One of the wonderful aspect of the STEEM blockchain is that there are many accounts on here that seek to help the newer people. Many of us are well aware that the success of STEEM depends upon the success of many who become part of this ecosystem. When a person signs up, tries the site for a while, then leaves discouraged, this harms us all. One of the unique aspects of an ecosystem is that we are all tied together in our impact. The success of one (whether it is an individual or application) helps the entire blockchain.
We see programs such as @minnowbooster target those accounts with lower Steem Power. These bots are wonderful in that they allow people to delegate SP to them which, in turns, increases the Voting Power @minnowbooster has. Over the course of a day, hundreds of upvotes are given to Red Fish and Minnows in an effort to help increase their accounts.
There are also a lot of individuals who focus a great deal of attention on these same people. Dolphins are well aware of the same basic idea, that we are all tied together. Our success depends upon bringing newer people onto the blockchain and getting them to participate. 60K daily active users is sensational yet 200K is better. This is why so many focus upon the smaller accounts.
That said, there is a challenge with this. Every economic system that has thrived, historically, had a robust middle class. Regardless of the political and economic environment, a strong middle class means a wide reach. Part of the problem is many economies today, according to experts (for what they are worth), is that the middle class is disappearing. Hence, the wealth inequality continues to grow.
On STEEM, the class of people who are considered the middle class are the Dolphins. These are the people with enough Steem Power to make a difference, especially to smaller accounts yet they are not so large they are the main "players". One advantage of STEEM is that the inequality, as a percentage of the total holding, diminished in the past year. Over the past month I monitored the situation each week and this trend is still holding. More of the STEEM created, as a percentage, is going into the hands of the those other than Whales and Orcas.
@fulltimegeek started the Stewards of Gondor a few months back by delegating SP to a number of individuals. He did this free of charge in an effort to create a wider concentration of the wealth. This was a groundbreaking decision which, based upon the weekly stats produced by @abh12345, is having an effect.
This is a situation where a Whale took it upon himself to help create a thriving "middle class".
Since that time, many of the individuals who received delegation, including myself, started to delegate to others.
At the head of this class is @wwf. He started the Stewards of Terra Mater which is identical to the program @fulltimegeek laid out. @wwf is delegating the SP he has to others free of charge, those who exemplify the ideals and beliefs about the STEEM blockchain that he holds dear.
The challenge I see with @wwf doing this, along with all the others who were delegated SP by @fulltimegeek, is that we are Dolphins. We believe in the pay it forward idea and are happy to do this. However, as an economic system, this is akin to taxing the middle class. When this group of people has their pockets picked by governments, it weakens the entire system. Not only are individual returns lowered, but the entire system weakened because that money is directed towards the upper classes, either directly or through the lower classes who end up spending it at entities owned by the wealthy.
Delegation is a loan. Obviously, loans are necessary for any economic system to grow. What @fulltimegeek and @wwf are doing is providing interest free loans. That is the idea of the pay it forward mindset. The SP is still owned by the original individual. Yet, we see many renting out delegation for payment. Naturally, I agree with one's right to do this. However, this is what banks do and, over time, we saw how that worked out. When one rents out delegation, he or she is creating a ROI. There is nothing wrong with this. What I see as a challenge is that these large accounts are getting bigger at a disproportionate rate. From an ecosystem perspective, we possibly run the risk of re-creating the banking system. Is this what is the best for the STEEM blockchain?
Another interesting observation is that of those who grew their accounts via purchasing delegation, I have yet to see many who gave any to others to help out. It appears that when one operates with a "business" mindset, and renting out delegation is a business decision, this carries forward. Hence every decision will be looked at from such a perspective. It is simply a "what is in it for me" mindset.
Notice the difference that @fulltimegeek created. Of the people who received delegation from him, many have already delegated SP to others free of charge. The mindset is completely different. While all of us have an eye on our account value and would like to succeed financially as much as possible, trying to claw each SP out of another is not at the top of the agenda. We realize that there is a much bigger movement going on here and this is a means to an end. SP is simply a vehicle especially since I hold the belief anyone holding even a few hundred SP are going to be well off in a couple years.
For STEEM to truly flourish, from an economic perspective, requires having a vast amount of people with between 35K-50K SP. This is the sweet spot where a robust middle class is having an impact. At that level, upvotes are worth 10-15 STU. People in this realm can lay votes worth a couple dollars many times a day. They have the ability to keep growing their accounts at a fast rate while also turning around and helping others. Following the cycle that is always present on STEEM, increasing one's account ends up helping everyone else.
I know @fulltimegeek isn't the only one who did this. @stellabelle also delegated a vast amount of SP to others gratis. Since I am not part of that movement, I can only hypothesize what is happening, but I am sure her actions are having a significant impact. I believe I read @v4Vapid also did some delegating.
That said, there needs to be more if we are going to see STEEM truly thrive. Even though this is a social media blockchain, there is a monetary element to it which means we also operate as an economic model. How we structure it is up to us.
Focusing upon the Red Fish and Minnows should be done with all the earnestness we can muster. However, I think it imperative that we not overlook the ones who will truly make this economic model success, the middle class of STEEM. Concentrating upon the smaller accounts to the detriment of the Dolphins (STEEM's middle class), especially with so few at this time, is not sound.
