PALnet is live!..but, what is it?

So there's been a bit of a buzz today about the new tokenized STEEM front end, https://www.palnet.io. There has been a great response, a bit of confusion, and a lot of questions, so I thought it would be best to let people know in a simple-to-understand way some of the key aspects of this new site.

First I'll discuss the why, as in why do we need another token? The first answer is token distribution, and the team behind @minnowsupport has worked tireless hours weighing options, pro and cons, playing devil's advocate, and finally coming up with a method to distribute as fairly as possible while also keeping the stake somewhat proportional to the SP of STEEM accounts. PALcoin claimdrops (like an airdrop, but you have to claim it to receive it) are capped at 2500, which means that whales and dolphins will be swimming together, and minnows won't be far below them.

Now you understand token distribution, next we'll talk about key differences in inflation distribution. Much like the EIP for Hardfork 21, the @minnowsupport team feels that inflation distribution needs to be rethought. Instead of (approx) 75% of post rewards going to the author, and 25% going to the curators, PALcoin will be split 50/50, meaning a good curator could earn as much as a good author. This should help the incentives to discover new content rather than the self-upvoting that seems to be common on STEEM. There are some other changes like a power down is 4 weeks vs 13 weeks on STEEM, one free downvote a day, and a slightly super-linear reward curve that incentivizes one account per person.

This is just one solution of many that could be implemented with the SCOTbot token staking protocol. What works for the PAL community may not work for other communities, so you should definitely check out the current and future communities that are emerging to see what works for you.

Some important things to know when using www.palnet.io:

• When you vote on a post to reward palcoin, it will vote the same % on steem and reward STEEM/SBD
• Similarly, your posts will receive STEEM/SBD and PALcoin simultaneously
• The only posts that appear are the posts that include the palnet tag, which is automatically included if you post via the site
• You still need a minimal amount of Steem Power to post on palnet, since it is on the STEEM blockchain and requires resource credits to transact
• The Steem Keychain makes things easy and safe, use it!

There is probably a lot more that could be included in this post, but I think it covers most of the confusion and FAQs that have arisen in the hours since this launch. Be sure to follow @minnowsupport, or check for tags in the PAL discord for important announcements about the claimdrop that will be happening very soon. There are over 4 million tokens up for grabs, but you have to claim them to get them.

Have you posted on https://palnet.io? Post a link to your blog in the comments, and I'll give you a big upvote. Did I miss something? Feel free to ask, I'll do my best to explain.