I think that they should implement a reward system similar to how you would earn Experience Points (EXP) in a Role Playing Game (RPG). As your level (Steemit reputation) grows it should become harder and harder to earn STEEM. Higher payouts and rewards would be "curved" kinda like they curve a grade in a difficult class like physics, but in the opposite direction so they would become lesser and lesser over time.
This would allow minnows a fighting chance at their slice of the pie while preventing abuse by greedy jerks!
If that is the case these greedy users will just create more accounts to take advantage of minnows opportunity.
Sadly this is unenforceable in a decentralized system. You just make a bunch of accounts and make bank while the honest people make even less.
There are already SOME measures in place to stop people from making new accounts but those barriers can be easily overcome if you know a couple of tricks.
They need to implement a no multi-account rule that monitors transfers and account interactions. Clear and blatant abuses like the ones above should merit a lifetime IP ban from the site as well as confiscation of funds stolen.
That would be a massive invasion of privacy though. It wouldn't fly in the EU, especially considering that IP addresses are often treated as private information (as are phone numbers, for instance).
That's just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
It also defeats the purpose of having a decentralized social network. All of these things come with the territory. There are negative aspects. They are definite cons, but to come up with a centralized solution to these problems is also getting rid of everything that makes Steem better than other social networks.
IP addresses can be spoofed too.
Many people have multiple accounts on purpose to run bots. Some bots are very useful. Other bots are gaming the system. I'm all for abusers being called out for the abuse too.
Yeah, it would most likely lead to people just creating new accounts to post and upvote it with their main account. Then just send all the rewards from each new account to the main one to gain bigger upvotes.
Steem functions on the basic idea that everyone is honest. And that everyone will try to work towards a fair reward pool.
Human nature says that large SP holders should take as many as they can.
Maybe the gap between the idea of Steemit and human nature is just too big for it to work fairly..
That is always a possibility. I would rather Steemit stay true to what it is and fail than be turned into a centralized authority-policed mess.
Steemit does not function on that idea... It functions based on the idea that shareholders will protect their stake.
That's an interesting idea but It might hurt in the long-run if people become reluctant to post because they can earn more from Steemit as an investment rather than a content creator. This also does not solve the problem of minnow accounts used by whales as a tool for profiting.
Well with my idea you would still be able to receive higher payouts for your first few posts of the day but after a certain number the payouts would start diminishing. For example if you post TEN times a day you would only get 100% payout on the first two and then the third would get 75% and the fourth 50% and so on and so forth.
Is it REALLY necessary to make THAT many posts a day? I mean how much money do you really need to make per day on Steemit to be happy? I know that $100 a day is more than enough for the average person to get by.
The problem is that this would certainly discourage people from making long-term commitments to Steemit, which is also very important for the growth. Sure, it might feel unfair that some users get $500+ rewards, but you should keep in mind that some of these users have already written 2-4 posts every day for almost two years, which takes a lot of dedication.