Whatever the number is, STEEM needs a 10 fold increase in those accounts with between 35K and 50K SP. These are the ones who really can have a major impact, especially with the pay it forward mindset.
After all, we have hundreds of economic systems which show us how they fare when there is little to no middle class.
Perhaps there is a lesson or two we should learn from them.
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There are so many high quality posts that just get skipped on Steemit due to the meritocratic nature of the website. I came up with a way to improve this on the blockchain level by incentivising whales and dolphins to actively seek minnows to upvote and support through a tiered curation rewards system, where you gain more curation rewards the larger the difference in rep is between the upvoter and the upvotee. This would incentivise the higher reps from voting for accounts with lower rep, if the rewards are high enough, like x2 SP from curation or even more!
Like, +2.5% per reputation difference, starting from 25. Let 25 = 0 and reputation be a modulus, therefore rep 10 = rep 40 in terms of curation rewards for the upvoter.
The rewards don't have to be a linear 2.5%, it could be another formula instead of just y = 1.025x, to come up with a good/perfect formula there would need to be experimentation, then changes at the blockchain level, which my uneducated self no idea who can do this/if it's possible!
If it's possible, I would see a massive influx of support for newer users!!
This certainly makes a lot of sense.
I mentioned the idea one's vote counts less the higher the rep of the one being voted upon.
For example, voting on someone over 70 at 100% only gives that person a 10% vote in STU while a 100% vote on a person with a rep under 40 might count for 100% of the worth.
Obviously the scale could be adjusted for lower voting percentages.
I might make a post about this later with more in-depth formulas and stuff, would you be interested to help me promote it if I do?? I've made 3-4 posts about this when I first got onto Steemit and all of them were vastly ignored as I didn't have much influence back then (and now)! However, everyone who did see it thought it was a great idea!
If this idea came into fruition, I think it would be amazing for the community and Steemit! I'd also like visibility for people to debate my ideas and look for possible downfalls, and if the community agrees with it, perhaps it might be implemented in the blockchain (somehow)!
Sure @cryptoeater.
After you write it just post the link in the comment section of one of my most recent posts. I will read it and if it makes a ton of sense, which I am sure it will, I will resteem it for you....and leave a good comment to try to get a discussion going.
"Thanks! That'd be greatly appreciated :)"
posting for cryptoeater cus his internet died and he wants to sleep
can confirm I said this LOL
:)
(internet back up but I'll be sleeping haha)
LOL that is okay...Always willing to help out my friend.
Any good idea is an idea worthy of sharing on here....
We all need to figure out ways to improve things...whether it is with our own behavior or by putting forth ideas for the community to discuss.
I've actually been emailing other academics personally behind the scenes, those who study commons systems or networks, to what they think about different rewards rules, participation rules, etc. Linear versus exponential for consensus, reputation distributions, stake distributions, etc.
Most amazingly enough haven't heard about steem, despite steem having the most transactions of any blockchain and being the only large consensus economy.
I've been collecting comments like this, analyzing. It's not obvious what is the best rule, because structured systems are not intuitive. Caffeine blocks receptors, inhibits parts of the brain . . . which inhibit other parts of the brain . . . so it ends up activating, stimulating.
The scaling for vote percentages would be the key. F(x1, x2, ..., xN ; k) = x is dominated by k if the x vector is monotonic improvement related to F, and k is not.
I think this is a really cool idea!
Lack of support for minnows is definitely a problem in the community and it sometimes feels unfair when you see memes on trending with huge $$$ yet yours barely gets noticed.
I'm not sure if reputation score is potentially the answer though, a lot of people like myself have tried to build up a reputation but still don't necessarily have much SP at all in the grand scheme of things.
It could also encourage up-voting people that are actually not contributing to the community positively if the formula wasn't tweaked so that up-voting people with a rep score of below 25 didn't equate to even more rewards.
People below gets counted as higher than 25, like rep 20 = 30 and rep 0 = 50! This way it discourages people from making an account to flag just to get higher curation!
In my original idea i forgot to mention, your rewards are multiplied for each upvote after yours!! Like if you upvote someone, and 20 people upvote after you, you get 20x(rep difference)*y, where x and y are constants or variables yet to be decided. This way it discourages from randomly voting for rep 25 people.
Your point about actively building rep is a good point though. But rep (actual rep, not the level) is proportional to the amount of steem you've earned from posts, so I think with my proposed changes it would discourage the use of voting bots as that would increase your rep for no reason and encourage creating genuine good content for upvotes from genuine users!
Ahhhh I see that's interesting, yes I think that would work quite well and solve many issues. That one formulaic implementation would help to solve 3 problems at once, like you said.
Pretty good really :)
I'm glad you like the idea! I'll make a post about it tomorrow with more in-depth formulas and ideas regarding it! If you're interested, I can link u the post via memo!
Yeah sure man, I'll look forward to giving it a read :)
Made post here It's a bit messy and hard to understand but it's basically a summary of all my ideas + a bit of explanation!
Time is often a huge factor in Reputation numbers here. Other than some people who sign up here who already have large numbers of followers on some other platform like YouTube, few jump to 65-70 overnight. In my experience, getting to 50 or so is relatively easy, but the climb gets a lot harder after that.
