"Loyalty Number". How to Improve the Existing Reputation System. [Original Ideas]

Yesterday I discussed the existing reputation system and future of Steemit with my friend @poteshnik83, and we saw certain dangers.

The conspiracy of Dolphins.

The danger is that Dolphins can loop cash flow. I will explain what I mean.

Whales are able to create Dolphins. If for some time, the person is receiving the voices from the Whales, he’s gradually becoming a Dolphin. When he become a Dolphin, his voice means something. 

Dolphins are the middle class of this Steemit World. While Whales are the rich and Minnows are the poor.

Human life is when the strong cares about the weak. Animal life - this is when the strong eats the weak.

I recently was on the market and once again saw hard working people there. They loaded the heavy boxes of fruit and vegetables. The whole day they were standing behind the counter. I myself have had experience of agriculture and I know what a hard and thankless job. Why it's a thankless job, you ask? Because these people are working very hard but make very little money. So what can we do? These people do not have enough knowledge, abilities, luck and other things to make more money with less physical effort. 

That is of course naturally that someone more capable, stronger, smarter, luckier, and someone has it all in a much smaller quantity. But isn't that right and fair, if more intelligent people care about the less intelligent? Isn't that right and fair, if the rich care about the poor? Isn't that right and fair, if the more fortunate share their good fortune with others less fortunate? 

After all, this is a genuine human nature. And this is the true difference between man and animal. The stronger animal exploits the weaker animal. Or to put it more directly, the stronger animal eats the weaker. Strong animal is living at the expense of the weak. It is animal life.

And we are humans. And we know what is mercy, nobility, generosity, unselfishness. Isn't it?

Well, it was a small deviation from the main topic. My main point is that the middle class, the Dolphins can potentially focus on themselves. Imagine a group of Dolphins who are constantly voting for each other and are rewarded for their articles. And then they withdraw money from the system and live happily. The quality of the articles becomes umimportant for them. Because they care only for money. 

One could argue that there is a downvoting system in Steemit.

Thanks to downvoting system their collusion could be destroyed, if others would begin to vote against them. However, firstly, their group is difficult to detect without special automatic programs. And secondly, people do not like to downvote and gain enemies. Especially among the Dolphins. 

But it turns out that such a closed group of Dolphins will be like a parasite which suck resources from Steemit. And the more such groups, the worse for the Steemit.

How can we solve this problem? Well, in General, it is easy to understand that Steemit will be stronger if the consumer mindset is not developed. When a person just wants to hit the jackpot and walk away. When a person wants quick and easy money and not willing to invest in long-term development of Steemit. 

We need to create a mechanism that will encourage loyal Steemians and weaken those who want only to take and not to give. 

Now, as far as I can see there is no such a mechanism in Steemit. The current reputation system only reflects a person's ability to be a good author. Or it reflects a person's ability to adapt. But well, a man can be a good author, but however does not care about Steemit development. And such a person will have a great reputation, and hence a large influence in Steemit World. That is, the existing reputation system primarily encourages good authors, but not those who believe in Steemit and wants its development.

What is important is how much energy one takes from the system, and how much he gives.

Of course this energy exchange is not so easy to see. Because people are giving their time and talent as authors. But still the universal carrier of energy is money. So we can see how much energy a person brings into the system, and how much takes away from the system using the money parameter. In other words, how much money a person takes, and how much he gives to the system.

Let's say a person bought Steem cryptocurrency for 1000$. He gave the system 1000$. It is useful for Steemit? Does it help Steemit to evolve? Obviously, Yes! And if a person wrote an article, received 1000$ from Steemit and then took all his money away. It is useful for Steemit? Does it help Steemit to evolve? Well, not really. 

Of course, one can argue that he gave to Steemit some valuable content. And if so, then it's fine. But if this person is a member of a group of Dolphins who have conspired and vote for each other? Well, even if he is not in cahoots, anyway, he's taking the energy from the system. Draining blood from the body. And now, when Steemit is at the child stage, it is necessary to invest and not to take away.

After you have planted a tree, you wait a few years until the tree begins to bear fruits. Right? And that's fine. And the same should we do here. We need to protect Steemit from those who already want to collect a lot of fruits. Otherwise our Steemit World will perish. Well, at least it can not develop as rapid as many would like.

"Loyalty number." New kind of reputation for each Steemian.

I believe in Steemit. In the sense that I like this alternative to the modern economy. But obviously, what is needed now - to support those who bring into the system more than they take from it. It would be a great idea to make for each Steemian a reputation basen on his loyalty. Some number that will reflect his loyalty.

As an idea, we can simply take the ratio of the money that Steemian brought to the system to those the money that he took away.

That is, if I took 1000$ and brought 1000$, then my "loyalty number" will be equal to 1 (1000$ / 1000$ = 1). If I brought 1000$, and took 0$, then it's an "absolute loyalty" case, means I am the perfect donor for Steemit. If I gave 1000$ and took 500$, this number will be equal to 2 (1000$ / 500$ = 2). If I gave 1000$ and took 2500$, the "loyalty number" will be equal to 0.4 (1000$ / 2500$ = 0.4). 

As we can see, if the "loyalty number" is 1, we have a neutral person (regarding giving and taking issue). If this number is greater than 1, the person is a donor, he is helping the system to grow. If the number is less than 1, the person is a consumer, he’s taking away more resources than he’s giving. 

It's very simple, clear and naturally in the case if a person has some money on his Steemit account due to the fact that he bought some cryptocurrency before (Steem, Steem Power or Steem Dollar). But what if he has earned in his posts? Or he has earned it keeping Steem Power?

I have no detailed answers. But there is a global understanding that for the Steemit development, we must protect it from those who’re trying already to harvest. We must protect it from those who want only to consume. 

We can calculate how much money right now we can withdraw from the system so that the system remains in a healthy condition.

Here's an analogy. The average adult has approximately 5 liters of blood. We know that if he loses more than a liter of blood, it would be dangerous to his health and he could die. But if he loses 0.25 liters of blood, it will not hurt him. 

We need an indicator of what is now the state of Steemit.

If it was withdrawn too much from the system, should illuminate the light bulb, stating that to withdraw money now is dangerous for Steemit.

For example, there could be three levels of system status - red, yellow and green.

Green means that the system is very healthy and you can get the fruit (take away some amount of money). Yellow means that Steemit feels a little weak and withdrawal is undesirable. And red means that Steemit is severely weakened and withdrawal is extremely undesirable. 

Each Steemian will see this status. And then we can detect a very important thing. We will detect those who continue to withdraw money from the system even when he sees that red light. We will be able to detect these people. And we will lower their reputation, i.e. "loyalty number", which I mentioned above. 

This is only a sketch. Just the raw idea. 

But the main point I want to say is that we need to encourage those who give Steemit more energy than they take from it.

It is necessary to encourage those who contribute to development and growth. And limit those who take more than they give. This topic is very extensive and important for every responsible Steemian. And I definitely will continue to think on this subject and to develop algorithms for the protection of Steemit World.

Thank you for your support, guys! I'll be happy if you vote and follow my blog.