#hardfork

Sad, but not yet defeated.

What happens now?

I'm not defeated, but I'm feeling pretty close. I've pulled all my delegations and when they are returned in 5 days, I will begin powering down for the first time EVER, since joining steemit in 2016.

This makes me incredibly sad. For those of you in my DM all night, yes, you're right. I've probably been one of the top pro-steem cheerleaders. But I don't believe in cheering blindly.

I've been taught to fight for what you believe in- and submit to authority you can trust to represent you, and I believe a lot of us are not being represented.

I am NOT a quitter, but there are times for compromise and there are times to cut ties. Which situation is this? It appears to be heading in the direction of the latter, and I'm preparing for that.

But there is always hope. Everyone keeps saying it's too late, but is it?

This is ultimately a human system, based on human decisions. It isn't too late until it's over.

From what I've heard, this hard fork was supposed to go forward WITHOUT this 50/50 proposal, and then it was added before it was too late. See? If it's not too late to add it at the last minute, it's not too late to take it back off.

Why the rush? Why so much?

@justineh has calculated that when all is said and done with this proposed hard fork, authors will lose 42% of their rewards: part in the new rewards dispersement (the 50/50 proposal) and part for supporting the SPS (worker proposal for the community).

I've already shown that the people voting on the 50/50 rewards system have the most to at least initially gain, and that is undeniable.

Undeniable.

It's pure math, folks. We can all say what we HOPE to happen in the future, but we KNOW that the beginning of this takes 33% of author rewards and puts it directly into curation rewards. While we are "waiting to see" what might happen.... the large accounts are getting larger.

The large accounts (orcas and whales) will have lost absolutely nothing. They will have actually GAINED SIGNIFICANTLY. It's a totally different story for the small and medium (plankton, minnows, and dolphins) accounts. At least initially, and once again, that is based on MATH, not HOPE.

Most content creators cannot afford to lose 33% of their author rewards, and the doubling of their curation rewards does not come close to making up for that huge loss. Think it doesn't affect you? You can figure it out yourself on steemworld.org/@username, or I can even do it for you if you want to see exactly what this means for you.

The small accounts will see their curation rewards double pennies, and the large accounts will see their rewards double from 4000 SP a month to 8000 SP a month and beyond!

This is a MASSIVE conflict of interest.

Something that financially benefits only the top accounts and top witnesses so greatly, and actually harms the small accounts should be tossed. How can the top witnesses not recognize this as a clear bias?

Honestly?

I have less of a problem with the drop in author rewards and more of a problem with WHERE the diverted money is going.

Do authors make too much money on their own work? Debatable.

But the solution proposed is...take it away and double the pay of the curators? What? Why?

If you want to cut the pay of authors, I could actually accept that proposal EASIER if the 33% cut went to funding the SPS (for the community).

Instead of 50/50, 50/25/25 makes more sense. At least there, authors could give up 33% of their salary to the community as a whole!

Arbitrarily doubling the salary of the curators needs a BIT more convincing than "well authors make too much."

Well... Why should curators make more? They are already making 25% on work that they did not create.

Curating (in the real world) is where we support things we enjoy. We go to the movies, we "curate" that movie by paying for a ticket. The payment back to us is the 2 hours of entertainment provided by the author. We don't get to stand outside and wait for our 25% of tickets sales.

We enjoy an author? We buy their book. We support their work because THEIR brain has entertained us. THAT is our payment. We don't get a check from the author after we've finished reading.

Here on Steemit, we reward curators with their enjoyment of our work AND a 25% payment out of authors' pay- as an ADDITIONAL thank you for supporting their work. Right, wrong, or indifferent, THAT is what we have all become accustomed to, and the way Steemit functions.

I love being a content creator. BUT I AM ALSO A CURATOR. I am speaking on behalf of BOTH. I currently curate TWICE as much as suggested, but I fully believe that the content creator is worth 75% of the rewards.

But Steemit thinks curators are due more? Ok. Why?

If this is a case of cutting the authors pay because authors make too much, then fine! Deal with that separately. Cut their pay and put it back into the community by funding the SPS!