From what I understand, it is a doubling scale....each interval is twice as large as the one ahead of it.
So to go from 50 to 51 is easier than going from 60-61.
Since much of Steemit is based on powers of ten, I would guess that making it to 65 is 10x as difficult as making it to 55.
FWIW, I had a fairly easy rise up to about 53 and then hit a brick wall. Slow going since then.
Maybe the Peter Principle came into play.
What is arctan? I keep seeing it buying delegation leases on mb.
Hi! I'm arctan. I'm am investor on steemit. I'm like a private up vote bot, except I'm my a bot. My friends pay me with crypto and fiat for up votes and I reinvest my earnings into leasing more steem power. Hope this clears things up!
I see... that sort of clears things up. How is that profitable? I thought delegations yielded negative returns even if used to self-vote 100%.
Yeah honestly it isn't very profitable. Back when SBD was super high it was a lot more profitable but since SBD and Steem both went down in price, I'm in the red, I'm operating in the red. However, with Steem and SBD prices going up I'm hoping to become more profitable again soon!
That's a totally new way of thinking @cryptoeater, haven't seen this idea pitched before on Steemit. I'm really interested in your 'to be written' article. Thanks!
Hi! Here's my article! It's a bit long and messy but gets a lot of the main points across!
You have a brilliant idea in here. It would be a very productive system if it will be implemented in STEEM blockchain. Looking forward for it.
@cryptoeater
Hi! Here's my article! It's a bit long and messy but gets my main points across!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic. I will find time to read it and will give feedback later.
Really amazing, I did not know him before thank you brother @cryptoeater for all this wonderful and useful information. I wish you all the best. I hope to see everyone help each other
Hi! Here's my article! It's a bit long and messy but gets my main points across!
Nice post @taskmaster4450. As I have several months of experience delegating nearly 100% of my steem away, I can say confidently that I was well rewarded for that gesture, even though I did not charge interest for it. I do not believe that usury should be used in any form and that is why I refuse to charge interest in order to gain a ROI.
My reward as given to me through an avenue that I least expected. The Stewards of Terra Mater became my most loyal followers and upvoted all my content as an expression of gratitude and appreciation. Friendships flourished! The publicity of being a member of the Stewards of Gondor also brought a following as well, which attracted more followers to my own blog. As a result, I was able to rocket to dolphin status in 112 days.
I have @fulltimegeeks delegation to reward people who interact and engage with me, while the Stewards of Terra Mater have mine to do the same. As a result, I am gaining on average 40 steem a day and I am now gaining nearly 10 new followers a day. I write high quality and heavily researched content which also accounts for the rewards that I am receiving.
With that said, I also live off grid and have little need for steem right now. Between my wife and I, we cashed out about 150steem over the last two months to pay the one bill we do have. We literally are living off of the proceeds of steem right now and continue to build our accounts and influence here on this platform at the same time.
The economics of delegating steem rewards me heavily. It may seem counter intuitive as I don't have 5000 steem to use, but giving it away results in 5000 steem upvoting me and interacting with me. It is like me upvoting my own content through a proxy. As I receive 75% of the upvote, it rewards me more than doing my own voting and receiving a fraction of that through curation.
The economics are up-side-down in comparison to the banking world we are used to interacting with. In my view, people who charge for an upvote are double dipping as they system is already compensating them for the vote. People who charge for the use of steem are engage in usury and missing the whole point of a gifting economy.
Old habits are hard to break. I've been very well rewarded for paying it forward and gifting 5000 steem to others while being blessed to use 15000 from @fulltimegeek.
By shifting the wealth down the food chain, the dolphins and whales are rewarded and continue to grow. The value of steem increases which is also a reward for them.
I don't see delegations as loans but rather anti-loans. They are gifts. The gift I received from @fulltimegeek is through my capacity to earn more steem by using his steem. I get to keep the proceeds as a result of my own curation through upvotes. I am rewarded and gain benefit from his gift. He receives benefit through increase success of the platform which drives up the price of steem.
If people charge usury, then that is a loan. But if no usury is in play, it is a gift and everyone is rewarded as a result.
It may seem counter intuitive, but I believe we are growing the middle class quickly through this gifting paradigm. I see it working well and accelerating peoples rise in wealth. The graphs that I show regarding the growth of the Stewards of Terra Mater demonstrate the acceleration of their growth as a result of the gifts that were payed forward. It happened every single time. The more we give, the quicker the growth.
WTG seems like a win win
Again an interesting topic.
Supporting the minnows is great, cause it is utmost important that they get to know steem, keep using it and spreading the word.
The middle layer is also important, but just like in the real world it is the most forgotten group. But in the world of Steem, these are users which are here to stay. They spread the word and invest in it!
So yes both groups should be supported. The minnows because this is important for the growth of the system, the middle layer because they are the life line of the system.
The question is how to support them.
For the minnows. Giving out a free loan isn't a good idea. It would feed the idea that Steemit is about free money. For this group knowledge about Steem is much more important.
Supporting the middle class is great. Because this power will drop down to the minnows.
But let's be honest. If you do want to make something of your Steem account there are 2 ways to do it. 1. Buy steem and really invest money in it. 2. The hard way, put a lot of time and effort into it.
