Safe Steemit ~ 1 Day Voting Moratorium for the Whales
Let's do an experiment to see what happens if the whales were to stop voting for ONE day.
You all know robinhoodwhale, curie, minnowsunite and those other 'charities'. Why do they exist? Why are they so popular? Because everything is just fine or because there's a problem?
The reason why those project exist and are so popular, is because they address a very real problem; the results are skewed!
Now, let's look at some stats;
Yes, you're seeing that right ... the total amount of posts and comments just keeps going down, down and down ...
Now, let's look at these stats;
To make a long story short; 1.07% of the active accounts distribute 90% of all the voting power.
Which means that each time a whale votes at 100% they have such a massive impact that everybody else's loses 90% of their voting power, which is why posts don't get enough rewards and the results on the tag pages are skewed ... not at the top, but the middle is basically missing and it's a slaughter at the bottom.
What would give the best results? 30 people making all decisions or thousands of people making those decisions?
So, what's the problem? Well, it's a combination of 2 problems;
- too many massive whales
- not enough mature dolphins.
So, what needs to happen?
The whales have to stop voting!
(or at least put it on 10% and leave it there or ... vote really a lot, like 50 to a 100 times per 24 hours))
That way everybody else, as well the dolphins as the minnows will get more voting power ... 10 times more voting power, so that we no longer have hidden gems, at least not at the amounts we have now.
At least stop voting at 100% and simply vote at 1-10%, that way you still get to play, your 1-10% vote is still significant, but not too significant, so you don't suck all the air out of everybody else's lungs ... because, despite all the good intentions ... that's what happens when a whale votes at 100%; it takes away all the time, the effort, the love, the blood and the tears all the other users have been putting into their voting ... all wasted.
The whales got too big too soon and now they're skewing all the results by consuming such a massive chunk of all the voting power that there's just not enough left for the minnows and the dolphins, with as a result that Steemit is working completely backwards ... and the posts are going down ... and people are leaving!
And @dennygalindo was smart enough to 'spam' me with a link to his post; to do a test for just 1 day is his idea and I think it's a great idea!
I assume we support the scientific principles, right?
Good, because that means you will never say 'no' to an experiment, right?
There's no point trying to guess or argue, as long we don't have accurate data to work with, so ... we need to conduct a proper scientific experiment to see what would happen if the whales were to stop voting at 100% ...
And in order for a theory to be considered scientific, it needs to be be able to accurately and consistently predict the outcomes of the experiments ... so, here my predictions;
What would happen if the whales were to put their voting slider at 10% and leave it there?
All the dolphins and minnows will get 10 x more voting power! Yes, 10 times! And that's how all of a sudden there will simply be no more problem ... yes, just like magic ;-)
With as a result that posts that get up to a 100 votes will already have the reward they deserve ... the problem will be solved, there will no longer be a need to go and look for hidden gems, because they will be almost non-existing.
The total amoun of posts will go up again, people will come back instead of leaving and eventually the price of $SBD will go up again as well ... what's not to like?
So, please ... upvote this posts, so we can all come together and come up with a date to run a test and see what happens if the whales were to put their voting slider on 10% and leave it there. (It will be like a miracle!)
Ow, and by the way ... to all the whales ... if you want to see your estimated $ go up, rather than what it has been doing now for weeks, which is down, down and down ... you have to put your voting slider on 10% and leave it there!
Don't do this out of principle or sympathy, do it because it's in your own self interest!
Another prediction I can make; once I no longer have to write these type of posts, I will be able to finally get to this site;
http://bounty.steemr.io/
and work on the related posts links
And I got an idea for the voting slider as well ... keep the mathematics, but just display it differently; select 1-2-3-4-5 votes to give from the 100 (per 24 hours) , exact same maths, but totally different perception.
I think the base of Steemit is to have a decentralised social network. I think it's not about who is on the trending page. Yes it can help, but the basis is to find people you like to talk to and read articles from, as well as discover new articles, right? And have a decentralised social network were no-one owns your content and is not using your data to sell to advertisers.
So IMHO one could just neglect the 'trending' page and move over to 'new', 'hot' or even their own 'feed' so you see articles by people they follow. I mean yes Twitter has trending pages, but do you look on them, or are you interested in what other people you care about post (e.g. follow a hashtag). Or on Reddit, do you check deep buried communities or read the frontpage? If you are into something you just go to the niche community.
Also you could use search to stumble articles about topics which might interest you and discover it that way and start commenting on articles to build a follower base / social graph and/or follow new people you like.
What i try to say is, embrace the fact of having a decentralised social publishing network, instead of the power of the whales to control the trending page... Or is this Steemit all about the money?
regardless of this, for an experiment, this could actually be great fun and interesting to see.
good to hear you're open for the 1 day experiment ... that's fair and reasonable enough, right?
as long the whales have 90% of the voting power ... it's not decentralized and that's why people are leaving
steemit is mathematical, there are no unknowns here; we have all the facts, stats and data we need ... it's clear; the whales are skewing the result ...
I agree with the majority of what you're saying. However, if Coke or Pepsi (on our wishlist) someday wants to buy a lot of STEEM to Power up, so they can post Corporate Announcements on here.. we want those types of whales coming in to promote their own stuff. This will buy up a lot of the liquid steem out there.