But just because you want authors to make less, curators automatically get to make more??? That makes absolutely no sense at all.

Not only that... But why such a drastic overhaul of a system?

You know there are a lot more numbers between 75/25 and 50/50.

70/30, anyone?

Why not TEST IT GENTLY before throwing the newbies to the wolves? Have we learned nothing from HF20? Yes, there were different things on the agenda for HF20, but you know what is the same?

Too much, too fast.

Winnowing out small accounts.

Preparing for a future that may never come because you're too busy fixing a hole in the wall while the house is burning down.

It's not too late.

Take the 50/50 part OUT of HF21 and make it a singular discussion instead of lumping it into an "all-or-nothing" deal where witnesses MUST vote Yes for all or No for all. I KNOW there are witnesses with reservations. But they are not getting the opportunity to reject PART of the hard fork. TAKE OUT 50/50 so they can speak their minds ON THIS ISSUE ALONE.

I have a feeling the money to be made for large accounts is too much of a temptation for the 50/50 to get tossed. After all, greed is part of the human condition.

But until the bitter end, there is always hope.

I really would love to continue this discussion with everyone who has been a part of it so far. I think this is THAT important - and for that reason, I'm about to tag everyone who has expressed their opinion in DM or on the last 2 posts. I don't really apologize. I'm inviting you to make your voice be heard.

^{^{@fionasfavourites, @zekepickleman, @bluefinstudios, @thekittygirl, @blockurator, @omra-sky, @zanoni, @greencross, @naltedtirt, @audreybits, @enginewitty, @saffisara, @eveningart, @snook, @whatsup, @guiltyparties, @hazem91, @darrenfj, @brisby, @elsiekjay, @imealien, @nickyhavey, @nathanmars, @chekohler, @penderis, @bengy, @josediccus, @thehive, @improv, @shadowspub, @notconvinced, @bossel, @jaynie, @johneyreacko, @dswigle, @bigtakosensei, @rebeccabe, @arcange, @derekrichardson, @wonderwop, @distantsignal, @clixmoney, @fredkese, @mariannewest, @dfinney, @ange.nkuru, @dkkarolien, @thekitchenfairy, @crimsonclad, @tcpolymath, @eonwarped, @jackmiller, @vibesforlife, @owasco, @felt.buzz, @josephsavage, @victorholyo, @crescendoofpeace, @senstless, @gduran, @themanwithnoname, @abitcoinskeptic, @mosunomotunde, @deeanndmathews, @chireerocks, @chris-the-batman, @sgt-dan, @jayna, @scarletreaper, @juliamulcahy, @jamerussell, @mcfarhat, @dutybound, @eturnerx}}

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Comments · 42

@fionasfavourites(77)· 2609d
@dreemsteem have you seen this post? https://partiko.app/@steemitblog/hf21-addition-vote-window-change There is more to it than just the vote

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@ats-david(75)· 2612d

Why should curators make more? They are already making 25% on work that they did not create.

I don’t understand why this is such a contentious issue.

Authors currently receive 75% of the total post reward. That’s for one single person.

Curators receive a maximum of 25% of the total post reward. That’s divided between all of its curators, which often numbers in the hundreds - and in the future (potentially) could regularly be in the thousands.

Is it really so unfair for one user to receive 75% of rewards and hundreds or thousands of others to split the remaining 25%? Would it be so absurdly unfair for one person to receive 50% while the other hundreds or thousands split the other 50%?

Also - is it so ridiculously unfair to entice staking and reward stakeholders for the STEEM that they power up? To better incentivize and reward them for assuming additional risk? Is it so unfair to give authors a risk-free 50% split of any rewards they receive, thanks in large part to the people who have bought or held STEEM, powered it up, and upvoted the author’s content?

Where is this grotesque unfairness? And which group is actually being treated unfairly?

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why this is where so many people are making their stand. Do we not want to entice more people to assume risk by purchasing STEEM and powering it up - or to at least stop dumping so much of it? Are we content with the unsustainable reward giveaways to anyone who shows up and posts the kind of stuff that can be and is found anywhere else on social media?

