I was planning to drop this as a comment on the delegation request post by @proofofbrainio, but I'll never miss an opportunity to milk some rewards and upset some folk because I'm up on trending again.
My goal for this post is to lay out the efforts I've made on the Proof Of Brain platform with some commentary here and there to point out the motivations behind them.
In addition, there will be links to previous posts, statistics, future goals, and hopefully, some fun is thrown in now and then to get some laughs.
Fair warning, here is the reading time and word count.
Words: 3,105 / Reading time: 12 min 25 sec
I started POB like many others, scratching my head, asking, "what does Proof Of Brain require since it's a general topic tribe?". However, over time I've realised the significance of that question and how answering it for yourself is a right of passage before finding your groove.
I started by posting daily and sharing parts of my life honestly, which helped me connect with many people. As time has gone on, I've adapted to the environment and tried to remain constant with the things I find value in (that being the people I interact with or the content I share).
I'm usually nose deep in controversy as of late. I shake my head at all the sycophants who can't tell their arse from their elbow most days. It comes with the territory, I guess.
This will be put to one side as I continue to focus on those that matter.
The ideals behind Proof Of Brain (the mechanics/concept) have been jeopardised repeatedly because of power dynamics and the flawed nature of this social landscape. So I see the platform we're on as an experiment trying to find solutions to some of the issues present in the Proof Of Brain/Delegated Proof Of Stake mashup.
Is it easy? Fuck no. Do some people want to prevent these changes from happening for their gain? Of course. Will we ever truly achieve fair distribution within this model? Nope.
We can still have fun while we try. That's the benefit of seeing things as an experiment and not a means to an end.
Word of the Week
We're on the thirteenth week of the contest now, and it's safe to say that we've come a long way since the beginning.
Merit System
Every week @scholaris, @nonsowrites, and I grade the WOTW posts based on a range of metrics to find the best post published during the week. We added a grading system to the contest to provide a method for judging which would not favour any particular person over another, based on pure subjective opinion (or laziness, to be more accurate).
Proper balance is still not achieved since the team's individuals have different perspectives and tastes, but we're not too far away. We plan to refine the process by fine-tuning subjective and objective elements in grading while maintaining some flexibility so creativity flourishes.
The quality of content shared by community members is excellent for the most part. We're noticing the bar being raised each week by everyone (even the tag spammers are raking in some healthy numbers with their disqualified posts). We see the benefits of the merit system from the posts shared within the contest and the knock-on effect it has for publications outside of #pob-wotw.
Engagement
It has dropped off from previous weeks, but we're not concerned as the goal is consistency. High-quality posts tend to bring high-quality engagement, which is more valuable in the long run.
We're planning to incorporate engagement rewards which will complement the merit grading system process. For example, metrics such as: unique authors commented, unique author replies, the number of comments, average daily score within the Engagement Project, WOTW votes cast, and more will determine who the top engagers are each week.
Rewards
The rewards for the WOTW have evolved. First, we started with liquid POB rewards, then POB delegations, now we've got an NFT/Powered-up POB combo which seems to be working out well.
The reason for the powered-up stake is so that I don't need to monitor delegations for abuse etc. (I really can't be arsed to do that, it's more hassle than it's worth). The NFT setup is there to moderate rewards while also providing an additional goal for people who show their dedication to the platform. Once you've proved yourself to be a top rate Proof Of Brainer, the rewards soon follow.
We've also introduced season rewards for WOTW, which do not require the specific NFT for reward redemption. The prize pool for season rewards is 5,000 POB, with 2,500 POB of the winnings going to the 1st place position. This chance for rewards should provide some serious motivation for all participants.
High-quality posts in the #pob-wotw tag usually pick up some excellent votes, so even when you don't place in the top five or can't redeem your NFT's, you still see the appreciation your content deserves. The rewards for the contest are going to people who prove their brains consist of good stuff.
Weekly win rewards: 400 POB
Weekly Engagement rewards: 200 POB (Still undecided. I will take @amr008's Engagement Project rewards into account)
Weekly Season reward accumulation: 500 POB (5,000 POB per season, ten weeks)
WOTW Team Appreciation: 200-300 POB
All of the above are direct powered-up POB rewards, except Team Appreciation which is liquid.
When we consider the bigger picture of the platform and how we will continue progressing forward with quality in mind, I believe the Word of the Week contest provides a benchmark for what we can achieve if we're consistent and steady in our efforts.Value and the Future
Intriguing content and genuine engagement are two of the building blocks needed for these platforms to flourish. The contest brings these both in spades, and I hope that other projects can replicate some of the successes we've had so they too can get focused attention and recognition to the people who make the platform beat.
