For a very long time now I have mentioned that Steem isn't currently a place for everyone but of course, anyone can come in and do because there is a chance to earn here. I am not even going to use the "still in Beta" excuse, it just isn't ready but, it is getting there, albeit slowly. Essentially all of us here are crash test dummies and those of us who survive might make it onto product release. Remember that we are now in the world of live testing where the public reports bug reports, they are gathered and eventually, a patch is released.
People are looking for this to be a social media platform. It is not. As soon as everyone had control and access to the economic model at its core it became an economy and as such, behaves in a vastly different manner than any of the centralized platforms will. And, the social media aspect is only a small piece of what the capabilities of this platform are.
As I see it, one of the largest aspects of this entire project is the ability to transfer financial value freely in 3 seconds anywhere in the world. The ability to fund and get return on projects without requiring a centralized currency is another factor that is going to revolutionize various processes that are currently suffering middleman problems. But, it isn't ready.
People are still concerned with new accounts not having enough RCs for bandwidth to interact even though the solution is in development now and that solution will empower new signups for FREE. But, people want it all now. Whatever their passion area is they want the platform to cater directly for it. It isn't ready. In its current form, it really, really isn't ready for people who are unable to come in and drop a few dollars on Steem for bandwidth but, IT WILL BE soon.
When is soon? Dunno.
This isn't, never was and never will be "Get paid for Facebook", there is much more to this than that and it is going to be a work in progress for a very long time. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that it is a decentralized system and there are people with influence who have competing desires and incentives. A centralized system doesn't suffer from internal competition in the same was, they make a decision and pay people to fulfill it, if those people don't do their job, they fire them and pay someone who will. Is this what people want to replicate here?
At the moment a new account that comes in without knowing anyone or anything is going to be sorely disappointed by the shills on Youtube. A person who is invited in by someone saying this place is awesome and then finds they can't do anything because they have no RCs is going to be sorely disappointed. I said this about a year ago I would say, If you do not have sufficient Steem Power to support the start up of an onboard, think very seriously about inviting them.
But, with RCs and the ability they will give Dapps and Communities to onboard and support new users, no one will need to delegate Steem Power to them so they can act here, it will be FREE. Totally free for signups and they will have bandwidth allocated to them for FREE also. They just won't have voting value unless someone delegates Steem Power to them or they buy-in. They will still be able to use the system and earn and perhaps after a while, they might even choose to invest a little themselves.
People wanted Spam gone from the platform, RCs can obviously effectively stop Spam but in its current form it is a blanket fix which harms small accounts so they introduced the 10x to ease that issue. Do not be surprised if in the future the 10x is reduced by Steemit Inc and then it will be up to the community to decide who will have access. Steemit can give a 'bare minimum' discount on some actions and it will then be the Dapps, interfaces and community groups who will decide which accounts they will subsidize with Resource Credits and at what level. This process will vet users at a basic level and make it possible to disempower users who break agreements and warnings like do not spam. It will also empower communities to build all kinds of real social media types of platforms.
But, we are not there yet are we? Not by a long shot.
The platform isn't ready for people to live off even though I am glad that some can. It isn't ready to be a charity service but I am glad that it is able support people in need. It isn't ready for many things it is currently being used for but it doesn't stop anyone from trying these things out and if anything, it encourages it. There are no guarantees they are going to work here though because there is a timeline that requires certain infrastructures, processes and behaviors to have developed before it can do what everyone wants it to do.
It isn't ready for it to be everything yet but it is crawling into position. What this means is that everyone who chooses to be here (it is always a choice remember) has to accept that to some degree, it is what it is and there are stages of development that need to take place for it to be able to service a large number of people in ways that those people want it to work.
This seems like such an unsatisfactory view of it all as if it is uncaring and without compassion for all of the small accounts currently here but, to align resources, infrastructure, incentives and users adequately takes time and on the path toward that point, there is going to be various periods of disjointed parts that don't mesh with what is currently available.
This current situation is not sustainable, just as it wasn't sustainable under HF19 but, it is leading toward sustainability, albeit slowly with the introduction of the RC system. Luckily, what RCs allow for now will lead to a much more sustainable ecosystem so that then the more socially friendly apps will be able to be sustainable too.
I get the frustration but at the same time, it is shortsighted considering it is pretty obvious that we aren't stopping at this station for very long and when the new tools are made available, the train will be able to move much faster to the next. The problem is that people hold expectations about what this place is and how it should work without considering what it is and how it does work. It is kind of like some people are prepared to play tennis but are running onto a rugby field mid-game.
It isn't for everyone. There is extreme volatility. Extreme uncertainty. Large changes. Technical instability. Poor behaviors. Lying. Cheating. Stealing. Broken this and that. But, there are also a lot of people working toward repairing, mitigating and improving it everyday in the ways that they can. Some do it from a developmental perspective and some from a social perspective but, there are people here who work with the current system to improve it and get it to a point that an increasing number of people are able to use and enjoy it.
I stopped onboarding people a long time ago because I learned that it just isn't ready for those who aren't ready for this kind of environment. There is a great deal of possibility and potential here but if one comes in expecting rewards for Facebook-like activity, they are going to be disappointed. If someone isn't the type who can put up with all of the bullshit and uncertainty, they aren't likely to last no matter how often they are able to comment or post. This place has had retention issues much longer than the last two weeks but the latest change should improve that massively when it is joined by the infrastructure and possibilities that can now be built up on it. The RC system had to come before the next layer is implemented.
It is all inconvenient isn't it? Which is the problem with much of this world. We can't stop burning fossil fuels because no one wants the jobs in those industries to be lost. We can't end poverty or hunger because no one wants to go without luxuries. We can't end the threat of war because we support centralized authorities who benefit from it. We have our desires and priorities misaligned and too often put the cart before the horse.
As I understand it, the latest RC implementation is the biggest step Steem has made to being able to align functions and provide incentives at multiple levels to have a chance for a multitude of future users to enjoy and benefit a great deal. Those that are here now are going to have to hack their way through the jungle so that those who come after have a much clearer path.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
