Hiya Eon
Thanks for explaining this. I'm wobbling on this issue all the time you know...
Currently, I'm selling votes when my VP is above 90(ish). Seeing as I'm hardly ever in here, it seems reasonable to randomly redistribute some of the reward pool which would otherwise sit there doing nothing. Yeah, yeah, I feel dirty about doing it.
Yes, obvs, people are abusing the system all over the place.
Where I'm at right now is this... I know it's overall not helpful to the future of the platform to have raging bidbot abuse. I know they're generally not profitable. I also know that this will not stop many people from doing it. I make more from selling my vote than I do from writing a blog (although that would be more if I bothered writing more content :p). I don't even need the maths to understand that.
Until this place is populated by more readers than content creators the problem will persist as everyone scrabbles for a place at the front of the tiny genuine audience.
I could do the decent thing and withdraw my delegations/vote selling -- stop getting a ROI -- but for some reason, that just doesn't appeal to me.
Anj x
Of course, totally understand this mentality. But I think we need more people that think about the long term. Stake adds up. Obviously it would be ideal if larger stake holders lead by example because they contribute more to this. When you say "until this place is populated by more readers", I think you should also consider that it may never happen the way things are. The fact that not everyone does it is why there's anything here in the first place.
I agree. For this place to stand a chance at longevity there has to be change.
Unfortunately, unless 'good' behaviour is incentivised, I can't see people changing behaviour that has immediate payoff. Like you say, big fish have the means to do this by rewarding those that play nice, but they seem few and far between. On the contrary, many seem to have their fins in big juicy bidbot pies. It seems like an act of martyrdom to struggle against it. My feeling is that there are smaller, more winnable battles to be had first.
Perhaps something should be tweaked at the next fork to make it easier for passive readers/watchers to join Steemit.
Yes and no. This was my main point in the last post. The incentive is actually already present. It's just a long term gain rather than a short term one. So to me, it's about spreading the word.
The amount of stake engaging in this behavior is what matters. The more that is used to encourage the adoption (instead of selfish voting), the quicker the success of the currency. That's my take.
A fork certainly can speed up the modification of desirable behavior but the same fundamental problems would still need to be overcome.