People are arguing that minnow’s votes should be worth more. I would present some reasons why they are not. When you are starting out on Steemit you need to show the community why your vote has value. Steemit does not want people who are not invested in the system being able to determine how it is used. When I say invested I don’t mean monetarily I mean ensuring that the platform has quality. If you don’t agree with this, you can still use the site like any other social media site and you will get the same rewards those others provide you (none).
Think of Steemit as a company. The rewards are the daily salary of every one that works here. When you start out you have to prove that you are a good employee and bring value to the system. Your votes initially do not carry weight because you have not proven yet that you are capable of determining what is valuable to the community. The best way you can show your value initially is by posting and commenting on the content that is already here. Posting and commenting is fastest way you can gain Steem Power outside of buying it directly. This is how the community can judge the value you bring to the platform initially. Imagine you are a new employee, do you think it’s fair for you determine how much someone who has been working at the company for a while should be paid? You need show that you value the company and people in it. Earning Steem Power is the way you show everyone that you are invested in the success of the company. Voting is like being in the finance department. You are determining who and how much the other employees should be paid for their work that day. But you don’t have anything invested, how can we determine that you have the best intentions or judgement for this?
I know a lot of people think it is not fair that whales and dolphins have so much influence. They have this influence because they have brought value to platform. There four ways that these people have brought value to the system.
- They found Steemit very early and choose to take a risk on it
growing by investing their expertise in making it what it has
become. - They came in early and took the risk of buying Steem Power with
their money. - They created content through posting and curating that the community
felt was valuable. - They are well known outside of Steemit and have brought many people
(you) to the platform which increases the value.
These people have brought value to the platform and earned their influence. Why should someone starting out have a lot influence if they have not done any of the above?
Now I’m not saying minnows votes do not have value. They do. On aggregate minnows carry a lot of weight. They help determine what users should pay attention to. If a post has a lot votes but the monetary value is not that high, it means there is something valuable that is being missed. The number of votes is a signal that the community finds this content valuable and should be rewarded. This is a signal to those with more influence to make sure that user is paid. Without these votes, good content can potentially go unnoticed. It is impossible for whales and those with influence to be able catch everything without these signals. So you as minnow have a duty to vote on content you feel is good because it does carry weight in mass, it just might not be as valuable monetarily because you don’t have enough Steem Power yet.