Why Steemit/STEEM will fail.
The last few days have made it pretty clear that steemit and by extension STEEM will fail. It's sad because I like this and think it was a solid concept. In fact I had a vision years ago of a site where you were paid for posting and commenting, that is the future. This is not the future:
In radio there is nothing worse than dead air. Service interruptions are the equivalent of dead air. Most people have little of no patience for dead air. And that is just entertainment this is not simply a social media network for entertainment purposes there is also a currency involved. When TV or radio goes off the air people just stop watching but we don't want people simply watching we want people spending money to buy tokens, ain't nobody going to buy tokens to use something that does not work. I was thinking of buying some STEEM but now I am not, I like my money and don't want to have a situation where I invest in something where I lose it all. When STEEM fails it won't be a situation where you can watch it go all the way to zero it will be a case where it simply stops trading. You just won't be able to transact anymore.
So we had a day of dead air and we emerge into a new paradigm of resource credits. Whereas before I could post and vote as much as I want now I can post 2 comments! Imagine how great twitter or any other social media network would be if you could only post 2 comments!
The problem before here was lack of engagement, we have a lot of people posting but not a lot of people commenting and voting. The point of posting is to get comments and votes, that's why people do it. This just made it so people cannot comment and vote as much, this will lead to even less engagement. People are going to be even stingier with their comments and votes, I am going to have to pick and choose. I can't even reply to the few people who have spent their RC to comment on my post. That is just rude.
They say this will clear up after a week or so, I wonder how many users we will have lost by then. If you comment and I don't reply just be patient, it might be a few days before I can get back to you. Am I wrong here? Is this not a fatal flaw?
Maybe I am wrong, STEEM is worth more than it was last week right?
On the other hand when I first started here about 10 months ago I was averaging $130 in weekly rewards, 3 months ago it dropped to about $13 a week, after getting forked hard?
Yup, that's $1.36! For the whole week! So that is about 1% of what I was getting 9 months ago. That is what I call diminishing returns. That's not sustainable, all the people who can afford to post full time on a couple of hundred bucks a week can't afford to post full time on a couple of dollars a week. How is @eveuncovered supposed to maintain her high level of posting on a few bucks a week? Anyone know where I can find some greener pastures?
This was an @funbobby51 original rant for @steemit, please give me one of your precious votes and comments, does anyone know how much RC a resteem costs?
It is pretty scary. I tried to post yesterday and it said I needed to power up to get more resource credits. I tested it by powering up one steem and my resource credits went down. They are charging you to power up now. That seems to be the last thing that should cost resource credits. Why do they want to discourage powering up?
@ned went nanners I think.
If the number of comments plankton can make in a 5 day period was to stay as ridiculously low as it is right now, you're right. This place would be finished. You can't grow like that. No new user would stick around.
Supposedly this is also a part of the "transition pains" and will be adjusted by next week.
I've been trying to find out what the actual intended number of comments a person can make for a given SP, what "the new normal" is supposed to look like on this score, but no witness I've asked has as yet answered that one.
It would appear the system is "calibrating" what each action should cost in RCs. So maybe no one knows and something is supposed to tell us what's fair?
If 2 comments per 5 days is "fair" when someone has only 15 SP (what it is right now), then they need to figure out some progressive "taxation" on here, whereby those with high SP subsidize the resource usage of those with low SP (those still running on delegated SP from when they joined). Otherwise this platform isn't going to exist for any of us.
If this is to remain the status quo, you're absolutely right: Steem is dead.
I would be utterly flabbergasted therefore if it did stay this way.
You know I am pretty cynical, and that is why I am confident this will get fixed right away, becuase the whole point of HF20 was to onboard users. There's no point in onboarding them if there's no point in their remaining, and if they can't engage, they won't remain.
The HF was poorly done, as far as I can tell, and if it's as badly broken as it appears presently, it'll either be rolled back or fixed. A linear relationship between stake and bandwidth is asinine and farcical, as whales could post encyclopedias, and a new user wouldn't even be able to make a comment. I don't think Stinc is that stupid.
I could be wrong, and my gast could be completely flabbered, but I think it's gonna get better fast.
I'm using one of my three comments to personally invite you to join me at WeKu just in case they can't get their shit together, its an offshoot of steemit and the basically like steemit was before they fucked it all up
https://deals.weku.io/pick_account?referral=funbobby51
if you have already joined drop me a line over there so I can follow you.
Have you also joined Whaleshares?
not yet, is it another steem clone?
Yes. Basically an earlier version of Weku, with a few differences.
I would drop you a referral link at this point if they only had one!
I understand most people are cross posting on all three platforms now. Seems the sensible thing to do, but it won't buy you any time!
good to diversify, perhaps one will really take off and become the facebook of the future and then all early adopters will be millionaires.
It has already happened in a way. The first adopters of Steemit made a shedload of STEEM easily when it was around $0.30, then sold it at $8! Our time will come.
or if they held onto it then it is worth almost three times as much now!
@funbobby This is the first blog post I have seen so far that was more realistic in what we are potentially dealing with here. It seems many are just cheerleading (blindly). I love steemit as well, but as a business person, I really do not understand their approach.
I'll make sure to pick up your cheap steem.
I would need to be able to transact to sell it!
How do you know this? Even if the exchanges delist it, this would be announced before, giving us a chance to get out.
Comparing old income to current income is a waste of time. We all know everything is connected to BTC, right? So, BTC got pumped hard, we all enjoyed the unrealistic growth for a while, and now we are back to normal growth again.
As far as users leaving because they can't make comments, perhaps they didn't notice the word beta?Or don't know the definition? I think I am right in saying Facebook was in beta for two years.
Yes, the HF was a shambles. So what? Life goes on.
Keep the faith brother. The good times are coming ;)
I am just thinking of things like tulips and 1939 stock market crash, the price never went to zero, they just stop trading. What happens to STEEM if the witnesses unplug their servers if they are not making money?
It is not only that the STEEM itself is worth so much less it is also that there is so much less activity, they needed to make it easier for new people to transact more instead of making it harder. Bitcoin is worth like half of what it was but STEEM only like a sixth.
I was often frustrated when I first started because of running out of bandwidth but I had way more bandwidth when I first started than I do now! I blew one of my 5 transactions editing a post! I got excited when I first started because I made like $300 in my first month, today my account is worth like $270! A new person will try this and quit if they can't post or vote and if they don't clear a dollar the first month. Think about how silly my wife thinks STEEM is, no ones wife is going to be impressed!
I hope I am wrong but if it continues like this then something that works more consistently will supplant it, I hope I can get in on the ground floor of that one!
Thanks for the resteem and for using your precious mana on me!