Balancing distribution

in #steem5 years ago (edited)

Mr @abh12345 Jr (his father is Mr @abh12345 Sr) posted not too long back some details about manual curation on the platform and I think it shows something interesting for the future.

Firstly, I queried the blockchain (stole Asher's chart) and found the top 22 active Steem Power voters over the last 14 days:

As you can see, with exception of the self-voting "other" and the abuse fighting accounts, 19 of the 22 are either bidbots or community accounts with 9 and 10 respectively. This is the future of voting you are seeing. No, not the bidbots, the communities. It isn't just going to be for Steem though as many of the communities will branch into Smart Media Tokens too.

What people don't seem to realise is how few actual voters there are. There are 2163 accounts with more than 5000 own SP which means, 2163 account that are dolphins or larger. Many of those accounts are dormant, bots, self-voters. Here are the recent numbers from @arcange:

So there are 35 whales and according to Asher:

Again, you have to feel quite lucky to get a vote from the above - your content among 186696 posts and 629227 comments in the past 14 days.

Not a big chance of getting a whale vote.

But,stealing from @arcange again:

What this shows is how much voting power each group has (Steemit accounts are calculated also it seems), but it is obvious we need more distribution across the lower reaches but that is a two way Street. Essentially, the larger accounts still want to earn on the platform and although they want a higher future price also, still feel the need to collect coins.

What is likely to happen though is that in time, there are going to be more communities and community bots that will distribute the larger whale stake, much like the @ocd bot, @ocdb does. Larger staked users will put their stake in and get returns on the bids but, they will be community distributed. Meaning that whitelists and community verification will be the norm rather than anyone can come in and earn. If users are smart, they will power up their returns and use their own small stake to build their network and support their community through their own distribution processes.

But again, this requires powering up. The thing with the passive stake earnings coming in liquid means less of the passive people will be converting to Steem and if those who are using the services do power up instead of sell, they will be a continually widening and deepening force. If they use their stake to strengthen their communities, they will continually ramp up while the larger individual accounts cash out their passive income and the gaps not only close upwards, they are able to pull an increasingly large number with them from below.

Even though everyone's stake is there own, it is silly to compare the way each uses it. The way a whale uses theirs should be different to the way a minnow does, and the way a redfish looks at growth should be different to the way an orca does. I know people aren't happy when the bigger accounts power down and dump but, it kind of has to happen to speed distribution processes. there aren't that many and when they dump at these prices, it gives more opportunity for others to buy in and be new active users. We should really be encouraging them to sell now.

More active users coming in to the communities with stake means stronger communities with active members who have come in to grow. At some point, the large accounts won't be able to offer as much support as there will be many communities after their staked services. They could then spread to support several communities at a lower level meaning the distribution of their stake goes wider, to more people. Combine this with users joining on RCs alone into SMTs and a large account can become a force onboarder / distributor / earner but be leaving more in the pool each day.

A large account uses its vests to draw from the pool but what it can draw is offset by everyone else drawing from the pool. What this means is if all other small accounts are continually powering up, they are negating the power of the larger. For example, there are 100,000 redfish and if they could all add 1 single steem a month, they have the same draw on the pool as an orca or up to 20 dolphins. The more they add, the more they can use and add the next month also. It is a slow process but if they are growing while the odd whale, orca or dolphin is selling, the balance starts to speed up.

Having an overall negative powerdown on the platform doesn't actually matter as much as where that powerdown is coming from. If the powerdown is coming from the largest accounts on the platform while the smaller accounts are powering up, that is great as each time it lessens the draw on the pool at the top and deepens it from the bottom. If it continued like that, eventually it would get to a point where there are holders and investors at the top, the large bleed stops, the price increases and what people are currently selling for cents will be worth many dollars.

This is the frustrating thing as the people who are often complaining about not being rewarded enough are also often the ones who are not powering up. Yes, people have hard lives etc but these things are connected as the more people that power up in the lower reaches, the higher chance of the lower reaches earning more plus, they have significantly more draw on the pool in comparison to the larger accounts who as price increases, will sell stake. Vests draw on the pool, not price. Collect vests, collect vests, collect vests. That is powered up Steem by the way.

Now, back to the communities. I don't understand why so many accounts are doing it tough on Steemit.com while there are other options for them to earn on that will provide a larger return. Of course, if you like writing, that is fine but if you don't? While I understand economic hardship, I don't understand why people would choose to continually remain in economic hardship when they not only have a chance to have high value Steem, but be able to support themselves with their own stake.

The communities are by far the best way to earn stake without paying for it but many choose not to and many that do, don't actually stake it, they powerdown and then complain about distribution. Having no stake means you can't distribute. It means you are and always will be reliant on others and it means other than comforting words, there is little help you can offer someone in economic need.

I was saying the other day that I can't live off Steem until I am able to support all of my needs with my own stake at the lowest prices. That is a long way away price-wise so it means that I can't use anything now. If I do, it pushes back that possibility further and further as it requires a higher price the less Steem I have. Don't get confused, I don't expect to live off Steem myself and I never plan on using all of my stake on myself.

What I am saying is that in the absolute 'near' worse case scenario, I have to be able to support myself without being reliant on others. At my current SP, that would put the lowest possible 'worst case' Steem price needed somewhere around 10 dollars and that would mean me self voting 10x a day. unlikely. I am here for the long-haul.

