Ready for Steemit to be easier to understand? View all the major Steem changes from release in 2016 to through 19.0 in June 2017 in this one list! Reading the whitepaper when I first signed up for Steemit in May 2017 combined with hundreds of Steemit posts from many months ago left me really confused!
Today, I finally went through every version update and wrote this to summarize all of the changes I think are most important because I want to have a better understanding of how Steemit works today instead of thinking things that were true a year ago still apply! View the most current updates and the complete history at https://github.com/steemit/steem/releases.
Top confusions for me getting started with Steemit!
- The total Steem inflation was reset to 9.5% a year and drops 0.01% per 250,000 blocks meaning the current rate is about 9.26% instead of 100% as originally written in the whitepaper. What a shock after I bought over $10,000 of Steem in May 2017 and was expecting the really high interest rate once I powered it up! The interest is paid frequently enough that with enough Steem Power we can literally refresh the page and watch it go up a little bit all the time. After my first 24 hours of doing this, I wish I could have captured my face the moment I saw that I was getting about 2% interest per year or about 0.0055 % a day instead of 100%! Soon I learned that in December 2016 the original model of doubling Steem available every year was thrown out in favor of the new system starting at 9.5% total inflation yearly and then reducing that each year going forward. @pfunk helped me fix my initial post to make this one as accurate as possible. Reference the source at https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/final-review-of-steem-economic-changes.
- 75% of Steem inflation goes to authors and curators on posts and upvotes while 15% is given to Steem Power and 10% to witnesses. This means out of the 9.26% current total inflation, about 7.1% of all new Steem "printed" is given out to users making posts, comments, and upvoting through curation. Before 16.0 the inflation went mostly to Steem power with authors, curators, and witnesses getting a few remaining percent. Starting out on Steemit this was another huge point of confusion which I hope is clear now as to how authors and curators upvoting posts get paid!
- Power Down in 13 weeks instead of 104! After 16.0, we can now transfer all Steem Power into Steem with 13 payments starting in just one week with about 8% of the account balance 1 week after powering down. Seeing the shorter power down period encouraged me to invest much more in Steem Power and was confusing for weeks getting started as to whether it was actually 13 weeks or 104 weeks as originally setup in the whitepaper.
- Witnesses now do all the "mining" in Steem because of the change in "Steem Simplicity 0.17.0" which removes Proof of Work and eliminates participation in mining Steem outside of being a witness! This was still confusing me up until a few minutes ago because almost every old witness guide mentions mining as does the official documentation still even though it does not exist today. Technically according to @pfunk it is not really mining because the witnesses are just producing the blocks and signing them with none of the competition found in mining other currencies.
- Reporting a witness for double minting a block no longer results in losing the entire vesting account balance. Or in simple language a mistake in setting up or managing a witness server previously could cause a complete loss of all Steem Power! The steem.io documentation at https://steem.io/documentation/how-to-mine/ still provides this warning even though there have been so many changes since it was published! Up until yesterday that one little sentence in there nearly stopped me from becoming a witness out of fear of losing everything because of my lack of experience managing Linux servers. Thankfully @someguy123 explained to me that this was changed because several people did lose their whole account balance and they were predictably not very happy about it!
- Account recovery is now possible starting with Steem 11.0. In the original whitepaper and initial use of Steem account recovery was not possible meaning there was no hope for getting back into a stolen account. Account recovery is possible if an account is stolen by using the original password and verifying identity with Steemit. There might be some hope even without the password using a private key if the password is lost. Going through the recovery process then allows for a password change to lock anyone else out of using the account. Without a password or private key valid within the last 30 days, account recovery may not be possible! Long story short better to err on the side of having the password too available than to keep it so secure it is easy to lose! Ideally use a password manager and keep an offline backup also. I wrote an in depth post about account security you might enjoy at https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@jerrybanfield/the-steemit-account-security-tutorial-june-2017.
- Witnesses get paid 10% of total inflation while witness runner ups pay per block is now 5 times the top 20 witnesses. If you are considering becoming a witness, this makes it worth it to not be in the top 20 because we should at least be able to pay for server costs! Witness pay effectively now is around 0.18 Steem Power every 63 seconds in the top 20 and about 0.9 Steem Power for backup witnesses. Outside of the top 100 it will be difficult to even get one block because pay is determined by the total number of witness approval votes relative to the other backup witnesses meaning the higher on the list, the more blocks received.
- The owner private key is no longer visible on Steemit. Using the CLI wallet or an algorithm with the password is now required to reveal the owner key because the wallet on Steemit no longer shows the private owner key. The public owner key is visible to anyone on Steemit as are all the other public keys.
Thank you to @pfunk for helping me get these polished after my initial post!
Top changes versus the whitepaper and previous versions of Steemit!
- Rewards are now linear for upvotes instead of exponential as of the 19.0 equality release in June 2017. Before this, if you had 1000 times as much Steem Power as me your vote was worth 1 MILLION times more. Today everyone's vote is directly proportional to how much Steem Power we have which I think is very helpful for allowing everyone more of an equal say.