The future is always uncertain (especially when I'm behind the wheel of anything). However, I find great personal value from the contest through learning and the understanding of others, so I don't see any reason to stop the project anytime soon.
POBLeus
Still relatively new but already making some much-needed changes to token distribution, POBLeus is a curation effort that aims to spread votes from the @proofofbrainio account out to many in the POB community.
We're currently in the testing phase of the project at the moment and finding our groove. The basic premise is as follows;
- POBLeus curator's curation trail is followed by @proofofbrainio at 10% with a 24-hour delay
- Curators drop quality posts in the discord channel #link-drop (1 hour slow-mode)
- Stakeholders can view the channel and decide to vote or not.
Delegations will be given to curators from @proofofbrainio to reward curators for their efforts while incentivising them to maintain the quality we all want to see on the platform.
Integrity and Responsibility
These qualities are possibly the most important when evaluating curators on the Proof Of Brain platform, but they're not the only points to consider. We have a channel on the POBLeus discord called #integrity where anyone can drop a message and highlight their appreciation or concerns of the curators, with transparency and constructive discussion being encouraged.
Powered-up POB rewards will be given to accounts that point out any issues with the curation efforts in the #integrity channel (the process for this is still undecided).
We also have a script in the works (developed by @amr008) that will provide a range of data to determine curation quality. These statistics will assist in the nomination, selection, and evaluation process of the curatorships. In addition, I will post weekly publications on the @pobleus account, and a ranking system will be developed to help with awarding delegations to curators.
These are the metrics we will be using;
- Average post/comment count per week
- Quantity of votes per day
- Unique authors per week
- Average stakesize voted on
- Percentage of vote weight utilised per week
- Amount of votes: Below 10%,10%-25%, 25%-50%, 50%-75%, 75%-100%
- Percentage of direct Proof Of Brain tag votes (#hive-150329)
- Powered up POB per week (% of total earned)
- Sold/Transferred POB per week (% of total earned)
- Frequented authors (% of vote weight) per week
- Powerdown activity
- Current stakesize and vote weight
- Projected POB distributed per week
Options to integrate with Engagement Project:
- Amount of times upvoted grey or blacklisted accounts
- Amount of times upvoted the top 10 engagement project accounts per week
- Amount of comments made to top 10 engagement project accounts
Rewards
I've already pointed out the rewards for the curators (delegations from @proofofbrainio) and touched onto the rewards for people who are providing feedback for the curators. I'm still unsure how to reward feedback sustainably, but we'll test it out and come up with the answers.
I think that another weekly report could be published from the @pobleus account and the best feedback from the week can be rewarded with powered-up POB.
Value and the Future
The added value from POBLeus is still unclear during the testing phase. I assume that the curation trails provide the needed support for token distribution, which boosts motivation and morale, although the long-term effects are still hazy. We have to follow the Proof Of Brain ideals as closely as possible; otherwise, we've lost all integrity in the platforms name. I'm still unsure how badly automated curation trails damage this.
The plan for the short-term is to iron out the nomination, selection, and evaluation process for the curators of the project.
The long-term goal will focus on developing a curation effort that follows the PoB mechanics to the letter. This will require;
- 100% manual curation
- Full responsibility for votes
- Zero proxy voting through automation
- Rewards earned through integrity and responsibility (not compromise and laziness)
- High-level of decentralisation achieved for the curatorship moderation and selection process.
High hopes. Slow and steady are the words that spring to mind.
Personal Accountability
I'll throw out some stuff here highlighting some of the contributions I've made so far to the community. I've mentioned before that I'm not concerned about having a large stake, just enough to maintain some consistency for the support I provide through powerups.
There is much greater value for the platform overall (and per single POB, if that gets your knob hard) if more accounts have larger stakes. This links back to the DPoS flaws and how damaging it is to have fewer people in significant stake positions. It ultimately limits the range of opinions expressed (fewer people to reward sufficiently = more people gravitating towards individual stakeholders and their limited points of view).
POBLeus helps with this, but it's not a sustainable long-term solution at the moment. I will continue giving out large sums of POB as a powered-up stake to people who care about the community, but I'm only one man.
Speaking up
I don't give a fuck. I'll voice my opinion if I think it will help anything. Does it come across as egotistical and unnecessary at times? Sure. I'm only human.
Still, I'm not going to sit around with my finger up my arse watching some people take blatant liberties. Someone quite literally told you to "choose sides"; otherwise, you'd lose their support recently (i.e. big rewards, let's not beat around the bush). It's been funny and quite disappointing to watch many people display a complete lack of integrity through their ignorance and actions after this. Never mind, I hope the tokens are worth it.
