RE: A call to separation of powers in Steemit
As I was reading the comments here a thought came to me. That the better the trust and culture within the community, the less of these difficult cases there will be, and the easier they will be to solve. It seems unrealistic to totally "law" away these problems ( or organize them away ) if there is not a strong culture of "we are all in this together" which ties us together in the first place. Imagine if these kind of disputes could be consistently solved with open dialogue and deep conversation where the parties really listen and try to understand one anothers point of view. Then all the inevitable conflicts could be a source to make the community stronger. When developing a system like Steemit bumps along the road are inevitable. All of this is very untested territory and of course we have to expect problems. If we see the problems as a learning possibility for the community then it can still all be worth it.
With that said maybe an added feature could be a kind of "open tribunal" if specific cases of conflict emerge. Especially if they are conflicts that highlight systemic dilemmas. In these cases the involved parties could have time and space to present their side of the case in great detail and clarity. Everyone can be encouraged to say openly whatever they think as long as it is done in a friendly and civilized dignified way. I mean : if we are going to create something amazing with Steemit unlike anything seen before...why set anything less than the highest standard from the getgo? :)
None of us are perfect. We often misunderstand one another or have prejudices. So we cant expect any complex social system to work perfectly either. In any case Steemit is an incredible social experiment and a learning experience. When people think differently this can lead to a lot of trouble and it can also lead to new insights. I really have a hope that this place will develop a culture where people actually speak openly and listen to each other. A place where practically all conversations proceed in a friendly, open and respectful manner. This would be so amazingly supercool to see.
Actually I am convinced that everything rests on this. If we let the common standard of communication deteriorate Steemit will be a failure no matter what.
But what if we set the standard of communication sky high? What if we make it a top priority? What if we even make a science and an artform out of continually improving it?
I dont know why but I have this dream that Steemit will be the first internet community to actually do that. Take digital communication as an artform to totally new levels. If we could really do that. I think Steemit will explode into awesomeness. It would make us unstoppable.
Excellent words of communications there @mindwheeeeeeel - you know for such a centralized system of Steemit SP power I've never seen such lack of leadership or communication.
I've seen better decentralized cryptos with better leadership and much better communication - the pervasive threat of raised voices here getting cut down just shows you we are not truly decentralized yet - until the pre-mined SP power is split amongst all.
Then as you say, Steemit would then explode into awesomeness and become invincible :-)
And it is still very early days! We have to expect it will take time for a system like this to find its pace. If we can learn from the experiences along the way we can figure out a good way to do it. Its just that there will inevitably be bugs along the road. Lots of them. Of course there will be. There will be misunderstandings. People will say stupid things or draw wrong conclusions based on incomplete information. Sometime something will piss us off. Etc etc etc... All normal human nature my friend!
But why should that be a problem? The way I see it a robust social system is one where all these natural tendencies can be forgiven while the incentives of the system direct the attention away from those attitudes and towards an attitude of cooperation. When we get there then we will know we are on the track towards success.
Raised voices should not be a problem either. If the intent truly is to make Steemit better ( which is objectively in the self interests of all active participants here ) anyone should be able to speak openly and give specific suggestions for improvement. So then we might look into the art of giving constructive criticism. Maybe something like "This is a terrible way of doing it because of..." could be improved by saying something like "I think a far better way of doing it would be...because then we could benefit like this and like this and like this". If we could share our best ideas for how to improve things in the Steemit ecosystem in this kind of way there should not be any problem. Because objectively the self interests of everyone here is served by Steemit being a place for great conversations and really interesting original content.
The question is : when someone who does not know Steemit and goes on the site and begins to read articles...what will they see? What impression will they get? If they get an impression of a vibrant creative community where people support each other and learn together and create awesome content which makes the internet better as well as rally behind awesome projects, then Steemit will be the place people will want to be. It will draw people towards it like a magnet. And it will be this refreshing new impression in the media landscape of truly constructive and inspiring and original social media.
I have absolutely no doubt about this : A platform which can become a creative community for supreme quality media and conversations is going to transform the whole internet. The world is so ready for something like that now that it is almost ridiculous. People are really fed up with depressive clickbait journalism or debates where people argue like idiots. Something inspiring and fun and useful at the same time is like the unexplored gold of the internet. Social media taken to a totally new level. I say lets do it! :D
we already have the ability to accomplish much of this but, the balance is not yet reached. we have the ability to reward one another for positive contribution. tact can be learned, rewarded. the incentive for each one of us to improve ourselves is right here in front of us. as you say, once we begin to do this, we will become an engine of growth of which others instinctively want to be a part. incentivizing each person being their best self is definitely the path to take to make this the most successful dinner party on the internet. is there, do you think, a way to disincentivize the wealthy and powerful, who, because of their mobs of yesmen, don't care about improving themselves and continually wipe their ass on the tablecloth?
No arguments there - the idea is revolutionary and altruistic - the implementation is piss poor.
Thank you for taking the time to write this great comment, I totally agree with you that healthy communication is key to the success of this project.
One of the reasons I like Steemit, is that, except for the occasional trolls, we are able to communicate in a very efficient and respectful way horizontally, the problem lies in vertical communication, I think the top of the pyramid is not listening enough to the grassroots of this community. One example could be that we have not seen any reply from them to this post, although it has clearly drawn the attention of the community.
I hope healthy communication will be part of the Steemit culture!