When are authors going to recognize that people buying STEEM and/or powering up are the ones who actually make it possible for these authors to cash out their blogging profits in order to “make a living?” When will authors stop vilifying risk-taking stakeholders for seeking profits while those same authors complain about their own risk-free profit potential?

There are other battles to fight and other more consequential protocol changes and actions/behavior that have affected both authors and curators here. Why don’t we address those issues instead of always arguing about how “bad” authors have it?
@simplymike(69)· 2612d
For the first time in months, I've been thinking about powering down myself. Not because I will earn less - I couldn't care less - but because this platform will sign its own death penalty if they push true HF21...
@toddrjohnson(54)· 2612d
Before HF21 my incentive for spending much time on quality posts for Steem was very low. This has to do with a lot of factors, including that my audience isn't here and that those I've tried to onboard either don't get the Steem platform or get discouraged quickly. Usability and an impoverished markdown system also makes technical posts rather difficult. When I really put a lot of effort into a post (sometimes days) and happened to pick up a big group of curators, I sometimes got a decent payout, though way below minimum wage. If I actually got decent engagement and discussion, that would be ok, but the audience for technical posts is not on steemit. They are on twitter, github, medium, etc. After I while I realized that it was best to spend as little time as possible on Steem posts--a very simple post might not make much, but it also doesn't cost much to do, so RTI is better. The message from HF21 is clear: spend even less time on quality posts. I could be wrong, but my guess is that those with large stakes will figure out how to game HF21 to keep things as close to business as usual as possible. So what should we have instead? How about one account per human with all human posting and curation? All votes worth the same, but those with larger stakes can vote on more posts? The current system devalues users who don't have large stakes when we should be rewarding smart users (authors and providers) instead.

Proud member of #powerhousecreatives
@zanoni(66)· 2612d
Absolutely agree with you!

Maybe the real background of HF21 is a try to keep the last investors and whales on board?

A try to rescue what's broken already? I see very hard times coming for Steem. HF21 and the start of Voice will have such an impact on Steem nobody can imagine. It's simply like:

1+1=2

Have a nice day, I completely understand your thinking. Tom

Posted using Partiko Android
@darrenfj(62)· 2612d
It's hard for me to add comments on the math of it all since I am still so new.

But there's this. It's already hard enough to convince friends to come over as it is. Seems like the pennies a post will become micro-pennies.

In that scenario, I can't imagine the selling point of putting up with the learning curve to groove oneself into using steem.

Posted using Partiko Android
@arcange(79)· 2613d
Congratulations @dreemsteem! Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
- Comments - Ranked 1 with 203 comments
@crisangel(69)· 2613d
Today I have been somewhat hazy or inactive in Steem, for many adverse circumstances, but in spite of that I always try to enter and review the chain of blocks that I love so much. I am from Venezuela, since I started in Steem (ending 2017), my life and the way of seeing social networks change in 360 degrees, since here real human networks are made and a great sense of brotherhood ... so many things ... For some time time I listened and read about that change that was coming in a fenced future (50/50), at that moment I thought; "This will turn even more into that circle that generates a large amount of money that already exists", the accounts that have large amounts of money will continue to receive even more in their closed circle, and it is not that they judge the powerful accounts since we all have the ability to return our accounts very large, but what happens with those humble third world people that the little SP that has been built a lot of effort, commitment and passion with the platform, they will be affected and many. I also thought; "Wow, that update will lead to the recognition and appreciation of those people who love to read, enjoy and comment on the different publications they find." Then think that it is very difficult, because as every decision has its positive side and its negative side, many may affect them negatively while others positively, saying yes or no to this proposal today is as complicated as deciphering a result when raising, but in spite of all the circumstances that this generates, from my point of view this is more oriented to people with money (a lot of money) so that they continue to produce even more through voting, it is very important that the person who reads and recognizes our produced content is valued, since that denotes a great effort, but our content (many facts with so much love and affection) also need to be valued and I think a little more than the effort of the people who read it .

