User Authority - Something Much More Than Just A New Reputation System
Although some of you may only see the good parts of the Steem blockchain, we shouldn't dissregard the negatives but, should rather try to find and fix them appropriately. That's what we need to do first if we want to have any chance for mass adoption and Steem taking over the world. Muahahahaha! No, seriously. Without addressing the flaws, imbalances and setting the right incentives, Steem has no chance of ever becoming the go to blockchain, that it deserves to be. I've touched up on a couple of the most notable ones in some previous posts, but today, I would like to mention all of the major issues Steem currently has and how one project alone could swiftly solve them all.
- user onboardiong (will be fixed soon in the upcoming HF20 )
- user retention
- uneven token distribution
- a terrible
trendingfake page plagued by bidbot promoted content - a broken and gameable reputation system, see ex. @haejin and @chbartist
- reward pool abuse/uneven reward distribution
- discovering great, undervalued content and rewarding it appropriately (this is true not only for planktons and minnows but for dolphins and orcas aswell)
- content consumption and engagement
I'm sure there are some that I failed to mention so, if you know of any, feel free to drop them in the coment section.
Looking at the above-mentioned problems you might think that I was pulling your leg saying that one project could solve them alone but, trust me, I wasn't. Being a bit shy of two weeks old, this project has already gained unprecedented support of the community. From planktowns to minnows, dolpins to orcas, it has even caught attention of some of the most influential Steemians and has won over the community by storm. Not only that, but they managed to collect more than 400k SP in delegations! And you know what? Every supporter of this "program" is getting a daily dose of Hopium. Wait, what are you saying? Hopium? They are doing drugs now? No, they are not. Calm down. We will talk about this misterious thing called Hopium a bit further down the post.
The beacon of light in a bottomless pit of circle jerks
Behold, the mighty @steem-ua! It is disguised as being the new reputation system, while in fact, it is so much more than that. It is a glimmer of hope for this place. One that could quite possibly, shift the tides in the sea of tokens and finally allow planktowns, minnows and those that just feel that way, to catch a break and earn some STEEM/SP. Consequently, that will even out the reward distribution, offer a fairer way of rewarding what is supposed to be quality content and offer a base layer of support for hardworking Steemians.
What is @steem-ua
Simply put, it's a delegation driven, quality content curation bot, that upvotes posts based on the authors UserAuthority (UA) score. The UA score is calculated by using an ever-evolving algorithim which I won't go into the nitty-gritties of but, I'll give you an basic idea of how it works.
What goes into your UA score
The biggest part of the score is comes from your Follower Matrix, which is basically a calculation of the UA scores of your followers, their followers, and the followers of their followers, and so on... The other big factor is looking at how much you interact on the blockchain through comments and what kind of interaction it is (checking for abusive behaviour like spam). There are many more layers that go into your final UA score and new ones will constantly be added and tweaked but generally, these two are the most important ones.
How to increase your UA
Users can increase their UA score by producing more interesting/engaging content and interacting with others more often and on a deeper level. With more interesting content comes the possibility of gaining a new follower which will increase your score. Same goes for interacting with others which, not only offers a chance for a new follower but, it further increases your UA score.
For more information about the technical details and the ins and outs of @steem-ua I would suggest you to read this post, and this one.
How @steem-ua will reshape Steem/Steemit
First of all, we finally have a decent reputation system, with rep that can't be increased through buying votes. Your reputation is just a result of the amount of rewards you received over time. It's meaningless. Although it wasn't like that before, when there weren't any bidbots around, it's broken now. It serves no practical use, other than to see who got the most rewards, the fastest.
Most importantly, @steem-ua will change the wealth distribution on the platform for good. More planktons will be empowered to become minnows and some minnows will even become dolphins. By fairly distributing rewards based on the level of trust the user has with the blockchain, @steem-ua will shift the tides in the favour of the less influential. Soon, we will have tens of thousands of ex planktons with 50 SP becoming 500 SP minnows. Some of which might have given up on this place if it wasn't for the @steem-ua support. Who cares about the minnows, we need more orcas and whales. Rght? Wrong!
More accounts with less SP will always overpower a couple with high SP. Just look at the above-mentioned situation and throw the numbers win the calculator. 10 000 users x 500 SP = 5 million SP!!!
A wave of users that would usually Power Down and cash out their earnings, bringing the STEEM price down, will now want to Power Up and delegate to @steem-ua. Consequently, these kind of users, that are typically playing a big role in STEEM's downtrends, will now actually increase the price of STEEM.
Some of the users we are currently losing because of various reasons, which I won't go into now, are going to stay and keep producing valuable content. Carried on the wings of @steem-ua voting them 2,4 or 7 times per week (depending on their delegation), they will have one less reason to leave and a big one to stay.
