Steeming Towards the Future: Of Forced Hardforks, Revolutions and Banana Republics
There are a lot of very upset people in our community, at the moment.
Without getting into the specifics — which I am sure most of you are familiar with, anyway — people are basically unhappy with Ned and Steemit, Inc. for substantially powering down the core stake.
I'm not going to get into speculation here, so I'll just leave it at the reality that a lot of people are unhappy and unnerved by this action, and the general lack of transparency in "official" communications from Steemit, Inc.
Guardians of the Island
Frankly, I'm a little jittery, myself... pondering the whole "what do it MEAN?" question.
However the reason I am jittery is that I have been a front-row witness to the death of approximately 60 "rewards for content" sites over the past 20 years.
Greed fucks everything up, for everyone.
Now there's talk about "some group" getting together and basically "forking Steemit, Inc. out of their stake." Or words to that effect — I'm NOT a technical guy, so don't ask for specifics. Others are trying to put pressure on Ned/Steemit, Inc. to stop, via public posts and petitions.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting here with my 850 original blog posts, thinking "Oh fer fuck's sake! Not this shit AGAIN!!!?"
This bird is watching you...
There's Gonna Be a Rev-o-lu-tion!
Upset people — justified as they may be in their feelings — in situations like these always remind me a bit of medieval villagers with pitchforks and revolutionaries in so-called "Banana Republics" where coups and revolutions are almost a hobby.
Now you might be thinking "This is serious business! How dare he make fun of this?!?!"
Yes, it's serious business, and I'm actually not making fun of anything... rather, I am pointing to a potential problem: Attention to the Greater Picture
The thing about revolutionaries and villagers with pitchforks is that they know they want change, and they know they want to get rid of their leader or dictator or whomever is in power... but they rarely show up with a "turnkey alternative" that's all worked out and ready to keep things going forward on a better path, pretty seamlessly.
Because — naturally — showing up with something like that takes months and years of careful and often boring planning.
Change agents just know they want to "kill the oppressive leader," and have some vague notion that whatever comes after is somehow going to be better.
Are we totally out to sea here?
Trading One Problem for Another
I'm pretty much "nobody" around here. Barely among the top 300 most active users; barely top 500 by reputation. I'm not a developer; not a witness; I know little about blockchains. I don't run a fancy app.
But I do know a thing or two about human nature and psychology... including industrial psychology.
And I guess what I want to kick into this discussion is an appeal to those who are all fired up to make sure they step and fully appreciate the future implications of their actions.
As is often the case in "Banana Republic Revolutions," a coup may be quite successful... but THEN what?
Often, the answer is little more than "Dunno, really. We just wanted to get rid of the evil one!" Revolutionaries are very good at "overthrowing" but usually CRAP at actually running countries and governments.
What happens next is typically chaos, confusion, destruction and decline... until the next "idealist" with dictatorial tendencies steps in to "rescue" everyone from themselves, and proceeds to become just as "evil" as the person previously overthrown. The same... only different.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Northern Sunset
Take Action... BUT...
Not suggesting that the situation brewing isn't something warranting attention and some form of action.
Just suggesting to those who are all stirred up that it would be wise to have all the details of the alternative plan fully figured out before you invade the castle bearing pitchforks and fiery torches.
I'm now going to crawl back into the hole I came from... which means going back to creating content and not worrying so much about the politics.
Thanks for reading!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190119 15:50 PST
0853
a coup may be quite successful... but THEN what?
What generally happens is that the brownshirts are killed as insurance that they don't oppose or overthrow the new boss.
AND...the new boss turns out to be worse than the old one.
You got that right.
The new boss usually makes things even worse...
From what little history that I think I know which I have some confidence in being correct it would seem that the only solution is a hard reboot.
Scrap everything from a certain benchmark forward and start over.
Quite lucid. Sadly, probably due to experience.
The inability of revolution to improve circumstances is infamous, and somehow generationally forgotten. It has been my own stipulation for considering such here as well that consensual roadmaps preface burning down the turnpike.
I doubt my comments have had much impact, but I flail away anyway.
Thanks!
I have seen you 'flailing' in style recently, please continue :)
LOL
I have used over half my monthy allotment of bandwidth in the last two days. Imma have to take a break, or be silent for most of a month.
Thanks though =)
I flail away, as well. And leave a string of commentary around... which probably mostly constitutes pissing into the wind.
Acting out of an emotional fit of rage without a plan seldom turns out well. For anyone.
