Being no stranger to Bitcointalk (a forum where many users have been selling accounts for years) I was wondering if this could be a possibility in the future for Steemit and how can we prevent this from happening (or not).
In times of great speculation I can see how some whales (and lots of dolphins) could be tempted to sell their accounts instead of powering down.
I understand the final selling price would not reflect the real value of the account but it would be mostly like buying a bond which promises profits down the road, plus all accumulated, compounding interest (and a instant cash machine) if we keep in mind succesful posters continue to rack up benefits in most of their follow up posts.
I'm very curious to read what the community has to say about this.
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Whale & Dolphin icons by Alv Jørgen Bovolden & Carla Dias from the Noun Project.
Thanks for the insight, looking to precedents for abuses from other similar communities it forethoughtful.
Definitely, I also try to keep an open mind, I know it doesn't seem ethical (perhaps if an announcement is made and reputation is reset it could be ok). However, I definitely think selling pressure could be a problem. Basically it comes down to fast, quick, tangible money vs. long term investment.
Time to offer @berniesanders 6 Bitcoins.
Haha, that's exactly what I'm talking about...make it 3000 and I'm sure you'll have his attention.
Interesting thought but Not sure what you see as the problem. if I buy and take over someone's account I now control it but would still need to power down to access the funds.
Well of course, it can open a can of worms. For example in Bitcointalk many scams were made like this, accounts changed hands and the new user (now with a good reputation) ran amok.
Accumulated, compounding interest will cause so much inflation that Steem will be worth 50 cents soon.
That's definitely a possibility but depending on the success of the platform and how much SP is locked up it could also bounce back up and then some.
@moonjelly People bottled the air at the Staple's Center in Los Angeles for Kobe's last game and then tried to sell it. People sell their soles and souls, so yes this will happen too if it hasn't already.
Yes to me it's inevitably, @Dan gave some inside technical information in a comment below (reputation reset for example) but I think some may already happened and I'm sure there will be more to come. I'm not trying to create turmoil but I think it's something that could potentially become a common thing in the near future, for better or worse.
Another reason I am mad I used my name.
Well maybe future plans involve using real names (similar to Facebook), or at least verifying each account to a real name and other information.
Account selling is much trickier now that we have a 30 day account recovery feature enabled. It takes 30 days to ratify a change or the approval of the recovery agent.
The market for buying full accounts will be far less liquid and offer large buyers a chance to get in cheap. Reputation can be reset after a sale (it would be obvious on the blockchain in most cases). If it wasn't obvious on the blockchain or via account recovery agent testimony then the account would likely lack the ability to be recovered and/or could be "stolen" within 30 days. In other words it requires complex escrow arrangements over a long period of time to sell an account.
great progress to protect accounts!
Will you have a look at my ppt for new comers?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@facer/a-guide-to-steem-world
What makes you think I have a look at my ppt for new comers?
Thank you @dan for providing this valuable information. Like I said in a previous comment, there are a lot of things that could go wrong if accounts start to change hands without any consequences. Excuse me but I'm not very blockchain savvy, how could it be obvious to spot a recently sold account? I mean I guess it won't go down in the open, but I can think of some ways users could bypass being caught.
So if Swim sell a account ... Swiim could basically reclaim it within 30 days with the old password?
I wrote about this very thing. However, the post didn't receive much interest. https://steemit.com/marketplace/@pairmike/marketplace-i-want-to-buy-your-steem-power-for-bitcoin-make-me-an-offer
Very interesting precedent...
If a whale decided to sell it's account to someone else, how would that affect the community in a bad way? There would still be the same whale account, just with a different person behind the keyboard.
I replied in a previous comment: "Well of course, it can open a can of worms. For example in Bitcointalk many scams were made like this, accounts changed hands and the new user (now with a good reputation) ran amok."
There are a lot more ramifications if you want to imagine a not so distant future, you can check a previous post I wrote regarding companies and businesses signing up: https://steemit.com/steemit/@moonjelly/what-if-steemit-goes-corporate
Interesting. You got my upvote.
Thanks!