- Curation rewards on upvotes are now on a square root calculation instead of linear meaning upvoting a post early should now be worth significantly more and upvoting a post that is already popular worth less.
- Posts cannot be deleted after 7 days. Currently they can only be edited after 7 days once the software is coded to prevent vandalism on old posts with infinite edits.
- The voting period is 7 days instead of 30 days because 99 percent of upvotes happen within the first 7 days. Upvotes still count on older posts but do not contribute to payout or use voting power.
- No penalty for more than four posts per day. In earlier versions a penalty was applied to the fifth post and beyond within 24 hours but that was removed. Still the 5 minutes maximum per post on top level posts exists plus 20 seconds per comment and 3 seconds per vote.
- 12 hour lockout on upvotes prior to payment allowing downvotes to reduce payment as needed! Apparently it used to just be one minute on 24 hour post payouts with a second post payout period and now I think it is good the final 12 hours can be used to downvote only if post rewards are too high!
- 75% of post rewards go to authors while 25% go to curators which are the upvoters! Originally it was 50/50 which was ruined by voting bots which could earn a lot with auto upvotes.
The single biggest changes seem to be Steem 0.16.0, Steem Simplicity 0.17.0, and Steem Equality 0.19.0 with links to read more below!
- https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/final-review-of-steem-economic-changes.
- https://steemit.com/simplicity/@steemitblog/update-on-simplicity-cutting-complexity-with-steem-0-17-0
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemitblog/hf19-equality-coming-soon-linear-rewards
Review more updates on the Steemit blog from @steemitblog at https://steemit.com/@steemitblog.
Stay ahead of the game in 2017 by viewing the roadmap at https://steem.io/2017roadmap.pdf.
Did I miss anything important or mess anything up?
If so, would you please comment below to help me know what edits to make to ensure this is valid for the foreseeable future when new Steemians are looking to learn about all the changes in a very short amount of time?
Thank you for reading this!
If you think this post makes a positive contribution to our community, would you please upvote it because each upvote helps me dedicate most of my time to Steemit without the need to hustle for money somewhere else?
Love,
Jerry Banfield
Nice refresher. If you new to steem - read whitepaper, then this updates and you good to go.
Obviously, by "Steem printed", you mean the Steem inflation (9.5% of the total Steem already released). So, 75% of the Steem inflation is the same as 75% of the "Steem printed", which is roughly 7.1% of the total Steem released over a year.
Yes, posts cannot be deleted after 7 days, but No, currently posts cannot be updated after 7 days. At least through the steemit.com web site.
that's right, I noticed also @vcelier. Thank you, we love you
Yes you are absolutely right.
hmm right
Thanks for the amazing info.. Good to be in the know
I think post can NOT be edited after 7 days... but maybe I am wrong?
No, you are correct. Currently a post cannot be edited after 7 days.
Thanks for confirming this! 👍
No it cannot be edited. i tried recently thus got to know. How ever if you want to copy the contents to repost along with photos included then copy the link and replace steemit by steemd and paste n go then you can copy it as it is for repost.
Edited: Wrong info, can not edit currently after 7 days.
This I know, but after 7 days you can't even edit.
Yep, you are correct, sorry about that.
seven day is enough to decide....................
yes cannot be edited ... once you posted, it will be last post
@jerrybanfield is the go-to author on everything Steemit.
Another nice postJerry. Can someone please describe to me what a witness does on Steemit? Thank you
Thanks for this summary!
Yooo @jerrybanfield always bringin that value to the community! Bringin that positivity! 💪🏼🙌🏼💯
UPVOTED and RESTEEMED!
Thanks. It's amazing how you have some many of my question by giving a outline of steemit progress over the last updates. This help clarify the platform operations as a whole. Great job on providing vivid details on how the payouts work. You put some good thought into this post hence the results you gained from it. Keep on steemit brother. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👌🏾
How can you edit an old post, older than 7 days?
Just click the edit button. As Jerry said you can keep editing your posts, except you cannot delete them after 7 days.
Actually it is not currently possible on Steemit until the software is updated to match the hardfork!
Awesome !!! great post....i wish i were a noob to steem this would be sooo helpful :)
I do wish we could delete posts. On facebook or Instagram, as your life changes it is good to be able to go back and delete old posts. It seems like whatever I put on steemit lives forever.
Great info
2 minutes, and 808$ are you kidding me? this is my whole year salary for working 9 to 6 every day for 6 days a week, in India.
Sheetz.
That some Gansta stuff... mad respect 😎🙌🏼
Totally.
Couldn't agree more. It's quite ridiculous if you think about it :D
Wow we need to team up!
I am screaming for that. As your first tag of this post says,
"STEEM-HELP"
awesome post, this clear up everything that confuse me, thanks a lot
Exactly what I was looking for! This helped a lot! Thank you, Jerry!
One more very detailed post by jerry that will help majority of the new as well as old steemians. Keep them coming.
This comment has received a 0.06 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @cryptokraze.
Well done post You deserve for getting Upvote from me. I appreciate on it and like it so much . Waiting for your latest post. Keep your good work and steeming on. Let's walk to my blog. I have a latest post. Your upvote is high motivation for me. Almost all Steemians do their best on this site. Keep steeming and earning.