It's a difficult problem. If it goes to all minnows and dolphins, it can be bad. If it a goes all to whales, it can be bad. We need a self-adjusting vote regulator that dynamically responds to the daily trends. That requires an artificial intelligence module to learn and watch. That may take some time to make I think..
BTW, sorry I saw the post a day later. :(
I'm not saying we never need whales, or that they have no function ... I'm saying that right now roeland is naive to think that steemit is indeed decentralized; 30 people deciding everything is not decentralized ... and that's why there are so many bad results
I'm not panicking either, because I see a lot of the whales did lower their voting slider, be it more like 30-50% instead of the 1-10% as they should, but that's already a significant improvement compared with just a week ago
the promoted button didn't do much, it's too early, that's for when pepsi and cola actually come in
but the voting slider seem to be doing the trick ... because the whales can now vote 'smaller', which is needed ... and at least some of them are doing it, so ... it will improve, but I wouldn't mind if it were to improve faster, especially because the solution is so simple
Yes, using the slider does help. Even for me. If I feel really good about a post, I upvote it 100%. If I'm a little "meh", it's a good post, just it doesn't have the full force behind it, I go to 30%. If I'm on the fence.. I see the value, and think it should be voted, but I don't want to cheerlead it on, I give it 50%
So my mood greatly affects my slider. Each time I slide my slider, I'm kind of waiting for someone to call me out on my decision, which I could qualify each time if they did... but luckily no one does that.. and I don't have to.. :)
The slider is something that may be key, I agree. good post.
Those who are leaving were contributing jack all to begin with in most cases. Attrition is normal. Those that don't meet the demands of the market fall out. Why is that a problem?
you just say that because you're scared of reality
it's not just about the trending pages; it's about all results ... the best thing the whales could do is nothing
that's just how it mathematical works out, anybody who disagrees with it, simple doesn't know how to count ...
ps: @roelandp you're in this post at least 5 times ...
https://steemit.com/steemit/@luminousvisions/little-baby-dolphin-goes-to-steemit-school
please have a look
Everybody just needs to chill out, stop worrying about the inequity, which will solve itself as more accounts reach higher steem power. Good freaking cow, it's not that complicated. Free market. Leave it alone.
It's worth trying out for a day just to see if it makes a difference. If it doesn't, then back to the drawing board, but this platform should not be afraid of experimenting to see what works.
that's the spirit!
thanks
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luminousvisions I have upvoted and followed . I agree that in order to make steemit a successful platform the voting power needs to be in the hands of the many . It seems that on the trending page you see the same people again and again . Some people say well it's because they are exquisite writers . The real reason is because the whales have concentrated their voting power on certain writers . Then all the little minnows follow along to try to get some scraps from clicking upvote . Also if you don't post what they like well forget any money coming your way because they have to upvote you in order to make anything . If those in charge really want this great idea to really succeed then they have to put more power into more hands than just their own . The more diversified the content on this platform the greater the chance for success . I agree your plan is a good start .
you said it really well ... maybe I should copy/paste it and put it in the post ... would that be ok?
thanks for your suppport
Hello luminousvisions just now got back online and yes you may copy/paste it and put it in the post
This came out really well! Let's hope it gets traction!
well, the irony of the situation is that we need a whale vote for the post to get traction ...
thanks for the upvote
It's worth a go, Nothing to loose trying it out. Hope the whales read this too
Great idea, would certainly be interesting to see the result of this. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be difficult to convince all the whales to participate in such a coordinated action. But something definitely needs to be done; Steemit is mirroring real life with all the wealth concentrated in the top 1% and the 99% having to protest and try to make their voices heard. What's the point of it all if not to surmount those types of real life problems? Sad to see such a state of affairs transferred into the digital world when there's really no reason it has to be.
what's so sad is that those whales feel absolutely fantastic ... each time they skew the system ... they just don't get it
Please can help and explain this comment in a bit more detail " Which means that each time a whale votes at 100% they have such a massive impact that everybody else's loses 90% of their voting power". I am new to steemit and don't know the technical details but I don't see how this would work. How can the voting power of one user (doesn't matter if small or big player) impact any other users voting power?
because they have more shares, they have more to say ...
Yes I agree with that as this is how it suppose to work but that doesn't explain that if a whale votes, you, I or anyone else loses there own voting power? My thinking is, If I have a vote value of 1000SP, than my voting power is based on that 1000SP regardless what happens around me. Please don't see my comment as something negative, I just would be very (unpleasant) surprised if it is like you stated. EDIT: penguinpablo answered my question above.
It's not working out the way you thought. Not to mention, just in general, if there are many fewer posts being put up, then shouldn't the average post become more valuable anyway? That's not what's happening though. There are now almost no large payouts, and the smaller payouts have dropped from the 100s or 10s to 1s.
I don't understand people like you
you can't be bothered to study the topic, yet you feel the need to express your opinion ... why do you ever bother getting out of bed in the morning, if you're just going to tell yourself some bullshit all day long ... ?!? seriously ... there's another option, you know ... you could just shut up ... yes, you have the right to an opinion, but that doesn't mean you need to tell other people about it ... you could just keep your nonsense to yourself, you know
Thanks for your illustrious insite. Have a great day.
Also, my vote is worth the same 3 cents it was before.
that's because most whales are incredible stupid short minded idiots ... as in; that's not my fault