Hello Steemers,
You can call me Zak, but that’s not my real name. (In my, opinion it is not a smart idea to have a public wallet.) I’m here on Steemit since recently and I still explore the logic behind the whole system.
I have read the whitepaper (the most of it) and I still have some unanswered questions. I believe that Steem has a huge potential and that’s why I’m in. Anyway, if we all want STEEM to be successful on a long run it probably needs some fine tuning, and more transparency. I’m not aware of the process of decision making here but I hope some important stakeholders take part in this discussion ( 
So, let me start with the questions:
1. Is STEEM Ponzi-like or not?
As I mentioned before I have read the whitepaper and I’m aware of the advantages of STEEM but I still can’t ponder where the dangers are coming from.
Could STEEM be a bubble that would burst? A pump and dump scheme? Who will benefit and who will lose? When is the best time to enter (Buy STEEM)? Why STEEM is different and/or better than #Bitcoin as crypto-currency? Is a pegged to USD crypto-currency even possible if not 100% backed by USD? What will happen if the demand for SD rises so high? How could you keep the price near to $1?
2. Site structure and usability (Steemit.com)
At first glance the Steemit.com has a very simple structure and layout. Simplicity is a virtue especially now with the mobile internet usage, anyway there is no clear categorization. The tagging is ok but some general categorization would be great (Let’s say something like on Pinterest). The content will have less value if a user can’t easily browse it and/or find the topics he or she is interested in.
Another issue, according to Alexa.com the Steemit.com site is “Very Slow (3.395 Seconds), 83% of sites are faster.”
Regarding the site several questions arose:
- Dose the speed issue have anything to do with the blackchain technology?
- Where/how is the site hosted and how are the expenses covered? (Who pays for that?)
- Is there any strategy regarding the long term site development? Where the finances will come from?
3. Quality of content, its value and fair distribution of STEEM.
New and Innovative about the STEEM crypto-currency are the Steem Dollars for stability and the value behind the system (the community and the content it creates). Unlike the mining in Bitcoin that has no real value the content should provide value for the community itself but more importantly for the general public. But... here comes the tricky part, how do you measure the value of a particular content.
Every type of content appraisal carried by users is prone to manipulations. Anyway we have to strive to evaluate the content by its real value.
The current concept of content evaluation at Steemit by voting has several flaws. The first and the most obvious is that you can vote for a content (at the feed) without opening the post. Who on Earth can tell if a post is worth it without reading it first? Another one is that you can vote for your own post and yes, people do that. The most controversial issue is that users with higher STEEM power (whales) cast the most valuable votes. "So let’s gather 50 people buy STEEM power and vote for each other posts and win some cash."
Steemit should strives towards high quality content and it’s real evaluation. The content should not be “evaluate” based the popularity/power of the writers, their followers, friends, family members, pools and other more or less obvious forms of manipulation and distortion of the real value.
Since the content is free it is not possible to determine its real value directly. Voting for it is on way, but why can’t we grade it instead of voting for it? If I read I post and I decide that it is of low or middle quality how do I vote? I wasted my time and there is no reward for that nor penalty for the writer? Flagging is for abusive or spammy content not for low quality content.
Steemit also misses some crucial measures of content evaluation like number of visits and time spent on page. What about shares on FB, Twitter and so on?
So, my questions here are:
- Is the content evaluation algorithm definite?
- Can we, regular Steemers suggest improvement on the algorithm in order to evaluate content by it’s real value and more fair distribution of STEEM among content creator and curators?
- Can the site architecture bear more complex algorithms and regular updates and improvements?
4. Transparency and decision making
- What is the initial distribution of STEEM, STEEM Power and Steem Dollars? (Stakeholders)
- Why I can’t see in a wallet history the initial distribution of STEEM of a specific account holder? Is VESTS same as STEEM Power?
- What is current amount (cumulated) of STEEM, STEEM Power and Steem Dollars and who owns that (A balance sheet)?
- How much STEEM/SD are issued during one day? Is this fixed amount (100% increased during a year)?
For the sake of the transparency all this information should be available on a click. (Put a link somewhere on the site(s))
Regarding the decision making … where we can find information about that? There is some info about decisions regarding the interest rate for SD. What about decisions regarding the general rules, evaluation of the content, decisions on the site development etc.? Are these issues part of a consensus or are made by the founders/owners (and or whales)?
Thanks to everyone who who will try to answer some of the questions and take part in the discussion. I hope this post will boost my motivation to become devoted Steemer.