Synopsis:
There are more DEAD than LIVE fishes in Steemit due to the skewed rewards and incentives structure which fosters “the rich becomes richer and the poor, poorer” mindset. The current incentive system should be enhanced to nurture Red Fish and Minnows which constitute the large majority of Steemitverse. Steemit's bright future depends on ensuring a sustainable ecosystem that promotes equality, fairness, oneness, and non-violence.
The Problem:
There are more DEAD than LIVE fishes in Steemit. If this trend continuous, the pond will be full of rotten fishes that could poison the whole ecosystem.
Source:@arcange 5.22.2017 steemit post. Couldn't get an updated chart as the site has been down for an extended period of time.
The Root Cause:
The current structure of rewards and incentives is not designed to nurture new Steemians (Red Fish and Minnows [RFM]) to grow and fend for themselves. Both the authorship and curation rewards heavily disfavor RFMs and the lion share of rewards goes to <5% of Steemians – a stark replica of the world we currently live in – the world-state that the Satoshi revolution wants to change.
- The wealthiest 1 percent of the world's population now owns more than half of the world's wealth, according to Credit Suisse report.
- The total wealth in the world grew by 6 percent over the past 12 months to $280 trillion, marking the fastest wealth creation since 2012, according to the report.
- But that wealth around the world is increasingly concentrated among those at the top. The top 1 percent now owns 50.1 percent of the world's wealth, up from 45.5 percent in 2001.
In Steemit, there are basically three ways to “monetize” your "contribution" to the ecosystem: (1) price appreciation of the Steem and SBD tokens; (2) authorship & curation rewards; and (3) incentives in the form of prizes, lottery, gifts etc.
Price appreciation is probably the biggest “profit” that one can make here in Steemit long term. Imagine how much wealth you gain by holding 100,000 Steem when its price skyrockets to $100 from $5 per coin. That’s a staggering $9.5 million! Compare that to a minnow who holds 1,000 SP.
Authorship and curation are what we get from our posts, the calculation of which I believe is outdated Is the Current REWARDS DISTRIBUTION Calculation OUTDATED?. Point aside, I think we can further improve the reward structure to support the growth of RFMs and equally important - to attract more fishes into Steemit.
The table below shows how skewed the rewards and incentives structure is:
Here on Steemit, SP and Followers mean everything while the quality of post means very little. Red fishes and Minnows who barely have Steem Power and followers get a minuscule portion of the rewards: low returns from price appreciation due to low steem power, almost zero authorship and curation rewards due to low visibility of their posts and small followers as well as very little steem or SDB to participate in bidding using bots. Incentives, on the other hand, is different. Its very nature, being "participation based", offers a less biased form of payment but the payout is extremely small.
The Recommendation (Solution)
Before diving into the proposed solutions, let's review the existing rewards landscape using the below visual:
copyrights: sandalphon@steemit.com
In the opposite sides of the above diagram are the inverse triangle representing the number of steemians in each category and a regular triangle representing the rewards each category receive. We all know that Red Fish and Minnows make up the bigger percentage of all Steemians hence the inverse triangle. In terms of rewards however, RFMs get a smaller share as discussed above.
In between these triangles are the DRIVERS. These are the factors that drive who and how much rewards a Steemian gets. SP and the number of followers are the main drivers - the more you have, the more you get. These drivers, however, do not work for RFMs because they barely have any. Hence, we need to create more drivers that would support RFMs. I call this the "battleground".
The Battleground
The battlefront is the area designated by the dotted red line in the above diagram. Currently, there isn't a lot in there. There are bots like Minnowhelper and the likes, but these are not enough. Hence, in my own personal view, there is where Steemit should focus its effort ASAP.
Solution #1: The Reward Pool.
The concept of this reward pool stems from the fact that Steemit exists and thrive because of the collective actions of each and every fish within it. Just like the ocean is comprised of quadrillion drops of water, every drop constitutes the whole, Steemit is no different.
The proposal is to take 10% of all rewards, pool it together and distribute it evenly on a weekly or monthly basis to all Steemians who were active on that week/month. What this means is that the rewards distribution percentages will be revised as follows: 70% Authorship; 20% Curation; and 10% Pool.
The “pool” should be distributed by simply dividing the “pooled amount” by the total number of Steemians who made a post and/or commented on a post for that week/month. It is important to note that Steem Power, number of followers, the number of posts or comments one made should NOT INFLUENCE the pool distribution. It a reward pool created by all Steemians who contributed to Steemit regardless of who they are.
There are several advantages of having this pool. First, it helps unite the whole community and make them feel like one big family who cares for each other. Second, it’s the epitome of the "equality" concept. It also serves as a constant reminder that we are all the same – minnows, red fish, whale, - all are fishes who need the ocean to survive. Third, this will provide new and would be RFMs a steady source of SP and serves as a stimulus to keep swimming!
The bottom line is, Steemit will become the leading social platform (and consequently the price of Steem will skyrocket) not because of the number of whales in the platform but because all the fishes within the ecosystem are healthy and are working harmoniously towards a common goal.
For this reason, I personally think that the reward pool should increase over time and becomes the major source of income for all fishes...but let's table this topic for now.
Solution #2: More Incentives
What I foresee to be a healthy, blooming and flourishing platform is one whose rewards structure is powered by three (not two) factors:
SP + FOLLOWERS + QUALITY = BALANCED REWARDS
The Quality part isn't there where it supposed to be. This is where this second proposal comes into play - we need more incentive types rewards.
Steemit should introduce more incentives like the Pulitzer Prize, Most Influential Steemian of the month, Intellectual awards etc. to recognize and award high-quality posts.
Let me conclude this post with the following quote from Isaac Singer:
source: izquotes.com
May the force be with us all.