But it is a double-edged sword because the higher the price goes, the harder it is for people to buy in, the harder it is on the platform to earn Steem and of course, the higher the competition becomes. This is without doubt the best time for people to collect Steem for the future and the small accounts should be hoping more whales dump and the price drops further. It is a bit counter-intuitive isn't it? But, price only matters when you sell or buy.

The system is slowly distributing, large accounts are slowly bleeding Steem, communities are slowly starting to gather and work together as communities, stake is slowly starting to distribute and as apps, RCs and SMTs, oracles and reputation initiatives come online, more users will enter to fill consumer and investor gaps in the ecosystem. We don't need more inactive whales but we definitely could do with a lot more active minnows and dolphins but, that can only happen through consistency of powering up and distribution.

In the last two days, two friends have crossed over the line to become dolphins and it is bloody excellent to see. They have worked hard for it mind you and one day I hope that it will pay off. Both of them are community orientated people, both of them work for the Steem community in different ways. Both of them have helped people on the platform out.

What I find is that while small accounts are trying to find ways to maximize the earnings of their small stake, they are missing opportunities to actually earn through their content and being part of the communities. They are throwing their stake into sell votes when they could be using it to support friends in their community. What so many don't seem to get is that vote selling stake is the best way to maximize profit on that particular amount of vests but does nothing to attract more stake to you.

An account like Freedom doesn't care about attracting stake, but small users looking to grow and be part of the community should be banding together and forming communities around their stakes, supporting each other, not selling it away. There is no point in earning passive income if the amount generated is insignificant while it costs the possibility to build a network that will continually grow in power and reach. Communities are the future here but strong ones are built now and they have to hold more than social capital, they need some vested interest too.

The way to improve distribution is for smaller accounts to power up more and encourage larger accounts to sell cheap. Currently, the average redfish has 24 SP and quite a few of those accounts have earned enough to be large minnows and dolphins, they could have been distributors too, could have rewarded downward if they chose, supported communities. It doesn't matter at what level, there is a philosophy behind being part of this community and stake is an important part of the support structure. It doesn't matter how much gets distributed to the small accounts if more sell than power up. Communities and community require it.

Just a free write with some thoughts.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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As usual, put into much better words than me, I'm glad you found some for the table presented.

At some point, the large accounts won't be able to offer as much support as there will be many communities after their staked services.

Yes this has been the pattern, whether the stake is to bots, loaned out, or donated for a cause, there is becoming less. And potentially as the value of SP increases, those further down the tree will be able to do the same and feel they are getting a good return, instead of the bringing out content constantly.

Cheers :)

As much as I love you, I wish I could find my own numbers instead of bugging you (and stealing from you when you are not looking).

From what I see, there is a slow but determined shift going on that has been happening for a while yet most are missing it as they focus on immediate dramas. So many little dots are being connected. I can't wait to talk more at SteemFest with some of the people who makes up these dots.

You can do either of those :)

It has been happening a while, and yes, more eyes on the ball is always handy. See you at the fest, I'm sure you'll find a few dots there.

You right that is important to focus to help your network or the people you follow.

Posted using Partiko Android

It is hard to focus on a community if all the SP is used to maximize individual earnings. In the lower SP range, it is probably better to use all SP actively than try to earn passively but it depends on the person of course.

I agree with this being the best time to accumulate steem and power up!

I love the point you made about communities redistributing the wealth in the future!

I wonder if there are any communities that support dolphins?! I vaguely remember reading about one when I was a minnow

Posted using Partiko iOS

Not sure. THe communities will be around the applications also like steemhunt or musings.

You are on the @ocdb whitelist by the looks.
https://thegoodwhales.io/index.html
Their discord for questions:
https://discordapp.com/invite/k2Hu77b

Oh I was literally in their discord the other day asking how to get on the list haha
Who knew I was actually on it! Thanks!

Posted using Partiko iOS

Well, wow, that's some food for thought. I'm amazed there ARE still 2163 accounts with more than 5000 own SP, considering the number of users that are actually active on the platform. I still wonder, what would happen if we had say 1 million of active users with a reasonable amount of SP. Sure the price of Steem would go up. But at the same time the rewards you get would be a much much smaller amount of Steem/ Steem Dollars. So in the end, does that mean you get a higher/lower/same reward in Steem/Steem Dollar or fiat? If the price of Steem goes 10X, you just might get 10 times lower quantities of Steem/Steem Power for your work and so the fiat amount would stay the same?

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Thankyou. You have beautifully articulated why I have my rewards from comments set to 100% power up.

Rewards from comments on an individual basis are usually small (when they actually get above the dust threshold), small enough to be barely noticed alone, but when all those small rewards power up, they can add up quickly (especially when used with something like @dustsweeper or @dustbunny). I still set blog rewards at 50/50, so I still get some stake to use as I like, but I'm slowly building my stake as I go.

They can add up surprisingly fast if someone is commenting and engaging well across the platform. They will also attract new blog follows and support too.

Exactly. It's made my growth so much faster without being in a position to make additional cash investment, and of course as I grow so does the ability to get curation rewards which are also paid directly as SP. It really is win/win

Hi Taraz. Looking at the figures once you are a dolphin you are fairly well set looking at the number of accounts ahead of you. Hopefully some will power down moving everyone slowly up the chain.Maybe a whale wont be a whale any more but an Orca.

Yep. Dolphin is a future orca at least. If you consider that there is a pull on the pool based on vests. If all whales disappeared, the pool would be distributed completely by what is left. If all whales and orcas disappeared, the same thing. The issue now is growing the middle reaches and encouraging he smallest to keep powering up and the larger become increasingly less influential.

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