Previously I discussed Leveling the Playing Field. This is one way to do that and provide more incentives for newbies.
What is the best measure of a person's contribution of content value in the Steemit community? It's not steempower because you don't even have to provide any content to get it. The best measure we have is our reputation scores.
To increase quality content from the hordes of new users we should monetize reputation scores. Give everyone 100 steempower every time they increase their score by one point. That way minnows will have some influence from the get go and feel like their efforts are being rewarded now instead of waiting for another time. Of course the longer they participate and the more value they add the more they will be rewarded.
But let's not just give it away to them. Give it to them on loan, as a delegation. Let them borrow 100 SP for each point increase up until they reach a reputation score of 50 (so 2500 SP will be rewarded), then call the loan back at a rate of 300 SP per each point they increase from then on, and allow them to power down everything except the SP that is on loan. If they become inactive call the rest of the loan back.
The actual amount of SP delegated to each user will of course have to be determined by the size of the rewards pool so that it is not drained. The 100 and 300 SP amounts are just examples for the sake of illustration.
For those already working their way up the ladder a formula could be invented so they too can get in on the new way of doing things.
Will this lessen the power of whales? Yes, it will, at least in relation to the minnows. But at the end of the day I think more investors will invest their funds in the form of SP knowing that the whole system is more sustainable and less likely to suffer a meltdown at the loss of peasants as they migrate to greener pastures.
Think of it as the rising Middle Class that thwarted the vision of the radical socialists who at the time of Karl Marx only knew of peasants and landed gentry. There was no Middle Class at the time. All they could envision was class warfare as the peasants wised up to the royals and their privileged gentry. The rise of the Middle Class meant more people could benefit from their ingenuity and hard work and reach the top of the social ladder without having been born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
There is something very satisfying about being in a community full of people who have become wealthy enough to be happy and stable through their own efforts. Those people tend to stick around and make the society better rather than crash the gates of a bordering country to get a chance to get ahead.
This is Part 3 in a series I call SteemShip Navigation - The Way Forward.
Previously:
Part 1: Don't Depend on the Profit Motive and Sacrifice a Superior Social Experience.
Part 2: Level the Playing Field
If you believe this post adds value to the community, don't just upvote, re-steem it!
