Why Curation Initiatives Matter Not Just In Terms Of Content Quality

I don't particularly like the term Proof-Of-Brain because it alludes to Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake or Delegated-Proof-of-Stake, which are blockchain consensus protocols, the last of which is the one used by Steem. In Proof-of-Work, the right to produce a block can only be given to a node that has successfully "mined" a block, that is, guessed the input of a hash function correctly by a massive trial and error effort. In Proof-of-Stake, only those nodes that have enough stake are entitled to have the possibility of generating blocks out of unconfirmed transactions in a pool. In Delegated-Proof-of-Stake, stake is replaced with stake-weighted votes as in the ongoing witness voting on Steem.

Proof-of-Brain on Steem has nothing directly to do with securing the integrity of the blockchain. What it is supposed to mean is that author rewards are given based on "proof of brain" on part of the author corroborated by curators who engage in stake-based voting. Witness rewards come from a pool separate from the author reward pool. Curators receive their own cut from the total STEEM, SBD and Vest inflation pool. (Vest is what Steem Power is under the hood, it's a separate token whose inflation rate is different from STEEM or SBD.)

However, Proof-of-Brain has to do with the security and integrity of the chain to the extent that stake distribution is critical to whether or not witnesses have true independence. At this time, we want rewards from the inflation pool to end up into the hands of users who are interested in growing their stake and becoming part of a growing middle class. It is well known that the politically stablest and best functioning states are those that have a large and powerful middle class. Steem started out as an oligarchy with Steemit Inc at the top and those who mined Steem in the summer of 2016. Steem is said to be "ninja mined". From what I've heard what that means is that when Steem was launched, stake was mined. Steem witnesses all had to mine their stake. "Ninja mining" refers to the fact that the mining process was intentionally poorly documented which allowed Steemit Inc to gain a decisive advantage in terms of being able to mine a massive stake, the share of which of the whole was much larger than it is today. I've heard that Steem was designed to be initially mined in order to make sure it would not be interpreted as a security by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), a U.S. Federal governmental body tasked with overseeing the financial markets. Much of the animosity and vitriol towards Steemit Inc has probably a lot to do with how Steem was launched.

Steem has, however, been gradually and slowly moving in the right direction when it comes to stake distribution. I recommend that you read @taskmaster4450's reports on stake distribution. The distribution is still quite top heavy, though. Curation initiatives such as Operation Curation Bot (@ocdb) aim to change that. Content quality that determines how attractive Steem posts are to viewers is not the only criterion by which the @ocdb administrators have decide who gets whitelisted. The other important criterion is a candidate's track record of stake accumulation and willingness to further distribute stake by curating the next tier of users interested in long-term growth. A sufficiently even stake distribution is critical to the security of the chain. And if Steem develops a powerful middle class of stakeholders, abuse will be easier to deal with, too, as no single large stakeholder will be able to counteract projects that detect and counteract abuse.

Steem is a republic by design. The purpose of @ocdb and all projects like it is to aid its transformation from something like the state of Equatorial Guinea into something like Norway. @ocdb enjoys a 3.8 million SP delegation, almost 3 million of which is delegated by @freedom, most likely a voting account controlled by Steemit Inc. Delegating to @ocdb is the right call at this time. Anyone can do that and get a flat 10% return on their investment.