I might gain an enemy or two for saying this, but in a way I'm at peace with that possibility. Whatever part of the human psyche makes patriots revere the constitution as a holy text, might be the same one triggering all cylinders on this particular phenomenon.

If we can't agree on this foundational fact, we simply can't move forward. It always hurts my brain to see people holding on to the white paper as if it was designed to be the perfect Utopia, the immutable constant that shall forever remain the same if we are to survive the crypto apocalypse.

This fanaticism is extremely unproductive and Its exactly the reason why phrases like - "That's why we can't have nice things" - are so insignificant, yet so popular. My point is that we must be able to operate without the idolatry biases and be objective about the issues laying bare in front of us.

The default chess move

For many when it comes to resolving conflict, or attempting find solutions usually starts with - "Well, the white paper says that...." - and anything following those words seems to land in the ears of the listener with the grace of a walrus. This is to say, most of the people who are having these conversations, developers, witnesses and OG steemians, know about the white paper enough to know it does not contain all the answers. Many things were not foreseen, there was no way anyone could have thought of how creative the abusers would be, and how the masses would react to the abuse.

Changing the voting Curve again

Might be part of the solution, but then again I'm probably not convinced 100% anymore. Every single time I think about how a new voting curve could be implemented, the thought is followed by ideas of how I could abuse it if I wanted to. This makes me stand today on the side of cultural change. The gargantuan task of educating as many people as possible and helping those who can become what we could only call "Steem's middle class".

If more and more people become dolphins, thus effectively creating a solid mid class, the steem ecosystem as a whole might reach a healthier balance. Basically, if we don't have enough people thinking long term, powering up, building communities, initiatives and what have you, there's absolutely no "code change" that can save us.

Please note that I'm not saying we should not change the voting curve, I'm simply stating the core of the issue might not be specifically there, it might not.

Because ROI is important

Whatever change we make, if we make one at all, has to be enticing to the investors of the platform. Basically, since Steem does not sell ads, or has partnerships with Pepsi or Coca Cola, we cannot believe naively that the "magic money" comes simply from the "amazing" content anyone is creating on here.

I may be using a lot of air quotes, but that is because no one has created a font for sarcasm and I'm attempting to be as clear as I can on my position. We cannot, we simply can't believe this fairy tale idea that removing greed from the equation is actually possible. Instead, we should attempt to see it as a tool, an enticing buffet served for the investors who are brave enough to be early adopters.

I get the bidbot hatred

I happen to believe its quite ugly myself, but I'm not willing to discard their role on attracting investment to the platform. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago @fyrstikken wrote about this very thing and said publicly, that if we where to destroy the current system, he would simply sell his votes for BTC directly. Can I blame him? I honesty can't. As someone who is literally holding a giant bag of Steem, he must think of his self interest first or he would be an anomaly that should be studied by science.

The simpler truth is that demand creates markets, and as long as there are people using the bots, they will exist in their current shape and modus operandi. What we are lacking or failing at, is creating the right culture as to not excuse the promotion and creating of garbage content.

In hardfork 38, we will get it right

Maybe, or maybe it will be 55, but honestly that is not that important, at least not right now. It might not even matter what the white paper said originally at some point in time, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. As with many technologies the ecosystem, the idea of this platform keeps on evolving and if we are not willing to adjust, we can't expect to be too successful with it.

My invitation to you Steemian, is to have an open mind, discard some of these semi-religious ideas of "how awesome it was back then" - "lets make steem great again" or whatever variation of that anyone will spit at you. The truth is that the experiment was never perfect, it was never ideal, it was simply the best attempt at the time.

Until then... Steem on...

The White Paper is not Holy, let's move on.

The default chess move

Changing the voting Curve again

Because ROI is important

I get the bidbot hatred

In hardfork 38, we will get it right

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