RE: Planning for long-term success of Steemit: Identifying areas of improvement
We are using "programmable money" (blockchain currencies). Why would we even need 3 tokens and the extra complexity? If you are aiming for social-platform level success, then it must be brain-dead simple. I am not in the lower 99% of the IQ range of the planet, and while I might subconsciously pride myself for my intelligence, I understand the pitfalls of elitist behavior all-too-well. If you make an elitist system then you are aiming for a very small target market. Do we want a reddit for the bitcointalk crowd or do we want a reddit for the millions of users that actually shares the revenue with the users? That's the question here. If you want mass appeal you need to aim for ease of use and simplicity. If you want to be in an elite circle among other elitists who can deal with complexity that most people can't, then you simply won't reach mainstream potential - ever.
I wouldn't say that the complexity is because of elitism. It's because the system needs to have certain incentives in place to function well. If we want to have a blockchain that works without users having to pay fees, we need to have at least two currencies. The system is also highly inflationary which means that there is also very big need for a price stable currency.
I just don't see how it would be possible to design a blockchain that could function as a backend for social media platform with only one currency. We need to have free transactions because users don't want to pay for posting, commenting and voting.
A blockchain with one currency would be certainly more simpler but if it means that system will fail in the long run, it's kinda useless to ponder about it.
It is actually a bit inaccurate to describe it as three tokens. Steem Power can't be transferred so it isn't a token at all. It is just locked Steem. There are other blockchains that allow locking and no one calls those locked coins a different token. Some aspects of how this is being presented could probably be improved but if you look at the web site today, in no sense that I see is the user presented with three tokens.
Well a "share" or "token" is stake in a "company" or "blockchain". So doesn't merkle root come into play with 3 transactions?
You're referring to the 99% aka sheeple.. 1% are making fishers of men.