We're finally there... almost. The Hardfork 21 is less than a day away. Of course, I could easily wait that long, and evaluate it from my own experience (which I may still do), but this may be my last chance to discuss this step in Steem's development while being completely clueless about how it actually turns out.
There has been a lot of talk about it, mostly by people who actually seem to know what they're talking about. At the same time I have felt a lot of pessimism and negativity regarding the fork. I don't know... Sure, there may be some truth to them, still I don't believe it's worth being negative about something, especially not before it has happened. Which is why I wanted to add my own two cents. So let's see, what can we expect:
The Rich Get Richer...
... and the poor? Who cares about them anyway? At least this is what many voices have been repeating regarding the new distribution of the payout to a post. In future, the money generated by a post will be split 50-50 between the author and the curators. And certainly, if someone has tons of SP, this may be great news. From now on you'll be able to make nice money just by upvoting posts, which takes only a click, versus composing a text, editing it, adding cool visuals, tagging it properly, etc. Also, if someone is just starting out, they won't receive as much benefit from posting as before. And forget about curating if you don't have the SP saved up for it!
But wait... is that all really that bad?
If curating becomes so lucrative, shouldn't we expect more people giving out more upvotes, ultimately generating more upvotes for each decent post? Shouldn't this mean that more Steem gets into circulation? And for those who really want to benefit from it, wouldn't it mean they'd buy more Steem to power up? Wouldn't all this finally get the coin's price out of the gutter?
When it comes to post rewards, I always like to take my own case as an example. Back when I started I only received a fraction of the upvotes I do now, but the average post generated about the same value. Still, I would say I'm better off now, even though Steem is worth less than ever, because I know my posts reach a much larger readership. And call me naive, but I believe after the fork to get even more exposure. And even though I'll only keep half my rewards, it may ultimately be worth a lot more if the price of Steem goes up. Let's wait and see, but I'm quite psyched actually.
Flag War Ahead!
The other issue that seems to bother a lot of folks is the eminent flag-war that's about to be unleashed due to the free downvotes each of us is going to receive. Now that's a whole different issue, and I'm not even sure I can say anything competent about it, because....
I have Experienced Steem as an Almost Completely Troll Free Zone.
It makes sense: people know that every one of us is armed with the downvote button. And even though we have to pay for it, simply wielding such a weapon excludes the pointless and destructive interaction that you can see on other social media. Nobody wants to lose their laboriously accumulated power and reputation. And I believe that is not going to change, just because the first five bullets in everyone's downvoting gun is free. Those bullets still hurt, so nobody is going to try to catch them willingly.
Now, I am aware that not everyone shares the same pacifist bubble I like to inhabit. And sure, there may be actual trolls out there. I've come across a few myself, but they seemed to be the ones who have gone mad, firing on everything and anything, and in the process have gotten so many downvotes themselves that their bullets have lost their sting. The only kind of downvotes I have gotten were these 0%-ers. They don't look nice, but a mosquito bites more ferociously. So again I say, if you don't try to invite trouble, a flag-war is not something to be worried about.
Let's Propose Some Proposals
Well, this final issue I was not even gonna touch at first, because this is the one I feel like I know least about. However, it may just provide a bit of reckoning whether I understand it at all! So there is a possible reward waiting for proposals that could be to further benefit of Steem, and everything that's around it. This may not be such a bad thing either.
After all, we're all part of this ecosystem, so it should be the interest of each of us to contribute to its advance. Though I have to admit, in practice I still have no idea how I would go about doing it. It's still worth a consideration. And who knows, I could totally see some great ideas growing out of a brainstorming session with eager commenters.
Bring on the Fork Already!
So all in all, I think the HF21 won't be all that bad. I'm actually quite looking forward to it. As for the price of Steem, it has already started going up. Let's make sure this continues!
Please check out these great communities I'm contributing to:
#ecotrain | What is EcoTrain | Discord Community
#tribesteemup |The 8 Pillars of @TribeSteemUp
