Suggestion: Change the $ Sign Used to Display Rewards
Following recent discussions, such as the one I've had with @dragosroua (discussion, follow-up post by him), it is clear that the choice by Steemit.com (and Busy.org, and others), to display post rewards following the $ symbol is leading to much unnecessary confusion, as the number on display has no relation whatsoever to the United States Dollar, or the Australian Dollar, and only a translated relationship to the Steem-Backed Dollar.
The number is actually a translated representation of the only real currency Steemit uses, the VESTS. As such, I suggest changing the icon, to remove said confusion.
I am not a graphic designer, and my attempt to make a V symbol super-imposed by the Steemit Triple-S failed, so I made a mock-up of S. Here it is:
Any graphical designer willing to take the mantle should do so. And even if we just replace the symbol to "SV" for "Steemit Value" or "VS" for "Vest Steem" or whatever, I believe that the symbol needs to change to facilitate a better understanding of the system by reducing misunderstandings as to the information conveyed. At a late stage, it might be better to rework the displayed numbers entirely so they'd better represent what will be received, without the need for math on the users' part.
With this change though, people will at least know they don't know the currency the rewards are denominated in, and perhaps seek out information, rather than assume wrongly.
I think just the total Steem / SBD quantity is ideal for reward representation, because that's what we actually get when the 7 day waiting period is up
I am with you. Why not display ALL the numbers - SP / SBD instead of some confusing number next to a sign from a DIFFERENT CURRENCY.
It can be done, but the blockchain doesn't provide the tools to do it - it would require calculations for every post, which could slow utopian/steemit/busy down a lot. The $ value represented here is pulled directly from the blockchain.
Maybe a browser extension could do it via the device's CPU?
Well, yeah, but that can already be done. No need for steemit, utopian or anyone else to update their site - someone has to make the extension though (possibly already made, tbh)
I thought about it, but it could be quite messy, especially in the comment section.
There's another problem here though, and that is the curation reward for posts' authors. If you end up getting some of the curation reward as the post author, it must wait till the voting closes to actually display how much you're getting, for SP. It's not an issue for SBD, but, still.
This does make sense, but I think the devs are relying on the knowledge to be passed around. But I have to be honest, for 2 months I had the wrong interpretation of the number.
I don't think the devs are relying on anything. They just put something out there, and it's up to us to make it better, thus utopian-io exists and the whole project is open source. Someone needs to make the case for a change, and in this instance, that person was me :)
Oh that makes a lot of sense. After all, developing alone takes time, so they are relying on the community to point out improvements. Oooh, so this is the spirit of the community. :D
Strongly agree. As a new user, I know I was very confused.
If you check the link above, you'll see even people who have been here a long while, and even create tools for the site tended to get it wrong. Yeah, figuring out the logic behind everything took me a concentrated effort of a couple of hours and several people trying to explain it to me last week. It's VESTS man, the real currency that's not really displayed anywhere on the front-end...
That's a great idea, it's a wonder it's like it is today... I will try designing something if I find the time.
Great! I'm a word person, not so much a graphic design person. I sometimes come up with good meme ideas, but the execution has to be simple for me to pull it off ;-)
This is a great idea because the value fluctuates. I recently had a problem with transferring $2SBD. The transfer didn't go through but it appeared to have been deducted out of my account. The transaction did not show up on Steemd.com or in any other Steem analytical website. I had to go back through my wallet and try to add up all the different transactions to see what my bottom line actually was. But since the value of Steem dollars was ever changing, I never really did determine if that $2SBD disappeared from my account or not. It wasn't enough to stress about but it did weaken my faith in the blockchain claim of transparency and accountability.
Let's stop converting Steem value to fiat. Steem is Steem. You can keep the final value tally at the bottom if you like, but really, if I want to know how much my Steem is worth I can go here.
I noticed you used the tag "suggestion" in your tagline at the bottom. I made a post 2 days ago claiming that Steemit.com needs a #suggestionbox. If we have concerns and suggestions to make, I urge you to use this tag. That way interested Steemians can go there and see the ideas for a better Steem platform, take them to the chatrooms or comment on them to fine tune them the way I'm doing here.
Currently, Steem value isn't converted to fiat, it's not converted to anything. We also don't actually see Steem values in our "reward" number. The number we see is "Steem Bucks," or as @dragosroua put it in the post I linked above, "Steem Token Units." This is actually a translation of VESTS that can then be calculated into their SBD and Steem split.
It's important to note the value you currently see is neither Steem nor fiat. Either would be clearer.
Also, as to the case of your missing 2 SBD, it shouldn't have anything to do with the fluctuating value of SBD, because you have 2 SBD, which is worth a fluctuating amount of USD, but it's always 2 SBD. Can't tell more without looking at the situation more closely with data I probably lack.
So there are two fundamental problems here. You really have no idea what you have here unless you only pay attention to your vests, which aren't really tracked in any way I can access or even comprehend. It's like having a job where you don't know how much you're going to get paid until you cash your check.
This is the real problem. You cannot keep accurate track of your account since you lack to tools to do so. How do you know if someone is embezzling from your account? You don't. Yes, Steemit is a game, but in a game you have points that remain constant. If our vests are the actual points, then the vests should be the accounting vehicle; or do those fluctuate as well? This is very confusing to me.
Since my account is mere chicken feed at this point it hardly matters. In the future, though, it might be a big problem. Thanks for the input.
You can look at your transfer section to see all your past transfers. Steemworld.org/@[username] is also a better tool to track what's going on.
It also presents to you information in VESTS when you click on specific actions, but yes, VESTS being the true engine is making everything less than as clear as it should be. I agree. I think it has to be this way though due to the constantly shifting value of the currencies, and that translating from VESTS to the currencies in our heads is incredibly taxing...