"Each account can post up to 4 top-level posts per day before a new algorithm... will start taxing any rewards you earn on additional posts in the same day." - @steemitblog

We all want great, spam-free content on steemit, and punishing people for posting more than 4 times per day is not how we are going to get it. I argue that steemit will miss out on tons of great content because of this strict rule.

I Need You, Steem!

During my first 3 days using steemit, I created 16 total posts of my original photography. At some point I exceeded 4 posts in 24 hours, and behind-the-scenes penalties began. I posted some of my favorite work while my rewards were being significantly penalized and I didn't even know it.

I've been so impressed with steem and steemit for motivating me to climb out of my hole and put myself out there. It's hard to make yourself vulnerable and let your work be judged, and steemit pushed me to take the risk!

But now steemit is telling me to get back in my hole again.

If the goal of this limit is to prevent spam, I hope there is another method that doesn't also limit the creative expression of original content producers. And even if the only solution to stopping spam is post-count-per-time-period, surely the community would prefer a higher limit than 4 per day!

If the intent is to make people post less often in hopes they post better content, I think that's a bad idea from the get-go. How can we assume it's impossible to have more than 4 really great ideas in one day? And what about steem's voting system? Isn't that why we're here - to let the crowd sort out the good content from the bad? Does the voting system really fall apart without an arbitrary post-count limitation?

The User Experience

Another notable issue is the limit is not clearly disclosed to the author before posting. I think a 4 post limit per 24 hours will turn a lot of people off no matter what, but they will be steaming (but unfortunately not steeming) if they aren't told about it up-front!

It's not made clear when the penalties begin or when they end, either. I waited for 3 days to post because my "post bandwidth" number on steemd was still above the 40k threshold. Then I learned that number can get stuck sometimes, and that I actually could post.

Can I Post Without Penalty Right Now?

You might wonder if you will be taxed when you make your next post. Check out this awesome resource: http://steemdollar.com/limitstatus.php?name=steemit (change the username at the end of the URL to yours or use the box in the lower left corner of the page. Tremendous thank you to @mauricemikkers for creating this incredible resource. It does depend on steemd, which can be inaccurate at times.)

Some relevant discussion on the topic with some important voices: https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/176

tl:dr

There's a little-known limit of 4 posts per 24 hour period. When you exceed the limit, you start losing huge percentages of your rewards. I think this limit is incredibly restrictive, reduces original content on steemit, and makes for a bad user experience that will turn off newbies. Please change it!