Curation Won't Grow STEEM Like Commerce Will

No, I wasn't happy to see the reemergence of what is being dubbed the economic improvement proposal. That's the one with the three-pronged approach of 50/50 author/creator split, a change to a convergence linear curve, and a brand new pool for limited (at least that's the last I've heard) downvotes.

I expressed my opinion that I didn't think it was going to do what the proponents think it will do, and I read many others express similar doubts. I saw the rebuttals. I saw some comments by Steemit Inc people suggesting that the proposal post was more a discussion, a gauging of interest.

Now, though, it seems like in the short period since the steemitblog post that the EIP is more or less a done deal, so much so, that it very likely will be a part of Hardfork 21, the one that was only going to be for the worker proposal designed by blocktrades with help by Steemit.

I've seen the posts that have followed, some in favor, many not, and a few not so thrilled with the idea, but figuring any change could be better than what we have.

Well, so be it.

Last week I published a post about how STEEM is not a social media platform. It's so much more than that, if we only let it.

So far, it sounds like most, including some Big Fish, would rather be more concerned about inflation allocation and the reward pool than realizing STEEM's full potential.

Again, so be it.

It might take some doing, but I don't want to be stuck with the limits of diminishing inflation, or the divvying up of the reward pool. I want to look at the whole of STEEM and see something that could have more capitalization than even Bitcoin. I think I might actually have a pretty big idea for commerce here (something I've thought on and off about for the better part of 10 years, and not had a good way to implement it, until STEEM). Obviously, it's not big instantaneously—the idea only grows as fast as users, businesses, entire industries can be onboarded and integrated.

But that's just it.

Even after a hardfork dubbed Velocity (HF 20), onboarding is not pouring in. There's a number of reasons for that, no doubt, and maybe in some ways it's okay there isn't a floodgate opened. However, if really all we have here to offer people are versions of already existing social media platforms, and a few games and some gambling sites, then we're just going to keep burning through users like we are now.

It doesn't take funding dApp development, SMTs or communities to get STEEM going. It only takes the ability to open an account in a timely manner to accept and use STEEM as payment. It only takes creating jobs that pay in STEEM, and having more goods and services to pay for in STEEM.

I say "it only takes" knowing full well that all of that might be in some ways easier said than done. It's going to take some realigning of thinking. We all need to get past the idea of fiat, or what our wallets are worth in our native currencies, and start thinking about things in terms of STEEM. Especially when STEEM is underperforming and could be worth a lot more in the near future (not necessarily in a couple of months, or by this time next year, but within five years).

That's another thing. We need to be thinking the long game. Not just in terms of investing, either, but in how we're going to pack major industries onto the blockchain. Do we have the ability to do that now? Will witness servers hold under the strain of hundreds of millions of transactions a day or more? Do we have that kind of speed and scalability?

I'm here to create. That's what I want to do. But that doesn't mean posting and working through the seven day convoluted payout system. It means digital downloads paid in STEEM. It means subscriptions paid in STEEM.

Others might have other ideas.

So, Big Fish, get your curation rewards if you must. But you'll be Big Fish in a small pond if you don't look beyond the social corner of STEEM. Maybe that's what all of this is meant to do. Eventually. May I wholly and utterly be proven wrong. It won't be the first time, and it won't be the last. I'll be happy along with everyone else if this fiddling around the edges actually amounts to something worthwhile this time.

I'm still going to be pushing for more commerce, and figuring out how I can contribute in that way. I've got a ways to go, though. Some others might be closer. Does someone have the confidence in STEEM to take the next step? Not because of what I say, but because of what is here, and what could be here?

I hope so.

Onward and upward.

_{Image source—Pixabay. Modified by Glen Anthony Albrethsen.}