C is for: Thoughts on censorship, downvoting and token value

There is the old saying, all publicity is good publicity, and while I don't fully agree, in the attention economy, if you get some positive attention, expect the negative.

You might have seen these characters floating about my posts the last 2 months or so,

They flag every post thinking it makes them relevant on Steem. One of them is getting Steemcleaned for plagiarism or something, the other used to write words that no one could decipher or pull any kind of meaning from. After the EIP was introduced and the community started downvoting again, their little group masturbation was targeted, and instead of changing their behavior, they retaliated.

They don't read my posts and I do not think I have ever interacted with either of them. I did downvote some of their already greyed comments very recently to see if I can affect their reputation scores. I can.

My brother @galenkp takes the brunt of it because he downvoted @dobartim a couple of times with a 10 cent vote. So, he and @flysky downvote my brother's every post 4 or 5 dollars. I don't know who flysky is, but he is a cunt. I don't like that word, but since he doesn't like swearing, I will roll with it.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed is he?

Just a tool.

But it isn't them I am actually posting about here, it is the immutability and censorship resistance offered by Steem.

Downvotes aren't censorship.

They can downvote all they want, they can greyout my posts (if they power up some more Steem), but what I write is here. However, what people are going to have to start to learn is that the Steem blockchain is censorship resistant, not frontends.

Frontends can pick and choose what they display and in the future, I believe they are going to become much more picky with what is displayed where. It is a question of end user experience and this is especially critical if the community is tokenized and there is value on the line.

When it comes to average users, they don't care that much about the immutability and censorship resistance, they care about user experience. The applications to arrive are going to likely become much more accommodating to user experience and develop their interfaces to bring out the best of the community, not the worst.

They can moderate, restrict and censor all they want, but as long as what is written is added to the Steem blockchain, another user interface can visualize it. For example, if there was a Terrible Poetry Tribe that rewards the uninterptetable, Dobartim could be a whale in no time.

So, while some people don't like swearing and others don't like nudity or crypto news, frontends can develop experiences to suit the end user. But, this means that they also have to police their community, or risk losing the attention of their user base and therefore, the value of their token.

When it comes to the value of tokens, use case is only important if usage actually happens - at least long-term. This is why most of the "good idea blockchain" will likely fail, because while they might have a good use case, people will eventually have to use them in the real world for them to hold value. And many won't get traction.

Steem is no different and looks to hold its value by being a blockchain that can have multiple use cases spread across a distributed network. This is why SMTs are so important, as they offer personalised experiences while still being supported by the stability of the core Steem infrastructure. That is valuable, that is distributed governance in action - free citizens, free to choose their path, free to say as they please - all protected unquestioningly.

Let me be clear. It is the blockchain that doesn't question, as it is a protocol that records what is submitted, an impartial scribe. The community however isn't impartial and does question. You can write and submit what you want and the blockchain will faithfully record it, but that doesn't protect you from social repercussions, dispute and consequences you may not like.

My brother is paying the cost of doing what he considered the right thing to do for Steem, and I guess I am too. I will pay more in the future also no doubt. The funny thing is that even criminals think they are entitled to the haul they have stolen and when confronted, will shoot and kill innocents to get away with it.

Entitlement is a constant in humanity, no matter how often nature proves we are entitled to nothing in this life - not even the air we breath. As if we were, we could polite and poison all we want and nature would make sure we still had the provisions for life.

Remember this on Steem, because you are entitled to no reward, no payout, no guarantees at all. Well, you can probably rely on that what you write will be stored immutably until the blockchain disintegrates. Not everyone needs censorship protection, but no one ever knows when they will, until it is too late.

Anyway, I am interested to hear your thoughts on censorship resistance, frontend policing, token values, downvotes or my usage of the C-word.

There are people who scream and shout who get ignored, and there are those who quietly walk into the room and everyone instinctively turns to look. Some people want attention at any cost, while others get attention by being themselves.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]