Image credit: 
Right from my early days on the Steem blockchain, I had great respect and admiration for Steem curators. Each time I read articles or watched videos about where the money on Steem comes from, I had more and more reasons to respect Steem curators.
The truth is that it will be impossible to reward content creators and even run the Steem blockchain had Steem not had a group of people who constantly defile the odds, buy Steem, and then power it up for the purpose of rewarding others and perhaps themselves.
It was why I wrote extensively in the weeks preceding HF21 that the 50/50 reward system was only fair and just. But I didn't stop there, I went a step further by putting my money where my mouth was. I ended up buying over 5k Steem Power to become a dolphin and a curator myself. I realized that it was not enough to create contents, one must also reward others.
Unfortunately, there are still a couple of people out there who believe that curators are overrated and are getting too much for merely curating, for merely clicking the upvote button, they say.
These critics forget that curators earn rewards not because they click the upvote button but because of their stake, what is otherwise known as Steem Power.
And frankly speaking, investment in cryptocurrencies is bad enough - it is even worse and scarier when such investment is locked up in Steem Power that takes 13 weeks to unlock.
So, curators take a big risk to reward others in a market that is greatly driven by speculations and greeted by surprises. While others holding liquid Steem can, before you say Jack Robinson, sell off their holdings and run, those who hold Steem Powers have lots of things to worry about - they are struck whether or not the market is moving up or going down.
I understand that content creators are also critical to the success of Steem, nevertheless curators are the only reason why people still get paid for creating contents.
To put the matter more clearly, if not for the presence of curators here Steem will not be different from Facebook or Twitter where people get empty likes for creating contents.
So, it is a good thing to see that HF21 has given more powers to the curators who are actually the engine powering Steem.
Hey, I am not saying that content creators are unimportant and irrelevant to the future of Steem. I am just saying that it is far easier to create contents than it is to take up the challenge of becoming a curator. After all, content creators have little or nothing to lose if Steem goes to zero tomorrow.
However, curators have everything to lose if their stake goes to zero tomorrow. Curators are like the owners of a company, they ride or die with the company while content creators are like employees - they go elsewhere when the company slides into crisis. Do not be deceived, Steem is nothing without the curators.
Until I come your way again, I wish you a full Steem ahead.