RE: Can a Community be Successful Without Leadership? - A Look At "The Tyranny of Structurelessness"
I only read half of your post, but I'll add my thoughts anyway. I had always known that all organisations need a structure, whether it be nation states, public corporations, voluntary communities, non-profit organisations etc. There's a millennia of evidence about what happens with anarchy - a group of people, almost always selfish, usually incompetent and malevolent, swoop in to fill the power vacuum.
When I first joined Steem in 2016, there were rabid fans here who were convinced this will be the second coming of the internet. Of course, that sounded bogus even then, but I was open minded. Who knows, maybe this is a new paradigm, things will be somewhat different? I'm afraid, it has adhered 100% to historical expectations.
The only decentralised systems that work are those where a platform is built, but there are profitable and successful structured organisations on top of it. Linux is a pretty good example in the tech space, but Bitcoin and especially Ethereum also seems to be getting there. Steem has no chance.
On a related note, no, SMT and Communities will not change anything. It's the entire story of Steem, full of hopium and delusion. In 2016, it was the new economics that'd save Steem; in 2017 it was Communities (lol) & new reward structure; in 2018 it was SMT (lol), scalability & RC; in 2019 it was EIP. In 2020, it is SMT and Communities (again, lol). To be clear, I'm not denying that these have some marginal benefits, but no, none of this will matter unless the fundamental problems, which are conveniently always ignored, are fixed. That'll require nothing short of a complete overhaul of Steem from grounds up. No, Steem is absolutely not a top project, and it's exactly where it deserves to be on the CMC list. It will never be a top project as long as everyone here is so delusional and cult-like. This is the very definition of insanity. Sorry, but I'm sure you know deep down this is the truth.
All that said, I do think Steem can build a small but sustainable niche for itself... with, as you say, the right leadership - that will rebuild Steem with a better paradigm. But any claims that this is a "top 10 crypto" or "Facebook killer" are severely delusional.
I agree with most of what you said here and I understand you didn’t read it all, but if you did I think you would find there is nothing delusional in there, in fact I’m pretty sure someone will call me a negative force who is hurting the community, again. 😄
I think Steem has potential, but yes I agree that as is I don’t think it will ever be “successful”. I think we need an overhaul, and some good leadership.
To be honest I’ve never understood the “Facebook killer” thing anyways.. seems like just some hype words. 🙂
I think Steem can fill a niche, but first we have some work to do.
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about you specifically. I know that you have never claimed Steem is a "top 10 crypto", "better than Bitcoin", "Facebook killer" and any such hyperbolic claim. Sadly, there are some influencers, witnesses and Steemit Inc employees who do think like cultists, and it's a large reason why Steem is in a downward spiral. You can't improve a platform if you refuse to understand or acknowledge its fundamental and critical flaws.
I mean, look at this from the official Steem twitter account. This is batshit insane levels of hubris, to the point of being hilarious.
Yep, agreed. This is what I was referring to with “paid shill”, they sort of make us all look bad as they clearly have no idea what they are talking about and make it sound like they are just desperate to sell their “scam”.
People in the crypto space aren’t dumb, this sort of “marketing” does not work, and quite frankly it can be quite detrimental to a project in my opinion.