A good amount of users will stop with the boosted shitposts and will concentrate more on producing meaningful content that people want to read and engage with. Voilà! The terrible trending page is semi-fixed. It is still occupied mostly by bidbotted posts, but their quality is significantly higher than before.
Finally, with @steem-ua implemented, the right incentives are beeing put in place. Content quality and user interaction being the two most important ones. These incentives will change over time but imo, those two will always be the most valuable ones. They will push our whole community into a higher gear, and the right direction!
It's pretty amazing to see that one project alone can have such a huge impact on the community. The before-mentioned problems are currently destroying the fabric of Steem, but @steem-ua is an angel that will heal this ecosystem. It puts focus where it really needs to be (content quality, user interaction, powering up), sets the right incentives and most importantly, it spreads the wealth far and wide.
Oh, yeah, and one last thing, the hopium. Something most of us need moree of here. Something that will make you stay and strive to be better every day. Hopium for a base level of support. Hopium of motivation. Hopium of love. Hopium for a better, fairer, more evenly distributed, future.
How to get that sweet @steem-ua upvote
Being a delegation based system, you will need to delegate at least 25 SP to get 1 upvote per week from @steem-ua. Give it a go with at least 25 SP and if you like the hopium, increase the amount delegated to fit your needs.
| SP Delegation | Sponsor Benefits & Upvote Frequency |
|---|---|
| 25 SP | max. 1 @steem-ua upvote per week |
| 50 SP | max. 2 @steem-ua upvotes per week |
| 100 SP | max. 4 @steem-ua upvotes per week |
| 250 SP | max. 7 @steem-ua upvotes per week |
| >= 5,000 SP | Stake-Based Sponsor Rewards + max. 7 @steem-ua upvotes per week |
Amount of SP delegated only affects the number of potential votes a user can get, not their value. The value of the votes is determined based on your UA score. Obviously, the higher it is, the better the votes you are going to get. This is a innovative concept, that unlike traditional bidbots, that merely want to make a profit, actually cares about the quality of the content that is being published and supported. I personally, can't wait to see how this projet evolves in the future and to see how it will change this place for the better.
25 SP | 50 SP | 100 SP | 250 SP |
500 SP | 1,000 SP | 2,500 SP |
5,000 SP |
10,000 SP | 25,000 SP |
50,000 SP |
100,000 SP | 250,000 SP |
500,000 SP |
1,000,000 SP
I started with 100 SP delegation, but very soon after increased it to 250 as I've realized the potential of the project, and my personal need for hopium.
The ROI
Yasssss, the ROI, something everyone is interested in nowadays. Although it was not my main motivation to delegate, or to increase my delegation, ROI plays a crucial role in deciding if, one should delegate to a certain project. So, let's take a look at what kind of returns @steem-ua is currently giving to its supporters.
The lowest value upvote @steem-ua handed out in the last voting round (at the time of writing this post) was worth 0.1$, and it was sent to a user with 0.0 UA who ranked last in the Algorithmic Curation Round. The highest upvote was sent to a user with 8.535 UA and it was worth 0.6$. If we look at an average @steem-ua vote of, let's say 0.3$ we can conclude that:
25 SP (max. 1 upvote per week) shamelessly selfvoting 10x a day gives around 8 cents per week / UA gives max. 30 cents
50 SP (max. 2 upvotes per week) shamelessly selfvoting 10x a day gives around 17 cents per week / UA gives max. 60 cents
100 SP (max. 4 upvotes per week) shamelessly selfvoting 10x a day gives around 35 cents per week / UA gives max. 1.2$ cents
250 SP (max. 7 upvotes per week) shamelessly selfvoting 10x a day gives around 90 cents per week / / UA gives max. 2.4$
The votes I received ever since I joined the project ranged from 0.3$ to 0.9$
Calculating the exact ROI for each level of delegation is close to impossible as the equation contains too many unknowns and what ifs but, I can tell you that it's definitely worth your while. What I would suggest everyone to do, is to delegate 25 SP, or 50 SP and give it a go. See what kind of returns you will receive and how high your posts are ranking in the Algorithmic Curation Rounds. If the results are satisfying (which, they surely will be) , bump that delegation up by one level and wait out another week. Rince&Repeat until you have delegated at least 250 SP.
If you are still thinking about if you should delegate to @steem-ua, I don't know what else to tell you other than to stop thinking about it. Just hop on the Hopium train, work on increasing your UA score by producing more interesting content, engage with your readers more often and enjoy the ride!
Yes think it’s a great idea! @d-pend told me about it. I’ve already delegated 100 SP a day or so ago and got my first upvote! Thanks for your great detailed post about it!
