Wow respect, i see some people who usually stand on morale high ground here defending and shilling for such a scam mining.... wtf is going on here.
Of what benefit are morals? Which morals are objectively better than others? Btw, CoinCube
has written about the objective purpose of morals.
I can't speak for smooth, but in my case I am trying to remember that my successes in life came from being pragmatic, action trumps words, and dogma was for bystanders and arm chair "experts".
What seems to matter is can we make something big that brings in the masses to blockchains. Steemit is using some gimmicks to try to go viral and then hoping to fill in the missing parts of the ecosystem.
Remember since 2013 I have been saying that I didn't think the Linux development model applied well to popularizing blockchains and this was one of my complaints against the model of Monero. Monero, Ethereum, Steemit are all experiments in how to organize a blockchain project. Personally I am much more motivated to improve Steemit than I am for Monero, because the former can probably pay me well (I'm not assuming that will happen nor that they need me).
I am still in the process of analyzing Steemit, to make my determination of its prognosis and how I align with it.
It doesn't mean I won't find problems in Steemit. I have not yet determined if the concentration of tokens with initial whales is debilitating or a net positive. So many facets remain to be analyzed and pondered.
It is normal to have a negative reaction if we are invested in another project, then another one comes along that has a different set of parameters (especially if some might even think some of those attributes are immoral, selfish, or catastrophe-in-the-making).
I am still trying to wrap my head around all of this.
I did not admire the technology of Dash (and that is not to say there wasn't some serious programming done). I felt they had hyped and not actually produced anything significant (e.g. 10 minute mixing times, etc). Although there were some new ideas especially in Evolution. Steemit has some serious technology. I am not saying it is the best technology we can do. But I also acknowledge it is already a reasonably sophisticated technical accomplishment. And they will be gaining technological momentum if they utilize their resources well.
I am not clear yet they needed a blockchain for this. But I guess the argument is that anyone can go write an alternative UI on top of the blockchain. I need to study and think about the details of this more.
I was criticizing the project heavily and it is possible I might still find insoluble issues, but I also have to make sure I am in touch with reality.
Reality is 100s if not 1000s of people are signing up and actually producing content. It is not a mirage. I am studying the site metrics now to determine the attrition rate.
I have in the past thought Dan's designs were out-of-touch with reality and too collectivist (as if the government can ever do anything efficiently ... appears perhaps Dan learned a lesson with DPoS governance with Bitshares). Now he joined with Ned Scott and produced something that may be a balance of ideas from several smart people. And maybe they need another few smart people to help them refine it. I am not sure yet. I need to study it more.
