Scratching the surface to nothing

While Eli works furiously on SMTs at Steemit Inc...

I was contemplating what it would mean to "start again" from scratch at Steem. What I would imagine is that no matter whether there was a zero-point start, pretty soon the system would look much like it does now, as no matter the opportunity, skill and attitude are still going to come into play, and zeroing STEEM holdings doesn't remove skill.

Now, I am not just talking about the skill to create content, yeah, I and quite a few more can do that, but what people do not realize is that there are plenty of other ways to attract STEEM into the wallet, many of which are not healthy. Remember the Dart botnet that was extracting tens of thousands of STEEM through thousands of mini-accounts leveraging the startup Steem Power?

There are some very skilled people here and quite a few of them are smarter than you and I. While the idea of a utopia through a clean slate might seem attractive, I do not think that it would be as attractive as many envisage, much like the shift away from N2 to a straight line didn't turn out as people had hoped.

But, here we are and I have to think about starting again, even though I do not think that it is what would play out on any major forks, as the fact is that not many people can develop for the blockchain. However, there are a few ex-blockchain developers (@gerbino and @vandeberg) who might be looking to do some freelance work.

Personally, I am quite confident that I would be able to capitalize on a fresh start, but I don't think I have the energy to start from scratch. 3+ years of 6-12 hours of work on Steem takes its toll on a person and the thought of that effort being zeroed away, doesn't make me jump with enthusiasm. Although, I guess that I can repost daily for about 10 years without repetition....

But, I do see the benefits of a start without the Steemit Inc stake in play at all and see what could become of a chain that holds the community that is here now and progresses forward. The reason is that over the last two years, a core userbase has built up and most of those with stake now have earned and bought it, as well as being more community orientated. This would mean that everyone's stake would have more relative value as there would be 70M less in circulation, and it would be up to the user base to choose where that goes - as it is now.

While people might have dreams of earning a lot from a fresh start, I would suggest that from a creative standpoint, in the end 20% of the contributors would get 80% of the rewards anyway. The fact is, most people aren't overly creative. What might change is that some of the users who did earn in the past won't earn under those conditions, but the emerging results will look similar to now, with a few new and a few less old faces.

If you haven't been one of the ones who has stepped up to consistently produce over the last two years, do you think you could in a future where the token price is even lower and the listings are on even fewer exchanges? Take a good, long, hard think about your own past here, as it is a very good indicator of your future.

If you have spent your time complaining about the unfairness of the system, I am sorry to say, you aren't likely going to enjoy a fresh start, as there is nothing that highlights differences more than an even playing field. Perhaps you are the fastest, smartest, most skilled and talented. Perhaps not. While people can have the excuse of the unfair system keeping them down, a fresh start would leave no place to hide from one's own reflection and many will find that it wasn't the system that failed them.

I wouldn't support a fork that wipes my account clean of the work and direct investment, but I might work harder on one that rewards my account for being here through the thick and the thin of Steem. I am tired of starting from scratch in my life, as I have done it several times already, so I will do what I can to keep and build upon what I and many others have worked hard toward. In for a penny, in for a pound.

The past matters; it is where skills and relationships are formed.
It is also where time and potential was wasted.

Taraz [ a Steem original ]