It would be wrong to say that the dust have settled down, as it will take us several months to see the real impact from these recent HardForks. But, I still get the feeling that most of the complaints and that most of the immediate worries that escalated very quickly before- and right after HF21 have started to decrease.
This is probably much due to the fact that many of our good leaders have stepped up to the plate and they have taken this "bull by the horn". Many of them have been answering literally dozens of questions in an attempt to ease the pain from those who feels that this HF has destroyed their "Steem future", and they have also explained what the goals are and how this will be an improvement for Steem in general, with time.
We have already seen good results regarding the trending pages. It literally took only a few short minutes after the HardFork had been done, before we could see the first flags. Low quality posts bid-botted to extreme rewards have vanished and bid-bots haven't been used as frequently as before. In fact, many of the bid-bots haven't been used at all, and other forms of vote buying seems to have decreased too.
Some would say that it's awesome too see that bid-bots are "gone" and others might still agree that there is a place for bid-bots on Steem.
Despite these great & cool things, I am still skeptical. Perhaps a better word for it would be concerned, even though I remain skeptical. I don't think HF21 will be as good as people have claimed it to be... But, I have started to truly believe that HF21 was for the greater good.
I'm not sure how it will affect me personally, and truth is that I have actually become slightly worried. I don't want my rewards to be reduced when I've been here for such a long time, working my ass off to produce content, making friends and supporting others in many different ways... But more on this further down.
The reward changes made many of us worried, some more than others, but even some of the larger accounts seems to be worried or concerned as they fail to see how these new reward changes and the new mindset for #NewSteem will be something positive for lesser accounts.
However, Steem is likely to never be anything close to what we have seen in the past. #NewSteem is about rewarding users who contributes and does something for others in a much larger extent than before. That's how I interpret things.
Honestly, I think that is a good thing, because I don't want to reward spammers and shit posts. I have spent several hours reading some of the things people have said, and many of them have often talked about rewarding genius-ideas and projects, because they are looking for amazing contributions and outstanding content creators.
I have seen people talking about rewarding real life experts and people with real influence. Famous YouTubers or people with several thousands of followers on Twitter for instance, because that's how Steem eventually will attract investors and people powering up.
What many of our leaders and other pro-HF21 users seems to have talked about, is how tired they are to see people cashing out and how they won't reward users who doesn't contribute to Steem anymore... This is also were people seems to talk about flags the most. What to flag, when to flag.
We have also seen people talking about downvote-groups and how they will downvote content as a unit or group instead of doing things individually.
To quote something theycallmedan said:
"To please the people that solely do things for money is a terrible business strat because those are the same people who dump Steem as soon as they get any."
I can totally understand his point, and I agree with him. But, this doesn't sound good for the so called average users on Steem. I know at least a handful of people who're powering down and cashing out to survive in real life. With the recent reward changes and the #newsteem approach, I am worried for the sake of some of my friends.
Rewards from Steem helps these people in real life. I am powering down too but I am not cashing out right now. I might have to do that in the near future though. It's not set in stone at this time, but I might have to cash out so I can afford to finish my education that ends in December this year.
My initial goal was never to pay for my entire education using my Steem rewards, even though it would've been an awesome thing, but due to how student aid regulations and how the government operates in Sweden, I might actually not be eligible student loan throughout the entire education, and if that's the case, I'm looking forward to ~3.5 months without income.
After many months, appeals, emails and phone calls, things might actually work out in my favor, but if I would actually end up in a situation were I need to live out of 0 income for ~3.5 months, wouldn't my Steem rewards be a huge help? Aren't we supposed to use our hard-earned rewards for things just like that?
- To help us out financially?
Look, I am not talking about powering down and cashing out 100% of your earnings at all times. Some users have done that for a long period of time already, and that doesn't work...
Judging by many of the conversations I've seen so far, it actually seems like some users aren't even willing to reward anyone who's powering down from now on, which obviously would make things more difficult in that sort of situation. Things might change with communities though, but if that is the so called #newsteem approach and mindset, I can't really see why communities would be different.
That being said, we have seen some of the bigger names on Steem making posts asking for good, under-paid authors, so they can spread the rewards and support more people. That's obviously a good idea, and definitely something I've felt we've needed for a very long time...
But, how many users are powering up everything they earn?
This is from the post I linked above:
"I am not looking for users who are constantly powering down and selling."
This obviously doesn't necessarily mean that themarkymark would ignore to reward good content, even if the author is powering down or selling, but there's a reason for him to write this. He is looking for people who'll power up and grow their accounts. As that will help Steem in the long haul.
theycallmedan made a similar post too, and leaders or role models with these statements or "requirements" might actually convince others to do the same. Which could potentially become a double-edged sword.
I know that I might be over-exaggerating things and I don't claim to be entitled more rewards than others, but it would obviously suck to receive less rewards just because I power down. I am not saying that this is how it will turn out, but I think there's a chance for that.
And how can I possibly see these things as something that could happen based on just a short sentence like the one in markymarks post?
The short answer is that people tend to go "too far", or take things a little too serious at times. We could already see some of it with the free downvotes when the "witch hunt" started. People was looking for bid-bot abusers and things escalated quickly. Established, well-known authors and users who've been here for years got mentioned as a potential target for flags because they "earned too much" according to some people.
If they are likely to be flagged because "they earn too much", with posts worth ~$10-$25, I can totally see how some people would never reward a user who is currently powering down or cashing out too, which would make things even worse for someone like me, in case things doesn't turn out good with my student loan for instance.
That being said, I am still skeptical and/or concerned and even though I actually fear that some of the things I've mentioned might happen, I have started to realize how this will be good for all of us in the long haul. Including the lesser accounts and myself. HF21 might hurt many of us in the early stages, but I am sure it will benefit Steem in the long haul...
- Which should be our main goal.