Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating today! Before I stuff my face with more pumpkin pie than any one person should eat - I wanted to make a quick post to hopefully start a discussion.
STEEM
Steem is a marvelous beast of so many different things, that sometimes it’s hard to explain to people. It can mean something completely different depending on who you ask.. and that’s something that makes it quite special imo.
For me it’s special as it was my bridge to the crypto world. I wanted no part of bitcoin, it was confusing and overwhelming.. but Steem was easy. It allowed me to experience and learn about crypto in a way that I was comfortable with.. and it made me a crypto and blockchain believer. I’ll always be thankful to it for those reasons and see the ability of it being a similar bridge to the masses as one of its biggest values.
But what are the facts?
I see many times people say how great Steem or STEEM is, not only here, but all over other social media platforms.. but when someone asks “why” or gives push back, the individual doesn’t know how to respond or chooses not to.
I think word of mouth is extremely important, and so is perception. So when I see a great post about #steem and then see responses like this go untouched it can have a negative impact on the overall perception of a project -
Or this reply -
While sure many may just say “they are just negative” ... or “you’ll never change their mind”.. to me it’s not about them, it’s about all the people reading it that aren’t them.
In my opinion not responding or not having the facts to respond with, makes them right in any outsiders mind who reads it.
Steem Facts Sheet?
Now imagine if we had a simple and easy to read fact sheet that empowered community members to answer questions and respond (in an intelligent way) to this.
While we may never change the minds of the people who responded initially, those reading it who have no set in stone “ideas” very much may benefit.
Which then helps the overall perception of STEEM.
So what are the facts about Steem or STEEM?
Sure we know about fast and free transactions.. but how does that work? Would increased transactions change this fact?
Is it decentralized? What about distribution? Dapps?
These are all questions that come up often.. and as someone who has discussed Steem to many outside the echo chamber, I’ll tell you that if you can’t answer these questions than you won’t get far.
The thing is that whether we want to admit it or not, Steem does not have a great reputation in the outside world based on its past.. and that’s something we must overcome.
Now we can call anyone “negative” or a “troll” who questions it or doesn’t immediately jump on the empty hype train, or we can actually use the facts about this place as a rebuttal.. I think the second is much more beneficial for longterm success personally.
Let’s Empower The Community
We have a great and passionate community here and it can be used to spread the word of #steem, but I think they would be much more successful if we empower them with the tools or information they need to do this.
While I have learned a lot about the inner workings of Steem in the last few years - I’m just a normie. I’m not a dev, an economist, a coder or an expert on cryptography or cryptocurrency in general.
There is a ton of stuff I don’t know, or perhaps don’t know the technical aspects to.. and that’s why I think making a fact sheet as a community is the best option.. as we are quite diverse and can work together to make something beneficial for all.
Drop Them Facts!
So my goal is for the comments of this post to be a place we discuss these facts and then they can be compiled in a future post for easy access.
Now, I don’t want only your opinions.. I want the facts behind them.. tell me the WHY.
I’ll be bugging some of the “experts” on chain to weigh in too..
Where To Start?
Well I think as the discussion persists more will come up.. but just to get it started, let’s talk about some that first come to mind to me (please add in more in the comments and I will edit when needed to add them)
What is Steem? Is the tech superior to say EOS, ETH or bitcoin? If so, how? If it’s not.. why is it needed? Does the chain actually need its own currency?
What are the “fast and free” transactions? Will transactions be free forever? How does that work?
Is it centralized? What is the distribution look like compared to in the beginning? What makes it “decentralized”?
What makes it unique? What are the use cases it offers that are not found elsewhere?
How is “tokenizing the internet” even beneficial? What value does that add? Who does it empower or help?
What has changed since its inception? What improvements have been made? (If any).
How is it scalable? Will it run into the same issues as we are seeing on other chains if traffic was the same?
DPoS- pros and cons?
Inflation- inflation is seen universally as “bad” when it’s too high. STEEM inflation is thought to be “high”.. what benefit does the inflation add (if any)? Is it high in comparison? Does that inflation also add value? How?
Rewards pool - good or bad? Why? Would Steem exist without it? How?
Answer one, answer all.. or ask another question.
