I'm pissed that I have to write this. I'm pissed that this has consumed my thoughts all day. But most of all, I'm pissed that this HAS to be written. Are we going to allow Steemit to become something like another failed state? How did a libertarian website turn into a digital oligarchy in just a couple months? And no I'm not exaggerating.
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
So I go on here last night and come across this blog by @steemitblog titled: "Introducing Promoted Content". Naturally, I'm curious. Then I read the first line, "It is time we closed the loop on the Steem economy..."
Now, I'm concerned.
Then they go on to say, "The @null account is a special account which no one has control over. This means that once money is transferred to @null it is locked away for ever. In a future hard fork we will remove the Steem Dollars, Steem, and Steem Power held by this account from the supply, but until then it is effectively gone." Now I'm like, what the good god fuck!?
So what is going on here? Why are the developers attempting to syphen off currency to a phantom account? What are they afraid of? Gee, does it have anything to do with the fact that the price of Steem is dropping? Where have I heard that before? Sounds oddly like central bank currency manipulation. In fiat, when inflation hits from over printing, a short term fix is to find ways to get large amounts of cash out of the country. Is this something similar? I'm not going to pretend to understand the cryptocurrency equivalent of this, but if I were to devise a way to emulate it, this would be it. This new "Promoted" page is nothing but a gimmick to keep market price "up" and content creators "happier".
We also have a big trust issue here. What assurances do we have that this @null account is null? Seriously, what the hell is going on here?
I for one will not be visiting the promoted content because they didn't earn the right to be "promoted". This is completely antithetical to everything I thought Steemit was all about.
A WHALE OF A TALE
Do you think that the whales and the developers of this site want to potentially lose the power and control that they gained? Of course not, this is their baby. And THAT is what I have come to recognize in this site and I feel stupid for not seeing it at the beginning. The basic underlying principle of this site was supposed to be that it was a free and open society and everyone gets a vote and may the best content win. But already, the freedom - what I found so beautiful and liberating at the beginning, has become skewed and distorted because of fear and control. By giving certain users more "power", you have already sewn the seed of destruction. You simply can't claim that this is free when someone has more power than someone else. Those with the most influence are going to be able and ARE tipping the scales in favor of the few. I'm so sick of people defending this nonsense. This is NOT FREEDOM. This is control hidden under the illusion of freedom just like the real world systems of control we are trying to escape.
Look, I understand the developers don't want their baby to fail but if it's meant to be then so be it. They can say that they were honest, that they were virtuous and courageous to start someting new.
So here is my proposal, NO MORE CONTROL. Everyone gets equal up voting power. Give us the true freedom that we thought we were getting. Do it right now while the site is still in BETA before it's too late.
If this does not happen, I predict the site will die because those who come here are bound to wake up and get out as they realize it's fundamentally rigged against them. The freedom tied to the monetary aspect of this site is what makes it special and unique to me. That's what kept me up all of that first night after I read the white paper. I understood what power had been released onto the world and already I can feel that power disappearing. The more I analyze the situation this site is in, the more I come to realize that the power was never there to begin with.
All efforts are now being made to preserve the "collective" which is STEEMIT rather than promoting the individuals that use the Steemit platform to do what they do; consequences be damned.
Fear begets control, control begets theft, theft begets violence, and violence is destructive; thus Steemit is on a path of destruction.(at least in the free form we thought it was) What is violent here? In essence the theft of influence. The theft of a "minnows" influence on what's considered valuable on this site.
THIS IS THE KEY and reason we are seeing desperate attempts to save the site with gimmicks like the new "Promoted Content" section and desperate attempts to hold onto content creators by starting programs like the one put forth by @robinhoodwhale.
Again, what the hell is going on here?
SYSTEMIC FAILURE
I've worked hard for the 10 followers and the $1.00 that I have gained over the past month. I feel that I have something valuable to give to others and I'm willing to put in the work to gain peoples respect and trust.
People who espouse true freedom and go off and defend WHALES, and STEEM DRIVEN VOTING POWER and PAID PROMOTIONS should be ashamed and I for one will not bother with content creation on this site if it is not rectified. Like everyone else, I'm here for the free minded community and the prospects of a monetary benefit to the work I've done and plan to do. I have no reason to be here otherwise. Facebook and YouTube offer much better platforms. Yeah, I may not make money, but at least I'm getting a fair shake.
This is not some prediction that I am attempting to make about the eventual fate of the Steemit platform, IT'S ALREADY HAPPENED. Its only a matter of how bad it's going to get. What's happening here is no mistake. I'm not convinced that the developers did anything purposfully malicious but I do feel that because of their own fears of a failed site, they built in a control system to ensure its surival. What they got instead was a stillborn baby that they attempt to feed and change and just let go on like everything is ok. Well, it's been a few months and something is starting to stink.
I am not suggesting that this site be restored but MADE A NEW. Take away the controls. Make it FREE.
I have come to realization that the principles I thought were foundational to this site have ebeen compromised from the get go because the freedom that I thought we were getting is a vailed form of control out of power distribution. The original freedom I thought this site had is essentially being STOLEN from the users by means of ever increasing centralization. It seems this site has gone from a pure democracy to an oligarchy in less than 6 months. But that too is an illusion. The simple fact is, it was NEVER a democracy. There has always been an imbalance in power and influence and the framework of the system ensures that not only it continues, but that it grows into infinity.
I saw this site as a new digital nation - a truly free society and economy. Is it doomed already? Or can it be saved? Why the hell have libery minded people gone and made the same old mistakes?
If America had just stopped with its Declaration of Independence, a site like this wouldn't even be necessary. We would already be free. So what happened? We said screw this mess and went and repeated the same old mistakes? The real problem is that this site didn't even start with a declaration of independence, it started with a constitution; a framework of control.
