That's another amazing artwork.
The part of me that bought Steem from exchanges to transfer to my account wants me to say let's try to work with Justin to improve the investment front. He paid for that Steem and it is his.
However, the part of me that poured well over a thousand hours writing posts, reading and curating says leave us the hell alone, it's up to the community to decide what they like.
There is just a huge clash of money vs community. They can co-exist, but after seeing all those changes that some of the money people support (removing downvotes, etc), I don't see how it can happen.
Sometimes I think I'd rather throw it away. We can build the network again, more carefully this time. We can transfer our content, too. And we can just leave our piles of Steem lying around to sell should they not drive the price to the ground.
I think it would be best if I kept any sort of negativity to myself, right now. I do know removing something like downvotes though would be enough to turn this place into a magic money printing machine rather than a place where millions would come to consume content. Without those consumers, there's no future. Consumers don't want shit posts and spam. They'll gladly take their billions elsewhere and these folks can continue scratching their heads, trying to figure out why it's so silly to keep the content producers down and out of sight while the abusers rise to the top.
You are probably right about keeping the negativity to yourself. Although some like to express it. As long as we try to be somewhat civil, it's not that regrettable.
I just authored a post on the topic of keeping free downvotes (I won't spoil what side I'm on ;). Actually I was going to make it in a proposal but I sold my SBD and decided I'll wait a bit and collect more data (maybe some art and quotes, too).
My opinion...I think to wait until after SMT is released to consider a change of token inflation distribution-related parameters (ie. free downvotes) is best since that will have a massive impact on the discussion and steem economy.
Always moving the goal posts. Most changes never had a chance to mature when they're good, and most changes that ever created more problems always went on seemingly forever with no interest in solving it.
Just imagine how many more loyal SP holders there would be today to help support this place if the vote dealers didn't chase THEM away so they could cater to a crowd of takers. Where are all the plagiarists and shit posters who used to trend? They pulled millions of potential staked tokens out of the pool. Where is that money? And why was I so angry about that situation again?
Like I said though. I'd rather not sit and point these things out or rub it in. These folks have made enough mistakes. They'll learn, eventually, maybe.
Now you are getting me depressed. That vision is exactly why I got here. I think I bought 3X the Steem after that hardfork just because I liked it so much.
I have a really small hope that when SMTs are sorted, we won't need to fork or change the rules to solve anything. Someone can just have an SMT for 'quality content' (can be subdivided more). Another SMT can exist for 'verified individual'. A third can exist for 'real name person". Finally, the last one I envision (asides from casino and games) is the bidbot shit token. Personally I don't have high hopes for that token which is why they need to leech off all the others. I honest think we are headed to a Steem where Steem won't have inflation and a particular SMT will. The
idiotswise investors can trade for Tron and I'll trade for the Patreon or curation one.I'd prefer to see a consumer driven model, exactly like we have now, where incoming funds outpace inflation.
If I was a big internet personality, I'd have my own SMT. But at this point I don't want to say what I'd do with it. I don't feel like being that helpful.
Every single one of these Steem Engine tokens is missing one element as well. The consumer. Producers supporting producers means no new money is coming in, aside from a random speculator.
I've been talking about this stuff for years though.
The idea of the consumer is really interesting and you are right, for the most part this is just an authors and curators model. Some of the investors and developers think the consumers will be gamers or dapp users. They think of content like streaming may also attract an audience. We are here as you said because everyon has ran away.
I have found one-side on this debate that is worth mentioning...the people who are not here for the money or the general community (michaelb said something like he just wants to get back to reading and curating what he was doing before). They found their little happy place and simply don't care for the drama anymore. I really want to find that place. I think a semiclosed Community and an internalized SMT would make it happen, but I also have no energy to set that up. I have hope someone will so let's not abandon or torch the place till it happens.
The consumer is the curator. Of course there will be consumers of games and everything else. Micheal is one of the first who gets what I'm talking about. He bought in so he can get paid to enjoy himself. Plus he's not throwing his money away donating to content producers. We'll lose people like that if we can't keep them entertained. Millions of those people are necessary, even if they only buy enough stake for a vote worth a penny.
Oh. Another thing.
Dividing up content is a bad idea. Only big names should have their own space. You want it all in one space, leading down rabbit holes, overstimulating senses and find ways to create impulse clicks. Much like we've always had.
The only true problem we've ever had: Unrealized potential.
I agree, this is where I want to see the true whales through their energy into. I see a few divisions that may be a good idea. I think there may be a place for Tron at some point.
But much like I wasn't there with my ideas and thoughts a few days ago. I don't think Justin, Steem or Tron are quite there either.
Back to what you said earlier - Egos.
Big names, big brands. There's enough interest there for them to have their own space. A community with thousands of producers is useless without millions of consumers. Joe Rogan. Puts a podcast up on Youtube daily. His comment section has thousands of comments. One act sells out a stadium.