...but @surpassinggoogle keeps his additional power...
Some thoughts as to why this was granted in the first place, and recently removed.
Background
Yesterday, @ned took back 3 million Steem Power, 500,000 from @linuslee0216, @htliao, @tumutanzi, @nicolemoker, @ramengirl, and @sweetsssj.
Was this just the end of an experiment that began on the 8th August, or are there other reasons behind this decision?
I would really like to put forward a few questions at Steemfest to @ned regarding this.
Previously, I wrote a blog titled Meet Steemit's first Community Owners and Administrators in which I speculated that the delegation of this Steem Power to 7 users was the beginning of an experiment in Communities - The 7 delegatees being potential community leaders, or representatives.
My thoughts at the time behind the reasoning for this delegation included:
These users excel in particular communities that Steemit (@ned) sees as strong growth areas
They have been entrusted with Steem Power to grow their communities (and thus the platform)
These users either live in, or have a language native to a strong growth area, plus a good level of English
I think this is the beginning of communities on Steemit, whilst we wait for the interface to appear. @ned is clear on where he see's potential for the most growth, and has seemingly put his money on it being Asia.
The test is over?
So with the undelegation of this huge amount of Steem Power, some questions spring to mind.
Was this a test, and how did @ned feel it went?
Were the users entrusted with this huge amount of Steem Power putting it to the 'right' use?
And perhaps the biggest question of all, why not undelegate from all 7 'trialists'?
And the 'winner' is?....
Initially, 7 users were given this Steem Power boost. However, one user, who many will know as 'yer boy Terry' and has the handle @surpassinggoogle, still owns 500,000 delegated SP from @ned.
Personally, he is the user from the 7 that I have interacted the most with (although @htliao and @tumutanzi have kindly supported my curation blogs). You will see @surpassinggoogle supporting many initiatives across Steemit including the likes of @steemgigs and his hugely popular 'Untalented' tag in which many users have submitted 'Who am I' style blogs under said tag.
These ventures, and additional personal touch that Terry provides here on Steemit, could be why he has kept the Steem Power entrusted by @ned. I am, and i suspect many others are too, really happy to see this as I have seen the encouragement he gives across the platform. This is summarized nicely using this chart from steemreports.com:
And here we have the vote distribution for all 7:
| User | Unique User Votes |
|---|---|
| @surpassinggoogle | 831 |
| @sweetsssj | 335 |
| @htliao | 306 |
| @tumutanzi | 252 |
| @linuslee0216 | 180 |
| @nicolemoker | 169 |
| @ramengirl | 151 |
Data is king.
Over to you
So friends, what do you think about:
@ned's initial decision to delegate 3.5 million Steem Power to 7 users
The reasoning to take it back now
Why you think @surpassinggoogle still holds 500,000 of @ned's SP (I hope he's not just forgotten and removes it today!)
As usual, more questions than answers, but what an interesting topic!
Thanks for reading today
Asher