I'll continue to share what's on my mind about accounts if the feeling presents itself (all stakeholders included, myself too), although the desire to do this for the benefit of the individual has gone. Anything that severely affects the platform is a different story (my subjective opinion on this will be present, like it or lump it).
POB Contributions
Let's rattle off a few of these in quick succession (data provided by @amr008).
Liquid POB transferred to other accounts: 34 unique users / 5975 POB / 87.86 POB on average per transfer
POB staked to other accounts: 8 unique users / 825 POB / 91.66 POB average staked per user
POB delegation history to other accounts (currently revoked): 25 unique users / 8925 POB / 287 POB average delegated at once
POB contributed to @pob-fund through beneficiaries: 760.9012 POB comment benefactor rewards
Noteworthy posts and the reasons behind them;
Burning the Evidence: The paradoxical nature of burning tokens to increase the price/value.
Ongoing POB Discussion Threads: Communication and discussion are critical to success. (@scholaris is taking over this responsibility, what a guy).
Open or closed minded?: Compromises to PoB through the motivation of fear in a DPoS system (Survival versus Integrity)
Just a load of fucking jiffies: Archaic tyrannical positions squashing freedom of expression.
75/25 would it work?: The issue with the 50/50 split and the runaway nature of larger stakeholder positions.
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me: Inconsistencies, the mercy of users to large stakeholders, the test of ego.
We're all POB Curators: Importance of each individual within the PoB structure, the insignificance of "Whale"dom.
The Cautious Jester: Mob mentality and the concerns linked to blockchain transparency.
Cojones Active: Say what the fuck is up without fear.
Adapt or Suffer: Integrity and knowing how to react when you're off the mark.
Are you Whale watching?: Detective work provides solid, truthful analysis and the importance of following more prominent stakeholders.
Coming up for Air: The downsides of following false narratives and not doing your homework.
Who's Rewarding Who?: 50/50 split and the self-voting similarities.
Solutions Not Problems: Issues with DPoS, automation, distribution and the introduction of POBLeus.
Voting and shit
Manual curation is important (I'm casually eating lasagna while I write this next bit, so don't take it too seriously because I'm not).
But let's be completely honest, voting is a scaling responsibility depending on your stake, the stake you manage via curation trails, etc. Not everyone has to take the task as seriously as others (this wouldn't even be a concern if PoB/DPoS was the all-singing, all-dancing orgasm that everyone cracks it up to be). Even so, we can't neglect the fact that we're receiving 50% of the rewards ourselves (or added influence when managing a trail).
If you are receiving any more than 1 POB per post for curation rewards, then I don't see any reason for going on about the time it takes to read and vote. You're getting paid to read. Suppose you're doing it all manually with some concern for the meaning behind PoB, then congratulations. In that case, you're doing it in line with the platforms ideals (what the platform was designed for initially). Does that make you unique?
Curation trails differ since you aren't receiving the rewards. Still, the likelihood is that you're receiving some form of benefit because you're handling the trail responsibility, i.e. the downsides rarely outweigh the upsides.
So yeah, voting is important and makes the platform tick, but it's not a contribution that needs any special treatment, in my opinion (unless you are metaphorically taking a piss over the whole community and laughing at the PoB concept in the process).
POB's future?
It's not a means to an end. This isn't going to be the last PoB blogchain we see. So if you have your head in the sand about DPoS and power dynamics, give yourself a shake because there are many more valuable things being sacrificed when you bow your head for the prospect of some digital coins.
I feel like the majority of downvoting is toxic in execution and it needs a severe overhaul before any serious development can be done for the platform. What's the point in doing any groundbreaking work if people can sway points of view based on the size of their wallets?
The discussion also has to happen for upvoting behaviours and what is deemed abusive or detrimental to the platform's longevity. Too much uncertainty floating around there and pure anarchy within PoB/DPoS is not sustainable if we want to encourage freedom to speak, at least from where I'm sitting.
Post something that a big dog doesn't like? Say goodbye to your rewards (and your flakey followers with no integrity who are having their rewards removed too, that would suit some people fine but it's hardly encouraging).
I'm sticking around for the experiment, the learning opportunities, and the connections made. The upside to POB is that we've seen how this particular model plays out, and we can see what needs work.
You can either be part of the problem or part of the solution; we've all got to figure that out on our own.
Ah well, that's all.
Some of the things I've done did and will continue to do.
Somewhat ranty, exceedingly long, but as authentic as I could muster.
I forgot one thing, how much POB do I look to exchange? Between 100-200 POB on a Saturday (on and off, not every weekend).
