I came across this post from @snowflake today, and I have spent most of my night thinking about it.. The more I think about it, the more I think this is actually a really good idea!
Here is a shortened (and slightly modified) version:
- All accounts with more than 100 MV of SP (roughly $7,000 worth) become moderators.
- All accounts with 100 MV or less of SP are users.
- Users are able to upvote and downvote posts.
- Moderators can only downvote posts or negate other moderators downvotes.
- Curation rewards are eliminated.
- The funds from curation rewards will be used to pay the moderators a moderator fee.
[Edit] Alternate Versions:
- The first 100 MV of SP from a moderator's account could act as a 'regular' user.
- Downvotes from regular users would not negatively influence rewards.
Key benefits:
- The dolphins would be the key voters deciding on what posts were rewarded.
- Even minnows could have a small influence with their vote.
- Regular users would have a strong incentive to buy more STEEM and power up.
- Large SP investors will get a return on their investment without being required to curate.
- Whales would still have the ultimate say on what gets rewarded.
There are lots of details to iron out, but I think the idea is solid.
[Edit] Main Concerns:
- It would need buy-in from the major stakeholders.
I am only on board with this plan to the extent that there is buy-in from the majority of the major stake holders. If the whales do not want to do it, then it will not work. Whales would be giving up some of their power. In exchange, they would be receiving "moderator rewards", and hopefully a better return on their investment from the increased demand in SP. It is a question for the whales - are you on board with this? - It has the potential for whale abuse via sock-puppets.
There are only 50 users who have enough SP to abuse this by more than a factor of 10 'user' accounts. While the potential for abuse is still there, and it probably will happen to some extent - if anything were happening on a large scale, it would likely get detected and addressed by the moderators. Whales would also be giving up their "moderator rewards" in order to gain the extra influence. In the absence of curation rewards, I don't know if the risk vs. reward of doing this is high enough to cause it on a large scale.
What are everyone's thoughts?
Check out @snowflake's full proposal here:
Guardian of the steem universe : A different perspective on the role of whales within steem ecosystem [part 2]