I'm trying option number 2. But I can assure you that it will be a long road for me to step out of the minnow group!
But all these actions is what is making steem great. Lots of people do think about the others!
Thank you for your comment @fullcoverbetting.
I agree the second way is a great way to do it. It takes work and effort but it can be done. Keep coming back and commenting here. You keep making comments like this and I will assure you that you will get upvotes from me.
Great post. Agreed that the Dolphins are a huge part of any economy/society thriving. I think we could consider "scholarships" by larger whales where promising minnows can apply and receive delegation for free or very low interest. I worry about not embracing minnows too much, given that we still need their growth to drive the industry. And I've struggled myself in the early going to gain traction so I very much understand the struggle. But to your point, I think having more Dolphins with SP to spread around allows for a stronger overall rising tide, as opposed to relying upon a few whales.
The whales simply cannot be in enough places at one time. There is too much going on here for them to adequately support those that need it.
Couple that with the fact many of the whales on here are developers by nature and are contributing a great deal (and spending most of their time) on that end of things. Posting, commenting, and upvoting arent necessarily their major focus.
Yes ... according to my personal experience here ... I received delegating from my brother @wwf .. and from @fulltimegeek ...this was a strong motivation for me and changed my life very much
The most important thing that I benefited from is that Steemit is a social and a strong solidarity website... is not a commercial website for profit ...
The thing I believe in is that my success is successfully linked around me here ...
My account is still weak in order to help others ... but I am trying to encourage them through positive words and comments ... like what you do with us here ...
thank you @taskmaster4450
Very much agree with needing many of those mid range voters. I think those type of delegations could go a long way when applied to the correct people who spread it around on good content. I had invested in steem before even posting on the steemit platform and am working hard to get to that range. I think the platform will be helped greatly when many of us get there.
Hi @taskmaster4450, you are always right on and ahead of the train! I know and see exactly what you are talking about. After 11 weeks I’m finally getting the picture of deli and when given it is totally given much more freely to others. I’ve seen those @wwf have and they upvote us babies freely. Sometimes the deli is used to pay rent, buy food, live with ease and this is a huge gift too. I am always appreciative of givers such as yourself. Also, @underground is working on a dolphin program but first we are attempting to continue your 1k initiative with Minnow Boot Camp.
You are as always an inspiration for many of us. Thank you for all you do! xx 🦅
Thank you for your comment @eaglespirit.
I am glad you find what I write helpful and motivating. There are many wonderful things going on here and I love how things are shaping up. That said, it is imperative we keep seeking out ways to improve the entire ecosystem. Over time, the opportunity will explode if we can get the SP moving around. Most of us are undertaking projects to help others...that is the spirit that is here.
Hopefully, as a community, we can take the next step.
Yeah, I guess you just have that effect on me. There truly are genuine and lovely people on Steemit. You carry that spirit like a beacon for all ... kind of like the underground railroad. Lead us out of slavery!
Yes, as a community we will carry on. Thank you. xx
This and the part about @fulltimegeek delegating for free is exactly why I launched the #asapers. I hand picked 6 others Steemians and delegated all my Steem Power to these people. Obviously, due to the opportunity I've been given by FTG.
The focus for the @asapers is to make a difference in young Steemians lives and to help them make a difference on Steemit. I strongly believe that this is the perfect way to improve the overall experience on Steemit and I also believe that this will change Steemit for the better. And with that, our own pockets in the end too. Long term is essential here.
Thanks for sharing!
The most important thing here, which I liked a lot about you is your wonderful cooperation, beautiful friendship and amazing subjects. I have never encountered a social position in which all these wonderful and amazing pros ... I think it will be the first social site in the world. And this is really great.thanks dear @taskmaster4450 and @wwf and @fulltimegeek
Thats really a very great project and is helping me a lot. It gave me more confidence as well. To create many new "Middle Class" people will change many things on this platform. And once I reach my goal very soon I will do the same :)
Well, there’s a Third Way. One can delegate and rent out.
I am just on the cusp of becoming a Dolphin, will probably cross the threshold about a week from now. I currently have 500 SP of delegations out and am renting out 500 more.
But I’ll happily join the 35-50K club. 😏
50K would be a baby orca!
That’s my adopter ☝🏽😊❤️
The compounding aspect of STEEM....just need the time factor with continued effort to take hold.
And yes you can do both....you can also buy STEEM too....
All are options.
Being in the redfish category and having leased out more than a 1k SP delegation from blocktrades it has helped me at my community building activities and support for @steemitfamilyph
It would have been more profitable for me to use that delegation to vote sell but I was moved by Asher's reports on the SOG and have been happy to be in the top 20 in terms of engagement. I have even delegated some of my SP to some so that they can overcome the bandwidth issues that they encounter and is still in the look out to delegate more of my own.
I completely agree that we need a bigger community of dolphins and Orcas who has 30k-70k SP.
They establishing their communities and supporting several individuals and groups will make a difference in growing Steem further.
Let's face it with so many content and people jockeying for the attention of whales and so little time to do so and voting power the SP they have can be spread further and will be better if delegated to worthy minnows and dolphins.
SOG is proof of that.
I've learned a lot about this blockchain from you Task. And I can say that you are very generous with your upvotes. Sometimes it seems that I make the same comment repeatedly, but I know that not all Steemians read all the comments, plus you get new followers everyday.
