Where is Robin Hood when he´s needed most? Chances and challenges of self-governed communities
Self-governed communities like steemit provide their members with novel opportunities that censored networks are unable to offer.
Regardless, being equiped with the same opportunities doesn´t mean that everybody is going to convert them into the exact same outcome. Chances need to meet certain capacities and timing to be brought to fruition.
Furthermore, the lack of censorship and the resultant distribution of power doesn´t prevent a community from abuse. But how to deal with that if there is no written law, no court and no judge?
Do we need Robin Hood to redistribute wealth and enforce the good though?
Chances and challenges of self-governed communities
1. - Distribution of power
A self-governed community is a group of people which is able to exercise all of the necessary functions of power without intervention from an authority. As a logical consequence, these alliances work without any superior censorship.
Self-governance means that we by ourselves are holding all of the existing branches of authority / power: the executive, legislative and judicial.
Thus, we are all police officers, judges, lawyers, decision makers, accusers and defendant at the same time. Wow! What a great opportunity. Well.... and what a great responsibility!?
May we dare to believe that some could abuse their power?
Sure! Self-governance is probably the toughest way to govern of all. We are given the same rights, but also the same duties.
There is not only one day passing by without somebody complaining about flag abuse on steemit. That´s exactly what happens when power is distributed equally. There will be always some who exploit their power.
But where no law is there can´t be a transgression, or can it?
What might be the right answer to abuse? Abusing back? Flagging back? Surely not... In the long term the bad guys that don´t respect unwritten laws will disappear. They will be expulsed by getting invisible (zero reputation) since they and their behavior are not contributive to the community´s wealth.
You want a happy end? Then create it.
Be the Robin Hood amoung those gangsters. Be the good one. Be a role model.
2. - Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a noble right given in communities without censorship.
But possessing the right to raise one´s voice doesn´t automatically mean that this voice is going to be heard accordingly, or better said that this voice will find its desired echo.
A stage doesn´t make a good singer.
A stage doesn´t make the performer, it´s his performance. Transferred to our self-governed community: the fact that we have the right to speak and freely communicate opinions doesn´t automatically mean that the majority of other users will completely agree on our beliefs and decide accordingly.
Competition is the incentive to progress. Take it as an invitation not an offense. 'Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.'
To a healthy self-governed eco-system the greatest success is not individual wealth. It is the community´s wellbeing. So the next time you don´t win, think twice...
3. - Wealth
There are few issues more discussed on steemit than the fair distribution of its rewards pool. The fact that we all do have the same chances doesn´t automatically mean that we will succeed in the same way.
So should we take it from the rich and give it to the poor? Should we install a 'millionaires-tax'? A 'sorry-if-you-are-rich-you-cannot-have-an-opinion-anymore-tax'? A 'whales-are-not-allowed-to-vote-for-what-they-want-to-vote-tax'?
I don´t think that this is what we really want here. Where would go our motivation to become somebody if our power would be taken away once we achieved our goal?
Remember: We are all Robin Hoods here. Power (distribution of rewards, votes, voices, opinions, decisions) is held by all of us.
So use your power accordingly. Give your vote to the ones who deserve it. Ignore the ones who don´t. Raise your voice if you want to agree or disagree on something. Share the ideas you believe in. Give standing ovations for the things you love. Treat people as you would like to be treated. Be pro stuff not anti stuff. Be a good one and prove the bad ones wrong.
In self-governed communities we are all Robin Hoods. We are police officers, judges, lawyers, decision makers, accusers and defendant at the same time. That means that we have a lot of rights but also duties. We are sharing the whole power and authority available in our uncensored eco-system. This includes a lot of opportunities but also dangers. Even an unwritten law can be transgressed. But if we still remembered that we are the good ones and that our common interest is the wealth of the whole community, then independently of our individual success we are going to be all winners in the end. Remember that we do all have the same chances here.
Cheers
R. Marly Hood -
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Interesting! Self Governance from a quasi-collectivist perspective. All a self governed community can reasonably offer is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. If what you're doing isn't working, try something else. As far as censorship goes, all opinions should be welcome...the free marketplace of ideas will sift out the bad ones and they will fall by the wayside. This flagging issue has me concerned as well (I don't even know if it's happened to me or not) I find it loathsome! Flags should be exactly that...an expression of dislike, nothing more. They should carry no weight and be viewed for what they are- a veiled attempt at censorship. The flagger's identity should be made known, that way the community can deal with them by ignoring them. Good post!!!
I fully agree on everything you said and appreciate your kind feedback!
Probably the best way to punish flaggers is to simply ignore them. Most of the time they simply seek attention in an inappropriate way. Let´s just don´t give it to them ;-)
What really bothers me is the disparate voting levels, where whales have more power. It's no different than any other oligarchy where the "rich" control everything, even voting. The whales remind me of the YouTube "Heroes" who could control content. I'm looking for somewhere else to go...maybe back to Blogspot.
You should bear in mind that these guys were brave enough to invest their money in steem. Without them the network wouldn´t even exist...
In my opinion it´s fair enough that they control a considerable part of the rewards pool.
Point well taken! It just chafes my egalitarian ass lol!
Haha :-D
Great post!!
"Treat people as you would like to be treated. Be pro stuff not anti stuff. Be a good one and prove the bad ones wrong."
Thank you. <3
You are welcome, it´s been my pleasure.
Thank YOU for your great support :-)
I think one of my peeves on Steemit is the cry for the equal distribution of power and here's why. The reputation number seems to grow not only by how many posts you make, but how many votes and its earnings. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but we all know this is done well by making connections. How often does a person comment, interact, share? Are they making quality posts to catch the attention of dolphins and whales.
I was lucky to make a few cents my first few months on Steemit. I never wallowed about the distribution of wealth or power because in my head I knew I needed to develop my own community, find supporters and be supportive. I am still doing my time and take nothing for granted.
Do I deserve more power? No. I'm earning it. I'm just a baby dolphin right now. I'm growing. But I'm also using my power for good (at least I think so). My reputation was built on hard work.
You are so right when you said we all have the same chances here. I might get my panties in a wad if suddenly there was an equal distribution of wealth and power and my efforts are "taxed" to benefit someone who puts in less time and effort.
As for flags... I have strong opinions about them. I think we should have a down-vote button that doesn't affect revenue or reputation. I also think that flags should be investigated by objective moderators to determine its severity.
As for being a "Robin Hood" - IMHO, I think we all should reach out with a helping hand whenever we can and in whatever capacity we can handle - but I would severely resent it if that became a mandate or obligation.
Dang, woman - sorry for the long comment! I probably could have written my own post at this point! LOL
Oh please don´t apologize for your XXL reply, I really enjoyed reading it!!! :-)
According to the popup which appears when you pass your mouse over the rep (number) next to your user name The reputation score is based on the history of votes received by the account, and is used to hide low quality content.
It seems that payouts are not considered here, just the number of upvotes you collect during a certain time. That means that all upvotes are equal when it comes to reputation (= same chances!).
I fully agree on your beliefs. Power is the result of hard work, unless you were already rich when joining the patform. But then you were brave enough to invest $$ in steem what can also be considered the result of hard work since you have earned that money anyway. Plus: investment means risk and should always been rewarded accordingly.
Thus being Steem Power the currency which decides on the distribution of the rewards pool seems absolutely logical to me.
Full steem ahead and congrats on your success here btw! :)
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