Calibrae - Not the fork for me / an update on my position
The issues that led to my initial support of @elfspice and Calibrae were centered around the lack/manner of communication between steemit.inc and the steem community, steemit.inc's massive stake and the problems created by the massive disparity of stake influence and all that comes from it.
It was always my preference that Steem succeed and I have been given new hope that is possible because @ned has clearly indicated he's heard my concerns. I believe genuine steps are already being taken to address those concerns that many of us share. This is fantastic.
I still believe steem forks have the potential to be a good thing for Steem and could be very valuable in and of themselves. However, I no longer believe that Calibrae is a fork I can support. In my opinion, elfspice does not have enough support to make a serious attempt and is haphazardly attempting to solve many issues that steem currently has all at once. At the outset, the idea was to remove stake mined before the steemit app existed and to copy across everyone else's account attributes like stake and rep whilst also addressing the scalability issues....an experiment that I think would have been very interesting. Unfortunately, both presented extremely difficult technical challenges. It is very hard to follow and unpick where all the stake is. I think the latest idea is to give everyone the same stake, potentially also an interesting experiment, but interested Steemians with something worth protecting in steem would no longer have a safety blanket under which to choose where to spend their time and other resource. The risk profile is significantly changed away from Calibrae.....at least in my opinion.
I sent @elfspice a donation for his work because he has added value to Steem simply by acting as a crucible for debate and I wanted to give him the chance to explore his ideas. He may be technically gifted, I don't know. But what I do know from what I have seen is that his approach is haphazard at best. I do know that the scalability issues are extremely challenging. He needs a great deal of support around him, a solid foundation and a constant pressure towards discipline in order to get the best out. I cannot see that kind of support forming around him any time soon and I fear it will sadly lead to frustration and a tendency to veer into less constructive activities, communications and ultimately a failure to deliver.
If you read this elfspice, I think until you have a solid team around you and have a firm strategy for a new steem-fork experiment, that you should bury the hatchet and start afresh on steemit. The current approach cannot possibly work, there are too many things you are trying to change at once whilst re-designing the architecture. It is an extremely daunting task for anyone. You have done a great service to steem and you've inspired debate, support for your ideas and hopefully some changes in steemit.inc's approach. That is amazing and very valuable. Come back to steem unencumbered and with an open heart, I'll follow you as would many others I'm sure.
All of us must understand that if we want steem to survive, we have to set higher standards for ourselves and expect more from each other. We have to expect more from steemit.inc, from our witnesses, from those with significant stake, from businesses exploiting the steem pool, from everyone.
What is the intent behind steemit? It's a tool for protecting life, liberty and property. Can you see anything else in the whole world, in the whole of history working as well as steem does in reaching for that goal? I can't. What does that mean? It means we are on the cutting edge, everything every single steemian does takes us closer or further away from our chances of succeeding in achieving those goals. Aren't they goals literally everyone can agree upon?!
So every time you do something on steemit......and hell, we are all gonna make mistakes and put our feet in our mouths or misunderstand something or get upset or have a bad day.....just try at least to think, is this helping toward those lofty goals or or not? If enough of us care for long enough, then we can make steem work and change the world for the better for everyone.
Happy Steeming
This is a nice and sincere post.Like you address elfspice brough a real and interesting debate to the table. Protecting life liberty and poberty sounds beutiful really, but there are also economic incentives for many people, especially whales and founders which is understood. Having huge whales at the begining brings economic interests and attention at first, but later on just like in the real world they can build and create selfish pressure against the common interest. We need more people like elfspice with strong technical background that discuss real issues.That is how this community will grow in a strong and healthy way without naive nice intentions. By the way, I just saw tha ALL Calibrae post have been flaged, that is not good, debates and forks are there to improve the NOW for a better tomorrow, really sad those flags
True it is a huge overhaul, but isn't that the same thing that initiated the spark of STEEMit in the first place? The need for change and freedom. The hope to escape the soothsayers and cons of FACEBOOK. A place that we all could finally call 'home'.
I still support @calibrae.
Obviously I still love this place from the gentle @canadian-coconut to the lovable yet important @berniesanders.
I like new ideas, wouldn't have been great to be the person who bankrolled DISNEY, MSFT, APPLE...FACEBOOK? Think about it. I like money you like money. Let's be honest with each other we want more out of life and the freedom to do it. If I get to make more money with another asset on the market so be it.
I get to be there, in the beginning, when it first started. I get to see its first users post their first posts and comments. I will be there if anything just to say I was.
In closing I would like to say if you believe in something water it and watch it grow. Reap the fruit it bears. But most of all, believe.
Thank you for your time and feedback.
Peace, Love and Keystrokes, Folks! :)
My question would be whether or not this is the catalyst that causes the issues everyone was concerned about to begin being addressed.
Has there been better communication from Steemit Inc?
Or did elfspice merely commit the Steemit version of seppuku?
Thanks @benjojo for sharing this perspective.
In a sense, it seems like elfspice's ambitious project really is-- as much as anything-- a "wake-up call" to the Steemit community: We need to pay a little less attention to just griping about what's wrong, and actually start tending our garden here... rather than look around for "greener pastures."
Slightly related/slightly tangential, I don't know if you caught @timcliff's piece from a couple of days ago... the subtext of which was that a lot of people here seem like they are "sitting around, waiting for something to happen;" when, in all truth, WE are the ones who need to make things happen. In a sense, perhaps elfspice was inadvertently responding to that sensation that Steemit seems a little bit in the doldrums.
