SMTs, PALnet, Steem EIP, SPS
For those who do not yet know: palnet.io is a new Steemit like platform which changes to a new token called PAL.
I like the idea of PAL but I also admit I do not know how Steem-Engine increases demand for Steem which was the original idea behind SMTs on top of Steem.
That being said I do think in theory having SMTs could allow for the testing of different reward curves and structures to find out which one works best through trial and error.
Measures for success
Recently the discussion introduced EIP and SPS. The Steem Proposal System is the system which I had the most skepticism about. This is particularly the case because the votes in my opinion could easily be rigged and projects which may not offer any measurable benefit to the ecosystem could be funded. We see this all the time in the arena of politics in government where we call it "pork spending" and special interests. I suggested a way to improve the SPS would be to add what I called "success metrics" so that by formula we can track the success or failure of projects according to a fixed set of criteria.
Business is about measurement and achieving profitability for shareholders. Profit can be defined by any formula the community decides to use to represent success but in my opinion it must include increasing the price of Steem at the end of the data. I hope the Steem community can actually keep scores, track some numbers, show something quantifiable. Government programs don't have to produce profit or rely on metrics (although they ought to), but businesses have to justify spending by how much value it seems to bring back.