There are limits and restrictions to growth.
It is a downside to succes. When a system becomes extremely popular it can cause it to come to a halt. Many members using a lot of all the available resources at the same time can have a negative impact on the overall performance. Yet they just want to use the system, without thinking about the inner works. That makes sense. So how to put a limitter on resource usage, without causing to much of a fuzz amongst the members of a system.
For a motorized vehicle to be able to move from A to B it needs some kind of energy put in. The one using the means of transport will know this and make sure it functions. Also looking ahead, to make sure the flow of energy will go on, so further movement is guaranteed. That might be the only worry a driver of a motorized vehicle has. Just making sure there are enough resources in reserve to keep the engine going.
For you and me our main consideration would have to be is to have enough Resource Credits {RC} available so we can active Steem members. How, why or what makes Steem work probably should not even be of interest to the users. Just knowing that every action on Steem uses some of ones RC should be enough. And that this RC recovers at a speed of 20% a day, to a maximum of a 100%.
And for those who want to do more actions on Steem needs to put more 'skin' in the game. That means to Power Up more Steem. Driving a high speed highway lots of times a day will have its price. Long distance driving might need a car with a bigger gastank, and so on and so forth. Those who want to post, reply, follow and curate more, will cause a bigger strain on the system. That is okay, but it comes at a certain price. It makes sense, yet implenting it at some point might cause some stress.
Steem would just work the same for basic usage. A few posts, a few replies, some upvotes and follow some members, it would just lower the RC percentage by about 20%, at the most. Creating a lot of follows in a day might drain the RC very quickly down to 0%. Because that does put a huge strain on the Steem 'engine'. A member could still do it, if chosen so. Even get a higher amount of RCs so the usage percentage drops at a slower rate. Powering Up more Steem makes this possible.
Having more Steem Power {SP} also gives more 'dividend', which is updated every 3 seconds. So, putting more value in, as SP, has some advantages. For new members, or those with a low SP value in their wallet, there are some restrictions on their Resource Credits, yet they can still use Steem to post, reply, follow and upvote. There needs to be some Steem Power available, a minumum, to be able to do anything. It basicly is the same system, RCs just are a more effective way to balance the usage strain out.
Steem is a member stakeholder cooperation on a blockchain. This means that the amount of influence a member can have is related to the amount of stake that is held in ones account. Steem has been that way since it started and Resource Credits are mainly used for load balancing. It can be related to the amount of members active at a certain point in time. Just as it can make complex operations that are tough on the Steem engine more expensive.
That way a new equilibrium can be found and adapt itseld dynamicly to current demand levels. Something I am convinced is really a healthy way to balance the load on the Steem 'engine'. That way payed ReSteem SPAM 'services' will be discouraged to flood our timelines. Simply because it will be way too expensive to maintain it and still make a profit. A lot of Steem Power would be needed.
Perhaps upvote bot 'services' will become a kind of a gambling system. Or it will go to the highest bidder, giving a refund to those who did not offer enough for a possible upvote. For most members this will be a waste of resources. They rather might want to Power Up hundreds of Steem, instead of risking them in an upvote gambling bot system. It will change the 'bot' market too. But the trending will probably still be a kind of bot payed for advertising page.
Bad for new members and or low SP accounts? No, I think it is a better system for them too. Think about all the resources that are not getting drained anymore by all kinds of payed SPAM services? These resources now become available to the whole community. Making it a better place for all Steemians. Even though it will probably need some tuning done before it can dynamicly adjust itself. But the equilibrium will be reached.
More weight comes at a higher cost.
Photo license CC0. Source: Pixabay.
