Steem is about freedom of expression and competition.

in #steemit7 years ago (edited)

This accounts for the witnesses too.

Competition is unfair by definition, it favours the best adapted.

Blockchain blogging for fun.

Lately I noticed that I seemed to be dragged into something that started to drain my energy. There is a pattern well known to me, it is an important point of attention for me, as it can wear me out. Steem for me has to be about blogging, the fun of doing so on a blockchain, going like 3-2-1-DONE! Yet, sometimes I get drawn into things that I better stay away from, for my own good. Some can handle this, but too much of the dark side and my inner light tends to dim too far. That is a reason I got out off SteemIt chat very fast, all that SPAM and FUD {fear, uncertainty and doubt} spreading killed it, in my opinion. So I moved over to Telegram and their super groups that can be moderated. But some of the negative spirit that lived in SteemIt chat seems to have moved to the Steem blockchain. And that did get to me in an unpleasent way.

Like the witchhunting for self-upvoting added a dark shadow to Steem for many. And apparantly those who are behind the hunts want to enforce their vision of how it should work. To me it is okay if self-upvoting got removed from the Steem game rules, but as long as it is there, members should be freely allowed to use it. No matter how much Steem Power {SP} they have in their account. It is part of the game, just like 1 Steem Power equals 1 vote. Some weird ideas have been spread about that too, totally without any real knowledge, just underbelly feelings. While the voting system actually changed for a more or less fair one. And that is what really started to disturb my peace here at Steem. The call for a fair system, while I consider this to be near to impossible in a competition enviroment. Okay it could become more equivalent maybe and with many types of co-operative competition. But that also could lead to complaints like: "Circle jerk voters!" If one votes for ones friends, for instance.

The best adapted will gain the most.

Competition favours those best adapted to the rules of a game. That could mean having the right genetic construction, or being born on a wealthy part of the planet. There are many things that can decide a lose or a win. To get a large part of the pie or be left with the crumbs and everything inbetween. It is all part of any game system where the goal is set to win. Steem is also about competition, besides of being a freedom of expression platform. Just becoming a member is far from a guarantee of ever getting a lot of payouts. Still, it is out there that Steem is that kind of place where to get rich quick. Well, after more than a year here, I can state that this is a myth. It takes a lot of effort and energy to earn at least some Steem that counts. And the more members that come, the harder it will get.

Also lately I've seen things that disgust me, images of destruction and death. And I thought the mainstream media had a patent on that malicious pleasure. Yet, with more new members coming in trying to dig for the gold that is Steem, this can be expected to become a flood of the blockchain. So the worst thing to do is to upvote that kind of horrible trash. Imagine what a waste it would be if those kind of accounts got deligated Steem Power... It is tough to find good ways to make Steem grow and still maintain a healthy standard for posts being made. Still keeping true to the freedom of expression principle. Where is the line in censorship? Well those accounts could use the Not Suitable For Work {NSFW} tag, at least... That would make me already thankfull. Also I can Mute them of course. The members of Steem will decide what is the most appreciated content. That is the competition and not everybody will win, but those that are best adapted to the rules of the Steem game.

That goes for witnesses too.

At lot of negative things concerning Steem is, as I see it, connected to the idea that competition could be fair. Disappointment because it is tougher to get part of the Steem than it looked at first. Sad about losing part of the game because of the technical challenges that have to be met. Like becoming a witness in the Steem realm. Those computers that make sure the blockchain moves on, so they are important to us, the publication competitors and the freedom of expression publicists. It is in our best of interest that only witnesses get in the top 20 who are able to run a stable full Steem node. They secure the Steem blockchain, amongst other things. And only the best adapted will make it to the top. Competition is tough there too. They work together, share software, help each other, all in each others interest too. Co-operative competition, might be a good description for it.

But if the computer hardware demands 128 GigaByte of RAM to run the Steem system fluidly then I would trust a witness that posts a report on an upgraded node to 256 GB RAM. Even though I might feel empathy for the witnesses that can not keep up with that, it is the best adapted to this competition that will do the best job. And so they will get the reward for thinking ahead and taking risks. Maybe future developements could make it easier again and use far less RAM through memory swaps. But if it needs 128 GigaByte to run like it should now and still have some extra to spare, then that is the one to go for. If it could be done with less, but get stuck, or severl-
y slow the block production down, than that is the wrong way to go. The end user still wants to feel it like blogging, not losing a post or more. So the negative attitude some have adapted lately towards this, sounds like it is hard to accept that the best adapted witnesses also will be the ones to win the game.

There is a price for gain.

Steem is about competition, on all kinds of levels. Newbies have to understand this too. It is building up bandwidth that makes it possible to post and reply more in amount and more frequent. That defines the interaction with the Steem blockchain. As some will try to automaticly post as much as possible, or to post things others have made, for a part. Understandable, as it is a competition for Steem. And many will come to this platform because of the potential payouts. So, there need to be rules to protect the Steem blockchain from being flooded with trash and all kinds of other shait. And the new members complaining the hardest, why would they want to have a short-cut to a lot of bandwidth? The rest had to put in a lot of effort to get to the bandwidth they have now. Or invest a lot to get there. So there is a price attached to getting ahead in the Steem game.