Wouldn't it be great if we could just overthrow the "oppressive leader" and actually not have a new leader?
Might that be possible here on steem?
Perhaps... IF
A supermajority of the top-50 witnesses got together and formed a sort of "co-op" to guide the future of the Steem blockchain by consensus, committing to being the stewards of keeping up the code; interface improvements, innovation and so forth. And they got together and hashed out a comprehensive timeline and roadmap with guidelines, benchmarking standards, objectives and mission statements.
Absent that, all you'd have would be a giant boat with willing sailors, of which some had oars, some had paddles, some had propellers, some had outboard motors and some had sails... and none with any sense of where the destination is, and no idea of anything other than "we need to sail."
Whereas initiatives like Steemit may be built on ideals and good intention, very few things actually run on ideals and good intentions....
I don't know if Ned is just storing his steem on an exchange or actually selling it, but last night when I went to sleep my account was at the typical $395.00 it has been for the last 2 months, this morning it was at $420.00. Like they say I guess Drama does sell.
Brings to mind an old truism from a distant past where I was materially involved in trading highflying technology and biotech stocks: "The Market Climbs a Wall of Worry."
The more scared and worried people get, the more likely it seems things start moving up... not sure why; human psychology is a strange place!
You've pretty much summed up my thoughts, @denmarkguy.
Mob mentality leads to mob executions leads to mob rule, until the strong men rise from the mob.
To add insult to injury, anyone who has been asking for a little bit of decorum and debate, while telling people that forking is not the way to go are told, "Then, what's the solution? You've told what not to do. What should be done?"
I agree, there needs to be solutions, but someone who has a non-solution (rather, an action that will make things far worse) telling someone that being told to walk away from the edge, something they should know themselves enough to not even wander over there, that being warned worse is ahead if they do it is not a solution... It's a good thing I don't have much more hair to pull.
I don't know. I keep expecting for the adults to step up and talk down the young alphas. You definitely qualify as one. We need some more, hopefully with the ear of the community.
Any ideas who we might get to speak up?
Yeah, I know to whom speak up @glenalbrethsen. Try first the adult rational renegades. The most twisted ones!! };)
Great pictures and rational insights.
People are spouting some bullshit at the moment. I'm not saying much because all I think I know is that some trickery is going on and I don't really get it.
More than anything, it all has the feel of a high school cafeteria food fight...
Basically, a bunch of people are P.O.'d because their crypto millions have shrunk to almost nothing, and any scapegoat they can find will do. In case they hadn't noticed, most crypto projects have lot 90+% of their value over the past 12 months.
yes our 8 cryptos all got hammered to a similar extent last year - bloody glad we bought them at the start of 2017!
this week steem is our biggest gain by a long way - glad we didn't sell it last week :) - I have no idea what it will do next...
Hey @frot!!
This bird is watching you... };)
I read some of these posts also. The talk of advertisements turned me off. So I quit reading about it. I see the point on ad revenue rewarding content creators. But the Socialist Social Media sites like Fecesbook and the others, Greed takes over, next they are selling everything out to the adverts. And the pop up spam shit storm begins.
They all seem to Hate Zuckerdouche, but all strive to be him. "Billionairs" go figure. I do not know anything about Ned, nor do I want to. Deleting my 10 yr. Professional Profile from Linkdin was the hardest thing I have done online. Deleting a 7 yr. Fakebook account was easy compared to that. So I decided never to become so attached, or addicted, to a social media site ever again. Attached / Addicted, point of view i guess. But I do see your point and agree with it. As i put much time and effort into those accounts I deleted.
So i can see your frustration of putting so much time into something that may change into a place we no longer want to be.
Microsloth Windblows purchased Linkdin. It can only get worse from there. I will never traffic a Corrupt Monopoly like M.S./ F.B./ Google / Twitter.... The list seems to be growing. I certainly hope Steem will not go the route of Manipulation, Censorship, and Greed that the others have.
Thank You @denmarkguy That Bird is One of my Faves. Here is one that almost landed on my shoulder while up cleaning gutters, I slowly backed away, My wife handed me the phone to snap a few pics.
¿Are you willing to learn a cute new asian language soon enough @krazzytrukker?
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Yeah last I dint understand it either. Everyone else on the chain can do what they want with their steem why cant stinc?
Im think them powering down and possibly selling the steems just leads to further decentralizing the platform.
Ive learned just focus on content creation on the platform as well because Id be all stressed out on something I have little to no control over. Its not that it doesnt concern me its just something not worth letting effect me personally.
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