Okay I was just about to sleep when I saw your reply to my question. I'll give it a shot. This is actually another proposal that can also eliminate selling whale votes and simultaneously solve the issue of posts with more votes, replies and posted earlier that gets beaten by a copy post with whale vote. Basically by capping the 1st whale vote's $$ influence based on the # of votes will reduce or stop the sale of whale votes if the 1st solo whale vote is not worth more than a $1 (just an example) I'm still somewhat new so I may be wrong and if I am feel free to correct me. Anyhow here goes.
Right now the way it is it seems to be that the Small Fish follow the Whales in terms of votes. If there are multiple posts of the same topics such as the ones regarding "Steem is trading on Poly" typically even the first poster with more votes will not get it to trend. However, an exact same post that shows up later but had that 1st initial vote from the whale will attract all the other Small Fish and make that the leading post that ultimately trends and becomes the one that is worth thousands.
What if instead we made it where Whales had an incentive to follow the Small Fish where they get increased curation rewards for upvoting the popular vote?
So for example, if there's a new post with 30+ votes and it's under $1, a new clone post that has the same content can easily still steal the fame of that one by getting a lucky whale vote. However, if we instead maybe cap or put a limit on how much $ the whale can increase the post initially and instead make it based on the # of votes as the modifier.
Again same case, there's a post with 30 votes but mostly small fish. No one else is attracted to it or maybe that Whale wants to vote his friend who will post the exact same thing and that will be the one to trend. If we cap it that 1 Whale Vote would only increase it at a maximum of $1 if there is only 1 vote and less curation rewards, and instead increase the modifier for voting a post with many votes. So if the Whale upvoted a post with already 30 votes, it can increase by $300 at most per vote (I'm just throwing numbers here but I hope you get the idea). With this incentive, Whales would look for posts with most votes and/or replies or a combination of to maximize the curation reward and also to spread the steem out instead of finding single posts to upvote.
Again the way it is right now is if I cast my first vote on a post that has 0 votes, I can only increase it a few cents (depending on SP) but when it's already extremely upvoted, sometimes my vote can increase the post up to $5. Shouldn't it be the opposite?
TLDR - Make it where whales have incentive to upvote posts that already have a lot of votes from the small fish. Right now it's the opposite where all the small fish will upvote whatever the whale upvotes.
Again, I am still relatively new so I could be totally wrong. Just an idea I formed the last few min before I was about to go to bed. Thanks again @biophil for your insight and inviting others to discuss it. Good night.
I just wanted to add 1 more thing that actually happened which is why I wrote this example.
I saw a post that was clearly first and had some votes already ahead. It looked like it was gonna be the main trending post in regards to that topic and a few minutes later, I see a post with the same content. Guess what happened, a whale voted for it and instantly bumped it up over $100. Now guess which one is leading and will most likely make it the front or at least have a higher chance of making it there? The one with more votes and replies, or the copy post that has a whale vote and less replies? And what's to say that the Whale said to a friend to make that post and he'll help him bump it up to the front so he can maximize his friends earnings?
Timestamp"2016-07-19T05:51:00"https://steemit.com/steem/@steemed/steem-is-on-poloniex @$2909 created after
Timestamp: "2016-07-19T05:12:00"this other post same content: https://steemit.com/steem/@cyber/steem-on-poloniex#@sephiroth/re-cyber-steem-on-poloniex-20160719t042958993z @$1.30
The time difference is min apart but still, 1st mover with more votes and more replies. The only reason like I said it was able to become to main trend is because the small fish follow the whale votes rather than the whale votes follow the small fish votes or what is technically popular by majority.
A question to ask now is, hypothetically, what if that user paid that whale to upvote a his post so he can get the most popular vote in the long run? If the influence of the whale is also dependent on the # of replies/votes and limited the initial $ increase in the post, the other post that was there earlier with more votes and replies could have made it.
I wasn't the original one who posted it so I'm not mad or anything like that where it's potential $ that could have been made, but rather I am just looking at some flaws that should be addressed in the long term. Looking forward to the discussion tomorrow.
I see what you're saying, but what you propose here would be extremely easy to game: If a whale doesn't get much reward until there are already 30 minnow votes, then the whale can go create 30 shill accounts, have them upvote the post, and then cast his whale vote.