Of course it is possible to go full Freedom Of Expression by using Decline Payout. But that does not have to mean others have to follow that lead. Just like self-upvoting, it is part of the current set of rules and it decides who gets what part of the Steem pool. And it would be interesting to see how that would change the game if it where removed from the Steem rules. For that I would vote, but for as it is now, every Steem member should just be free to use it, or not. And I decided to start using it again. It is part of the competition. And therefore I will use it. As I do want to create good content, I do invest my time and energy in my posts, and so as long as it is part of the game, I will use it. Especially now it is getting harder to get well done content noted.

Quantity, quality, or both?

For me Steem value is about quality content getting added to its blockchain. With a lot of members coming in, a lot might been out for gold digging. And the easiest way to do this might be by sharing work of others, from other platforms. There is a lot already cloaking up all the original work. And I did notice the malicious pleasure amount that is slowly starting to creep in. For me a good reason to keep the bandwidth tight at first. There might be things that could be changed for Steem to become a more equivalent kind of competition, but maybe it already started in a wrong manner for that. So, for those members that really seem to have started a negativity campaign and those who repeat the FUD it came with, might ask themselves if they do fit the rules of the game. And maybe fork the Steem source code to create something in the way they think it could be done.

In the meantime I am keeping as far from all these negative posts as I can, because they are an energy drain for me. And also after a while the light that shines from the inside gets dimmed too much. So there is where I had to draw a line for myself. While more members get in I start to wonder what is to prefer for Steem and its value on the market. Do we need a lot of new members, or good posts, or both. Being competitive goodies or great freedom of expression publications, as long it is done with fun, I am in.

Have a great one!


Yes, there is competition at Steem.

image cc-by-sa @oaldamster


EDIT: Text corrections.

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Absolutely dude. Its best to stay away from the negative ones. They do drain a bit because often you are tempted to be drawn in whether its commenting or something else.

I am quite annoyed by the self upvoting nonsense that is going around just now. I can understand when it comes to spammy comment upvoting but now people are turning it into all self upvoting and thats just plain silly. The option is there so we should be free to use it.

Anyway. Stay bright me ole meckeroo. I hope you are having a swifty tonight!

...the self upvoting nonsense that is going around...

That summerizes it quite well I think.

...The option is there so we should be free to use it

That is all there is too it.

Hope you have a smooth evening too good friend!

Cheers!

Chin chin me ole china!

Yes its blooming ridiculous. Silly newbs flooding the platform with their twoddle hehe ;O)

Aye me oal mucker, buncha claptrappers d r, richt? :-p

Aye man, damn tootin!!! ;0)

good

Many of your points are shared by those of us who have been here a long time. I was horrified to stumble on a picture of a mutilated body that someone shared as a thumbnail. Honestly, I was traumatized. The constant squabbling and irritation which seems to accompany the newcomers and the older members reaction to them, are also saddening. With this platform, money is involved, but not enough except for a few select few. This makes Steemit very different, and the social relationships way more complicated. It is fascinating to witness though, and that is where I have been since I joined this platform....exactly one year ago.

Yes, that is kind of what I did experience. And there are challenges that come with a lot of new members, expecting great things to happen, just like that.

Luckily there is still a lot of positive vibe too.

Congratulations on your first Steemyear!

Thank you @oaldmaster I am quite ridiculously pleased about it. I was on Twitter in it's early years and loved the rawness of the human experience I found there. Steemit reminds me a lot of that. I hope with all my heart this dooesn't become a glossy politically correct site. With money-making fluff.

Hope we can celebrate your second a year from now and still say it is a raw as it was before! :-)

Now that will be awesome. I kind of like the roller coaster ride!

I said this on another post. Although I respect people who vote for themselves (it's their vote anyways) I don't upvote myself because This is supposed to be a place of giving and receiving so I save my upvotes for posts that deserve it as other people save their votes to do the same. I reffer quality vs quantity it's the obvious choice, I wrote an article regarding that topic, you can check it out! Best Regards.

Thank you for your reply. Will check out your post. And I think quality is the way to go too.

Best regards in return.

I would always vote on my posts because I also vote on others post, specially those who up me no matter how small. If I won't vote on my post I won't manage to grow - how can I help others if I'm small my self so I'd better get to grow so my VI impact would at least push the minnows I upped upwards too

It's all a matter of perspective - self upvoting if you do it in moderation and balance meaning you don't up all the comments you wrote yourself 25% I don't think its abuse. I do up some of my comments too mostly 1% just to make it visible really.
So cheers! to self upvote!

Well put Ivy!
Cheers to that!

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