Warning! This post contains spoilers.
I’ve been reading a bit about Steemit, trying to get my head around the platform, how it works, what the goal / vision is etc.
I’ve seen a lot of very negative comments and a lot of very positive comments.
I tried reading the white paper, and lost the will to live after about page four. Having spent the last four + years proof reading university assignments and theses for my wife while she completed her Master’s degree, I’m over this sort of dense, abstract sort of text.
So, after reading yet another rant that said, “read the f*ing white paper” I decided to try again.
I got a bit further this time before my eyes glazed over and my mind started wandering. So at least that’s progress. I skim read bits and pieces still trying to find the one bit that would turn all this around and make it make sense.
I finally found what I was looking for right at the end (isn’t that always the way?).
Here is the paragraph from the White Paper with the salient point highlighted.
Steem is an experiment designed to address challenges in the cryptocurrency and social media industries by combining the best aspects from both. Steem presents earning opportunities to content creators and internet readers in ways that have not existed within the social media industry. Within Steem, individuals earn real rewards online that are directly correlated to their contributions. Those rewards will have dollar value due to the market price discovery and liquidity of Steem, and the people who hold Steem will have more exclusive earning powers than those who do not.
What does this tell you?
Steemit and Steem are not billed as a panacea for all your financial, political and relationship woes. It’s an experiment and you and I are merely participants in that experiment.
If you invested a chunk of change in this platform, having read that paragraph, then you are by definition, a risky investor. You took the risk knowing this is just an experiment to see what happens, perhaps to inform later products and services.
It’s Research and Development.
If you invested without reading and understanding that paragraph then you’re an investor that has not done due diligence on your investment. So don’t go complaining when things don’t work out the way you dreamed, because your dreams had nothing to do with reality.
So now that you know what the platform is, and why it’s here, perhaps you’ll understand why 
Maybe what happens is they make more money.
Maybe what happens is they lose some money.
Maybe what happens is they generate interest in the product.
Maybe what happens is they drive people away from the product.
Maybe they learn what they need to know to build a second generation product that hits the sweet spot for user engagement and reward and viability.
Maybe they learn that this is all just too much effort, and no matter what they do, the haters will always bring everything they build crashing down.
That’s what experiments are for – to find out what happens when you do this or when you do that.
From my own perspective, I’m happy to play as part of the experiment, because I too, am interested to see what happens and where this goes.
If it fails, I’ve had an interesting time participating and watching the experiment unfold.
If it succeeds, then I’ve had fun participating and watching the experiment unfold.
If I had money to invest would I invest in Steemit?
Probably. But I wouldn’t put a lot of money into it. I’d put a bit in and see what happens. I’d do it as an experiment – to see what happens.
That would be the smart way to do it, right?