Hoy en día he estado algo alhajado o inactivo en Steem, por muchas circunstancias adversas, pero a pesar de eso siempre trato de entrar y revisar la cadena de bloques que amo tanto. Soy de Venezuela, desde que inicie en Steem (finalizando 2017), mi vida y la forma de ver las redes sociales cambio en 360 grados, ya que acá se hacen verdaderas redes humanas y un gran sentido de hermandad… tantas cosas… Desde hace algún tiempo escuche y leí sobre ese cambio que se venía en un futuro cercado (50/50), en ese momento pensé; “esto va a convertir aún más en ese círculo que genera gran cantidad de dinero que ya existe”, las cuentas que tienen grandes cantidades de dinero seguirá recibiendo aún más en su círculo cerrado, y no es que juzgue las cuentas poderos ya que todos tenemos la capacidad de volver nuestras cuentas muy grandes, pero que pasa con esas personas humildes del tercer mundo que el poco SP que tiene ha sido construido mucho esfuerzo, compromiso y pasión con la plataforma, ellos se verán afectados y muchos. También pensé; “wow, esa actualización dará lugar al reconocimiento y valoración de esas personas que les encanta leer, disfrutar y comentar las distintas publicaciones que encuentra”. Entonces pensar que nos depara es muy difícil, ya que como toda decisión tiene su lado positivo y su lado negativo, muchos les podrán afectar negativamente mientras a otros de forma positiva, decir hoy un sí o no a esta propuesta es tan complicado como descifrar un resultado al alzar, pero a pesar de todas las circunstancias que esto genera, desde mi punto de vista esto se ve más orientado a la gente con dinero (mucho dinero) para que sigan produciendo aún más a través de votaciones, es muy importante que la persona que lea y reconozca nuestro contenido producido sea valorada, ya que eso denota un gran esfuerzo, pero nuestros contenidos (muchos hechos con tanto amor y cariño) también requieren ser valorados y pienso que un poco más que el esfuerzo de las personas que lo lee.
@nonameslefttouse(77)· 2613d
How will I get those curation rewards if I don't vote for posts? Who benefits when a post is voted for?

Anyone here with SP, stands a chance to earn more, by supporting others. What did you authors do with all the SP you earned? How are you not able to offset some of the post loss by curating others?

By powering down, you're already saying you're not going to be one of these people who's here to help.

This is 100% organic.

You had your SP delegated away, so that means you haven't been able to support authors to your full potential, like so many others here. I've been curating manually for nearly three years. I get a raise. I get a raise for helping authors. More people getting a raise for helping authors means more folks might want to get out there and vote, instead of delegating away their SP, or selling votes. They don't vote TODAY. Authors took a huge hit since most of the SP became unavailable to be used to vote for posts.

I can post and I can curate. I lose some on posts, I'll gain some for curating. I get NOTHING if I panic and leave. Everyone else who I try to support gets NOTHING if I panic and leave.

What's doing more harm now? The hardfork, or this reaction to something that hasn't even happened yet.

Do you really want it to remain more profitable for people to be paid to look away? What good is that to a content producer? That's what's been happening for years! People are paid to look away. Try to give them a reason to look, and vote again, and HOLY SHIT lets run for the hills!
@free-reign(67)· 2613d
I don't know the details of this. but the gist isn't hard to perceive from what you've written. I support your ideas and I've resteemed your post.
@wales(68)· 2613d
Personally I make around 30 cents a post unless I use bots. For the first 6 months I hardly made one cent on each post. Steemit doesn't reward good posts and I'm fed up with it. I've hung on all this time in the vain hope that it would pick up for me and know now that if I wasn't with PHC then I would only be making less then 10 cents a post, if that. So why bother? Unless a miracle happens I'm done with steemit. I'm only hanging on until the power down finishes in another 10 weeks and then I shall probably not bother any more. Why should I spend hours every day making anything from 300 to 4000 word posts for a few cents?
@spectrumecons(75)· 2613d
I can understand your concerns. The straight up mathematics doesn't sound good for authors. The deciding factor will be people's behaviour. Will people (large stakeholders in particular) curate more content with higher curation rewards or will they continue vote selling, self-voting, and collusive voting? I guess we will find out soon enough. I recommend that you wait a few more months before leaving. Things could work out quite well.

