It seems like a day doesn't go by on STEEM where there isn't a post (or multiple) about how downvoting is out of hand, or how one individual or group is ravaging the reward pool through self-upvotes or circle voting, how trending has gone from one version of unsightly to another version of unsightly. Ideas and initiatives abound to aid and abet or to combat it all, on or off the SPS, and back and forth we go in a never ending tug of war for what anyone thinks is right or wrong with the platform.
A Hard Thing
From the moment I joined STEEM, I had my ideas of how to navigate it. And the vast majority of those ideas remain intact to this day. But while I think I've more or less stayed true to my sense of fairplay, what I do believe has changed is that I've become more and more accepting of what you all think is fairplay.
I admit, it's not an easy position to take. We're so used to being polarized to one extreme or the other, be it in politics, sports, entertainment, etc., that when someone says it's perfectly okay for everyone to have varying views, that really it should always be that way, it's too often merely a preamble for them stating how they think everyone else should think.
I'm going to try to avoid doing that in this post. However, I do think there's consequences for every action, good, bad and indifferent, and that while those consequences may go unserved for quite a while, by and large, they tend to catch up at some point.
Code Is Law
People used to say that a lot. I don't read it so much anymore, but it's still pretty prevalent in the way users go about things. Self-upvoting is possible, so people do it, from only once in a while to on every post and comment (if any). That's a pretty wide range, but code allows it. The same thing with circle voting, downvoting, owning and employing multiple accounts, etc., etc.
The only things you can't do are what the code doesn't allow. Period. The more people understand that simple fact, and accept it, really, truly accept it, the better off they'll be, in my opinion, but then, code allows for not understanding anything and not accepting it, either. You can be totally ignorant to how STEEM works, who's going to take offense to what, and still use STEEM.
Stake Is King
There is Code, and then there is enforcement of rules that individuals or groups are wont to impose through the exercising of stake. Because the code doesn't prevent one cause or another, we have them, and they can flourish, perish or limp along as the amount of stake involves dictates. That means some self-upvoters or circle voters might be hit hard while others not so much. Some initiatives might get backing, while others wither on the vine.
What big stake wants, big stake usually gets, unless they're opposed or ignored (depending on the circumstances) by equal or larger stake.
That's reality. We don't need to like it. Code allows for that. We can bewail it all we want. We can even try to get it changed through code. Code allows for that, too. Just know that knocking stake down from it's lofty perch to something else, anything else, is a hard, uphill slog, and it won't change overnight. Whatever could take its place will have its pluses and minuses, too, something else to be aware of.
STEEM Is What You Make Of It
STEEM is pretty pliable. It can be whatever you want it to be. However, since stake is king, there's the chance you might not get very far with your STEEM vision if enough stake opposes what you're doing. Another hard cold reality to know and accept.
That said, there are plenty of people who still manage to turn STEEM into their own idea of fun, excitement, fulfillment, moneymaking machine and more, every day. And not all of them have a lot of stake, either. They just go about their business, navigating in their own channels.
STEEM Might Not Be For Everyone
That's a hard realization to come to, since the stated goal here is to bring on the masses. And maybe with Communities/SMTs, bringing on the masses will truly come to pass. As it is, though, STEEM can't be for the masses unless most of us are on board with allowing for most people's sense of fairplay, or the masses just accept that someone is going to object through downvoting, trolling, etc., and somehow move on with life.
The latter might work if stake wasn't king, and reputations didn't exist, but neither is the case. In the end, though, is requiring the masses to conform to a few people's sense of fairplay really the way we want to go? Is that really what's best for STEEM?
I think those questions are being answered everyday in how we all individually navigate STEEM. Swimming in all directions at different velocities, depths, and angles. Ultimately, how they are answered will determine which way STEEM goes.
We Can Keep Going Around In Circles
Forming factions, trying to tug community sentiment one way or the other. We can become witnesses, try to garner enough favor to get into a position to influence policy. We can go about our business, keeping our head down. We can get involved in initiatives. We can get on discord and spend most of our time chatting there. We an engage, or disengage. We can play games. We can build or own dApp. We can buy, burn, and trade STREEM. We can quit. We can rage quit. We can badmouth STEEM all across social media and the cryptosphere.
Or we could try pulling in the same direction. Prioritize things that will help STEEM succeed and work through them, because most of us, if not all, have a vested interest in seeing STEEM do well. We just don't all agree on how to make that happen.
