An Open Letter To @elipowell

I decided to write this as an open letter since I couldn't find Eli's email address listed anywhere. It is a step that I think she and the Steemit Inc team should consider.

Hello Eli:

I wanted to take this opportunity to give you commendation for the work you put in since you took over the day-to-day operations of Steemit Inc. The progress is operating on a much different level in spite of the reduction in staff and for that all of you should be proud.

In spite of that, there is something that I wanted to address with you.

I spent much of the last 30 years in sales and marketing. Over that time, as you well know, you view things from a different perspective.

That said, I will cut right to the chase: you still have a major image problem with the Steem community.

The trust is not there in spite of the efforts you took the last 6 months. Many feel that the organization is out for itself above all else. The stake that the company is holding is viewed as a hindrance to growth making the platform too centralized.

I realize the solution to trust is time and continued effort. Steemit Inc burnt a lot of bridges over the past 3 years, a situation you inherited.

Over the past couple years, the company did try to do some good with the stake it has. In addition to delegating to new accounts, it tried to support the community by providing large blocks of SP to some applications. As exemplified with the situation with Dlive, the results were mixed.

What I am proposing is taking this initiative one step further while also improving the image of Steemit Inc in the eyes of the community.

I can put together 30-40 Dolphins who are active and committed. From them, I am certain they can each provide a list of 25-35 names of Minnows and Planktons who are dedicated to Steem while doing their best to grow.

The idea is to pull together 1,000 of our most active smaller accounts. These are the ones we initially support.

For a period of 90 days, these 1,000 accounts are delegated 5,000 SP by Steemit Inc. This is effectively added 1,000 Dolphins to the platform overnight, at least in terms of voting power.

These accounts can use the delegation to grow over that period. After the quarter end, there are a few options.

First, we could simply renew it. Leave the delegation where it is and those accounts get to use it for a longer period of time.

The second is Steemit Inc can expand the program. Stake is something the company has and putting more of it to use can only enhance the entire ecosystem. Many of us have more than 50% of our SP delegated, there is no reason that Steemit Inc cannot do the same. Thus, we could add another 1,000 names to the list.

It is time for Steemit Inc to show a true concern for the future of this platform above and beyond the coding and future updates to Steemit.com. That is valuable to the community yet still a bit self serving in the eyes of many.

Is there any better way to show concern for the community than by supporting the smallest of the dedicated pool of users?

Since the organization was able to leave survival mode, the need to unload so much SP each month to cover expenses is dwindling. Thus, it is the ideal time to start an initiative like this.

Here are the advantages as I see them:

The reward pool is severely altered with a great deal of VP placed in the hands of 1,000 smaller accounts. This should help distribution since the smaller accounts tend to flock together and now there are some larger stakes supporting them.
Steemit Inc is adhering to the proverbial "putting its money where its mouth is" by actually placing the money in the hands of those who need it. This shows the concern for the community that is always discussed.
Steemit Inc cannot be accused of playing favorites since it is a community initiative put together by active Dolphins (who tend to interact with the Minnows and Planktons.
Very little work required from Steemit Inc. Simply power up and enter the list of names in the delegation bot. With so much on your plate, the last thing needed is taking valuable personnel off ongoing projects to start something new.

The other aspect to all of this is the fact that word will spread. If the project is expanding each quarter while the ones receiving the delegation are being rotated, others are going to work hard to get on the list. This means activity will increase with people trying to get noticed. One will not receive the 5,000 delegation by spamming "nice post" comments or putting up a links to YouTube videos as posts.

Simply put, this idea can exceed the 1,000 accounts in terms of impact. We could see a ratio of 10 to 1 meaning 10,000 accounts see results. For a platform with only 40,000 daily transacting accounts, that is a significant percentage.

At this point, I feel it is time for the largest stake holder to get involved with the daily support of the smallest stakeholders to help them move forward.

This is a program that I believe will help to achieve that end.

It also will change the perception of the company in the eyes of thousands of Steemians.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

@taskmaster4450
Discord taskmaster4450 #9768