I see quite a few great people here promoting a great program, example #freewrite and @mariannewest she has grown her passion so much, writes flock to help her read stories.
I know delegations don't last forever, but I hope you continue to receive them from your trusted friend, so you can keep spreading the great news about Steem and Steemit.
Thanks again for a great article Task. 😎
thank you for the shout out!! And I hope too that @taskmaster4450 will be able to keep doing all the good he does!!
Thank you for the kind words @wonderwop and I am glad that I am able to share some things that you found informative. It is impossible to know everything that is going on so when I do come across something, I try to pass it on.
Yes @mariannewest is doing a wonderful job. The first graduate of the 1KSP program. She really took the ball and ran with it....kinda makes me proud...we are all rearing Steemians.
I find your posts thought out and definitely worthy of an upvote. You take the time to post stuff that adds to the article...when there is so much bs left in the comment section, posts like yours are refresshing.
We cant denied a delegation is needed for minnow for an easy grow!
Awesome article @taskmaster4450, a much needed discussion. I personally would like to see more whales delegating SP. For one thing, it helps the platform, and for another, the person they delegate to is probably going to upvote their content anyways.
Whales delegating SP out also takes the pressure on them to curate.
One problem I see right now with the steem ecosystem is the vote pandering. Newbies are all flocking to whales despite the content they provide, upvoting them and hoping to get their comment upvoted. I don't see anything inherently wrong with this, but it doesn't really help their cause, the rich get richer and we have the same people in trending and hot everyday. This is something you don't see on other social media because there isn't financial incentive. People therefore distribute their attention more.
So something the minnows and dolphins and whales could do is start reading content they really like and supporting based on content instead of wallet and reputation.
One thing I was thinking would help the whole platform is something like a minnow day, where everyone tries to spend at least half their time finding great content that goes by unnoticed. Hard to organize, but could be a cool community program.
Hey @jakeybrown, I've been reading all of these comments here and your idea of a "minnow day" is here:) Check out @newbieresteemday please. It was started by @davemccoy and @mudcat36, but there's a lot of us now. It started as an initiative to resteem new and good content, but it has morphed into something so much more! It's also about mentoring 'newbies' so that they can perfect their skills and become a part of a community as a whole. I think, @taskmaster4450, it could really help develop the 'middle class' here for sure. Eventually, instead of 'newbies' rushing to whales, they focus on creating good content, genuinely commenting, and becoming a part of a genuine community. Hopefully they then give back as well. When there is collaboration such as that, and just like here between @taskmaster4450 and @cryptoeater (who had a really good idea also), and everyone else, creating a stronger middle class, perhaps some 'bigger guys' may have to take notice :) Thank you for the food for thought! Cheers!
cool, I'll check it out!
The situation you mention is common...we all do it when we first join. That said, it is also a completely fruitless proposition. If you are picking up the sport of basketball, you dont walk out onto the court with Lebron James....he isnt going to be impressed by your skills. Instead, you start with those who are a little better than you, those who will make you better while also having an interest. Over time, as your skills improve, you might surpass them and be ready for the next step.
If someone is new, it is best to try and get friendly with other Red Fish, Minnows, and even Dolphins. The Whales and the Orcas, let them find you. Posting quality content will get a vote from them here or there as they blow through.
Yeah, I definitely know I did at the start, so I guess I should expect people to figure it out as they go like I did. We should get some of this stuff "stickied" or something to accelerate the progress of newbies. I feel like everyday there is a new post for people starting out here and everyday new people appreciate those posts, but it seems like repeat work for the most part and sometimes new people don't know where to look for resources
I agree... as of now we're seeing the same pattern in the blockchain as we see in developing countries and their distribution of wealth graphs.
We all know this has two ways to evolved, and it is up to everyone to choose which way to go.
I would like to go the middle class way as well.
Cheers
I agree @spiritualmax.
We do not have to look too far to see the results the different paths result in. One in tyranny and the others in a flourishing system (at least until tyranny takes over).
We are fortunate that the STEEM model is designed to spread the wealth around over time. Like with most things on here, the Whales simply get overwhelmed when more people sign up. They cannot post the number of articles to keep receiving their share of the 75% of the author pool.
Yet it can still be hindered if we do not keep focusing upon helping others.
These programs that the people you have mention is changing peoples lives! Its actually quite amazing on what they are doing.
I hope minnow wont start to think that they need support like this to succeed or need SP handed to them to become popular. If they are active and post great content then they have a decent shot on this platform. The longer they stay the bigger the following!
Put in work and get results!
And the greater the chance that someone with some decent SP happens along and gives them a nice upvote.
The Whales and Orcas are around and they do upvote content...and not only for their friends. I have a few that come through periodically and will click some of my posts.
Some times you gotta hunt for whales and sometimes they come to you! All depends on your fishing level ;)
I am benefiting from a delegation from @stellabelle and it has helped me tremendously to keep supporting the ever-growing number of freewriters. Many, if not all, are in the redfish/minnow stage and the delegation helps me to make at least a little bit of a difference on their post incomes.
