If I have understood the developments correctly, you or I could buy/create a new token at steemengine and start our own platform? In that platform, our tokens could be related to SP or not, as we wish?
This point above is correct. Anyone can create their own website or d.tube.
From what I understand the basic website template is on github.
It would need a decent machine to run it smoothly. Not mega powerful but not the everyday PC.
A reasonable industry class server would do it.
What I have not seen anywhere, is what maintaining such a platform would be.
It depends on the volume of traffic and whether you self host the website or use AWS or a similar hosting service. It can be expensive if successful at attracting eyeballs so it would need a sustainable income from some source.
Adsense is terrible but there are other options.
I would like one where the curators do not exist. There can be 'readers' who comment and vote. Each member is expected to contribute by posting or by making comments. Each would have a Rep number, but also a 'voltmeter' showing how many others they have upvoted. The lower your voltmeter is, the less value upvotes by others towards you have.
Interesting idea about zero curation but aren't the readers fulfilling that role by upvoting?
At Steemit, I can run down the list of new posts, upvoting from there without even catching a glimpse of the actual post itself. I would not allow a button there and perhaps it can be programmed that upvoting only happens when the page is open (preventing easy access by bots).
I get the feeling that the lack of a sense of community comes from many not viewing posts, just setting an auto-upvote. They seem to think that makes the party receiving the upvote feel appreciated. It does not. A comment, even a slightly aggressive one, is appreciated by me more than a bot upvote.
I am asking questions because I am ignorant, but I have an idea (almost just an idea) and I am waiting to see if I get the money to do it. If I do, then I will commit and employ at least one or two coders to get it started (it is very different from anything else on the web, so maybe it will be more difficult to market it).
As a strategy for the health of the steem platform this is a very bad idea.
There are people that do this kind of thing but they tend to be new to the platform and do not understand what is really going on.
Newbs often vote on 100's of posts thinking that they are going to make some steem but end up depleting their voting power down to zero.
We get just 10 x 100% upvotes every twenty four hours. If a user just votes continuosly on random posts it will not benefit them at all and because we can see all activity on the chain this is easy to track.
Voting for content that you feel brings some value to the chain and that other people may find useful is the key to successful curation.
With hardfork 21 coming along. Those with good curation skills will benefit everyone.
Curation is a skill that has to be leaned like anything else and auto voting can aid curation up to a point and only once you have found a content creator that consistently produces engaging content.
The steem ecosystem is a steep learning curve for just about everyone.
Have you ever been to steemfest or had a meetup with other steemians? If you haven't I suggest you try to meet some.
There is a very strong sense of community here but you mostly see this side of things when you meet people in real life.
It is great when you meet the person behind the username that you may have been talking to for a couple of years online. Because you share the same interests it's always great fun.