When I checked out the winner of Bittrex contest for a fiat pair market the other day, I did that on coinmarketcap.com.
For a person familiar to crypto, it's the most likely source to check out a new coin/token you don't know much about, or haven't heard of in a while. One of the first sources any way.
The other day, I was pleased with the description and coin details I found on coinmarketcap.com for that particular coin. I didn't dig any deeper. I have no idea if the description of Komodo is up do date, relevant or true. Because that's all I needed at that point. And I didn't go on their website either. Only on coinmarketcap.com.
Here's what the description on coinmarketcap.com says about STEEM:
Steem is the cryptocurrency on the Steemit platform that rewards users for community building through the upvoting and the posting of meaningful content. Founded in 2016 by Ned Scott and BitShares creator Dan Larimer, the Steemit platform, built atop the Steem blockchain, is a social media network that seeks to be a source of community driven curated content such as news, Q&A and job boards. The more value a particular piece of content is able to deliver across a greater number of people, the greater the reward received by the creator. Steemit users can cast votes to create a hierarchy of content. The higher the upvote count received on a content piece, the more Steem earned by its publisher. Steemit’s meritocratic system also enables users that hold more currency to cast more meaningful, greater influence votes.
While it can be improved, I checked and it seems all descriptions on coinmarketcap are platform-centric. Etherium, EOS's description they also speak of a platform (in our case Steemit), around which everything revolves.
But the description otherwise seems pretty good, and it should be updated when it becomes obsolete. Like when communities are out, when smart contract tokens and/or SMTs pick up speed etc.
When compared to Wikipedia, it's actually really good.
Now, I assume if someone has no ties with the crypto world, coinmarketcap is not a 'trustworthy' souce. But Wikipedia is. So the page of the blockchain there seems like a great point to start looking for information.
Because on Wikipedia, there's no Steem page, but there is Steemit page, and what they say about Steemit is:
Steemit is a blogging and social networking website owned by Steemit Inc that uses the Steem blockchain to reward publishers and curators.[2]
On July 4, 2016, Steemit, Inc. launched Steemit, a social media platform with virtual currency rewards that runs over the Steem blockchain. On July 14, 2016, Steemit announced on their website that they were hacked.[3] The attack, according to them, has compromised about 260 accounts. About US$85,000 worth of Steem Dollars and Steem are reported to have been taken by the attackers.
Steemit gives small amounts of its cryptocurrency token, Steem, to posters who get upvotes.[4] Posters can also be tipped by readers.[5] Steemit faced financial difficulties in 2018 and laid off 70% of its staff.[6] Steemit co-founder Ned Scott referred to the Steemit blogging platform as an interface on top of a blockchain, akin to a blockexplorer.[7]
So, of 3 paragraphs, one, probably the largest, talks about a hack that happened at the beginning of Steem. And in the third paragraph, there is a mention about the 70% layoffs from last year.
There is also much confusion between Steemit.com - the website, Steemit, Inc - the company and Steem - the ecosystem, from which Steemit, Inc and their website Steemit,com are part of, especially in the last paragraph.
I can detect that confusion, some of you might to, but someone who reads Wikipedia for information about the crypto world certainly sees Steem as a place where hacks are possible, where the company 'running the whole thing' just laid off 70% of its employees, and which barely needs three paragraphs to be described. Well, at least they made it to Wikipedia, Steem didn't.
Oh, by the way, there is no DPOS (or Delegated Proof of Stake) on Wikipedia either. But it is mentioned at Proof of Stake, with a source marked as 'unreliable?' (i.e. Explain Delegated Proof of Stake Like I’m 5 from Hacker Noon).
Most people don't go to a platform's website to check it out. What does this means for Steem. Steem.com? This website should also be mentioned on coinmarketcap.com, now that I think about it (and it is, very nice!).
But they will check what other people say about it. So reviews. Websites which report scams. If they have a social media presence (as much as we'd like to think Steem is the center of all things, no, it's not!). And probably more I can't clearly think of right now.
I expected Wikipedia page to be a mess (I heard edits rarely get accepted from new editors). I was pleasantly surprised that coinmarketcap.com description doesn't mention any 100% inflation, ninja mining or whatever elements from the past that stick with us like a stamp, way past the time when they were still a real issue.