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@steemitboard(66)· 2613d
Congratulations @dreemsteem! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got more than 15000 replies. Your next target is to reach 15500 replies.

_{You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking} _{If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP}

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
@kharma.scribbles(58)· 2613d
I packed up and moved to Publish0x six months ago, as a newb to Steem, I quickly realised that I didn't like the platform, the founders or the road map. Not to mention, the reward system is so convoluted here!!

Rewards for creators, for free, on Publish0x, where you can earn from tipping creators too! Active, open devs who always are responsive to community feedback... No convoluted voting system! You can focus on your blog and not worry about Powering Up or getting votes...

The only thing I can see being the downside for those accustom to Steemit is that Publish0x is not it's own blockchain, so no dApps etc. - however Publish0x tips are largely based on ETH - therefore you can convert your earnings to ETH and go from there... they incorporate their tip tokens from different projects...

I just popped over to Steem to check it out any new news and make a cross post, but I write my posts first on Publish0x now - only my top earning posts will be cross-posted here after a month or so...

Anways, my purpose wasn't to come to Steem to shill or anything for Publish0x, but I moved there in a heartbeat and wondered why more people haven't made the switch... I am trying to get crypto projects I support to jump off Medium too..
So since I came across this post of yours, the topic just fit so well with my feelings I had to comment..
@edicted(83)· 2613d
Curation should be optional. I've already written about this a lot.

https://steemit.com/inflation/@edicted/let-s-fix-steem-by-drastically-modifying-inflation

https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@edicted/tip-jar-how-to-sidestep-steem-s-new-economic-incentives

https://steemit.com/busy/@edicted/war-on-curation

https://steemit.com/curation/@edicted/curation-and-sbd-are-broken

Long story short, curators aren't curating anything. The frontend is responsible for displaying all content to the user. Therefore, there exists a link from the frontend (curation) to the backend consensus layer that absolutely should be severed.

Frontends of Steem should have no effect on backend consensus. It's totally backwards to force "curation" on people.
@gduran(68)· 2613d
Has anyone seen how much @freedom receives from bidbot earnings? Just that would make me doubt about the good intentions of hard fork 21.
@derekrichardson(71)· 2613d
I am also whole heartedly against this hardfork. Not just the 50/50, but pretty much 100% of it. It's really frustrating, but I'm still hanging on and not powering down yet.
@dswigle(78)· 2613d
I have to wonder if I was a whale or orca here, how I would feel. I already know the answer to that one. For the same reason that humans were wired to be parents, I would not be able to be greedy enough to feed myself the cream off the top without sharing equally with those under me.

I would like to believe that at one time, most of them were in this place. So what changed? Money isn't everything unless you don't have any. A concept that most of them have never encountered or if they did, don't remember.

I still believe in steemit, although, if they throw this in the toilet, I am not sure there will be a family left. Powering down was not in my thoughts, but, perhaps that is me being naive. I can only say that this whole thing makes me sad. How can they so easily corrupt the hand that fed them?
@javirid(56)· 2613d

70/30, anyone?

No. Simply let author post to decide the amount.
@edouard(68)· 2614d
I think you are being generous here, if only it was greed but it is pure stupidity. The way things are going, there will not be any revenue for anyone. Steem relies heavily on a use case that will melt away faster than a glacier in Greenland after this hard fork.

In a world where alts are bleeding to no end, community is Steem’s last prayer but community can’t thrive without new arrivals and new arrivals WILL NOT generally dump 7000 in SP.
@fredkese(72)· 2614d
If the likes of you who've been here for a longtime want to leave, then think it's no longer for me

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@chris-the-batman(53)· 2614d
Absolutely agree with everything you have said here @dreemsteem It hurts that the hard workers that spend somtimes lots of hours on a post to see them getting less and less just questions is there any point in posting damaging the hard workers. Unfortunately people go mad with power and money talks

Posted using Partiko iOS
@zekepickleman(79)· 2614d
This is as good a place as any to discuss and share opinions/strategies with the folks who have a great grasp of the numbers. Looks like you have them worked out fairly well and are part of the crowd communicating with each other to exchange bot fact and speculation.

