How does Steem work?

Steem is composed of a database and a Blockchain where all the contents of Steemit are recorded and stored. Being an open system, anyone can read the publications and check the money obtained by each one of them.
Its database is known as ChainBase9, created in 2016 to replace the previous one, Graphene10. ChainBase provides much faster load and output times and supports parallel access to the database and has larger firewalls than its predecessor.

On the other hand, the AppBase with which Steem counts allows modularizing the blockchain: each of the connected computers manages different parts of the network, creating a totally parallel system so that each user can maintain certain parts, so that the community itself is the one in charge of maintaining the network.

As we said, Steemit stores all the information generated within its platform in its chain of blocks, with the slight exception that they have a separate server for the images that accompany their content.

Steem allows users to store their Steem Coins and their Steem dollars in a pseudo savings account, so that the funds can not be withdrawn until after a period of three days. In addition, the Steem that remains in the allocation calendar (for a period of 13 weeks) only allows to withdraw a rate of 1/13 per week, after an initial waiting of 7 days.

These locks prevent an attack from gaining access to the user's entire funds and provide the user with security and control when it comes to recovering their account before all their funds are withdrawn.

However, within the operation it is also worth mentioning the way in which Steemit users can interact with the publications to fulfill the purposes described above.

• Upvote:

which is very similar to the famous "Like" of Facebook. With the Upvote, users express their liking for the published content and, in this way, it acquires value.

• Flag:

In counterpart with the previous function, it is equivalent to "Dislike" or "I do not like it". As expected, it is an option that prevents certain content from acquiring value and limits its visibility to other users. In general, Flag is used to qualify Spam content, which may include plagiarism, offensive language, incitement to violence, among others.
Given its influence if applied, it is necessary that the users of Steemit make an appropriate use of it, because otherwise, they could lose reputation.

• Reply:

With this option, registered users can make comments on the publications and, in the same way, respond to others in the process.

• Resteem:

Again, another similarity with another social network, such as Twitter. With Resteem you can share the content that we consider to be of better quality or of our particular pleasure.
Steem controls the content published not on the basis of rules premeditated by the developers, but on what in this medium is known as "community moderation". This means that, although there are no guidelines that indicate which post is appropriate or not, the voting process carried out by the same members of the community have served as a filter and reference to stipulate them implicitly.