The dollar amount associated with every post represents the total pending payout to that post, all replies to that post as well as any relevant curators.
When a user posts on steemit.com other users are given an opportunity to vote for that post. As they vote the Steem network automatically estimates the total value of STEEM to be awarded to people associated with that post. This means that it includes the total value of all curation rewards and all child posts and their curation rewards.
To be more specific, the value shown is not paid to the post author, but divided among many different authors. Here is an example post tree along with example payouts for the individual posts (not authors):
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
Total Thread Payouts
steemit.com will calculate the totals as follows:
- 8 = (4 + 3) + 1
- 4 = (1 + 1 + 1) + 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 3 = (1 + 1 ) + 1
- 1
- 1
- 4 = (1 + 1 + 1) + 1
The result of this algorithm is to enable voters to quickly identify which discussions and trees within each discussion are providing the most value to the network. If a steemian thinks something is overvalued they can quickly find it and downvote it. Threads and subthreads are sorted by total payouts beneath them.
A post is boosted in trending rank any time any of its comments or sub-comments get boosted. This means that the highest trending posts will likely be those with the highest quality discussion.
Payouts to Authors
The amount earned by the author of a post is complicated to calculate in advance because it can change with every vote on every single reply. When a comment earns a payout from Steem half of the payout is given to the author, and half is forwarded to its parent. The parent then forwards half to its parent, aka the grandparent. This process continues until the top of the discussion is reached. Assuming the posts each received 1 STEEM of payout, then the authors of the posts would receive the following:
- 3.25 = (1+1.25) + 1
- 1.25 = ((.5 + .5 +.5) + 1) / 2
- .5
- .5
- .5
- 1 = ((.5 + .5 ) + 1) / 2
- .5
- .5
- 1.25 = ((.5 + .5 +.5) + 1) / 2
Curators Rewards
In order to keep the numbers simple, the above payouts to authors ignore that 50% of all payouts are divided among the curators. It is sufficient to say that for each post at any level, 0.5 would be divided among the curators and each of the authors would receive half as much. The algorithm for dividing among the curators will require a separate post. The following calculation tree shows how much each author would receive after factoring out curation rewards.
- 1.625 = (.625+.5) + .5
- .625 = ((.25 + .25 +.25) + .5) / 2
- .25
- .25
- .25
- .5 = ((.25 + .25 ) + .5) / 2
- .25
- .25
- .625 = ((.25 + .25 +.25) + .5) / 2
To simplify understanding, the payouts on steemit.com now represent the payouts to be received for just a single post and its currators. If you see a post with a $10,000 payout then you know the following:
$5000 is being paid to curators
$2500 is being paid to author
$2500 is being paid to parent/grandparent/etc (if any) otherwise the author.
Posts are still sorted / ranked by cumulative payout.
Is there a feature in the making telling us how much is pending in potential earnings? Or would that be too complicated?
I think it would be too complicated. Well we have https://steemd.com/@cryptoctopus :D
Could you please explain what a curator is?
Everyone who votes the post up is a curator. The greater percentage increase in total votes your vote adds, the larger the share of the curator rewards you get.
So there is no benefit in being the first to upvote a topic?
Also, what effect does a user voting for their own topic have? Say they have multiple accounts using the same key (or not), can they game the system by upvoting their other accounts post?
on this post... the first 2 people have made money....
I believe a curator is the first person to upvote a topic.
Not according to what @dantheman posted above.
Well, technically the first person to upvote is a curator ... and more importantly the first to upvote is the most important curator, especially when it comes to making STEEM. ;)
A curator is simply someone that curates: to pull together, sift through, select for presentation.
In other words, filters out the cream from the crap!
I feel like in the early BitShares / BitAssets days, asking lots of stupid questions ;)
So, I assume the popularity of posts can change quickly. For example on reddit, posts are at the very top rarely longer than a few days. If that was the same for steemit, wouldn't it create the problem, that after a while the payout to the original author and the curators would be close to zero? In other words: Wouldn't there have to be either a final deadline (time wise) or an algorithm that takes some kind of average over the life span of a post in order to calculate the payout?
That was my first steemit post!
There is payout 24hrs after the voting dies down, but that doesn't start until July 4th.
What does "die down" mean here?
It means that the payout is a stake-weighted 24 hours after each vote. The more votes there are the less each vote impacts the payout time.
I am trying to understand the calculation. Using the example, the payout for the thread is 8, the total payout to authors is 5.5 and the total payout to curators is 2.75. But summing up, 5.5+2.75 gives 8.25 for the thread and not 8. What am I missing?
curators only get 50% of the direct reward paid to a post, while authors also benefit from rewards paid to their children.
From a leaf post perspective, assuming it earned $10, $5 would be paid to the curator, $2.5 paid to the author, and $2.5 paid to parents. I will have to check the math again.
Somehow I'm even more confused. It's not your explanation, it's definitely my lack of reading comprehension. ;)
What about posts with a negative total payout value?
Do you lose STEEM when you upvote a post with a negative total payout value? (Asuming it stays negative after you upvote)
And more in general: does anyone (author or curators) participating in a negative-total-payout-post lose STEEM? (By 'losing STEEM' I mean: it being deducted from your personal STEEM balance, like paying a fine)
No one ever loses from their balance. Only pending payouts are subject to revision for a day or so.