An answer to a lot of the criticism about Steemit and STEEM and STEEM POWER and all the other steemy details

in #steemit8 years ago

Warning! This post contains spoilers.

I’ve been reading a bit about Steemit, trying to get my head around the platform, how it works, what the goal / vision is etc.


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I’ve seen a lot of very negative comments and a lot of very positive comments.

I tried reading the white paper, and lost the will to live after about page four. Having spent the last four + years proof reading university assignments and theses for my wife while she completed her Master’s degree, I’m over this sort of dense, abstract sort of text.

So, after reading yet another rant that said, “read the f*ing white paper” I decided to try again.

I got a bit further this time before my eyes glazed over and my mind started wandering. So at least that’s progress. I skim read bits and pieces still trying to find the one bit that would turn all this around and make it make sense.

I finally found what I was looking for right at the end (isn’t that always the way?).

Here is the paragraph from the White Paper with the salient point highlighted.

Steem is an experiment designed to address challenges in the cryptocurrency and social media industries by combining the best aspects from both. Steem presents earning opportunities to content creators and internet readers in ways that have not existed within the social media industry. Within Steem, individuals earn real rewards online that are directly correlated to their contributions. Those rewards will have dollar value due to the market price discovery and liquidity of Steem, and the people who hold Steem will have more exclusive earning powers than those who do not.

What does this tell you?

Steemit and Steem are not billed as a panacea for all your financial, political and relationship woes. It’s an experiment and you and I are merely participants in that experiment.

If you invested a chunk of change in this platform, having read that paragraph, then you are by definition, a risky investor. You took the risk knowing this is just an experiment to see what happens, perhaps to inform later products and services.
It’s Research and Development.

If you invested without reading and understanding that paragraph then you’re an investor that has not done due diligence on your investment. So don’t go complaining when things don’t work out the way you dreamed, because your dreams had nothing to do with reality.

So now that you know what the platform is, and why it’s here, perhaps you’ll understand why @ned and @dan and co, do the things they do. They are shifting / tweaking variables in the experiment to see what happens.

Maybe what happens is they make more money.
Maybe what happens is they lose some money.
Maybe what happens is they generate interest in the product.
Maybe what happens is they drive people away from the product.

Maybe they learn what they need to know to build a second generation product that hits the sweet spot for user engagement and reward and viability.

Maybe they learn that this is all just too much effort, and no matter what they do, the haters will always bring everything they build crashing down.

That’s what experiments are for – to find out what happens when you do this or when you do that.

From my own perspective, I’m happy to play as part of the experiment, because I too, am interested to see what happens and where this goes.

If it fails, I’ve had an interesting time participating and watching the experiment unfold.
If it succeeds, then I’ve had fun participating and watching the experiment unfold.

If I had money to invest would I invest in Steemit?

Probably. But I wouldn’t put a lot of money into it. I’d put a bit in and see what happens. I’d do it as an experiment – to see what happens.

That would be the smart way to do it, right?

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Me too, if I had money I would probably experiment but can't afford to lose anything at the minute. MAYBE when I'm rich :)

Lost the will to live
heh...sooooo true.
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit...or put them to sleep.

Happened to me. So I did what I always do. I skimmed.
I actually caught that last paragraph.
ergo prop a Crok...I didn't invest any money. (not that I have any )
BUT...I've pretty much been steemin full time (meaning...when I'm awake__ since I discovered Steemit in August
I've made 2134 posts (and comments) in that time and acquired a reputation of 63. It's been fun.

I've invested my time.

I'm hoping that the experiment succeeds and I get some monetary ROI in the future...but hey...If I wasn't doing this here on Steemit I'd be doing it on FaceBook

Hello @everittdmickey - oh they did that! I was dazzled all right ;-)
I agree with you - it's about putting int he effort to write blogs - because it's fun to do.
If there is a big payday at the end of this, then cool. if not, I've still had fun.
And - more importantly I've spent hours reading and looking at stuff without being bombarded by ads.
That's a HUGE bonus. :-)

I find it damn hard to concentrate when stuff is blinking, flashing, jumping IN MY FACE and moving around on the screen.
It's not worth the effort. I'll either move on , read a book or watch NetFlix (which sux, until the movie starts)

Enjoyed your post! Resteemed! :)

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it :-)

Can't agree more. It's always been an experiment. It could go either way to be honest. But for now the price of Steem is rising, which is a good thing I expect :)

I agree! What we learn being part of this experiment has more value than STEEM.

Exactly! For the big investors looking for the big payday, or get rich scheme, this is probably not the place for them.
Or maybe it was, and they cashed out and moved on. For those that are here for more than the money, the price of Steem is largely irrelevant. We can have fun and connect with people no matter what the exchange rate it.

I'm interested in the "power of knowledge", coins sounds like any other resource in a rpg or another online game.
Let's play and in the worst case, we will have learned something usefull.
In best case, we will be pioneers of a new era and MAYBE earn some money.

I agree with you and that would be the smart way what average Joe would do. That's why we call them average Joe and we all one of them.

Maybe they learn that this is all just too much effort, and no matter what they do, the haters will always bring everything they build crashing down.

Cause listening to haters is what we care about. :D

Very well said. I have to admit only getting about half way through the white paper after several attempts and agree with you completely, it's a fun experiment and love being part of it. and watching it evolve.

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I tried reading the white paper, and lost the will to live after about page four.

Now that's funny. I think you got further than I did.