I think now it falls to deciding strategy. Powering down is one of them but I can tell you are there only as a last resort. Witness voting should be what we are focusing upon like you as it is those witnesses who will make or break the vote. Is there a collection of those witnesses (I hear the vast majority) who are in favour of the change in split? If all the active engaged steemians pull their vote for the ones supporting the change in payouts, would that make a difference?

Aside from those 2, those of us staying should be talking about how to maintain our stake and grow it with different tactics if it goes through.

Will the barking dogs be heard or will the mailman just deliver the package (hf) anyhow?

Posted using Partiko iOS
@c0ff33a(76)· 2614d
I have read a considerable amount about the proposed changes, including many opposing views. I appreciate how the numbers look from a content creators perspective, but there is a bigger picture to look at as well. Is it better to earn more Steem that is valued at the current low price, or less Steem at a much higher value? The proposed changes are directly intended to encourage and reward the consumption of content - people actively reading and upvoting / commenting on posts - it is really essential we get more people actually looking at the content instead of it being a platform of content creators alone.

From my own perspective I feel the proposed changes in HF21 will benefit the Steem Blockchain, but I also appreciate there is a great deal of argument against it - and I would like to think democracy will prevail and if it is seen more of our active users are against the changes then for it this will be taken account of.
@thekitchenfairy(77)· 2614d
this sads me to read, @dreemsteem!

i hope you reconsider, as we dont know yet what the future would really bring with HF21. (maybe oracle-d would know....you know, "oracle" hahaha)

altho I am one of those of a concerned low ranking witnesses (stealing a copyrighted signature of @isnochys lol)

but if you totally firm on your decision, how about we spend them Steem at Disneyland? ;-) we can take @improv with us hahaha
@ura-soul(78)· 2614d
Obviously this is a complicated situation with many parameters in the equations which all have knock-on effects which are hard to predict the outcome of accurately. For every argument here I can see a counter argument and there are valid points to be made on both sides. I see flexibility being the solution here - which could mean having the payout split created dynamically from the settings of individual witnesses, as suggested here already by @josephsavage - or it could involve the introduction of Steem Communities as was basically promised way too long ago and which have not yet surfaced. Communities can support a variety of independent settings, such as a difference in split of curator/author rewards - so once those go live, in theory, the default split becomes less significant.

I can appreciate the concern that big stakeholders will be better rewarded through upvoting others, however, here's what I see as being the argument in support of that outcome:

Steem is not an attractive investment compared to many other tokens, primarily because it's value continually drops due to inflation. From that perspective, Steem is like a leaky sieve from the perspective of investment. It is only viable if you either expect it to explode and compete with Facebook et al - or if you intend to be active on the network and make many of your own posts. Since there is only so much time in the day and so many things to post about, long term investors are pretty much forced to either continually make pointless posts to not lose the value of their investment or just pull out. This means that we see lots of shoddy posts at the top of the lists and it is discouraging to most users - plus totally invalidates the entire proof of brain mechanism that underpins the entire Steem concept. So.. by giving more rewards to curators, long term investor's lives are made a bit easier. You can always say that these people can just leave and we will only then have people who are here for the content, which is fine, but plenty will not leave and if they do - in enough numbers - the price of Steem drops even more.

It's fine to say that Authors can't afford to make content when they don't get nice payouts - but huge numbers of people (including me) have been making content totally for free for over a decade... So while, as an author, I have empathy for that position, the reality is that something is better than nothing.

For me, the bots are a bigger problem than the whales as they totally depersonalise and invalidate the underlying mechanism of post valuation. They remove the competitive aspect that has people battling to be the 'best brain' .. And so, much of the excitement of Steem is gone as a result of their use. If increasing the curation payout has an effect of chilling support for bots then that is a very good thing - though it remains to be seen if they will.

Personally, I am open for experiments - so I'm open to seeing what effects a split change has, it can always be changed back again. I personally would have gone for 66.6%/33.3% (or similar) as a middle ground.

I have said almost since the beginning that Steem is not being evolved quickly enough and I imagine that it is quite likely that we will see another team take over from Steemit Inc. in the next year or so - maybe the Steem Engine team.
@improv(73)· 2614d
I think the whole Economic Improvement Proposal should be put on hold, not just 50/50.

