Well, that was a nice little break - did you go for a walk, get some fresh air? Well that is okay if you didn't. Were you a bit worried?
While I can't speak for what went on behind the scenes, I would like to thank they people in the discord chat, 
But, besides the hiccup (which is a kinda funny glitch, but I am not qualified enough to explain it and you will ear soon enough), the first 30 minutes after hardfork 21 went live looked very promising because, downvotes happened. And the are still happening as the chain starts up again and people are able to post and cast their votes.
#Newsteem is looking good
While it is going to take some time to see what actually is going on, I saw some of the most invested accounts on the platform downvoting some of the longest standing over-rewarded posters. It is going to be interesting to see how vote buying behaviors change when there are going to be some quite hefty losses on those posts. They have likely been doing it for long enough that they can wear a few losses, but a few more and that will shift them.
A lot of people are scared of the downvotes, but most people aren't actually going to take too many, especially while there is so much downvote bait in the Trending sections, plagiarism and spun content. At least for a while, most of the stake is going to be kept busy.
My hope is that over time the downvoting not only normalizes as a common practice of platform hygiene, but the need for it decreases due to its prevalence. At the moment, one doesn't have to look very far for a target, maybe later those targets will be harder to find as people adjust to treating the platform and the community with some respect, rather than a greedy money grab for every possible cent.
It is hard at this point to see much change with the economics of course as it has only just started to take an effect, but in the next few days there should be posts that are having their rewards returned to and then redistributed again from the reward pool. The coming days will also show how the curve is affecting under current conditions and this too will be affected by what is returned through the downvotes. I also hope that those who have some stake start actively curating posts again and directing the returned Steem on to those who deserve it.
These hardforks are fun to participate in because there are always a host of changes that impact and create conditions that were not necessarily expected. Some of these surprises are negative, some positive - but for those who keep their eyes and minds open, there are always possibilities.
# Isn't it nice to see hardwork turn into hardfork?
The chain has been stagnant for so long now and while I watched the downvotes happen after all of the talk of hardfork 21, it made me smile. This is nothing about "being mean", it is about taking responsibility for the conditions of the community and while some people might not agree with downvotes, I hope that there are more people who agree that rewards should go to those who deserve them.
Who deserves them? Well, that is about the supply and demand of content as a service, as entertainment, as valuable information, as attractive drawcard and as the kind of stuff that someone can read and say, "If I had the possibility to tip this person, I would".
The brilliance of having Steem Power is that we have the ability to tip these people forever, how much that tip is worth is based on how much Steem Power one has and, the price of Steem. I think that while the development over the last 1.5 years has been fantastic, I feel that the code of the blockchain is maneuvering into a position that empowers it and, all the development and applications to come. We are far from mass adoption readiness, but 3 seconds at a time we creep closer.
It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a #newsteem
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Edit: You can check your downvoting mana on https://steemd.com/@tarazkp (just change to your username)