Bad News: Power Cuts might be Coming. Good News: It Won't Affect You [ just the Steemwhales ]
You know what the problem with the world is?!
That when someone starts a discussion with the line above, he is about to say something obnoxious. HA!
Seriously, you know what the problem with steemit is?
It looks too much like the real world!
It's a mirror when it comes to wealth distribution. ---> TOP HEAVY!
[ nothing to be ashamed off, hard to get rid of a muffin top, right?]
BUT super seriously, this is not even it:
The problem is that wealth and power are too highly connected.
Here's how it goes:
You have money, you have power ---> You have power you can create a trending article, or a trending user even.
You can DOMINATE the message.
You can heavily INFLUENCE how the first page of Steemit looks.
I do think that's necessary in the first part of steemit's evolution. We maybe need a bit of guidance until more users figure out just how grand the powers of steemit really are and how they can use this power for good. But sometime down the line, POWER CUTS must be made.
NO! I'm not hating on Steemwhales. It's wonderful to get an upvote from one and I, being only a man, am not at all immune to the insane high of seeing my post going UP.
It's not about that. I'm not envious on whales, nor their money. They deserve it!
I'm afraid the power can easily get into the wrong hands.
EXAMPLE TIME: the Coca-Cola Conundrum.*
Imagine this: CocaCola suits discover Steemit and askd:
Steemit looks good for usm how do we get on that?
Make an account!
Oh,that was easy. Now ?
You need SteemPower.
What is SteemPower?
Basically...power to influence what everyone steemit sees, also actions in the company sort of
COOL. How much is that?
It depends on how much power you want...
I want enough to make a difference.
PAUSE!
@ned has 3mil SP that's worth about 11 millions
This is the entry price to play with the big guys: 11 million $.
Is that a HUGE amount?
For me it is! For you might be!! But for coca-cola?
Did you know that
Due to the nature of the Industry, Coca-Cola has made a yearly commitment to large ad spends, spending a total $3.499 billion in 2014 source
--------> 3.499.000.000$ <------- that a look at this number again!
So for Coca- Cola to totally own the message and the power on steemit they would need....[math is hard]...0.004% from their budget.
I need to say this again: a huge company would approve buying immense power on steemit without blinking!
That is SCARY to me!
Not because Coca-cola is the bad guy [ i'm drinking a coke right now actually]. They're not. Like every other company they're looking out for their profit. I want them on steemit but I don't want them to have so much power!
Don't you agree?
No, I have nothing against wealth ( I LOVE wealth, upvote me! ) but we need a new way to cap the wealth's influence. I real world, that would take CENTURIES [ if ever ] but on here?
It's a line of code.
A solution would be to limit the upvote power after a certain SP number.
Over 300.000 SP, be it 3 millions or 310k, your upvote give 300$ or whatever. This way, you won't create a socialist society, you'd keep the meritocracy aspect of it all [ which i like! ] but you'd eventually really bring in a democracy.
Everyone will win, more people will get discovered, less people will dominate the trending page and steemit will GROW like weed.
That's just an idea, just a solution, just MY opinion. YOU could come up with a better one! This guy raises some important point about my solution <--- That's what I mean by starting a discussion. We will get a better solution!
later edit: Another great response from the crowds [ ughmm..i mean comments]:
I also have a solution to the coke (or any other company with such an advantageous budget) problem, and that solution is: the price of SP needs to go to the moon thus pricing them out of such advertisement strangleholds. The fact that we would all become extremely rich as a result, is but a mere side note ;) " --> thank you for the input, that side note looks pretty good to me but it's actually a great idea that might happen naturally as steemit grows. Who knows?
We have here at our disposal the brainpower of thousands of users, we can come with a better solution, we can come with one tomorrow if we really wanted!
I'm not saying, let's do it tomorrow, we need more voices and more opinions, crunching a few numbers and seeing what's optimal but we need to start thinking if we want money to influence the trends.
I am naive enough to believe we can do that here!
You know why do I chose to be naive?
#Because the alternative is just sad if you ask me.
Raz out!
Upvote if you enjoy, comment if you have an opinion and have a great Sunday!