The SPS is good, but the idea of free downvote pools is ripe to be abused by the folks with enough power that they can ignore the social consequences of their downvotes. And the new curve is going to hurt little accounts even more than 50/50 will, which will only encourage MORE bidbots, not less. Much like @dustsweeper is necessary for a lot of folks now so they don't lose all the pennies they get on comments, larger sums will go to bidbots so people can get return on the small votes. This doesn't seem like the solution to the problem. I'm opposed to all of it, and at the very least, think we need to take these hardforks seriously and get a voice for the average user into the conversation before we go through with more than SPS.

Posted using Partiko Android
@lovemetouchme2(59)· 2614d
I'm powering down as well. I've been slowly investing for 2.5 years. I was about to rant but it's just sad. Like you said it is still run by humans. And some humans have God complexes.
@thatkidsblack(72)· 2614d
Is the only solution a complete abandonment of STEEM? Or will we see the need for new interactions rise from the transformation? This is a largely ignorant position, but I am of the mind, that despite modifications to the payout structure, individuals will still earn STEEM. However, such a drastic difference in the type of activity done to earn STEEM may level the playing field in a large scope. Couldn't it be argued that the previous reward scheme favored authors too greatly? That remains another topic for discussion, but I cannot help but feel that the impact of the change may not be as poignant as feared. If so, I can only recommend we adapt.
@georgeboya(67)· 2614d
It is not that i do not agree with you, i do and i am sure that what you are saying will happen. Larger accounts will benefit and small account will lose. But i am thinking it for some time and in my opinion what is happening is that Steem is closing, not expanding. It is becoming a closed club of fewer people and of course people who invested in it.

For what purpose this is happening, i can only guess and imagine. Maybe big investors will find it more suitable, maybe they will use steem as a center to invest and delegate to future projects like Pal or games and stuff. I do not know.

Also about smaller accounts getting kicked out of Steem, this is happening for some time now with various methods, anti abuse projects, plagiarism hunting , bulling, i seen disturbing things at the art community where i am active.

It makes me sad because this was not what imagined the Steem experience will be but i am staying because invested my time and also found some people who i can communicate in deeper level. I believe also that this change will maybe bring sth new and interesting.
@owasco(73)· 2614d
I make so little now (joined last fall) that I can't imagine making even less. I will be forced to upvote not the little guys like me who I vote for now out of solidarity, but those whose posts make some serious money whether or not they deserve to. I'll be searching for money, not good content. I'm a bit worried I won't be able to stay on this site at all - it's already difficult to make a few pennies.
@clixmoney(78)· 2614d
I also started to power down recently for the first time during all my 2 years on steem. It sad to see new dolphins not being supported by whales. It seems just a business, but if most dolphins and minnows will start to power down, who will create content to be curated ? Will they just curate each other ? Anyway, the power is not in our hands, that's why we have only two options, or to accept everything and keep posting or to leave at all. But with posting for such rewards, the only way to feel our work is to power down. I'm also sad for a lot of veterans who are powering down, but it seems if someone has 5000 or 10000 sp is not that much. From 100k it's considered to invest it, but for me I will need 10 years to get to 100k and in my real life I don't have other money, so I will buy finally a good pc and a quality camera and help myself and my family. I have a little kid after all and I need to think about his future.
@chireerocks(75)· 2614d
@dreemsteem, I really don't know if your decision of withdrawal is right or not. But in my opinion it will be great if you will travel with these changes to some extent to see more in depth picture of these changes and in my opinion when we live any situation we can see the true reality with more clarity and more crystal clearly.

Whatever your decision is, my good wishes are with you. Stay blessed.

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@dronegraphica(64)· 2614d
I'm just going to crack on. I'm lucky to not be wholly invested in Steem and do not rely on it to pay bills. I enjoy a little writing time for some crypto in return. I do think though that authors should be paid the higher percentage based on those that just give a thumbs up.

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@fionasfavourites(77)· 2614d
@dreemsteem I am going to come back and read this properly tomorrow. It's 17h30 here and we are about to go out. In the meantime...onward and upward. I hope...

