Non-depleting voting mana makes things more difficult and adds another mechanism to understand when using Hive. Newcomers cannot ignore the weight of the vote, otherwise they won't understand why the vote fails.
Non-depleting voting mana makes things more difficult and adds another mechanism to understand when using Hive. Newcomers cannot ignore the weight of the vote, otherwise they won't understand why the vote fails.
I wouldn't say so. With the proper error messages newcomers will quickly understand what is going on. There could be a warning message too, when VM drops below (let's say) 20% which can lead to a resource that explains how VM works and what happens when it is completely depleted, and how long it takes to recharge it. The warning should be disable-able by those who already understand how things work. Of course, that means front ends would need some small tweaks to make voting mana easier to understand for newcomers, if they haven't made them already.
You are right, newcomers will understand the error message.
Personally, when I joined Steem, I voted a lot, even though my vote was worthless. I would have been frustrated to be held back. The weight adjustment and error message are, I admit, minor obstacles to voting, but they require extra clicks. Some people will wait instead of adjusting the weight, and they may consult other websites in the meantime. I think there will be far fewer votes.
Every change makes people happy, indifferent, or frustrated. I'm tired of breaking changes.
Hive is losing its appeal, markets are losing volume and liquidity, and arbitrage and market maker bots are leaving. This is not the time to lose more users, even if no one will leave because of this.
It's a good thing that people will learn to be more careful about their voting habits. After all, unlike the traditional social media, monetary value is being distributed through votes on Hive.