Steemit, is a popular platform built upon the steem blockchain and therefore there is a need to understand the platform on which this Dapp functions, this brings us to season 5 week 3 of the steemit crypto academy, understanding the steem blockchain.

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Steem - This is the basic liquid currency underlying the steem blockchain from which all other tokens derive their value. It can be transferred with ease and purchased and sold on exchanges.

Steem Dollars (SBD) - SBD or steem-backed dollars is a stable cryptocurrency built on the steem network which was originally pegged to the USD. It can be converted to steem and traded at any time

Steem power - This is also called staked steem. It is an internal currency that cannot be traded on external exchanges. Steem power can be converted back to liquid steem through a process called powering down.

TRX - The TRX token popularly known as TRON is one of the major currencies out there. This token was integrated into the steem ecosystem after its owner and CEO, Justin Sun acquired the steem blockchain two years ago. Through the integration, users have been able to earn additional rewards on the ecosystem.

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From the explanation of the term SP above, it could be understood that steem power on the blockchain functions as an influence. The higher the steem power of a user/node, the more the influence on the chain. This goes without saying, there are numerous positive inherent benefits to building one's SP on the blockchain and some of them include :

• Those with higher SP are favored by the reward pool as stake-weighted steem or steem power largely influences the distribution of rewards, therefore by building one's SP, you would earn a larger share of curation rewards.

• By building one's SP you can also actively participate in the governance of the ecosystem with adequate support.

• Communities and startups: In order to successfully build a community on the ecosystem, influence is necessary to ensure the smooth running of the community, foster collaboration from other existing communities and effectively perform curating activities: the more steem power, the better.

Curation on the steem blockchain stretches far beyond just upvoting a post. For curation to be deemed as taken place, the following activities would have been performed.

A published post should have been read and its information adequately dissected.
When reading the post, sources of information should be verified.

• Do they come from trustworthy sources?
• is the information accurate?

If so, does the post contain any form of plagiarism or has it been spun or rewritten? In this case, action should be taken to alert the community of such practice. Lastly, is such a post harmful to the community or users? if so it should be flagged or adequately reported. Having done all this, if a user finds such a post to be valuable, they may go ahead to upvote the post as a means of showing support, and appreciation or to ensure the visibility of quality posts.
The entirety of such activities is regarded as curation in steem blockchain.

is self-voting a good or bad practice on the steem blockchain?
Having been a member of the steem blockchain for years. I've understood that the reward system is operated in a convergent linear manner. As a result of these reward system, users are given a reason to go out in search of such content they perceive as exceptional content in the process of curation so they can earn better curation rewards.
Also, the steem blockchain was brought about as a community to support content creators and writers alike and self-voting is a selfish act that is frowned upon on the blockchain as mass adoption of this practice eliminates the need for curation, community, and support which the blockchain thrives upon.

To demonstrate how the voting window on the steem blockchain works, I'll be upvoting two different posts. One, older than seven days since published, and the other less than seven days, observing how the respective actions affect my voting mana.

I currently have voting mana of 94.08 as displayed on my steem world interface.

I have upvoted two posts with 100% of my voting power. The first post was 2 hours old and my voting mana before casting a vote was 94.08 as shown subsequently, after which it reduced to 92.30. However, my steem power is too low therefore it didn't visibly increase the profit that accrues to the post. But it is observed that this action decreased the voting mana.

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For the second task, I voted a post older than seven days and the following was observed.
My voting mana didn't reduce at all even though I did so with a 100% weight unlike in the previous demonstration and also the reward pool didn't get affected.

From the demonstration above, we observe that after seven days have elapsed from the creation of a post, maturity is reached and the post rewards are distributed between authors and curators. Therefore the voting window of a post is within seven days upon publication.

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The respective advantages and disadvantages of the steem blockchain include

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The steemit crypto academy has been a major backbone in my knowledge of cryptos, economy and blockchains alike. Each tasks required adequate research on the part of the writer before completion and that helps a lot in understanding of various other ecosystems. Thanks for reading this publication.

I invite @josevas217, @sahmie, @drqamu and @simonnwigwe to give their two cents on this publication :)