You pointed out some important aspects. But it's more complicated than that. I vote manually and I started to support many minnows. I'd read their posts and encouraged them. But as soon as the rewards start rolling in they took them to exchanges and start buying shit coins. Some of them even explain to me that they will grow their wealth faster and bs about diversification. And when I choose 5 people which I trust people start accusing me of circle jerking.
I agree with you @oldtimer, 1000%.
When I adopt someone for the 1KSP program that I do, one of the parameters is all STEEM is used to power up. Anyone who takes STEEM out, is not eligible. I understand that many have financial issues and STEEM is a way to pay bills. This is true for people in 3rd world nations as well as in the US. I delegated a bit of SP to a couple of people who fit into those categories.
Basically, from what you are sharing, those people simply are not worthy of supporting. It really is that simple. They are proving their dedication is not to STEEM but elsewhere. I support their right to do that yet will not give them my full support. I want those who are dedicated to this blockchain.
And the more we keep touting the idea, the more the mindset spreads. Those who are doing what you are saying, well I hope they hit it big on the crapcoins and then power up because that is the only way they will get SP.
Of course, we both know they will be complaining 6 months down the road how unfair the STEEM system is and how they have no SP and others should give it to them.
Spot on, my friend.
hey @taskmaster4450, I read your post yesterday and keep coming back because I'm getting so much out of all of these comments! I only started here in mid-December and I've spent countless hours wandering around, reading, and then reading some more. It doesn't take too long to weed out the ones who are here for profit, and the ones who are here to genuinely build a community. Regardless of size (whale,minnow etc), I'll connect to the genuine group and continue to find other like-minded souls. Like you said somewhere here, we can't run out on the court and expect Lebron to play with us :) And truthfully, I don't need him to. Cheers and thanks for the post!
You are very welcome @lynncouyle1.
I hope that my words lift you up in some way.
I look forward to seeing you both on here in the future.
The whole STEEM monetisation model is a really interesting experiment, and one which is just getting going.
Where there's financial incentives, there'll be greed. But there'll also be those who fight back against that greed. I believe that's the foundation of all blockchain technology.
When STEEM launched, many of those attracted to it were most aligned with the original concept of crypto - they're the community minded users. But there were also the opportunists - who're here for profit.
As the platform grows there will naturally be less community-minded users and more looking to profit (without giving back to the community).
How the platform & its community deals with this will be a telling factor in whether this grand experiment fails or succeeds.
Logic tells me this is correct but it might not be the case. There are a couple reason that it could turn out differently.
To start, if the common mindset on here is that of community, altruism, and helping each other out, those who enter with the selfish mindset stand out. You are right, we could be overrun with people who are like that and hence, get overwhelmed ourselves.
Which brings up the second point, the financial system is designed in such a way that people who are selfish have a tough time succeeding. There are a few but they end up being ostracized. Again, that could change with the numbers yet there are many who are acquiring more SP each day who do not have this mentality. As their accounts grow, so does their influence.
Which again points to the middle class. For most, interaction with a whale is a rare occasion and this will only grow to with more people. Hence, the middle class will be looked to with greater influence since they have some numbers. It is easier to find one of the 4,000 Dolphins versus 35 whales. So what is the mindset of the Dolphins...down the road, they are the ones who could have the day-to-day power since they are on here and, in comparison to the newer people joining, have the influence.
I love the idea, above by @cryptoeater, but I think on the whole, STEEM desparately needs to be simplified - especially the money/rewards aspects.
For any social platform to achieve mass adoption, there needs to be as little friction as possible when first joining. I'm about a month in now, and every time I find an answer to a question I have about the platform, it opens up another can of worms. I have so many cans open, I can't keep track of them all - and I consider myself to be relatively tech/social media-savvy and fairly intelligent.
Finally, I understand your point completely about dolphins and middle-classes needing the scope to grow, but [without wanting to get political] I think you/we need to stay away from calling them "the middle class" - it's never nice to hear as a member of the "lower classes" ;)
This is one of the main reasons why I believe that Zappl and D.Tube will be the apps, at present, that feed more people to this blockchain. Steemit is simply more complicated and a larger learning curve for people. There is a time that it takes to not only learn the compensation/reward system, but how to use the site. At least on the other two apps, one can focus upon that since the apps are relatively straightforward compared to the traditional ones.
And I use middle class as an economic term.....
And those in the lower classes, on STEEM at least, wont be there for long if we are successful in what we are doing.
Great! So there's more to come, too! ;) LOL
I think this is what's going to hold Steemit back, and possibly STEEM too (depends on the apps built on top). It has to be ultra-simple to explain and understand. The more friction, the more people give up. Look at Twitter - even that's seen as too complicated for many people.
For me the most important idea to retain on this post, is that a middle class is important in any system we live in.
That means, like you said, we need more dolphins that will become the most important part off the community because of their ability to help the smaller users to grow and improve the entire community.
I agree that we need more accounts with high enough SP. There's just no way at the current moment to support every great post. There's so many people posting every minute, some amazing posts are bound to never get seen and rewarded...
It's really great to see that some awesome people decide to delegate their SP free of charge in order to grow this platform!
While I am still classified under the terms of steemit as being a minnow, I have the mentality of a dolphin right now. I know some day I will officially be a dolphin but in my mindset I have to view things at a higher level- this helps motivate me.