HOW THIS IMBALANCE EFFECTS CONTENT CREATORS
The system is such now that if the big dogs come online and let everyone know they took a shit that day, they're sure to rake in a couple hundred dollars. This is actually not just a problem with Whales but indicative of an underlying problem with a significant minority of users who do not seem to understand the concept of upvoting truly VALUABLE content. I follow the people that I follow at the moment because I feel like the offer me something. But that does not mean that I upvote every single thing they put out. Because the honest truth is, I do not find value in everything posted. At the same time, I expect the same level of discernment and scrutiny from them. THIS is my incentive to do the best work I can.
Adam Kokesh joined Steemit on August 22. I figured that given the type of libertarian minded people on this site, that his post would be in the top 5 on the trending page by the end of the day. Well, it made it to the trending page but barely got half way up. That was perplexing to me considering he had around 400 upvotes, no flags, and around $1,000.00 at the time. It's not uncommon to see posts much higher on the trending page with far fewer votes and more money. So what does this kind of system say to a Steemit user like Adam? It says that a nice chunk of you're upvotes from loyal followers that you've earned from years of work on youtube are proportionally null and void because some Whale somewhere doesn't like Adam Kokesh.
Some people joke about the "@ned bump". This is very disturbing to me. Why the fuck should his vote count any more toward or against someone's content than anyone else's? I know other people have posted about Whales in the past, but this is an important point that needs to be made. What does it say that a Whale's vote has more impact than mine? They are saying in very real terms that
THEY KNOW WHAT IS MORE VALUABLE THAN ME.
This is beyond ridiculous. And on top of getting shit on by Whales in content curation, the rest of us are called "minnows". Need I say more? I'm a grown soverign free thinking human being. Not a fucking minnow. This is the digital equivalent of Royalty and Peasant. I'm not here to be a "citizen" or any other lable bestowed upon me by an obviously corrupt system. I came here to escape all that nonsense and network with other human beings equally and voluntarily and may the best man win.
CONTENT CURATON
Curation rewards seem to be fine but the premise as layed out by the developers is to spur interesting discussion. I don't understand this at all. If the topic being discussed is interesting enough to be discussed then so be it. This is a form of forced up voting and retracts from organic discussion in my opinion. I've had the experience of people up voting my content minutes after it was posted well before they would have had a chance to read through it. This is very troubling to me and is another indication of the skewed motivations of some Steemit users and another example of how a system of control is utilized by parasites that wish to get something out of nothing. I don't want someone getting a part of my payout simply because he got there first. Because of this, I have no clue whether the people following me value my work or value what they can potentially squeeze out of it. Right now I know the ones I have are noble because I don't make anything, but as the list grows my certainty of that and enthusiasm of having new followers will diminish. Because of this, I'm starting to think I would rather keep my audience small and loyal. I don't want phonies and leeches associated with my account.
I fell in love with the idea of this site but I've come to realize that the foundation is badly fractured and there is no fixing it without ripping it out and laying a new one.
The bottom line is this.
I want this site to be free and equal. If it's not done, I'll leave.
-Brian
I do not know if to upvote you for your passion, or to downvote you for being completely wrong and not understanding that those money have to come from somewhere - crypto currency does not have any value just due to its existence.
Then you you are right that the whales got theirr stakes for nothing but want everything to be stake (size) based.
I get the basic concept of a crypto currency. What I have not gotten is a satisfactory explanation of why it is completely necessary to have an imbalance in power. If the system was open and free, would that not further incentivize people to invest in a solid platform? Having more SP by investing, doesn't make me want to throw my money into the currency. It's for the very reasons listed above that I don't.
No, "open and free" is a good for a believes/ideas. When it comes to investing - "where the money come from?" question, should have a solid answer.
And this move is the first real move by steem(it) team addressing it.
Now will I buy steem because of it? No, not yet. Paying good money to get in the private club of the whales that they organised and get in for free, just because it has provided a first glimpse of being sustainable? Not so fast... but it is a move in the right direction.
Judging by your blog posts, you probably understand the monetary aspect more than me. I'm coming from a primarily philosophical angle with this post. But philosophy is the foundation on which a free society must be built and the monetary aspect of that society is secondary in my opinion.
Appreciate reading my posts. For that alone I will upvote...for what it is worth and even put 1 sbd to promote you post!
Keep on the passion!
If everyone got equal voting what would happen is people would create steem account farms and make 1000's of accounts to upvote their or a customers content.
I don't know. This sounds like the Steemit equivalent of the "but who's going to build the roads?" argument against anarchy. There's no telling what might happen. There is also no telling what solutions will be developed by the community.
Voting power will naturally become more evenly distributed due to SP inflation and various rewards.
Destroying the coin's supply should be every holder's goal, I don't know why creating a burn account and sending coins to it worries you so much. I would be worried if there were no buyback mechanisms on the roadmap!
Doesn't it seem like a strange proposal though? I just can't help but think there is some nervous motivation for the actions they are taking. This thing is still in Beta and the very basic structure hasn't even survived into the Alpha version. I realize the point of a beta is to work out the kinks but that's a gigantic kink. It's not a good sign imo.
I don't think it is a "nervous motivation", but I don't understand why it can't be used somehow. I'm sure it has been thought through. Anyone know the rationale?
Sorry for the double paragraphs.
Hey Brian, Nice content. Many feel the same way. Steemit doesn't care if you leave. It is churning out bitter (good & bad) content providers daily. As long as new ones keep coming in the door, with the allure of earning, it doesnt care.
It's still early so I'm not completely giving up hope. I think at some point they will have no choice but to change.
Super lol on this.
I can understand your frustration. The problem is that giving everyone equal voting power from the start leaves the platform open to gaming by sybil accounts.