Swimming in a Sea of Downvotes and I Still Think They Are Needed.

As anyone who follows me knows I have been an advocate of downvotes and my words are being tested.

I will not say that I think all of the downvotes users are getting are fair or short term good for the economy. but they are part of the system and without them it is impossible to build this into a strong platform. See Whaleshares for an explanation.

We are in what I would call a phase where a new pecking order is being determined and downvotes are being normalized. I see more and more posts talking about downvoting but I do hope some sanity will return once this "New Toy" Phase has is over. It's new, and people are still figuring out how to act and how to react. Myself included.

The debate is turning to should you explain your downvotes or not. Hardly anyone feels that all upvotes should be explained so I think the same rules should apply. After all downvoting is just an expression of exercising your fair share of the reward pool.

In our DPOS system our SteemPower gives us the right to allocate our own share at exactly the influence level that you hold. From the point of view of "content" that might not seem fair, but when you look at it at the "Ownership" level it seems perfectly fair to me.

A stakebased inflation pool allocated by the stakeholders up and down is what we have. The revenge downvotes and so called circlejerk upvotes are built into the system too.

A stakebased system is fair in that the Stakeholders have the right to allocate the pool. Don't confuse that with the ability to make perfect decisions or even good ones. I usually think of it like business ownership. Owning the business doesn't mean you know all the right moves to make, but it does give you the power to make them. If the wrong decisions are made it can damage the business which should give the owner reasons to correct their behavior.

With all that being said, despite having some feelings, on an intellectual level I accept my downvotes as the consequence for being outspoken, allocating my share of the reward pool both up and down and as part of our young economy.

I hope at some point soon our attention will turn away from our own politics and focus on Steem being a fun place to be and gathering and supporting new users.

Don't forget to enjoy #shitpostsunday within your timezone. The idea isn't to actually post shit, it is to make a casual post and to remember not everyone wants to be a serious content creator. If we have good moderation via upvotes and downvotes casual posts, such as my own should not be a problem.

@whatsup