I think the community here, the human aspect, adds tremendous value.. but I want to focus on the tech of this project we are all so passionate about.. these are the facts that will empower our community to be Steem Ambassadors across the globe. Which is a win-win for us all.
I hope this post starts a conversation that will morph into a resource that can be beneficial for all.
I also want to welcome criticism and bringing to light flaws in the project, as this is how we improve.. being stuck in a “everything is amazing” echo chamber won’t get us to where we want to be.
So let’s hear your thoughts - good or bad.
Much Love,
Justine
@jusineh; good thought to get something like this started to get a conversation going. I will try to comment on one of the questions, simply because I think it is easier for me to answer:
Inflation is not bad ("regular" amount of inflation that is). Now what is "regular" is off course up for debate. But let us hold off on that thought for a second.
Inflation is a quantitative measure of the rate at which the average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy increases over a period of time."regular" amount of inflation is good for the economy, as it means price of your brand of car will be slightly higher next year, so may be you like to buy it now as opposed to next year. This simple action stimulates the economy. Make money flows into the system.
If there is no inflation, then we will have deflation, where your brand of car will be cheaper next year, so there is no incentive for you to buy this year, so you better keep your money with you. If everybody does that, then no one buys anything, and that throttles the economy. Classic example is Japan, which is going through a 30 + year of deflationary cycle, which essentially turned off an entire generation away from investing.
So now back to "regular" inflation: Most central bank thinks 2%-3% inflation is healthy for the economy. 15% or higher inflation is termed "hyper-inflation" where value of the currency deflates and value of good & services increases so much that it triggers a downwards circle in the economy. Classic example Venezuela now, and Zimbabwe in not too distant past.
So how is this impact steem? Steem is an economy, but with a caveat that there is no central bank controlling the monetary policy. It can be good or bad at the same time. Its good because lot of us came to crypto as we didn't like the control of the central banks. It can be bad because without governance we can literally run steem to the ground (as we are doing a fairly good job at it so far).
Therefore, some amount of governance is needed to manage inflation. There has been some efforts. Like burning steem, buying steem from the open market and powering up (thereby increasing the stake)... etc. These are good efforts, some are structural and built-in (like powering up and 13-week power down), while others are deliberate (like burning steem). However, more it needed. If you can't control inflation soon, even more important, if we can't re-direct the inflation towards good content producers, we are doomed.
I love the idea of a Fact sheet ( cheat sheet ) great idea Justine and good to start a discussion. If you need me to make it pretty I have a graphic designer that can help.
I was thinking you right it is hard to explain things that offer so much. I mean just imagine trying to explain the internet ?
I suppose it is best to hit on one or two points and see if it catches their interest.
We've always said Steem is the normies of crypto if done right. You and I have been both preaching it for awhile. As for Bitcoin it was an interesting beast back in the day . I got involved in in 2011 and watched the community create what it is and have come to the conclusion you need a community around this technology to move it forward. Most people don't know but without forums like btctalk we probably don't have much to do with Bitcoin in the way people know about it today. One of the main reasons I'm here is new technology can't launch without a community.
Steem is clearly built to launch whatever dapp, technology it wants through its communities which is Golden in my opinion. Built in marketing. I know this is top level stuff and we need to drill down in the technology which you address in the questions below.
One factoid I'll leave here is it provides a real safe place to keep your funds via the "savings" mechanism. By having a lock up'd function which can only be released in 3 days it provides the necessary protection of funds.
As we've seen with crypto hacks , seems everyone is getting hack these days! It would be nice tout ourselves as a fairly safe place to keep funds. Not sure many online wallets offer this?
I'll circle back around answer some of the questions you proposing here. Great questions to try to tackle.
Happy thanksgiving to you and let's go enjoy some pumpkin pie! <3
i'm here :)
Nice answer. The most important that we stay here and keep promoting without caring about nagative people. ☺
Meesterboom likes this!
Immediately judges @meesterboom on his creepy use of third person.. but applauds him on his comic timing.
Hehe, I like multi platform continuity! :0D
It’s the best 😁
The social time continuum.
We're in a warp!!
Upvoted
Meesterboom likes this!
