Careful on the chain

"The account is old and doesn't represent the brand I'm trying to promote. I would like to scrub it from existence."

This was the reasoning for a question last night asking how to delete a four month old post from Steemit. I checked some of the content, and I would want to delete it too though, I would never write it, let alone commit it to the blockchain.

And that is what this is here, a commitment that what one posts, whether in an article, a comment, an edit, a vote, a flag or any type of informational transaction will be recorded and become immutable until the lights eventually go out.

This should mean that people are relatively wary of what they choose to post, especially if they are putting their name behind it or, at some point they choose to 'come out' or get 'outed'. There is plenty of potential for doxxing here and many go out of their way to do so.

The issue, like this guy has discovered, is that a lot of trend content that is the flavour of the moment is very short lived and in hindsight, makes one look very short-sighted. This could be put down to 'young and dumb' but, this was four months ago. In the past, the rollover on trends could last years whereas now, it can be weeks or even days before it is well-worn and passe.

But, many of these trends are often quite polarising in nature and because so many people are trying to be 'popular', they swing wildly from one topic to another, one side to the next and then back again constantly. But, on the blockchain, this is all recorded.

For many, rather than seeing a constant learning curve and pathways of discovery, under investigation, most will look erratic and inconsistent in their approach. Bandwagon jumpers who ignored conversations until the trend was strong enough to join in. They aren't early adopters or creators, they are followers and regurgitators.

There is nothing wrong with following a trend but, when the trend discovery and disposal is traceable, it will be quite easy to see who is a real creator with experience, and who is trying to cash-in on a trend by using other's knowledge. Again, nothing wrong with cashing in but, how many times can one do it before people stop chasing the peak and start watching the swell as that will be traceable also?

In time and with better discovery tools and perhaps AI, the underground people and movements that generate the swells will be visible and those that are clingers trying to ride the coattails will be unable to gain traction. And their failures will become ever more apparent and public.

Those that fought very hard for one side may find themselves having to forever justify why they fought so hard and also justify why they were fighting at all. How can one justify if the 'correct' information was available and presented? There will be a receipt of every instance it was interacted with yet, one may have still chosen to ignore it or even attack it without real consideration?

From my perspective, there is no problem with being wrong and doing 180's as new information comes to light and understanding developed but, will everyone be forgiving? The blockchain in coming years is going to lead to a whole range of interesting situations where people of all kinds must defend, justify and likely be relatively embarrassed by what they have committed their future self to defending, long ago in the past.

As nearly everyone already knows, the core concept behind blockchain is that the information is decentralised and unchangeable, even after edits and deletes, information lives on. So, if you are unsure about the future and what you may want to do, be connected to or distanced from, think a little before clicking 'POST' as there will be no scrubbing from existence anytime shortly.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]