of Steemit, then in effect, yes. That does not mean they will have an equal value. Also, if the premine is excluded and burned, it is possible that you may end up with a larger percentage stake of the whole than you had. I don't think any of that has been finalised yet.
Okay thanks! I'm very interested. I will leave my name in the comments. I appreciate your help.
You'll want to change your password and keys on both sites.
I think I have sort of the same opinion as you. i still like Steemit, but im willing to give both a chance. However its pretty complicated technology wise.
Good article and might you at calibrae :)
Thanks. I agree, the technical side is very complex.....i'm glad elfspice is looking to simplify wherever possible.
Upvoted. I'm going to resteem this now :)
Thank you.
Very interesting to see Steemit forking in this manner. I guess I didn't know that was possible.
These possibilities certainly get the old noodle baking! :)
Checking out the links out for more info :)
Cool