Bump it up to 250 if you get a chance :) It's definitely worth it. Glad you enjoyed reading about it!
Can you please explain why 250 is so much more better than 25 or even 100?
you mean when delegating? it gives you more votes. check out the table in the post
I feel I need to nuance all the great things you share in this post to give a correct view on it all. For anyone who does not delegate more then 250 this is indeed a winner. The issue lies when you delegate more. Then you lose drastically the higher up you go. It are the big delegators who are in essence supporting this system with a los of ROI. If you delegate 2500 you lose 75% of what you can earn elsewhere. If at one time the big delegators start leaving this system will crumble.
I'm well aware of that and so are most of the whales delegating. They aren't in it for the ROI but, all of the positive effects @steem-ua has on Steem. They are kind and generous souls that want to see this blockchain succeed and are sacrificing some of their earnings to make it happen.
That is the main issue isn't it. More small once will enter and not enough big ones :) In the end the cantering will happen where people small and big will no longer profit. And then there is utopian elitist club who is benefitting from everyone.
I think it is a tad silly how many people with 250 delegation are talking about how great steem-ua is. When in essence it are the big delegators who are great for supporting all the small once.
You should be thanking @fulltimegeek, @neoxian, @cryptoctopus, @daveks, @nathanmars, @stellabelle, @jaki01, .....
Hey @runicar - quick question... once a delegation has been given how soon after do you begin to receive your regular votes? Also is there anything else I should be doing in order to receive them?
I personally, got my first vote withing an hour after delegating. I guess it's just a matter of when the next voting round begins. No, nothing else. Just strive to increase your UA for a better vote.
i got my vote after 4 days (as i have 1 vote per week). i think it does some kind of calculation to give an upvote on the best post in last x days or something like that (as i got an upvote on my most interacted post in last 4 days and not on the last that i posted)
I see that you speak perfectly fluent sarcasm which is "muy" enjoyable :) One thing that was not clear to me is if your ua score resets after every round.
Cheers :)
P.s is voilà not "viola" :P
hahaha glad you liked it :) there aren't many that get it nowadays. It seems like sarcasm is slowly dying because people just don't get it any more. It seems like our collective IQ is dropping quite rapidly in the past couple of years.
Thanks for pointing that out!
"uneven token distribution"...there will never be mate because we are on planet earth. Everything follows a 80/20 curve or the "pareto principle". Even UA is distributed that way.
The solution is not trying to flatten the curve but to create multiple distribution or hierarchies to climb and that can only be done through SMTs.
How much more longer do we have to wait for the #smt savior of STEEM to be released to the masses?
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Does that mean that 20% of users will have 80% of the tokens? How does that apply to the distribution of UA? Can you shed some light on this? I'm having a hard time with wrapping my head around this.
Why do you think SMTs are so vital for achieving this? Couldn't it be done through interconnecting a couple of projects that istribute STEEM/SP?
Huh. Very nice explanation of the how's and why's. I had already delegated 25, but I think you've convinced me to increase it. Thanks for the write-up!
Glad you found my post useful and increased your delegation by 25 SP! What is your current UA score and how high are you ranking in the curation rounds? What are the votes like?
Runicar I just read your post and although I still have to internalize and analyze everything that you expose, I find it very encouraging, because in the time I have in steem I see that I strive to publish quality content, I like to write and draw empirically but I have chosen to publish other things that I see that some people like and relearn what I really like, because in the time I have I have not even been able to gather 1 steem. Then I will study this project better to see how it works. Thanks, it 's spectacular, this project.
You can always check them out on https://steemworld.org or read the two posts I mentioned. You will get there! If nothing else, there will be many contests coming out that will give steem-ua sponsorship as a reward. I've already seen a couple of them but they are already over.
Did you come up with the word hopium? Lol :)
I delegated 25 SP and will soon delegate 50 SP.
p.s.
A little late but - congratulations on becoming a dolphin. How does it feel? :)
Actually, no. It was @meno who made up that word :)
Awesome! Are you happy with the results?
Yes, I actually got an upvote. I wasn't expecting it because I mostly post on steemhunt but I got it anyway :)
That's actually an advantage, as @steemhunt is seen as a reputable member (probably high UA) who supported your post, meaning there is a higher chance you will get a vote. Happened to me a couple of times on my dlive streams.
Interesting.
Wow absolutely fascinating article. Thank you for sharing this valuable information. For a new steemian like me this is a wealth of information that I feel is extremely valuable.
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Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed reading my post. Are you thinking about joining the project?
Giving an initial 100 SP once the 7 day hold is released from a previous delegation.
Great inciteful article. Resteemed....
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