Important References
I should note that some of the things I'm talking about require a bit of background, so I'm going to include some references to this post to accompany the video. If however, anything I say makes little sense and you would like for me to clarify what I meant, please feel free to challenge me.
POS - Proof of Stake
Proof of Stake (PoS) concept states that a person can mine or validate block transactions according to how many coins he or she holds. This means that the more Bitcoin or altcoin owned by a miner, the more mining power he or she has. The first cryptocurrency to adopt the PoS method was Peercoin.
information source
DPOS - Delegated Proof of Stake
Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) is a new method of securing a crypto-currency’s network. DPOS attempts to solve the problems of both Bitcoin’s traditional Proof of Work system, and the Proof of Stake system of Peercoin and NXT. DPOS implements a layer of technological democracy to offset the negative effects of centralization. (information source)
RATIONALE BEHIND DPOS
- Give shareholders a way to delegate their vote to a key (one that doesn’t control coins ‘so they can mine’)
- Maximize the dividends shareholders earn
- Minimize the amount paid to secure the network
- Maximize the performance of the network
- Minimize the cost of running the network (bandwidth, CPU, etc)
Conclusion
This is where I'm trying to get at. Maybe, it makes more sense for us to focus on supporting initiatives that will allow us to create a culture that embraces steem as a currency, and not so much become the guardians of Steemit, the platform.
I am however under no illusion, I've found "the answer" and I'm very interested in listening to what others out there think about this. As with many of the things I share, specially those that toy with abstracts, my intention is to start a conversation and hopefully find a way to balance my own ideas on the subject.
Other posts by yours truly
• Are you thinking about running for witness?
• Sbd about to pump? - /me grins
• If they only knew... - Bidbot abuse
• What's the deal with Ulogs?
• A Question for the Bid-Bot Owners - Dlike
My video is at DLive
Excellent observation, meno.
I've recently started sponsoring @o07's gif competitions for just this reason.
Many may consider it 'low value content', but it's an engaging way for regular people, who may not speak great English, to get their hands on some STEEM and actually use it.
Currencies are valuable because they're used.
It took me a while to see this. It wasn't until my wife, who has shown zero interest in blogging here for 2 years, started playing @footytips (also run by @o07), then started entering his gif comps.
Now she's contemplating blogging recipes and progress shots of easy, cheap, tasty, simple family meals.
She's won a small stake, she's kept coming back long enough to get familiar with the place, and she's made some friends.
Give me a million more stories like this, and I'll show you $200 STEEM.
That I think is what things like #untalented and #ulog are trying to do and showcase. There are so many ways and tags to use to try and earn something it hard to keep track of everything that is going on. People just need to look and find them.
Steem can really be the common mans cryptocurrency. You don't need 100k in mining gear. A PhD in coding, or all the other nonsense.
Many times it's just about finding the right community and helping empower those in it to do even better.
Couldn't agree more. The only crypto which pays you to be human. (Like being good at a video game, or even taking great screenshots while being good at a videogame)
Here's one...I can relate to your wife. I was here on Steemit 3 months ago, but only managed to make a bunch of comments and one blog post. I was so worried about how my blog post would be received, that I couldn't write consistently and just became inactive for almost 3 months. That's because back then, I was under the impression that I had to write long-ish, thought-provoking, epic posts.
It wasn't until a few days ago that I decided to come back to Steemit by participating in the freewrite challenges. My goal was just to write everyday, and I made it a point to not be concerned about the length of my posts and to not think about the topics too much. Just get the prompt, set the timer, edit a little, and publish the post. The result: I've been posting one short blog, everyday for five days. Which is great, because I can feel the beginnings of a habit. Sure, my posts aren't amazing pieces of writing. But that's ok.
The skills required to accumulate STEEM are diversifying, too.
It won't be long before steemmonsters players will be earning STEEM just by playing well. They might never write a blog post or even have heard of steemit.
Blogging is where we start.
That would be great for Steem. People can be really competitive when it comes to their games. Dropping loads of cash and spending hours every month. It's no surprise steemmonsters is the hottest thing here, right now.
Its taken me 10 months to see this too, at least this clearly. I guess that's because I had never thought of currency in terms of "philosophical consensus" which sounds weird just reading it after typed.
But as you said, I'm sure just like your wife's story there are hundreds of examples out there.
Nice to see the Lego metaphor gaining mind-share.
I was already having thoughts sort of in parallel to yours but I'm not sure if that's going to be a post or three posts or if I won't bother or what. I may have shaken things up enough this week.
Whoever started it imo was right on the money...
Finally got around to listening.
I agree 100%! Engagement is the key to the future not just for the currency, but because engagement itself sells (social media advertising, though I can see why maybe people don't like this one as much).
That's not to say great content doesn't have its place. But it's secondary, a means to the goal of getting people here. I think the great part is that communities form around like interests and that is a great thing to see.
One cautionary point though: sometimes the new shiny platform given a buttload of delegation to vote activity on the platform may not attract the right kind of engagement. I think it might make sense to separate lasting engagement with money hunting, though I'm not really sure how. That must be for the platform to decide how to weed it out. There's a difference between engaging with people vs just engaging with money.
And finally: bid bots clearly are good for the platform because people are engaging with them ;). Right? Rigggggghhhht????
hahahahhaah - We need to have the right culture to counterbalance the bidbot abuse, and the key word is abuse.
If people wanna promote an initiative, a special post, a new song release... by all means, use the promotion tools. My issue is with this whole "lets print money" which is both, incorrect and not sustainable.
I think this is the first time I've seen you talk on video. I was a little distracted by all the guitars :)
I think the distribution of the pool would be helped by more delegation. If the whales can allow others to vote on their behalf then the rewards can get distributed more evenly. If people just use it to vote up their own stuff then it can be withdrawn. I have delegated half my SP for others to use. I think this helps more minnows than I can reach myself.
Yes of course, no doubt... fulltimegeek did just this and it did wonders. But its long term thinking, its about thinking how do i make the pie bigger not get a bigger piece of the pie today. (yesterday i heard this saying, cant remember the name of the person, but it was right on)