As I said, it's only "somewhat" related, but if you're interested in Tim's post, it's here: https://steemit.com/condenser/@timcliff/calling-community-developers-let-s-polish-the-steemit-com-mothership
Personally, I would maintain that part of our "issue" here is that there seems to be very little in the way of a cohesive long-term plan. Sure, there's the White Paper, and there's the "road map" but these read more like a series of "course corrections" than a cohesive vision... which may be one of the challenges/limitations of a decentralized project... there's no central repository, just a swirling cloud of ideas. I keep thinking of a situation where everyone knows (and agrees) that "we need to paint the house" but without planning, 43 people go to the paint store and come back with 43 colors of paint and an array of brushes and rollers many of which are not even suitable.... and then people end up butthurt because THEIR version isn't what's chosen. But I am no expert on that... and I'm barely out of minnowhood, in a Steemit context.
I completely agree with you. We all need to try harder and to challenge what, how and when things are happening. Because of their stake, Steemit.inc must lead the way but we need to help them.
Great Post, We found the Calibrae project earlier this morning through one of the Steemians. We must say that it looks like a very ambitious project. However, I don't think you guys have the Resources that Steemit Inc. is Backed with.
That is what I concluded. Great ambition, great passion, but worryingly lacking in the support and possibly expertise necessary to carry it out. Steemit.inc have everything going for them....just a few not insignificant adjustments, and boy will this place be singing then.
Happy steeming... for now :)
Lol. Indeed ;)
Hi @benjojo I have read the post before this one too and about this I specially understand your words. But let me tell you something that I can see it directly from my real position as a Minnow that is just involved with the concept of STARTING in here. Because even being new in Steemit, I know very well the words Life, Liberty and Property and when someone see how Steemit is from my side can see all in a different way (nor better nor worst, different) . Because the involved % is not so personal and the view can be more objetive. I mean...in two weeks i fell in love with Steemit....
I think that a change should be made a lot of time ago, because the platform is not prepared to deal with growing in a any way.
So a platform when REAL liberty could be reached, must be done. Because Steemit in not a Liberty platform for all. Is a Liberty platfomr for those with POWER and I saw how a vote of thousand of dollar can just intimidate hundred on users. And how a content creator with no support suffers in trying not make money, no no... in trying to someone just a lleast watch their content. Anyway..the only I felt is a bit of Angry by one side because of the chance that the Steemits owners had and why just left it die in this way... Anyway I'll bein here waiting for the best. And again as I said in the other post... really great t oread your kind words to that ones that want to make a change for good! Peace for all!
The challenge steemit has for mass adoption as I see it is in the new user experience. For sake of this discussion we assume there are no technical issues, and there are 300 whales and 300,000 users.
Steemit has a pretty hefty learning curve. A new user has to search and read a ton of various opinions to learn how to maneuver the platform. There is no organization, it's a needle in a haystack.
A minnow can post and post and post and not be seen, or make anything. No eyeballs on your post alone is discouraging, add to that a .05 post payout and only the tenacious stick.
So some whales try to help and out of the blue a newbs post gets hit with upvote bots, encouraging right? So the newb sticks around a little longer and the sincere tries to engage and develop relationships. In addition to talking to other newbs, who are generally chatty, the minnow reaches out to whales and dolphins, many of which don't engage a bunch in their comments, many do, but many don't.
From the whales perspective, they've got 270,000 people vying for their attention.
Add to the mix spam like there's no tomorrow, flag wars, controversy about the "services" that would help a minnow get noticed and you have a recipe for mass exodus, not adoption.
I'm sure I've left some holes in this analogy, but it's hard to write on my phone.
Point is, if steemit goes mainstream with these challenges, it could leave a bad taste in a lot if people's mouths.
I don't have answers, just offering a perspective that complicates any technical challenges there may be,
All of the issues you raise are totally valid and I agree with the lot. I think it's important to remember that if you take all the voting rewards away, steem still has incredible utility as a network and as a token. In many ways, those properties and the way of thinking that gives you that perspective requires you to labor through all the challenges you mention before you can get to that.....despite it being there in plain sight. Once scalability is resolved along with onboarding, I hope a lot of attention is given to the issues you raise. I also hope people can look beyond the money and see the other incredible utility that steem has to give hope.
I think you're right. Unfortunately it takes an education and tenacity, which is an obstacle for the average person.
Facebook killed MySpace because it was so easy even grandma could do it and MySpace dealt with HTML, which only tenacious grandmas would do.
Not the same I know, but similar enough to learn from. And as long as it's presented to new people as a way to make money, that's what they'll expect. Maybe it would be wise to re-examine the initial exposure given when people evangelize for steemit?
I wholeheartedly agree that we should re-examine the marketing completely and emphasise the attributes like free to tx, global reach, possibility ofdecentralised architecture, no censorship etc
Lol, too bad we can't solve all the problems right here in the comments :)
There is a lack of communication, and there is no place where to provide feedback to make steemit greater. Also the way steemit works, where the Money rules on everything, on the quality of posts, on the witnesses, on reputation etc is very discouraging. I wrote a post about what I think how Steem should work: https://steemit.com/steemit/@emble/will-steem-succeed-or-commit-suicide
I totally aggre with you :- we have to set higher standards for ourselves and expect more from each other.
Hear! Hear! Re: What is the intent behind steemit? COuldn't have put it any better myself. I do believe the true value of Steemit, or anything else for that matter, lies entirely with the people who use it. The people are the value, not the currency.
Yes and building trust through utility, function, security, distribution is what keeps the people (or value.)