Great initiative. I think that in order to be effective, those facts must be short and catchy, even if they don't convey the full picture.
I like this approach!
In twitter I prefer to not answer negative people. Some people are growing on the web just by telling shit about projects. I know people who get a lot of followers just by recording negative content about all the projects that they find. Recently one popular guy answered me with something bad about steem and all people know that he is against steem. So, I can't delete his comment in twitter, so I just deleted the tweet. Blocked him and then tweeted again. Why I need to mention him, to make him even more famous. I just ignore such people. If we will care too much about them and keep changing the blockchain again and again to satisfy them, we will not go anywhere. We already have everything we need to onboard the masses and the plans that steem team have is great. SMT's and communities and more applications will be created. Now, our mission is to promote everything we have, that's the most important. We need more exposure. That's why I'm actively promoting in all social media and especially famous ones like TikTok. They really have better traffic and it's easier to grow there. We have to keep being positive. Fud will always exist.
Fact. Free downvotes are ruining the platform. Give someone something for free and they'll find a way to abuse it
Like upvotes?
Do you get 2 and a half free upvotes a day?
No, you get 10.
Those aren't free. They cost VP
No, you get 10 “free” upvotes that regenerate each day.
Just like you get 2.5 “free” downvotes that regenerate each day.
Both use VP, one is upvote VP and one is downvote VP. If you go over the “free” amount then it ends up costing you as you are limited to the amount regenerated each day.
Not even veterans understand the very basics
Voting is ruining this platform. Oh, wait. Neither upvotes or downvotes are free. You need Steem Power that has monetary value to have Steem Power.
Before the separate downvoting pool, PoB was a shitshow. Now it's got hope.
Downvotes are free.. 2 and a half per day.. which I wouldn't have a problem with... IF.. people weren't making money off it.. Burn that STEEM.. here's your "hope" at work..
Think he actually read or even looked at ONE of those 5 posts he upvoted within a hour..
People don’t make money off of downvotes.
Probably another example as why we need more informative resources for users.
What does that have to do with the separate downvoting pool?
The same applies to upvotes :)
How. EVERY upvote cost VP.
This kind of informative article in steemit are so lit!
Great information here!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Dude pulled out LBRY. Hahaha. A token you spend to pay creators to watch their videos. Revolutionary idea. lol. Id tear this guy a new asshole if i caught the tweet.
The answer to his tweets is very simple.
The mistakes made by Steemit.inc while being palpable are in the past. Ned left, Stinc is much more sustainable now as a company, SMT test net is live, Communities, Mira, EIP... etc etc.
In a bear market everyone suffers. No its not bot driven, thats demonstrably false, etc. Not to go in detail since i kind of gave you a response to the comment. Ill see what others have to say in the comments.
@justineh, We have to agree one thing and that is, everyone cannot understand and respond to Technical Questions because some people are here to share their passion and they don't know how the system works and what's happening in the background.
But, your effort is appreciable because any Steemian can stuck in this position and No Response means Nothing. So, definitely i am excited to go through from the Comment Section.
Good wishes from my side and stay blessed.
Posted using Partiko Android
nice
Congratulations @justineh!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
✨🙏🏼
Posted using Partiko iOS
These answers are way tldr,unless of course the masses steem wants to onboard are single, not real adults, unemployed, nerds with the time and energy to put into what basically feels like unpaid work just to learn how this place may or may not function.. Not to mention there's no decent mobile front end.. I'll hang up and let the hype squad not respond to me..
@justineh greetings time without hearing from you, I hope you are well.
I think it's perfect that the community is decentralized although sometimes it seems that it is not, I think that this network is free and that each of its users is a fundamental part of the development from a blogger to someone who delegates through the people who do plagiarism or spam to the directors and founders of this social network thought from another point of view very different from traditional social networks.
The main problem I observe is the fact that steemit is under the shadow of a token that generates value, different points of view give different ways to see the value, here lies the part of our evils.
(By the way I've written to you several times to the discord I need to communicate with you urgently.)
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@justineh please take a look at the guy who downvoted my two posts for no reason. He is just not agree with what I earn. I didn't do anything wrong.
Disagreement of rewards is a very fair reason to downvote.