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@jackmiller(68)· 2614d
So our government (top20) is dependent upon the votes of whales to stay in government.

Pretty much the case, no matter how we present it!

The next time I read a post from an "anti-establishment" cheerleader somewhere on our Steem blockchain, I will remember the facts and figures I put out there the other day about dead voters, voters on dead witnesses and what some others have mentioned from time to time 'those that just don't vote'.

Responsibilities exist at all levels for everything in a voting system that depends on the people.

I don't see the need to "give up" or "withdraw", what I do see is the need to take a breath and clear ones mind and start thinking along the lines of:

"OK, this is reality, what do we do to change it?"

Yesterday is in the past, it is what I do today that matters.

& cheers for taking action on what you believe in, Steem has a future!
@eveningart(60)· 2614d
I've been busy powering up. Sadly I'm now making the decision to go the other way. Power down time. Ho hum.

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@sgt-dan(66)· 2614d

I have had responses from some of my current witnesses. I appreciate that as I am one of their constituents. The concerns you express are viable and I understand as well as empathize with your current state of mind concerning our STEEM World and the direction it is taking.

You, like myself and many others, are devoted and loyal to this platform. That may be why at times we are critical of its direction. Constructive criticism is not disloyalty, actually; it is a sign of great loyalty!

Since I believe this post deserves mass distribution, I will be tagging a number of witnesses I currently and have in the past endorsed below.

@actifit	@adsactly	@aggroed	@ats-witness
@ausbitbank	@c0ff33a	@clayop	@danielsaori
@drakos	@enginewitty	@followbtcnews	@fyrst-witness
@guiltyparties	@jackmiller	@justyy	@mahdiyari
@neoxian	@pfunk	@pharesim	@poetsunited
@reggaemuffin	@roelandp	@steemgigs	@steemitboard
@themarkymark	@timcliff	@ura-soul	@yabapmatt
@yehey	@quochuy (NEW)

The above list is not current as I am reviewing my witness endorsements due to HF21 as well as other factors.

A good resource to see what witnesses are up to is provided by @thewitnesspage a compendium of current witness blogs and witness related matters managed by @jackmiller.

For a look at the technical performance of witnesses, one may visit https://steemian.info/witnesses managed by the witness @drakos.

@notconvinced(62)· 2614d
Do you remember our conversation last year in May (way before HF20) where I explained why I was leaving? I saw this type of thing coming and assure you that I take no pleasure in being correct, but this is just another example that shows I'm pretty good at reading between the lines.

My main point last year was that Steem is actually a Centralized Oligarchy modelled after the failed, nonrepresentative American Political System and would not be sustainable calling itself Decentralized.

Ned has pretty much retained full control over it's progress and as @crimsonclad mentioned in your last post on the topic that she may vote yes in HF21 to retain some of her big votes...

How is that Decentralized?
@tcpolymath(69)· 2614d
It's nice out here.

Not long after HF20 - largely but not entirely because of the last round of this discussion - I made the decision to power down 80% or so of my stake, and I don't regret it for an instant. I've done much better financially with that money in that time than I could have by holding it as Steem Power, and also had a better time with it.

These days I hold SP primarily as a means of having RCs for projects outside of the blogging ecosystem, and powering up again just isn't remotely on my radar.
@josephsavage(67)· 2614d
I wonder how feasible it would be for witnesses to set reward split levels in their configurations. Then the actual division at payout could be a moving 7 day average of configs assigned to each block. That would allow for each witness to target specific levels, justify their targets, and adapt as the community adapts.

There are tons of other components that work this way (like the 3.5 day average feed price used to calculate the portion of payout going to SBD) so the technical hurdles can't be too difficult.
@johneyreacko(63)· 2614d
I know 3 Steemians who rely on their author rewards to physically survive. They cash out to pay bills, rent and to buy food. A 30+% cut in earnings will destroy them, and the experiment that is Steem will have suffered its first major defeat - the destruction of the dreamer, and the squashing of ambition.

A sad day... there's a reason I came to steem and not tezos or neo, I want creators to be rewarded.. not stake holders.

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