The ExperimentGate - Perspectives - Ramble
This isn't another post telling you how you should feel about
"The Experiment"
Just my own reaction. It almost seems to go without saying that it could have been handled better. I felt annoyed. (annoyed, not furious) Then I read and listened to other perspectives, some happy, sad, mad. I saw striking, voting, flagging and arguments over what these terms mean and which ones should be used.
Here are some of the one liners
- It is my stake, I can do what I want with it
- I earned my whale votes
- My content brings value
- Collusive whale voting is wrong
- I worked hard on my post
- This is bad for new users
- It is all just an experiment
- Don't like it - buy steem
It is pretty hard to argue with any of the those statements from an individual perspective. I think it is clear to see that many are passionate about SteemIt. I also saw threats of leaving or those who were pledging their undying commitment to SteemIt. On that note, I will utilize SteemIt, for as long as it makes either financial sense or enjoyment sense to be here. I have been on other platforms before, and I will likely be on different ones in the future. I am glad I found this crazy group of crypto/blogging/experimenting early adopters. So, if you have read this far, thank you for being part of my SteemIt experience.
For myself I don't like the whale pod voting, and so although I am not sure there is any point to it, I think it has created some interesting results and I am participating in the experiment and I am not holding any grudges. Yet, I can sympathize with those who were impacted.
Regarding the motives of those directly involved - I think the intentions were good, if not a little thoughtless.
*This post was written from an end-user point of view. As for investing in Steem, I found the experiment de-motivating at least at first glance. It is clear large stake-holders disagree about how to move forward, and I still don't have a clear idea of where the value will be added to steem.
Remember we are in Beta, and I am going to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Hang in there Steemian's Start-ups and ground breaking projects rarely go smoothly.
I'm all for experimentation. It's good to see them trying out some new ideas and getting a feel for the impact. It's also good to be reminded that this platform is still in beta, so the way things work is not set in stone and we should expect some turbulence as Steemit slowly matures. I hope nobody has been too upset by this. I do see that whale downvotes are being accompanied by some explanatory comments to let people know what's going on, so that should help smooth over hurt feelings. I'm just sitting back and watching to see how it plays out.
I like that perspective. Just observing. It is good to try things out, and those of us who survive will live to laugh about "THE EXPERIMENT". :)
Enjoy.
Well, yes... I'm also a content creator/end user.
I think the idea behind "the Experiment" was good, but the execution was poor. A lot of people seem to go on about the whales and "different directions" and so on... I think (perhaps) we got a firsthand view of one of the ways in the oft cited "decentralization" does NOT work. As in, sometimes a snake DOES need to have a "head." In this case, communication sucked... and suggests the need for a "system message box" to pop up on our profile pages while major changes are in process. Ultimately, though, it's all a learning process...
@dwinblood wrote a rather good opinion this morning... pointing out that Steemit is a totally "new thing" so nobody here (including the founders) really has any frame of reference or external benchmarks to compare this to.
Yes, I also like @dwinblood's view. And also yours. I have worked in technology startup companies nearly exclusively in my career and I have seen the same types of situations in other startups. It could be a bumpy journey.
Well said. I'm in the similar 'see what happens with it' state of things.
Definitely major issues with how it was implemented and effects, but like it said in one of you're comments, it's nice to have my vote have more of an effect again.
Yes, and still no communication on how long... Who, what, why,.. you know the rest.
Yea, even just having a time frame that it's going to run would go a looong way imo.
I'm waiting to see what is going to happen @whatsup. In the meantime I am enjoying bumping people up by a few cents every time I vote on something that I like or if I appreciate the amount of effort they have put into their work. :)
Yes, it is odd to feel like my vote means something.
This post has been ranked within the top 80 most undervalued posts in the first half of Mar 15. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $1.00 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Mar 15 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
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