Stop freaking out about a downvote. It’s a shared pool and people can use their stake to redistribute some of that inflation when they disagree with what a post has been valued at.
To be perfectly honest, I usually want to downvote most 3speak posts on trending. It’s sort of absurd that one group is allocating so much of the inflation (and using Steemit Inc. stake) just to better themselves and their project.
Make your content, enjoy yourself, and don’t get so worked up over an downvote, they are part of the system.
Wow just watched it myself.. a 45 sec video of your voice as a joke? Yeah I’m not surprised he downvoted it, I’m actually surprised that you are shocked and acting as if someone attacked you.
Please read the white paper, understand that rewards on solely inflation and the whole entire point of it is for individuals to allocate where it goes through up and downvotes. It should go towards that which adds value, unfortunately projects like 3speak (and others) just autovote shit so they have no idea if it adds value or not. Pretty much what I think is wrong with the place tbh.
I think you are doing just fine for posting multiple short videos a day to get those autos, I would just be happy if I were you, you are doing quite well.
I'm not just posting videos. I'm doing my best outside steem to promote it. There are people here earning way more than me just for sharing vlogs and pictures and without doing anything for steem. I don't break any rule, I don't spam, don't use upvote bots and doing my best to help minnows and fishies. You can take a look at what I'm upvoting with @dcooperation and even my account. I support random steemians even with having low power. I do my best to respect all ethics, no even upvoting myself with the account of the community or mine. I do my best to make my videos bring value. I don't share just anything to get an upvote. I set for myself the maximum of 4 videos when I can create even more knowing that kpine will upvote me for sure. Also, I'm a full time steemian with such price and I have a sick mother to care about and a little 2 years old baby. One guy told me that I should follow newsteem rules, but I see myself respecting all rules and even more while some still upvoting themselves a lot and still building circles arround them. Still don't understand what wrong I'm doing. Tell me what if you see me doing something wrong ?
I said it was fair to downvote due to disagreement of rewards, that’s it.
Your post is still sitting at $50 (pretty over rewarded imo) and you are complaining across multiple platforms.
Perhaps just understand that it’s simply due to individuals not agreeing with the rewards on your post, not personal towards you or “attacking” you.
Do your thing, the community will reward it how they see fit in up and downvotes, as it’s a shared inflation pool.. and no one is entitled to make a living off of it.
The thing also about 3speak in case you don't know that they reward the top creators who are bringing a lot of views to videos. That motivate creators in the platform to promote their videos everywhere and of course we promote steem with that. So, now I'm the top 5 creators because I worked hard for more than 5 months to get there by promoting steem and the platform in a lot of places. I promoted, in forums, in social media, in other crypto projects and it's clear that I did that. Everybody knows. So, I didn't get in the trending page that easy. It was really a hard work. Even in steem I'm creating every single day and every single day promoting steem. I'm sure that I'm not doing anything bad and I will continue what I'm doing. So, I will just listen to you and don't care about downvotes anymore. I'm not complaining now, but only sharing my feelings because I'm sure you will understand me.
I do understand and I know how 3speak works, more than most actually.. and I still disagree with their voting.
Look, I’m not attacking you are say you haven’t worked hard.. you came here and tagged me elsewhere about a downvote you received and I told you what I thought.
No one deserves a vote here, no one is entitled to earn anything.. and downvotes should be on every post. Otherwise it’s not really a true consensus (which they are supposed to be), instead it’s one project deciding what gets inflation because no one will downvote as they are called “mean” for doing so.
I personally am not a fan of this method anymore and think it does nothing for the price (and my investment).
I know you came here as I was countering haejin and other malicious downvotes in the past (and helped with one of your posts), I just do not believe this is the same case here, that’s all.
It’s a fair downvote imo.
But please do what you love and keep rocking on, a downvote is simply a redistribution of the rewards, and generally nothing personal - don’t let them get to you.
Happy Holidays!
I did giggle at this.. and that specific individual actually responded very well to the facts I shared. Apparently he just doesn’t like empty hype.. which I can understand 🙂
Yeah he was right all the way until he started shilling a coin that has a lower marketcap than steemmonsters.
hey tts thought id try and cheer you up being thanks giving and all. found this for ya :)