Yesterday I released an article where I suggested that the Page Rank algorithm used by Google might be a viable alternative to the current voting system. Today I would like to add some additional insights that I have had.
Using a simple page rank simulator I played around with various graph structures to get a better understanding of the graph theory and behavior of Page Rank.
What I discovered is that in a world where everyone is equal, those who create links amongst themselves gain weight relative to those who do not cross link. I also discovered that those who give links without receiving lose direct influence, though they may gain via indirect influence.
Negative Weights don't Work
Using Page Rank you cannot have edges with negative weights, this means that it is not possible have your voting influence countered, especially if you are a bad whale.
Variation on Page Rank - Recursive Delegated Voting
Many people have been asking for the ability to delegate VESTS to other users who could then use those VESTS to cast votes. To really work well, it should be possible to redelegate your votes an infinite number of times. With delegated voting it should also be possible to "cancel out" someone else's vote with your own vote. This is already possible with bot wars, but with delegated negative voting we can bypass the network spam.
Scalability
This algorithm has many of the same scalability considerations as Page Rank. This means that each account would be limited in the number of accounts it could delegate to. Furthermore, there would need to be a minimal delegated amount.
Benefits
If implemented it would be relatively trivial to police vote spammers as well as those who would abuse the power of negative voting to silence legitimate voters.
Whales would be able to delegate their VESTS to other users who can use the increased influence to provide better curation and increase the value of the VESTS.
The Evil Whale Problem
We live in a world filled with evil whales. The power elite who control our economy and the printing presses are willing to risk burning down the economy to increase their power and wealth. Their interests are clearly not aligned with the masses.
While Steem is young and has significant upside growth potential and relatively little economic power, the easiest way for whales to grow their power, wealth, and influence is to work with everyone else. Once Steem achieves a level of entrenchment similar to Facebook, Twitter, etc, the whales can misbehave with relative impunity because everyone is "locked in".
It is critical that the masses of dolphins, minnows, and good whales, have the power to efficiently neutralize bad actors for the benefit of all. I am committed to building a system that empowers people who work for the benefit of all and disempowers those who attempt to work against the best interest of the wider community.
Conclusion
Creating a distributed, self-governing, mob that works reliably to allocate resources for the betterment of the whole rather than the individual is challenging. As the stakes are raised it becomes increasingly difficult to prevent abuse. Recursive Delegated Voting is a variation on Page Rank that might just do the trick.
I would like to thank everyone who has participated in yesterday's discussion.