This comment has received a 0.07 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @hamzaoui.
sweet ty
Jerry for President!
keep it going sir @jerrybanfield
so sweeet
Wow, incredible job. It answers a lot of my questions. Thank you!
@jerrybanfield mentioned you here buddy https://steemit.com/whale/@austinsandersco/becoming-a-whale-on-steemit-let-s-look-at-some-whales-and-see-how-they-got-big
Great job, Jerry.
But i looked thru my curation rewards for a last week and it's not good at all. Even when I'm upvoting higly rewarded post early (and i'm trying to do so often) the curation reward tends to be roughly the same as with a low-rewarded posts (about 25% of upvote).
Does not look as a
Only the self-upvotes got a good rewards, upvoting other authors post are discouraged economically... ((((
Powering down was 104 days? That would have been 2 years. Too long
808$ in 2 mins,you are truly the best here,you never seize to amaze me,nice post as usual.
He's a beast, I get jealous at times 😂😂😂
There may be a reason for this, but I do not know what it is:
https://steemit.com/curation/@lexiconical/exposing-advertiser-circle-jerks-in-trending-reward-pool-rape-and-bookingteam-com
Can we elaborate more on the
Top changes versus the whitepaper and previous versions of Steemit!no.2
"Curation rewards on upvotes are now on a square root calculation instead of linear meaning upvoting a post early should now be worth significantly more and upvoting a post that is already popular worth less. "
How does this affect the
0 Minute 100% Author | 30 Minute 100% Curation rewards?
Pretty cool work!
@jerrybanfield,
I notice your top two (nearly instant) upvoters here also appear to be upvoting "spam" for businesses I suspect they are affiliated with, since their only posts are resteeming that business' posts. They are also massive whales worth almost $3 million.
I just posted about this today, and can't get a handle on it, do you know anything?:
https://steemit.com/curation/@lexiconical/exposing-advertiser-circle-jerks-in-trending-reward-pool-rape-and-bookingteam-com
@lexiconical While I support the ethical harvesting of animals for consumption, some of these "circle jerk" whales need to be whaled out of existence. At very least, I would hope to see a future fork address this.
That's interesting!
very interesting
@jerrybanefield
I don't know from where do you collect these information but I always get shocked after seeing them
Thank You for sharing this amazing post with us
God bless you
After my post showing http://steemvp.com/ which helps identify top upvoters maybe they added me to an auto upvote to support me and get my attention which has certainly worked! I am grateful for any upvotes I receive especially those with the most invested in Steemit! I checked some of their other upvotes today and they seem to be helping others get a strong start on Steemit also! I like that Steemit gives each of us the option to vote up whoever we want and I trust everyone else's voting judgement! If we want authors to make their posts differently, giving them feedback on the comments might be the easiest way to affect change.
Thanks @jerrybanfield for sharing these important updates, learnt a lot from this post... truly awesome!
Thanks so much for your time and effort. Your posts help me more than anyone's . I have no problem upvoting you. You deserve all that comes to you.
Keep up the good work Jerry!
Informative and well researched as always. Keep these posts coming Jerry!
So, are you thinking of being a witness or changed your mind?
I joined late, just a bit before 0.19.0 Don't know if it made things easier or harder for me. Anyways...
@jerrybanefield
I don't know from where do you collect these information but I always get shocked after seeing them
Thank You for sharing this amazing post with us
God bless you
Thanks @jerrybanfield. That helped me save couple of days reading and researching. I have few more questions-
Even if there is a big increase in number of new members, postings, voting activities, comments than usual; total inflation is kept limited. What I understand is that total voting power (STEEM creation) is limited to number of powered up STEEMs by the holders. Does it mean that if holders do not vote frequently, STEEM inflation may be kept lower?
Upvoted and resteemed :)
If there are less votes, each vote is more powerful for allocating rewards! Inflation stays the same either way!
I wish I could pin this as a favorite post this article. Very useful. Thank you @jerrybanfield.
Jerry you do so much to help this community and find ways to improve it and nurture it's growth. Thanks for everything you do for SteemIt!
Congratulations @jerrybanfield!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Quick question: Does your reputation decline over time if you're not active on the platform?
Thanks in advance :)
Great question I am not sure! I think it stays the same.
Guess someone would have complained if they suddenly lost rep for being inactive. So going to assume it's not decaying
i am new here. if anyone interested to know about iphone8 so check my new post and follow me here
https://steemit.com/iphone/@rozeeroti/iphone-8-new-design
Good day I just joined today, and in the learning stage , I am reading all the post and comments , gathering information.
Your post helped me a lot I thank you .
and also clicked to follow you.
extraordinary..
Thanks a million for this information, very detailed. Thank you
I just came off steemit hiatus recently and really needed a refresher on what's different, so this post was incredibly helpful. Thanks!
thanks for this post I was really lost between all these changes and thanks to you all is clear know and I even discover some new changes thanks a lot !
thanks to make things clear @jerrybanfield
Great post thanks for the useful info
thanks...dude for these great info.... :)