In real life, we are considered middle class in my household so being forgotten sometimes does come to light for me. I thank you for bringing this topic to the forefront.
You might be a minnow with your own SP but you are a Dolphin in terms of the influence you wield.
You account has over 10K of SP....that means you are operating and contributing to this blockchain as a Dolphin.
So perhaps you need to adopt the mindset of an Orca LOL.
Hmmm... maybe. lol
I see the 10k SP as the hidden fund. I know it's there, but I focus, as you said, on my own SP. Kind of like a mind game I play with myself. Helps me get to the next level.
LOL Okay.
Far be it for me to intrude on the mind games you play with yourself. 😀
This is such an important topic. How stunning that our economic issues in the "real world" play out right here in the virtual Steemit universe. As a member work toward middle class, I agree with you that it is imperative that we not just boost minnows, but boost Dolphins too, just as much. It would be so cool to see a small percentage benefit to the Whales who are doing the delegating but that is not built into the current delegation system. That percentage wouldn't be to the detriment of the delegatee but might provide more incentive to offer interest-free delegations in larger quantities.
Is there a community that focuses on delegations for Dolphins, or simply delegations to users in general? It may be worth a Discord channel for interested individuals to get together and collaborate on a wider-reaching initiative.
As much as I love the "pay it forward" approach, I don´t see Dolphins as the middle class at all. They are already the Elite in my opinion - already motivated and too much invested to leave.
In my opinion, we should focus every support possible on Minnows, since they either already invested quite some time and/or money into Steem, but they are also the first to withdraw their attention/money again, when they either are not getting enough ROI or prices drop again or there is a competitor that is more promising (like EOS).
Dolphins certainly are the middle class. Someone with 5K-25K has roughly 20K-100K in USD....that is woefully middle class in America. It is also middle class on here. 5K SP has some influence on here but not a ton.
As for your views of focusing every support possible on the minnows, you do that and exclude the dolphins, what happens when the whales pull said support. What happens when your bankers come in and buy it all up like you say they did with Bitcoin? Who is going to give a crap about the minnows or red fish then.
As for EOS, what is going to be different over there? Do you think that suddenly those people will be more generous with a newcomer on a social media site there? Do you think that crypto inequality is notgoing to be present there? The fact is every monetary system has early adopters who profit more. However, the risk is greater, something many want to overlook.
As stated in the article, we have hundreds of examples of economies around the world where the middle class was obliterated and what happened...Do you really think the Whales have the time (or the votes) to go around and support the number of comments and articles the dolphins do?
About the example with EOS, as I was not speaking about myself, but what I´m already seeing here daily, is that said Minnows who were committed to become Dolphins just a while ago are now openly discussing to leave for EOS. Again, it´s not me - I don´t see there the promised land where we will be fed just by sitting around and worshipping Dan - on the contrary, I think everything you mentioned is very valid! That doesn't change the fact, that if not supported as a Minnow, they would have the greatest potential, but are also the weakest link when it comes to giving up. I do think, that as a Dolphin the chances of giving up (and need for motivation) are way less.
What will happen, if the banks are buying into STEEM as they did with BTC?
Well, then it doesn´t matter if you are a Whale, Dolphin or Minnow, because then the old system would have won and we can forget the whole idea of decentralization and the vision of Steem anyway... I certainly hope, that this won´t happen and am sure you won´t either...
I guess the only thing we differ is the definition of the middle class. For me this meant literally what the majority of active Steem users possess in SP and the average users I see here (and follow) are most definitely not Dolphins.
I agree. Middle class (dolphins) is like the abdominal (mid section) of steemit body, as we all know mid section is the part of human body that serves as a medium to keep the upper body connected to the lower body. A strong and active mid section(middle class, dolphins) means a healthy body(Steemit). Love the way you explain your points with examples.
I also agree.......
you are always right on and ahead of the train! I know and see exactly what you are talking about. After 11 weeks I’m finally getting the picture of deli and when given it is totally given much more freely to others. I’ve seen those @wwf have and they upvote us babies freely. Sometimes the deli is used to pay rent, but food, live with ease and this is a huge gift too. I am always appreciative of givers such as yourself. Also, @underground is working on a dolphin program but first we are attempting to continue your 1k initiative with Minnow Boot Camp.
really informative post...thanks sir..
restm done
cryptocurrency is now the best uses for strrem
its transfar to money without any banking system
thanks for sharing
that's pretty cool to know....
fabulous one.cryptoes are future........
35-50,000 Steem Power? Dare to dream!
I was thinking exactly the same thing @shaungerow haha!
I was born a 🐬, however am not quite to that point here on Steemit. I do feel however that my content is of top tier quality and will garner me more voting power in the future.
Thanks for the enlightenment here with this post my friend.
I had a similar idea in mind. @steemit account has enough steem power lying unused and can be delegated to almost all the active members of the community and make so many dolphins. This will help in the rapid growth of Steemit as wealth distribution becomes fair.
Very interesting points here.
I've never thought of Steemit in an economic aspect like this. Thank you.
Upvoted and resteemed.
