RE: Proposed Changes & Curation Rewards
I like the changes that @dantheman propose, they are on the right direction.
The only problem that remains now is that the average users have to little power to make any difference with their votes .... so...
THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE POWER OF WHALES
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE MAJORITY OF USERS/CURATORS ARE POWERLESS
we should give de-facto more power to proven active unique users/individuals!
We should give more power to the Voter as a person like in Democracy. If we let it like this, it means we assume that the best curators are only the rich user's in our platform.
WARNING!
I don't say the users stake (risk) should not play a major role! I just say we must take a little more into account the VOTE itself...
Reddit takes it 100% into account... I don't say we should do the same, but we could take it 50% into account and the other 50% keeps Steem Power into account (like before but half)...
Please see my reply to tinfoilfedora above.
Users being powerless really isn't the problem. Power through numbers!
Whales can be a problem right now when they don't act reasonable, but all I can see is they're doing a great job. Over time, their power will go down relative to the rest. This won't mean that the others' votes are worth more then! Only that there'll be a lot more others.
Please post the math on your "Power through numbers!" assumption. How many users will it take to give 1 cent.
This is not really true and will be less true once rewards pay out. Even most non-star users will start getting some rewards from comments and posts. That will boost their Steem power. Even now, the power of entry-level users is not as small as it appears. You can't by yourself take a new post from 0 to 0.01 (and in a sense this is good for brand new free account because those are exactly the sock-puppet type accounts you want to have minimal influence) but if there are already votes then adding your vote does matter.
but if they only vote (curate) and don't post and comment?
In that case there will still be some small payoffs, but only when you vote on very popular posts along with other people (especially when you are early), not just voting for a post yourself. In other words, good wisdom-of-the-crowd curation. Leave lone-wolfing to the whales (and even for them it isn't a good approach). There is also the opportunity to see those with more SP earning more for doing the same thing you are and consider buying some.