A Response to Overthinking Wealth Distribution by @meno

This is a response to Overthinking wealth distribution by @meno. It started as a comment and, as it grew, I decided to make it a post. Much of it still reads like a comment.

To provide some context, here's an extract from the last paragraph of @meno's post:

So what's more likely

That we've designed a flawed system or that we the participants are flawed? ...
If we have a Steemian population that does not feel confident in powering up, in using the platform as intended ... We will never have a healthy middle-class - And we know how that turns out.

People are multi-faceted, with many motivations, and this is a complex environment. It is also a changing environment. What held true when the innovators arrived two years ago is different to how it is for the early adopters who have joined in the last six-twelve months.

There is a great deal to learn here, people are wise to experiment and try different things. There will be those who come and go, they have their own reasons, we are not living in their shoes, they didn't sign up in blood when they joined or swear an oath of fealty. They are not obliged to you or me or anyone else.

Meanwhile, we have new people joining, with enthusiasm, who are interested in learning how it all works. It's an uphill climb, it takes time to understand the environment and to build networks, and some experiments work better than others.

Along the way, they will meet people who may not have the same goals or values and, if they are sensible, they will not give their time and their attention or their votes to these people. They will probably get hurt once or twice the same as you would offline if you are too trusting too soon. But, with luck, they will have built resilience in childhood when they first started making friends and learned, the hard way, that some people are not to be trusted. They can bring that resilience to bear on Steem.

I am surprised, given the nature of the platform, at the level of moralising that goes on here. People talk about feeling guilty for decisions they've made about how they want to use the platform, as if they are ten years old and have been scrumping apples, rather than an adult experimenting with the possibilities of a technology.

I like the #minnowuprising initiative taking place, that seems a practical way of attempting to progress the idea of creating a middle class. In discussions, people are learning new things which will help them; #minnowuprising has created a space which allows these discussions to take place.

I have my own hypothesis about the problem with Steem (if there is a problem) which is that we need more women participating. Most of these conversations are men talking to themselves about the behaviour of other men. Yes, there are some women taking part, but they are the exception, rather than the rule.

Dlike.io - Paving the Way for Women on the Blockchain posted two days ago by @bethwheatcraft pointed out that women make up just over the half the population in the States (also in the UK) and are more likely to control the purse strings in a household even if they aren't the main earners. She argues that women also make up the lion's share of online purchasers and consequently are essential to the success of crypto e-commerce on the blockchain.

I would add that, societally, women are more loyal and more likely to stay long-term. Women are no strangers to struggle and they are used, through necessity, to delayed gratification. In my last post, I talked about London's technology industry, which is thriving. However, only 19% of the workforce are women. I proposed that the same is true here and that, in addition, women are enjoying less of the wealth at every level.

At the end of his post, @meno has a call to action: look inside ourselves and ask whether we want to perpetuate the cycle or whether we want to be part of the change that leads to a more equal distribution of wealth. My call to action is this: look at your close network on Steem, the 10-20 people you interact with most, and if less than 50% of them are women, consider what you might do to widen your network to include more women.