@taskmaster4455, I REALLY APPRECIATE THIS MESSAGE BECAUSE YOU REALLY HIT THE HOTSPOT, THIS IS ALMOST THE SAME ARTICLE I POSTED IN MY BLOG LAST WEEK BEING A WHALE IN STEEMIT IS NOT BY STEEM POWER ALONE BUT BY THE VALUE YOU ADD TO THE COMMUNITY, MANY PEOPLE FAILED TO REALISED THAT THE MORE THEY ASSIST THE COMMUNITY TO GROW BY HELPING OTHERS THE SAME WAY THEM WILL GROW IN RETURN, THOUGH ALL FINGERS ARE NOT EQUAL, BUT WE CAN ALWAYS RENDER A HELPING HAND TO THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO GROW BY SO DOING, EVERYONE GROWS CONCURRENTLY BECAUSE WHAT YOU DO TO OTHER IS WHAT OTHERS WILL DO TO YOU.
THANKS FOR SHARING
I also agree with you that we need more accounts with high enough SP. There's just no way at the current moment to support every great post. There's so many people posting every minute, some amazing posts are bound to never get seen and rewarded...
I hope this idea will succeed and the middle class will be dominant on STEЕMИТ
This is really interesting to read. What makes steemit more interesting are the minnows around. I think it is better if we get more supports. I know no one owes the minnows anything but i think with the help of those high up, steemit will be made interesting to the minnows.
My grattitude goes to the minnow helpers. Those who upvote, delegate or do contests. It gives minnows more urge to keep posting original contents.
Thankyou for this post.
There's no doubt that any solid economy needs a solid middle-class to help it continue to thrive. It also provides a good degree of diversification, and I think we are just beginning to see this in the diminishing inequality on the platform. I'm seeing many good things happening, and while some point out the negatives and worries, I see many of the issues now as growing pains for the platform. There is a growing middle-class and it appears to be growing quite solidly. I think your hopes for 10x more dolphins on Steemit will easily come true as the user base grows.
The whole subject is fascinating to me.
I am still new enough, that it all is a bit overwhelming. I am active on some Discord servers, and active trying to follow certain key phrases, ans curate within specific communities, that, personally, I feel are under rated.
The idea of being in the Dolphin world is still a long stretch, but a goal for me, at some point. For me, finding some SP to use curating the small Plankton, and Redfish is a first step.
Particularly, in no order: new Photographers, LGBT community, and science posts. (NOT simply copy/paste)
I am enjoying reading about the founding philosophies of Steemit, and Dan Larimer. While still staying away form the fray and politics of Whales, etc.
I agree with you.......
you are always right on and ahead of the train! I know and see exactly what you are talking about. After 11 weeks I’m finally getting the picture of deli and when given it is totally given much more freely to others. I’ve seen those @wwf have and they upvote us babies freely. Sometimes the deli is used to pay rent, but food, live with ease and this is a huge gift too. I am always appreciative of givers such as yourself.
Really you just pirated this comment from @eaglespirit who posted it 3 hours ago.
You might be my first downvote.
Wow! Walk the plank Rock ! 🦅
Not even enough ingenuity to steal from another post...just grabbed it from the same comment section.
If it’s one thing that will catch “The Tasks” attentions is a bad comment let alone a stolen one. 😂🤣😂🤣
Bad comments and naked women...both will catch my eye.
Although I cant say I drool over both. 😀
Gotta love that witty humor! 😊
As you can see my 'Bot Master @underground is not afraid to delegate, we are seeking some SP to vote up new minnows and are setting in place a curriculum to insure good quality content from the new fishes! This is a great post, hopefully it will catch some new eyes and free up some of that SP that is just sitting idle. PIF (pay it fwd) really WORKS and the results of your 1kSP program are starting to spread :D the @underground account is seeking a new protégé for specific work, and is actually trying to expand greatly the whole idea. I ROBOT (lol, I mean this account) is geared towards taking the miniscule .001 to .005 SBD votes, and larger, and multiplying them back to the plankton and seaweed level new minnows. It will take some tricky balancing along the way but it is doable. LMK what you think of this @taskmaster4450, ALWAYS open to guidance!
It's going to take a lot of work for somebody who is a "pleb" like me to get into that middle class. I don't mind that but it will take a minimum of 2 years I think
Well this is sobering, I'm only 1/2 way of what I need to be (30k sp).
The only way I could climb that high, I think, is to start trading the markets.
I think that, right now, Steemit and the other apps need to revamp search and discovery. Right now, there is a lot of keyword matching type stuff. We need an algorithm that can relate things together and suggest more content to people. It will grow creators more, and I think will have a big impact on the blockchain as a whole.
There is a dolphin booster program on here, but it isn't getting the publicity it deserves. It's called #dolphinschool. It is ran by @markrmorrisjr. Several of his students got some great feedback from other Steemians. He has transferred the blog to @dolphinschool. Go check it out if you want to support the cause :)
I totally agree with what your saying. I think it's alot of the middle class or dolphins that are doing a lot of work to curate new members and really get down in the trenches helping everyone else.
As one of them, if your not lucky to get this support or get noticed by a whale it can be a struggle. I find since I spend so much time engaging with new members you never see much of a gain in your posting rewards as well, they can only give back so much, but then again that's not what it's all about.
I hope other people see your idea and take notice, there is certainly alot of exciting things happening here on the platform.
That's a totally new way of thinking @cryptoeater, it's really nice thanks