It doesn't take long for a noobie to see that some people who have been around long enough aren't really providing much value in terms of content but seem to get rewarded handsomely nevertheless. They will at some point begin to ask why and search for answers, and the most readily available answer is they are getting rewarded because they have a heavy financial stake. They came in with mediocre content to provide but deep pockets, and that's why they are the ones reaping the benefits of the platform.
Whether it's true or not, good content providers coming in will perceive that it takes heavy financial investment to get anywhere. As in politics, perception is reality. The consistently big payouts to whales for the same value that gets a noobie 3 cents only reinforces that perception. What is needed is for the system to level the playing field more than what it is. I don't mean a flat table, just more going to noobies and less to veterans.
You mean, Kirby, take away the big carrot?
No, I mean don't make the rabbits more desperate by starving them. Give more carrot while they are in the race.
And make it a more legitimate content curation platform.
Make it a legitimate content platform in the eyes of pundits reviewing it, in the eyes of content providers who are experts in niches other than cryptocurrency and travel, and in the eyes of the noobies coming in the door who get frustrated when their good content goes unrewarded while whales can earn $500 a pop for pablum and also see that the system provides incentive for volume as much as for quality.
The same volume that they get buried in.
One might argue that the system does reward good content, as long as the provider is willing to stick with it, or as @atmosblack (54) put it to me, "Don't fight the whales - be a whale," but I know most of the experts providing good content in the niches I'm in are not going to be interested in being involved in something that smacks of Multi-Level-Marketing, or smacks of any kind of pyramid scheme. Technically, it's not MLM, because nobody has to recruit his own downline, but the incentives to toil and toil with no guarantee of getting a return at any point are the same: the big carrot of the payouts for those at the top of the pyramid.
One might counter that the whole world works this way, but at least in the corporate world those who have climbed the company ladder to the top are still producing value, or the board will fire them, and someone who has climbed another company ladder and has proven to be able to provide value doesn't have to start in the mail room to get somewhere in a new company.
Some of the most brilliant minds challenging the status quo in fields like religion and economics are always looking for more reach for their words, but Steemit does not provide a way for niches to develop from scratch because the audience isn't already there or if it's there it's hard to find each other. At least with Facebook, because it has such a broad reach, the audience is out there, it's just a matter of finding them.
Level the playing field more and it will build confidence with noobies and investors alike, and pay off in the long run.
If you are a Witness and you support leveling the playing field let me know and you'll have one of my 30 witness votes.
This is Part 2 in a series I call SteemShip Navigation - The Way Forward.
Part 1 was Don't Depend on the Profit Motive and Sacrifice a Superior Social Experience.
If you believe this post adds value to the community, don't just upvote, re-steem it!
