Stakeholders vs. Regular Users

One thing that I have always found interesting about the interactions that I have with various Steemians is the disconnect that often exists between "regular users" and "stakeholders".

Regular Users

Regular users are typically interested in earning rewards. They want to know how they can get their content discovered and upvoted. They care a lot about new features (such as the posting editor). Their ideal scenario is to find a way to contribute value to the platform and be rewarded for it.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders are typically interested in "Return on Investment" or ROI. They want to get out more money than they put in. Their ideal scenario is that the STEEM tokens they hold go way up in value with the smallest amount of work required by them.

Disclaimer

These characterizations are purposely over-simplified for discussion purposes. Obviously not every user or stakeholder is going to simply fit into these boxes.

Conflict of Interest

Often the goals of stakeholders and regular users are at odds with each other. The tactics that many users earn to try and earn rewards may actually be making the stakeholders tokens worth less. Things that stakeholders may do in order to get the highest ROI may be harmful to a regular user's experience.

Cooperation

At the same time, there is a shared common interest between all parties involved, and that is the success of Steem. If Steem is successful, then everybody wins. There are more rewards to be paid to regular users, and the value of all the stakeholders' tokens goes up.

Bridging the "Gap"

If the interests of stakeholders and users aligned, then we have both groups working together towards the success of Steem. One of the biggest things that I think will help with that is to inform regular users what the stakeholders are looking for. Then they can do more of "that", and hopefully earn more rewards in the process.

Interview a Stakeholder Series

I am planning to start a "Interview a Stakeholder" series to get input from stakeholders that can be provided to regular users.

The goal of this is to help the regular users better understand the views of the stakeholders, so that they can better tailor their contributions towards what the stakeholders actually want.

Who to Interview?

The interview will be 100% voluntary for stakeholders (so I cannot guarantee anyone will participate), but if you have any "special requests" of anyone you would like me to try and interview - let me know in the comments and I will try.

Questions

The main purpose of this post is to solicit feedback from everyone in the community about what types of questions you would like me to ask to stakeholders.

Here are some examples:

• How did you become a part of the Steem project?
• When did you join?
• How did you acquire a majority of your stake?
• How many STEEM tokens do you currently hold?
• Do you hold a lot of other tokens besides STEEM?
• What Steem apps do you use on a regular basis?
• In addition to holding tokens, how else are you involved in the project?
• What types of things do you do in order to get a ROI on your investment?
• What do you think is standing in the way of $10 STEEM?
• What type of contributions do you consider to be adding value to your investment?
• How do you discover and reward those types of contributions?
• Do you delegate SP to any projects? If so, what types of projects do you support?
• What do you look for when casting witness votes?
• Do you have strong views on any of the issues that are frequently discussed?
• What would you like to see more/less of from regular users?

In the comments below, please add your suggestions for what questions you would like me to ask in the interviews.