RE: New STEEM... It's not like OLD STEEM
This may surprise you, but at under 5000 SP myself I am a minnow :) But I was happy to delegate some SP to you at the beginning of your steem journey, and happy you are still here.
I think in general, people need to be careful about conflating users/retention with value for Steem, and also about conflating STEEM (the token) with Steem the blockchain.
Users who power up Steem add value to STEEM the token, while users who power down and sell lower the value of STEEM the token - but of course, in both cases, by far the major driver of price of STEEM is speculative investment (or in the case of STEEM, lack thereof, currently). It is important to note that simply being an active user is neutral to price of STEEM, what matters is how much STEEM is held vs. how much is sold. I am of the personal opinion that the current situation with low STEEM prices and major holders powering down is actually good for Steem, the blockchain. For the first time in the history of Steem blockchain, the wealth distribution is improving. Whales powering down and a growing lower/middle class of users powering up = good for Steem the blockchain, even if it is bad for the price of STEEM the token.
Well, @carlgnash, you may just be a big minnow, but you have the heart of the noblest of whales ... your kindness tokens are off the chain ... or, I should say, on the blockchain for as long as the world lasts!
I really appreciate your taking the time to explain STEEM the token vs. Steem the blockchain ... so, the thing to watch for is speculative investment, which us newbies have no idea about on this side of the looking glass ... I'm glad to have the clues to use before I go look at the stats again. I do see in those stats what you are referring to in terms of wealth distribution also; there ARE a lot of mid-sized and small power-ups, and the fact that posts and comments are staying stable means that even with folks coming in the front door and blowing out the back, the committed Steemians might just be able to hang on and keep powering up enough until investors pick up on what is being done on an improving blockchain, and get involved in a sustained way -- which will then bring up the token.
I hope that you are right, @carlgnash. I still think it would help to onboard people in a way that gives them incentive to stay around long enough to figure out how this all works so that they, too, have something to power up sooner, and more often. But at least I don't have to be as concerned about what looks like a slow-motion crash and burn... and since I wasn't going anywhere yet anyhow, I suppose I will just take my newbie self away to go create my next post...
BTW I certainly wasn't meaning to imply that there was no need to do what you say and onboard people in a way that they stick around. That is actually one of the clearest and easiest paths forward that I see, and unfortunately, one that the new "economic incentive plan" proposed in the hardfork will make much tougher. At the top with the large stakeholders who make these decisions, there is a general opinion that the smallest accounts really don't matter. This is actually ignoring the reality of the situation, which is that the smallest accounts are the only thing working currently, and the best thing that Steem (the blockchain) has going in terms of users. There is a tremendous incentive to power up when you are a new user. The 15 SP delegated to you doesn't even allow you to make more than a handful of comments, so the first 50 SP earned or so is almost always powered up by an account that wants to be able to transact. Onboard a thousand new users into communities of supportive folk and they will power up 50,000 SP in short order. One new whale investor that earns 50,000 SP from delegations to a bid bot will sell that amount. I personally am fine with the price remaining low and the larger stakeholders selling, while the small accounts grow. Steem has always had a terribly uneven stake distribution right from the beginning, and the current system and price of STEEM is working to help solve that.
But ultimately, it isn't investors or small accounts using Steem blockchain as a social media / blogging platform that is the future of Steem the blockchain. It is DAPP development. Price of STEEM being low is actually a great thing there, it allows DAPPs to buy enough resources at a low price for their users to record custom json transactions to the blockchain. Until/unless the demand for SP to provide resource credits for DAPPs exceeds the short term profit possible from leasing SP to bid bots, Steem isn't going anywhere. When that point does come though, bid bot problem will solve itself.
@carlgnash -- I did go on and make my new post... people like me just don't understand giving up, and even under the new EIP, I expect to do well. I don't expect that you expect to not do well. What I don't want to see, down the line, is folks talking about "Steem is great, but there was no way for newbies from summer 2019 to find a way to enjoy it." I don't want that to be the case on Steemit -- HOWEVER, I do see that perhaps it could be another DAPP that will get the job done. I intend in the very near future to start exploring Steempress to publish more extended writing works, for example. Perhaps the Steem journey could best be thought of as a relay race... the whole team wins in the end.
About bid bots I have nothing of great intelligence to say, except that I know from those stats that they account for only around .44 percent of transactions. That must be a powerful .44 percent, if they account for all those massive power downs -- and yes, there is no way for Steem the token to rise significantly under those conditions. That said, it makes sense to just hang on with Steem the blockchain and just stack STEEM and power it up at this low cost -- especially before the EIP, when it is easier for authors to do that stacking. To me, nothing will be lost; the discipline it takes to do enough to get rewarded around here pays off everywhere. What will be gained by HODLing if things turn out well will be quite wonderful. So, off I go to start planning future posts... the stacking WILL continue!