An attractive future with an ugly present

I keep reading posts about the price of Steem and I really don't get it. Yeah, the price is "close to the basement" but, is that a bad thing? People want better distribution but they also want the price to go up now. I don't think if Steem was 10x in price more people will want to buy, more would want to dump though.

Of course, this is a simplistic view and a high price in crypto at the moment has very little to do with a project's health. Most of the rises and falls are the speculative traders plying their trade, so to speak.

Yep, a lot of onboarding will make the place more active and attractive but, I think other things need to be sorted out first. Thousands onboarded at the peak, where are most of them now? Dormant. Many were ALTs of course, but for the real people who arrived, they didn't find much to stick around for as prices declined. Hopefully next time that is different and hopefully, there is financial incentive for them to powerup and stay. There wasn't much then.

People forget that changes to the platform only emotionally affect us here now, as future users will come in and accept the environment as is. 50/50 curation, free downvotes, curves... They don't care as long as they can earn a bit and enjoy themselves a bit. Are you enjoying yourself here? Enjoying the arguments over economic incentives? No?

Well, we should figure this shit out before thousands more arrive again so they don't enter into a space where the same people are arguing over the same crap over and over. Hopefully they enter on an application and never see our bullshit at all.

Those that come in for serious investing will do their due diligence and make sure the economics are acceptable. Those that come to earn on their content will try their hand as they do on all the other platforms that have no guarantees of earning. Gotta work that ass if you want a return.

It tires me when I see people complain about the unfairness or inequality yet when I look at their inputs, they would be completely ignored on any other platform, their possibility of monetization a firm zero. I put myself in this category too as I do not have the drive, dedication or shill required to be a YouTuber or Patreon provider. Who the fuck would pay for my content?

But on Steem we are building a place where all kinds of stuff can and is rewarded on a daily basis and the better the platform performs, the more it is able to provide and cater for diverse tastes. I don't see it as an easy process to reformulate the way the world has learned to use the internet over the last two decades, and that is what is happening.

The internet has been hijacked and made free through the centralisation of platforms that have taken power away from producers and made them chase advertising revenue. Very few individuals can make a profit from the internet without confirming to the rules of advertisers. Those that don't conform get demonetized and demonized for their gall for being disobedient.

They push conformity because that makes targeting advertising and social engineering that much easier. Remember that our relationship data are the product for advertiser's and we are the consumers of what they are selling to us. Very little value escapes into the "free" producer's pockets.

With all the time you have spent on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, are you living off the revenue yet? At what point is your income from social interaction on those platforms high enough to buy you 2 pizzas?

The world has been brainwashed into thinking that this all has value when all it does is feed the ego through hearts, likes and stars. Makes people feel relevant while the real value goes to a pointy end, the owners.

Yet, when you offer people ownership of the future, they are unwilling to buy. They expect it to be given, many with barely even consumable participation.

"This is fucking bullshit, my shitposts haven't made me rich yet!! Fuckin' scam."

Maybe I am being too harsh? What do these people do in the real world with their lives that they can't afford a couple Steem? Yeah, I am not talking about every country on earth but Europeans, Americans? How many have actually bought Steem? No, Steem is free it isn't a buying coin. Better off buying some rando coin and cross fingers for moon.

I don't care much these days about the price, I just want to have more Steem Power so that when it is a strong investment opportunity, I don't have to chase the tail of climbing prices getting little stake for my dollar. I want to be able to use that stake to empower applications to support their users and encourage creativity and earning. But most importantly, I want people to have done ownership over their experience rather than continually relying on some centralised authority to throw scraps into the dust. This all takes time and I am not talking another year or two.

Sure, you might want millions to onboard now do you can make yourself wealthy but, what about them? For the place to be healthy, the economics need to be aligned to give incentive for behaviours that build the community as people themselves will never act in the best interest of the many. We don't have that yet. Me might not have it with the next hardfork either, but we are working toward it.

While you worry about price, others will worry about what it actually takes to get there and maintain it. Whatever got Steem to 8.30 (speculation) didn't last, it was not it. Gotta keep looking and working to find what is it.

I will go out on a limb and say, You don't know. If you did know, you would be buying all the Steem you can and making it happen. Some people are doing just that. They might be wrong, but at least they act toward their belief.

Keep complaining. It helps a lot. Perhaps just like on the social media that pays nothing, the complaining makes people feel relevant.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
_{(posted so I could swear)}