The Steem Blockchain Needs Curators

Over the last month I have witnessed some excellent discussions brewing on the STEEM blockchain and in the discords. Game changing discussions. About delegation, upvote bots, circle-voting, flagging, and the reward pool. I’ve seen witnesses, whales, and large groups of minnows engaged in genuine discord (not the platform, but the back and forth discussions where people didn’t agree and that’s okay).

One thing that has come up in several of the discussions that I witnessed is that the STEEM blockchain needs readers. We call readers curators but often times curators need to blog if they want to earn STEEM, because there isn’t much STEEM in curation alone when you first get here.

So, let’s start there. When people first come to the blockchain, who are they? It’s hard to build a persona, so I don’t want to try - I’ll leave that to the statistical experts - but in a very broad sense people are either bloggers or they are not. Not everyone is a blogger. I think I am safe in saying that. I may even be safe in saying not everyone is a commentor. If you don’t believe I am on solid ground with that leap, you can tune me out. If you are still with me, my point is that some people are just predisposed to curate when they get here.

Personally I got less than a penny’s worth of STEEM Power (SP) for any curations I did when I first got here. The best I did was 0.007 SP for a single curation, and had way more curations that resulted in 0 reward than 0.001 SP or more. I also made a small investment in the platform early on, a couple mBtc - nothing major, but having never cracked 35SP in my first month, I felt my curation was pretty much unrewarded. Dan, the co-founder of STEEM blockchain, had this to say about minnow curation, “Curation is a game for whales and dolphins. Minnows are unlikely to earn any significant return on their votes. Minnows should stick to posting and commenting.” https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/curation-rewards-and-voting-incentive.

I agree with him, as things are right now, but his statement has me asking a question: what is a predisposed curator doing? Are they blogging? Commenting? Leasing delegation? Or leaving? If they are blogging or commenting, I wonder if that is benefitting the blockchain? If they are leasing delegation - are they making STEEM or losing it? Are they selling votes? Are they blogging and self-voting with leased SP? Are they circle-voting with leased SP? I hope they’re not leaving. But, I don’t blame anyone for any decisions, I don’t judge and I won’t moralize the question. I want to ask a different question:

What if there was a way to reward a pure curator? One that spreads the vote around and doesn’t self vote, circle-vote, or sell vote. Reward those minnows with increased delegation, because their contribution to the community is what keeps the content creators around. Raise the quality of the blockchain by offering the curator enough incentive that they aren’t forced to do something that degrades its quality. The net positive done by a pure curator raises the profile of the STEEM blockchain and makes it more appealing to investors. The pure curator is just what the STEEM blockchain needs, so I hope we can give them a path to success.

And, it’s actually already happening! The other night on MSP Waves, I heard an announcement that several minnows were made instant dolphins by some free delegation thanks to some very kind (and I would say forward thinking) individuals. I don’t want to get it wrong, but I think Stellabelle then fulltimegeek gifted the dolphin making delegations and maybe some others added to it. I was blown away to hear it. Those that received delegation promised enthusiastic responsible curation and I know they will do it. Could this start a trend? I can only hope.

Thank you to any that are experimenting with such delegations, because the service you are doing for the long-term good of the blockchain is incalculable. To any thinking about experimenting similarly - remember this about delegations: A delegation can be reclaimed at any time by the delegator. You can make sure that your gift is in good hands at all times.