Two Rules
Code is law. Stake is king.
Learn it. Live it. Love it.
Or not. Totally up to you.
However, avoiding consequences of action or inaction may not be up to you.
Image source—Pixabay and modified by Glen Anthony Albrethsen
I have expressed my concerns about certain subjects, and invariably there will be someone with an opposing view putting their two cents in. But those two rules do still apply. Thank you for the timely reminder. I think we all want to see a return on our investment stake.
Hey, @shaidon.
I'm glad you found it timely. :) I certainly hope that you're right about everyone wanting to see a return on our investment, too.
It's been kind of interesting to see the back and forth over the last two years. We'll probably see a lot more of it before we see consensus, but maybe that's not such a bad thing, either.
I think it’s better to sort this stuff out now before there is a massive push for mass adoption.
Cold hard facts are always good.
Detox from any drug is good , and social media participation is no different. It's now pretty clear from studies that it is a dopamine dripping, addictive hobby.
After a couple of months break from active posting, I look at Steem(it) as just that.
As wise man once said to me 'use the drug, don't let the drug use you'.
That's also a cold hard fact! lol
Hey, @lucylin.
re: cold hard facts
Not sure who wants to hear it, but yeah, I thought it was appropriate, since we seem to be in another one of those "do this, no do that" kind of loop again.
re: detox
Use the drug, don't let the drug use you. :) It's good to step away. In my case, I have reality thrust upon me regularly. :)
Howdy sir Glen! I hope the masses show up with the new communities featured but don't they still have the joining time that takes days or weeks or did they fix that?
Hey, @janton.
Good question. I don't know if I can really answer that.
They may have traded one problem for another.
The ability to sign up people quickly existed before. Remember all of the thousands if not tens of thousands that were coming in around December to March or so 2017-2018? I believe that's when most of the 1-plus million accounts came in. Don't quote me, but I know there was quite a rush because of the value increase during that period.
The problem isn't strictly onboarding. It slows down in the screening, and from what I remember, whatever auto mechanism they had in place for checking for whatever they do wasn't working. It was still letting in, for instance, an army of bad actors. So, they went to manually processing new accounts, which slowed the process way down.
Supposedly, though, they came up with a new automated onboarding mechanism. That's what HF 20 was principally about, until it wasn't. It was called Velocity, remember? That referred to increasing the speed by which screened accounts could go from application to approval. However, everyone got bogged down in RCs, and from there, it's been more about using RCs to claim accounts that can then be opened.
So, I don't know. I think, at the very least, there's a mixture of things happening to STEEM and new accounts. One is the RC deal. Another is the so called crypto winter or bear market in general. Another is that less people know about STEEM than know about Bitcoin or another alt coins. The last is those who know about STEEM, know mostly about the negatives, from its inception to now, even though a lot of good things have happened, too.
Howdy today sir Glen! Well I'm no tech guy or programmer but the problems seem very difficult..or maybe they just look like that to me. Like the downvoting system they have which has scared so many away from Steemit.
I just hope the people running things are very skilled and gifted but I hear people saying that the people running things are clueless. lol.
I can see the social site aspect of Steem growing and being a success but whether that will rise the price of Steem significantly is the big question.
Hey, @janton.
I think there is some skill for sure when it comes to coding. The question is, do they know about social media. There is a game aspect to all of this, and so far, I haven't seen as much of that as there's been attempts to resolve problems. The EIP is supposed to help incentivize upper SP to curate rather than find other ways to earn ROI. I think that's been happening to a greater degree than I expected, but how long it will last, who knows.
I don't downvote, but I recognize that quite a few people think it's necessary to keep things from falling apart. It might be if the downvotes were used more as a deterrent to bad behavior, rather than throwing tantrums or revenge voting. Not sure how you mitigate the latter and accentuate the former, but were still early into the EIP, so who knows.
I'm not sure STEEM's future lies in the social media side, unless some folks show up and produce the next big thing (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), rather than cloning what exists.
Basing things on Reddit is not a good idea in my opinion, but that's what a lot of the devs consider to be social media. Throw out some info, get some likes, dislikes, and if it's contentious (or even if it's not) have at it. Might work for them, but I don't think outside of the 18-35 male demo, it plays very well.
It all comes down to "wait and see what happens" just like it's been since I joined! lol.