Steemit is an online community much like any other. It is not exempt from fundamental laws of economics or social dynamics. When it comes to people interacting based on financial rewards, we have to understand that every possible transaction is based on demand and supply.
Like I mentioned before in a previous post, capital is compartmentalized into social, financial and intellectual. Every company or individual falls under the same economic spectrum. The only difference is that Steemit is unique in the way it merges social capital with the financial one. Nothing more, nothing less.
Throughout the past year, there were plenty of views in regards to how value is created in the platform. Every now and then, morality was invoked as the means to rectify specific incidents. Nonetheless, morality is irrelevant to value. A given environment dictates the morality of the group. Depending on the point of view one examines an economic incident, some parties might feel they have been treated unfairly while some others not so much.
Some whales for example have invested heavily in the platform from the very beginning. They were the ones mining the tokens. It is expected from them to be opinionated about how things are run in here much like with every other major shareholder in a given company.
Others have joined Steemit following team members from previous projects. This is also something that happens in the outside world. These members have invested mostly in people and they feel they should be treated much like any other shareholder. Many other dolphins and minnows have been interacting with one another, created personal connections and formed groups of interest. Again, much like in every company or organization social capital is extremely valuable since it enables the other two forms of capital — intellectual and financial.
When a member of the platform utilizes their shareholder power, no matter how big or small, then it is to be expected not to be frowned upon. People on Steemit can sell their services and products — heck even their own tokens if they so wish. They can also counter other offers with their own version much like in the free market. This is what makes the blockchain so great. Complaining solves nothing. Acting (or reacting) is all the money, literally.
In a recent example, the whaleshares initiative introduced the concept of buying whale votes with their respective tokens. As a counter market act the Random Whale Vote initiative was introduced offering a different reward system that relies more on gambling. Both initiatives, aim to raise capital in their own special way.
People can buy votes if they so wish with their financial OR social capital. People tend to forget than having connections is much the same (if not more important) than having money. A group of people can decide to vote for each other for rewards because they have invested time to create a social bond. It is no different than someone spending the same amount of time to write an article. Both are valuable investments in their own way. Whether we like it or not, it is what it is. There is nothing that can be done to prevent this nor anyone should try to do so.
If we try to regulate economic exchanges on Steemit we would be doing the same exact mistake as in the FIAT world. A truly free market can and will inevitably correct itself. For example, If someone is milking the reward pool with little to no effort then eventually everybody will have to pay for the irresponsibility. The overall value of the platform will fall due to bad handling. The big guys will correct the situation our of self preservation. Same exact pattern is observed everywhere in nature.
There is a parable that describes how a greedy fellow killed the goose that laid one golden egg per day in order to get the gold out. The people within the community will eventually spot the greedy fellow and take action to balance things out otherwise they will be inevitably harming their own investment. A 'regulator' will always fall short since, at the end, who would be regulating the regulator?
I would advice my dear Steemians, whether they are whales, dolphins or minnows to try and understand the motives of each and every person on the platform. Most of the time, they are pretty obvious. If you believe something is "unfair" then try to understand why something happens rather than focusing on the fact that it happened. Any situation can be turned into your own advantage if you play your cards right. This is one of the beauties we can enjoy in the blockchain and one that we should all cherish.
