We put out a post a couple days ago discussing a change to STEMGeeks reward system. You can read it here.
Basically we were considering reducing rewards for anyone using STEMGeeks tags but not using STEMGeeks.net.
The reason behind this is to reward users who use STEMGeeks and reduce the amount of tokens early when just using one of our tags. Having tags like Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math indexed by STEMGeeks allows us to have a lot more related (hopefully) content, but it also has the side effect of introducing content that was poorly tagged or shoehorned into the community. Current LEO Finance & Neoxian do something similar.
Content created on STEMGeeks helps increase STEMGeek's SEO ranking and authority. This potentially allows us to bring in more users who are interested in STEM topics.
I have given the idea a lot of thought, and I decided to implement it immediately. It will go in effect in the next 24 hours or so and will be configured to burn 50% of the rewards of any post not created using https://stemgeeks.net. 50% is a lot and it seems like a harsh penalty, but I felt it was important to have a stiff penalty as most of the content that spills into STEMGeeks due to additional tags are not specifically targeting the STEMGeeks community. There is also another STEM community that is frequently confused for STEMGeeks. A lot of the users who are not truly part of the STEMGeeks community don't have a vested interest to see the community or the token to perform well, it's just another reward layer for them.
This change will likely increase the amount of rewards burned on a regular basis. STEMGeeks already has a small inflation and small supply compared to other tribes, in fact it is half or less than most tribes.
There are a lot of other changes I am working on to create more value for the STEMGeek's community and token, so please keep an eye out.
Put something like: "posted via steemgeeks" or something like that!
How can we know if a post was published using steemgeeks and not another interface?
If you are worried about curation rewards, they will be unaffected regardless of where a post was created.
To answer your question though, there is a little STEMGeeks icon on the post as you can see here.
I most especially would love to see the token have more value. More so, a little change in how the stemgeeks interface is, it having a more unique look than the feel of hive.blog would get people want to try the stemgeeks net more. But it really have to be easy to navigate.
Good call. 50% is indeed steep but it can help elevate the quality of the “randomness” of otherwise rather generic tags. And the SEO value is definitely worth making that call.
I don't think Science, Technology, Engineering, Math tags are generic for a Science, Technology, Engineering, Math community. They are quite on topic. What is random is people writing about Bitcoin going up $100 and using the #technology tag.
Let me rephrase it: posting through the stemgeeks interface should lead to better tags (if only tags had a better than seven days use, right).
Too often the topics written about are a fit for the community but the tags used, to benefit the rewards, are a stretch. Not feeling "forced" to use any of the aggregated tags should lead to better meta data.
That's what I refer to shoehorning. It's very common with tribes for people trying to get as many tags that will payout rewards as possible. The Bitcoin one is a good example, yes Bitcoin is a technology, but talking about price isn't STEM.
I'm hoping this change reduces the damage done by this, but the community does a good job cleaning it up. I don't have to step in too often.
I actually wrote about this, mostly from the "battle for traffic angle" last year (it gets interesting in the comments).
This should long term also have an influence on token value. Less accumulating for the sake of yet another token collected and more targeted content, plus the SEO bonus will reduce token dilution the "get paid for using tags" method causes.
STEM already has a very low inflation (perhaps even too low, especially at the current price). STEM isn't as popular as crypto on Hive.
I look forward to the first reports about the outcome. They should be interesting. If effective immediately, the first seven days should be a great benchmark and then to see how it evolves every month.
I think low inflation is good. Better to have it early rather than grow some big whales because of high initial inflation. I also still believe in "complexity" as a factor. Changes like this, combined with low inflation, can mid- to longterm only be beneficial on token value. Especially because STEM is a very passionate niche and one with monetization potential beyond "engagement" and pageviews, where people don't always understand the scale both those require to make an actual dent in token value.
BTW one minor thought: I would not (yet) implement it on comments. Not unless there's actual comment farming, which I doubt. Not under your rule lol.
The notifications ecosystem doesn't really offer any great user experience for comments.
It is still early in the communities, and it is nice to see control of the community to aid in its growth. There will always be people hunting to find away around any rule set especially when it involves money or rewards.
If I want to read about ideas of using a black hole to slingshot a space craft to multiple times the speed of light, I don't want to keep wading through "you wont believe what my dog did today" post, I can find that in the life tag or dog tags.
Excellent. We shall see how this work.