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RE: My proposal: reduce the withdraw channel from 104 weeks to 104 days or even 104 hours to make steemit less like a ponzi scheme
Yeah - there's no reason to be in Steem Power if you don't want to hold long-term. The problem isn't that powering down takes too long. The problem is that the initial "investors" are trying to cash out before the platform can sustain itself - because it's still in beta/development.
The largest stakeholders have jumped the gun on selling and now they want to be let off the hook for it. If they were worried about bringing in new investors, they would not have started dumping their holdings so quickly.
Steemit isn't ready for what has been happening with powering down and dumping on the external market. It's just that simple.
Whales are not one homogeneous well policed group that makes decisions as a quorum. Whales are individual, independent selfish rational economic agents. Even if 99% of the whales were doing the right thing and holding their stake, there would still be a more short term minded selfish 1% that would be dumping, and it's that 1% who would reap all the rewards of everyone else's effort. Since every whale is aware of that, and everyone prefers being in the 1% who are selfish rather than the 99% who are being screwed by the 1%, everyone acts selfishly. That's a known behavioral / game theoretic phenomenon called the tragedy of the commons. The only way to avoid that is to design the rules of the system in such a way that stake holders best interests are always aligned regardless of their short or long time preference, and always lead them to safeguard and nurture the common resources (here liquidity and user satisfaction). That's what @ned and @dan are trying to do by tweaking the rules, with lukewarm results so far.
This is the one reason I have been less than impressed with the business model. I appreciate the 104 day holding, for sustainability and growth. I think most of us are all for it in principle. And I'm not opposed to people investing real money, and investors powering down. What I'm NOT ok with is how investors get little to nothing of what they invest, and whales, or should we call them sharks, are running off with the loot. If there were a cap, or whale restraint demonstrating a little more long-term intention for bringing in new investors, the 104 holding wouldn't be a big deal. I expressly did NOT invest my own money in this system because I saw the current trend as a potential casualty for me. Call my cynical. Had I seen a greater potential for ROI as a general trend for initial investors, you BET I would have. I feel angry for people who have put their eggs in the basket and watched as their steem goes out to pay less "deserving" candidates who either write crappy stuff, or who never invested in the first place (like me). I value this platform, I believe in it more than anyone, I put long hours into my mining, and I'm investing my sweat, but it's pyramid at best with the current power downs. Even without the power downs, it would still be very top heavy. But I still think we can change that, with initiatives like @robinhoodwhale, and with smaller networks coming up from the ranks and building a middle class. When we move up in ranks, WE can reward the minnows and initial investors, and create a better balance in this unstable ecosystem. I don't think we're doomed. I think we're just dealing with a very typical human-run system. Them's the shakes. But it'll work itself out. It won't ever be fair. Their will always be gamers, cheaters, bamboozlers, and greedy bastards. But it will still find a way to level out a bit. I like to think.
I am all for the holdings though. I'd do it even if it was not required. I like keeping my SP steadily growing. It is important for the economy.
The 104-day power down timeline is necessary for currency stability, according to the whitepaper. If you eliminate that, then the Steem likely free-falls.
I've been saying for a while now that the whales have been selling prematurely. We all know that this is a work in progress. Whales know it. Minnows know it. Everyone outside of the platform knows it. The biggest problem we're facing isn't necessarily the powering down - it's the actual selling on the external markets. It has happened too quickly. There's not enough demand for Steem, let alone Steem Power. People aren't going to power up to SP if they don't even want Steem. There needs to be interest and confidence in both the platform and the currency from users and investors alike. There needs to be more development.
Unfortunately, many of the whales started powering down and selling their Steem. Since the project is still in beta and still in need of a lot more development, it sends the wrong signal to investors and users. Would you invest in a company that hasn't gone public yet if the preferred stock holders were already selling off their stake before the final product was even ready for market? That's where Steemit is right now. This platform is not really market-ready. We are all essentially initial investors right now trying to build and market the product before the IPO. And when the largest invested among us are looking to exit their positions, it doesn't instill any confidence to other investors who might want to get in - especially when the product is still in dire need of further development.
That being said, I'm not pulling out my SP and don't plan to pull it out. In fact, I really don't even see it as mine. And currently, there's no reason for me to convert more SBD to SP. The amounts are so small that they won't make much of a difference anyway. As a writer, I have no desire to invest my own money into a platform where I'm not really that visible and need to rely on a random vote from a whale in order to earn anything. So, I'll play the waiting game and accumulate what I can while I actually try to curate good content.
I hope that this platform figures things out and is successful. But it's going to take an entirely different attitude and approach from those who are much more heavily invested. I get that they want to make money, but at the same time, they have to get this place developed properly or else all of that curating and powering down will mean nothing. It'll all be worthless. And there's no indication that any of them comprehend this.
There's a simple solution here:
Stop powering down and selling off large chunks of Steem. Redirect some of the Steem into platform development (which is being done to some extent). Improve the marketing (which is practically non-existent) to draw in new users. And most importantly - BE MORE TRANSPARENT.
We get a lot of posts about possible developments and tweaking voting/rewards, but we need more than that. There needs to be more communicating about why the powering down is happening, where the money is going, what the short and long-term plans are for those projects, and how they plan to draw in new users and investors. I get that this is decentralized, but it needs to be run more like a business and less like a Friday night poker game with your buddies. Sure, poker night is fun, but you're not really generating any revenues. This platform needs revenue - as in, buyers of Steem. Find ways to get people to buy. Get this place developed. Stop scaring people away with bad decisions and bad/non-existent marketing.
Better solution: you put your money where your mouth is, buy it up, and hold it.
"The 104-day power down timeline is necessary for currency stability, according to the whitepaper. If you eliminate that, then the Steem likely free-falls."
Have you seen the chart ? This is forced manipulation. Without the 104day powerdown there would have been a smaller "pump" and therefore a more stable currency.
[replying to your comment elsewhere that is too deeply nested]
I agree with you. You are obviously both passionate individuals who have a lot to add. Focus on bringing value and not complaining constantly. Whales are here, they're going to do things you don't like, and there isn't anything you can do about it. Complaining about them is like complaining about the weather, or your job, or your wife. No one really wants to hear it, most among those who don't are new users who will be attracted by a positive environment and repelled by a negative one.
The influence of whales will decline over time, just as the influence of dolphins (both existing and new) and mini-whales will increase. That is the best that can be achieved. Both of you, please try to focus your passions and efforts in a positive direction.
Exactly.
There is nothing we can do about it. Redistribution is already happening and whilst people keep complaining about the falling price of Steem this is really helping with it.
If you want more influence start helping people and working on building the community. You can also take advantage of the low Steem price to power up as I have been doing.
Give it time and I am confident that the whales will become less important for success.
@ats-david - It may not be as much of a problem as you think. As you pointed out - the site is still in beta. Other than the price completely crashing to the point that it dies, we should not really worry about the price that much right now. Once the site is more complete (which will probably be another year or two), then we should worry about the price and attracting serious investors. For now, everything is just getting started.
No matter how low the price goes (unless it goes completely to zero) - a lower price just means more opportunity for minnows/whales to increase their stake at a lower cost.
You should check out the post Down Down We Go – And why that might not be a bad thing
Well, it isn't only the price. It's the almost complete lack of interest for users and investors alike. The user base needs to grow. If it doesn't, the inflation will kill everything too quickly. We need a steady increase in users but the users aren't coming - and when they do, they mostly don't stay. When you don't have users or investors, there's not a lot that can be done. We need better/faster social media-friendly development and better marketing.
Really the development is what needs to come first. Once the site is out of beta, the users will come and the investors will follow.