Comparison will strip you of power, grace and influence. Each person is unique. How then can you possibly compare unique to unique? - Amy Larson

Nicely said, Amy.

In decentralized environments where all kinds of transactions are fully displayed to their participants, comparison is a constant part of the game.

Show me your wallet and I tell you who you are?

Yesterday I had a nice, long and thought-provoking conversation with @jaki01 and @jedigeiss in that context (thank you again, guys!). We were wondering if a FAIR distribution of wealth is even possible in a network like steemit and which may be the related drivers.

Now that conversation inspired me to write the following article.

Striving for fairness? Why?

Picture kindly provided by pixabay.com

Open books: the 'what-does-he-has-what-I-don't-have-issue'

I think striving for fairness is a natural human driver. In some cultures it's more developed than in others, but overall we all LOVE being equal.

The problem with equality is that it has a shiny, flawless image; but after all it may not always be as benefitial as we imagine it to be.

Since I signed up to steemit in July 2016 I've always heard people complaining about the way the rewards pool is distributed and promoting a 'more equal distribution' (whatever that might be).

There are people on this platform that spend far more time analyzing other users' doings than taking care of their own account. I swear!

Their favourite hobby is pointing a finger at bigger stakeholders complaining about their voting behaviour.

Does decentralization really mean that we don't want to value and reward success anymore?

First of all, I want to let you know that I'm completely with you when we talk about helping and supporting new users, giving them a warm welcome and promoting them in their beginnings.

I constantly do that by upvoting new entries in the introduceyourself section for instance.

Also the distribution of value is a quite responsible task for all of us. Every vote counts and it also may have a huge impact for the recipient.

As I learned in one of my favourite presentations at Steemfest held by @pgarcgo (project and witness @cervantes), an average monthly salary in Venezuela is around $10. Now Venezuelan people that blog post quality content in the spanish section on steemit are able to earn an average payout per post of $16.

They can create value with one single article on the Steem blockchain that is worth more than their monthly salary in real life!

So the distribution of rewards is definitely a serious task and worth talking about.

Nevertheless, I'm convinced that we can't and also shouldn't ever try to achieve total equality.

There is this saying that 'fairness is the thief of joy'. I furthermore believe that fairness is also the thief of healthy growth.

Competition is one of the no. 1 drivers to growth. So instead of looking at bigger stakeholders and wondering what we would do with their money, we might rather think about how to CREATE value on our own.

Eco-systems rarely grow by shifting already existing value from one account to the other. Growth requires newly created value.

Against the common belief, value on steemit is not only created through a rise in value of the Steem price.

Yes, a rising Steem price is definitely one of the fastest accelerators we do have in this eco-system. Yet there are many more ways to contribute to growth in the long term.

Here are some ideas on how you can help to improve the value of Steem without buying Steem:

Interact: Every social interaction that releases a transaction is valuable.
Create: Every single word written or picture published is valuable.
Talk and promote: Every single word spread about Steem/Steemit is valuable.

We have all the same opportunities to create value and to be rewarded accordingly.

Talking about people that build...

I had a nice and very inspiring conversation with @starkerz at one of the Steemfest dinners. His strategy (which he also presented during the conference: timestamp 05:10:56) is to promote Steem/Steemit at Universities, get more people on the platform and like that ensure the future viability of his own investment. Check out the tag promo-steem and you can see the impact!

What a brilliant approach!

One of the biggest chances in decentralized environments is that we are all part of its marketing team. You want the network to become more popular? Yeah well then make it popular!

Instead of spending your valuable time in comparing yourself to others, you may use it to ask yourself: how can I help this network to grow and like that ensure that my decent amount of Steem may be worth a million dollars some day.

It's on us, steemians :-)
Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.

Original content. Quotes found on evidconsulting.com and pinterest.com.