The limit to upvote power wouldn't actually be a solution as then they could split accounts and still be relatively powerful. Nice article btw.
appreciate your insight. THAT;'s EXACTLY what I was thinking. let's come up with a better model!!
What matters to me isn't whether or not it's top heavy. What matters is whether you have mobility, the ability to go from minnow to whale. If you have mobility then over time there will be a distribution of Steem Power.
Mobility is clearly important. Actually, I think both are important and need to be considered. Thank you for you input!
That is true indeed. But do we just wait for mobility to set it, get adopted, or is it something that needs to be in our DNA? Or is it something that needs to be promoted, measured and even penalized if not met?
I also believe timing is important. If mobility is achieved by the current whales and future whales after 99% of the user base has left or is with a foot out the door, then they'll have a pickle on their hands.
Great article raz. I really enjoyed reading it. You make some interesting points and I'm happy to tell you that I also have a solution to the coke (or any other company with such an advantageous budget) problem, and that solution is: the price of SP needs to go to the moon (of the furthest observable planet in the universe) thus pricing them out of such advertisement strangleholds. The fact that we would all become extremely rich as a result, is but a mere sidenote ;)
Very well written article Raz.....keep up the good work and I hope lots of Whales upvote this!
thanks! I am very interested in steemit continuous success, we need to prevent these kind of stuff before they happen...I hope so too, maybe more people will listen :)
Mass maniupulation on the front page incoming soon once the famous peeps hit steemit. This is just the beginning, all they have to do as you said is buy steem, convert to SP then upvote their own post, (which should not be allowed making money off yourself) and boom shakalaka! Fame needed to pour back in their own revenue stream/s
yes. but we can prevent that. " Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? " <---everyone is! it's the blockchain!!
I got excited - the way you phrased it I thought it was a done deal and it was really happening! But I do hope it happens.
Wrote about this topic last week - https://steemit.com/steemit/@liberosist/steemit-s-achilles-heel-rampant-inequality
You're absolutely right, this can get out of hand very fast. I do hope the Steemit developers keep a check on it. It's never going to be a democracy though. For that Reddit works, but then no one is paid nothing there either.
sorry if i misleaded you. but I do believe they are coming. and soon.
Have you seen any signs? Or just a hunch?
I really do hope so!
The signs are the upvotes this gets, the discussion this post and other like it fires, and what we feel. We're at the gates now! We're about to unleash a force. We can unleash it for the good.
No official sign, but a strong desire :)
So just a hunch then. :) I share your optimism too.
Hot damn. Love it. You are absolutely right. All it takes is for a big Jabba of a player to come on the scene and buy influence
big Jabba! :))
Reward caps may be coming and these reward caps may adversely effect minnows. I would not be so sure that Steemwhales aren't going to benefit from the reward caps if implemented.
More here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@dana-edwards/concerns-about-reward-capping
Of course! that's another thing to consider. But most importnat thing is to discuss it openly and find a good solution. It will be perfect? no. But maybe better than what we have.
I didn't read your posts before! I'll link to it. It's good to think from all these different angles. Thanks for bringing it to my attention
Great article! I love speculating on what could be, especially when it comes to reshaping society for the better. :)
an open discussion could take us there. that's all i can offer for sure :D
Amazing how this is such a great article and speaks to the concerns of the masses of steemit and yet what at the time of this comment I see $7.76 made while whale masters like @msteryoda complains because other people complained about his cut and paste video and picture posts making thousands of dollars. This is a true example of how skewed steemit is. This is a brillant article that speaks to the core of the problem yet where are the whales now. Oh that's right once you get the power you loose your sense of whats really right and wrong and will bow down to the greed every time. Such a shame to see this project as a reflection of our true society and what it is. Yet so many here would elect Bernie Sanders in an instant but at the same time the whales would not want to give up their spot in the top and the masses would not dare say anything as they want to make sure they can get the whale vote so better not offend anyone. I'm a realist not a follower.
I appreciate the lengthy answer.
If you look at my blog you'll see that I admit that my conclusion is maybe not correct, or at least not correct RIGHT now and I address some other stuff in there.
the important thing is for us to be realists but also doers.
Passively accepting our fate will lead to fuck-all...