There is obviously a great deal of uncertainty with the Tron Foundation's acquisition of Steemit Inc. Since that time, we have not seen a lot of clarity in terms of the intentions.
Eli Powell, the Managing Director of Steemit Inc, did an interview where she expressed her feelings on the situation. In short, she feels that Steemit Inc is better off now that it is acquired by an entity that has the resources to help move things forward.
Before going any further, we must state that this should come as no surprise. While I do not question the sincerity of Eli's beliefs in that regard, it is obvious where her bread is buttered. She is an employee of Steemit Inc, hence her paycheck is dependent upon the new owners of that company.
It is also vital to mention how Steemit Inc's interests are not necessarily aligned with Steem's. We all know they are two separate entities and it is becoming more obvious by the day.
We’ve been in a holding pattern due to a financial lack of resources. We’ve always had roadmaps but we couldn’t execute them. But just last week, Steemit was able to launch its new communities feature, which allows users to take advantage of community features similar to those on Reddit. We’ve been working on this feature for three years. This just shows how fast Justin Sun has worked to help us launch communities.”
Here is an example that is a bit perplexing. We saw the development of Communities over the past 6 months. After years of waiting, Roadscape brought out an Alpha version for the community to test. Many set up individual communities and were posting to it. Yet, according to Eli's statement, the release was due to Sun coming in? Perhaps this is the case but I would figure it was more of Ned's inability to make a decision as opposed to money. The work was done and in the testing phase when Sun entered the picture.
Here is another example of how clear it is:
Despite recent remarks, Powell told Cointelegraph that Tron’s partnership of Steemit is incredibly exciting, noting that she expects Tron to provide the resources needed to help grow the Steemit ecosystem.
Many people use the terms "Steem" and "Steemit" interchangeably. However, someone who is around like Eli knows the difference. Yet, right there, it says "Steemit Ecosystem" as opposed to Steem. Once again, it is where her bread is buttered.
But then again, perhaps she has no clue about it. We see this tidbit when talking about the soft fork and Steemit Inc's ninja-mined state:
Powell explained that the Steemit Inc. ninja-mined stake is intended to help with further support and financial developments of the Steemit blockchain.
I thought it was to help with further support and financial developments of the Steem blockchain.
Of course, the prevailing mindset is that Tron acquired Steemit's "proprietary" blockchain which is now can roll into the Tron ecosystem. This mindset is in Eli's head as well.
“Scaling is important, and Steemit can handle all the new traffic coming from Tron. We’ve already had 30% more signups this February compared to February last year. This partnership is about bringing the social media aspect to the Tron ecosystem.”
If Steem is Steemit to her, she feels this is bringing social media to Tron.
As for the soft fork, her views on that are clear:
“I wrote a blog post last week about how anytime there is change, people become uneasy. As we continue to plan our road map with Tron, people will start to understand what our visions are. We have just begun to strategize on this. I understand that Steemit has held the power for so long and that the soft fork was a reaction that came too soon.”
Change? Does she really believe this was just a few people lacking the ability to embrace change? A big part of the move was the fact that Sun, himself, used the Foundation's stake to vote for block producers on Tron, something he said he would not do. This came after the tweets and marketing releases that discussed a token swap and rolling Steem into Tron.
So Steemit held the power too long but everyone should sit back while that power is held by Sun, something that is, at best, questionable based upon his track record on his own blockchain?
Here is the full writeup in Cointelegraph.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/steemit-managing-director-on-acquisition-by-tron-exclusive
This is nothing personally against Eli Powell. In fact, I do not fault her for walking the new company line. That is the position she is in. But we need to make sure we are clear where the major players stand. Steemit Inc is part of Tron's ecosystem and there is where there loyalty has to reside. Failure to do that will result in replacement. It is really that simple.
Thus, we have to presume that Eli is not going to look out for the best interests of Steem. Steemit Inc was always dedicated to themselves, which is also sensible, and that is now even more evident. Perhaps it was lost over the last year or two because of Ned's disinterest. Either way, we need to be very careful moving forward.
It is a subject that created a great deal of debate. Ultimately, this is not going to make everyone happy. While most everyone would like collaboration and a true partnership, the sense, thus far, is that is not Tron's desire in spite of the rhetoric they try to toss out there. Their true intentions, in my opinion, came out up front. Even this interview by Eli reaffirms that.
As for the soft fork, I think it a valid debate as to whether it should or should not have taken place. What I do not believe is even up for consideration is whether it was done too soon. If action was required, ie the soft fork needed, then waiting made no sense. Sadly, Eli is making it seem like a knee-jerk reaction that took place on a whim. From what I understand, there was a great deal of discussion that took place after the AMA.
Speaking of the AMA, Sun did not even have his laptop fully charged for a discussion with the Steem community. What kind of message does that send to the community? He is basically saying you are not worth the time for me to even plug in my laptop.
Obviously, there is no way to know how all of this will unfold. However, we need to make it clear that Steemit Inc is not Steem. Eli is well aware she is now part of Tron and there is who she represents. It is up to the community to represent ourselves.
This is what decentralization is all about. Steemians need to act in Steem's best interest.
Image from article linked.
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Posted via Steemleo