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Alternate title: "A Funny Thing Happened This Morning - Or How I Was Paid $26.087 SD from an Author who was Featured on Someone Else's Blog"
I wrote a couple of posts yesterday expressing my concerns over the "Featured Author" trend and whether or not SteemIt.com was turning into some kind of "Federated Media" platform.
I was suprised to look in my wallet this morning and see a payment for 26.087 SBD from @poteshnik83. I checked it out and it looked like someone had linked to a previous post of mine from an article and then was nice enough to send me some SBD. So I thought, yay!
This was the shout out I was given in the article, and I do appreciate that.
1/5 of Steem Dollars For great post written by @nonlinearone Please rate the message. @nonlinearone/power-up-steemit-make-the-power-up-pledge-poweruppledge
So, I left a comment saying thanks.
Then ... I realized that the article I was replying to was written by @poteshnik83 but was posted on @dragonslayer109's blog! I didn't realize this at first. I was confused enough that I thanked @dragonslayer109 instead of @poteshnik83.
Here's a screenshot of my replies to the post
When I realized that the Steem Dollars originated from a Featured Author post ... I decided I couldn't keep them. Please don't get me wrong - not trying to be a jerk here. But ... well I just went out on a limb yesterday and said I don't really think the "Featured Author" thing is a good direction for the future of SteemIt.com This is an independent publisher platform (if you read between the lines, or the comments on those posts, that's what I was getting at). People should be able to publish under their own name and be successful through upvotes.
I have no problem with someone recommending posts however - so that part I'm fine with.
So, I was confused as heck on what to do! On the one hand I think it's admirable that they sent me some SBD because they linked to my article. On the other hand - the money really came from @poteshnik83's work which (in my opinion) should be posted at @poteshnik83
Perhaps I'll end up on the "wrong side" of history on this, but I can't shake the idea that having to put your content under someone else's name on this platform is just wrong. People should be able to publish their posts on their own account instead of having to "sell out" to someone else.
I think the current incentive structure has caused this "hack" to be perhaps necessary, but I don't think it's good and should be fixed through changes to the Steem source code. Perhaps by changing the payout back to 50% curation and 50% author rewards (as it was in the White Paper) instead of 25% curation and 75% author (change made on July 4th). I know that sounds backwards but think about it... it rewards good curation more which might mean less featured authors and more independent authors. If the change to 50/50 was supposed to help minnows and fish - it isn't working. They're becoming featured authors now and have to put their content on someone else's blog.
Peace out.
~Dr. Bryan~
p.s. Maybe I'm wrong on this so please share your thoughts. Thanks.
p.p.s. @dragonslayer109 and @poteshnik83 please don't be offended. I just have strong feelings about this issue.
Check out my other articles @nonlinearone