RE: Is Steemit In An Economic and Social Death Spiral??
Hey @stellabelle, you called for newbies so here I am! Currently 3 weeks on Steemit, I sure do have quite an opinion about things here...
#1 Steemit is in beta, but it is essential for users like ourselves here to point out why we believe changes need to be made, and the developers should figure out how and what changes can be made.. I honestly feel that many use that excuse of 'we're still in Beta so cut them some slack' or 'why don't you tell them exactly what needs to be done' that it's cock blocking this platform's progress.
Example: Facebook didn't just sit back and asked their users what they wanted to see on the platform, instead Facebook tried different features and built based on the users' response.
#2 Why is everything about money on Steem blockhain? Maybe because that is WHY we use Steem blockchain in the first place? Because that is HOW Steem blockchain was marketed? According to Steemit Inc (as pointed out by @onthewayout previously:
Steem is a blockchain-based rewards platform for publishers to monetize content and grow community
The primary value of Steem has always been about money. Logically, users that are attracted to the blockchain are about money first before anything else! I'm a new user here, and I admit - it is the monetary rewards that attracted me to try this platform. However I promise you, there is nothing in this world that is sustainable when profit is put before anything else. It's similar to how modern businesses that rack up billions of profit today are all focused on impact first, profit second
Example: Facebook (to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected), Amazon (to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online) and Tesla (to create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles).
#3 Because of #2, majority of users get on board to earn money - because they perceive the platform to be an investment opportunity for attractive ROI. This leaves us with an environment that is built to facilitate money making, such as bot voting, vote selling etc.
Bloody hell, why did we use social media platforms in the first place? Wasn't it to connect with our friends and family? Wasn't it to keep in touch with those that we don't get to hang out with often? Wasn't it to keep one another updated about our lives? Since when did social media platform became about money money MONEY??
#4 On social media platforms using Steem blockchain, we have more content focusing on how to make money off the blockchain than content that actually adds value to the blockchain.
Imagine Steemit as an online game: where you can make real money by selling your in-game currencies and item (similar to the SBD shit). But then the gameplay is all about making money - what the fucking fuck? This sounds like bullcrap, it seems to be full of shit and most certainly, it's distasteful for genuine gamers who are here to play the game (in our context, distasteful for genuine users who are here to produce and consume valuable content).
#5 When you have a shitty environment for genuine users to utilize the platform, they leave. When genuine users leave, guess who's left in the platform - users who are here for the ROI. These people will only care about their returns, that few are willing to bring up genuine new Steemians who write good shit because they are new and there isn't much ROI to help them. This builds a viscious cycle of genuine users coming and going, and eventually there will be no longer anymore genuine users.. and when that happens, there will be no audience in Steem blockchain and when there is no audience, how is it a social medial platform anymore?
#6 We ARE in the midst of this viscous cycle - it's already happening!!! Unless the team behind Steem blockchain is doing something really strict about this, the cycle is just going to continue. We can discuss all day long @stellabella and fellas, but in the end of the day - it's a matter of 'Steem improving for us' or 'us leaving Steem because it's too shitty to bear'.
#7 A genuine yet potentially-offensive-so-please-explain-to-me-thanks suggestion: Why don't Steem developers make selling of votes illegal? Like account-ban-worthy? Or rewards-stripping worthy? Or frozen-wallet-worthy? Like how Maplestory bans selling of power leveling services or mesos sales... Why can't we do that too?
I agree with your synopsis on why the current iteration of Steem is currently in decline. The signal to noise ratio of genuine users is frankly too low. There is simply too much noise with so much focus on making money rather than content. And those making quality content are being ignored.
There is so much meta discussion about the platform which seems kind of absurd to me. What we are missing are those passionate builders. Those people willing to build skyscapers for nothing. We need those adventurers who take us to the next level. The way YouTube was in 2005. The way several Subreddits are today.
But the marketing is completely wrong. Rewards shouldn't matter, at least not at this point. The biggest reason I write on the site today is not because of the paltry rewards, but because I see the potential of the platform. Sure, the money aspect still influences some of my judgements, but when I get into the zone, writing (at least for me) is fun. And being part of something that has the potential to be huge is exciting.
Mindset is important. So sure those who will help this platform are being ignored. But if you are truly in it for the long haul, you don't need rewards. You just need to do what you enjoy doing.
So, to put everything together. Yes, Steemit has problems. Yes, the genuine creators are being drowned out and tend to quit. Are there things that need to change from the top? Certainly. But to the new creators out there. Forget the money. Do what you love. If there are enough of you on the site, then things will slowly correct themselves and "hope" will be restored on the blockchain.
I'd love to see some stats on the relative numbers, but it seems hard to believe that if most of the whales did the right thing - i.e. curate good content, and output quality content themselves - that their collective SP power couldn't overwhelm the spammers and vote farmers.
In a way, this place is like a perfect example of the Prisoners' Dilemma. And to throw another thought experiment into the mix, it's like a Tragedy of the Commons. While everyone thinks that the other is taking advantage of the system, they lose out if they don't likewise take advantage of it. Perhaps the whales need to go on a team-building retreat where they all catch each other while falling and crawl around in mud together, to build some team spirit... ;)