RE: Proof-of-Brain or Power-of-Bid(bot), that is the question.
Great article!
I think the schemes that prevent bidbots, Vote-Selling, and Circle voting should be implemented technically in a blockchain unit.
Indeed ... Maybe you are interested in reading my ideas concerning circle- and self-voting? One could for example think about ...
... a reward curve which started as n^2 / exponential (thus flat), and then later changed into linear which would work against self-voting as well as excessive rewards (by using spline interpolation the curve would look better but it's the idea which matters).
@clayop had a similar idea.... implementing diminishing returns when upvoting the same accounts (including own ones) again and again.
... reintroducing the restriction to four (or less) full paid posts per day (from some hard forks ago) which was very reasonable.
Wow thank you @jaki01.
I knew it roughly, but I was able to see it again through the posts you gave me. I have learned a lot and I think it is a good reference for many people.
Be healthy and more happy this year.
Best wishes to you, as well!
(STEEM urgently needs real, friendly, 'normal' - in a positive sense - people like you, who are still reading stuff and thinking about improvements. I hope the power of the 'middle class' will increase fast, that's really necessary to make this place more pleasant again.)
I also wrote on the "diminishing returns" algo well over a year ago. It remains my favourite method as is easy to encode on the blockchain. I did have discussions with SteemitInc at the time but it went nowhere as was considered too computationally costly.
I also did some work on vote-rings and it is mathematically possible to distinguish such rings from, say, a group of friends. In this case, it requires some "sentinels" to "search and destroy"; unfortunately the "destroy" part is limited to downvoting, which is wasteful and ineffective. As Vitalik mentioned about this, that the penalty must be greater than the gain, else it is not a deterrent and is seen as a small tax on income.
What a pity that Steemit Inc. didn't listen to your advice.
I suggested it, too, in some comments, but probably I am not 'famous' enough to deserve any answer. :)
I think these things go in cycles. We now seem to be in a phase where many ideas are put forward and some will be fully developed. Sometimes it's just catching the fair wind :-)