I've just attended the meeting for the delegation trust committee in MSP-Waves. Hosted by:
They are current members of the Delegation Trust Committee.
If you don't know who and what the delegation committee is I recommend you catch up by reading the posts on this account - @delegationtrust
I have to make a couple of disclaimers on this post:
A - I do not see SteemIt, Inc's stake as community stake I think it belongs to them and they should use it. I think the focus on SteemIt Inc and their stake has a highly negative impact on Steem.
B - I think all three members of the committee are quality members of the community who have a track record of building, working and participating in the Steem Economy.
C - Discussing this topic at all is perhaps irresponsible because it perpetuates one of the worst dynamics of Steem in that people assume Steem equals Steemit.
Having carefully thought about those issues I am going to make this post regardless because the team asked for feedback.
Regarding the direction of the committee on "Successful Businesses" getting the delegations and the focus on "Profits".
ONBOARDING THE MASSES
Steemit, Inc has stated repeatedly now that onboarding the masses is their number 1 goal. Since the delegations are provided with their stake, it seems like it should be used to forward their own goal. If that is truely their number 1 goal most of their resources should be funneled to achieving that goal. Anything else seems like a huge disconnect.
Seems like their stake should support attracting the masses and supporting them when they get here.
Commonly Discussed Barriers to Entry:
Account Creation and Funding: Still slow and ineffective
RC Credits: Allowing new users to transact
Low-Quality User Interfaces
Visibility in the MarketSpace
Ease of Use and User Experience
Lack of Trustworthy Support Operations
One could make a strong case that routing SteemIt Inc's funds to supporting those endeavors would be a great use of funds and highly unlikely to see profits in the near future.
KNOW YOUR MARKET SPACE
Cryptocurrencies in general, are an emerging technology and are extremely young. Many blockchains have the ability to build apps and promote them. They have not had a lot of success with acquiring users and traffic.
We have the means and the history to prove we can onboard the general public with no exposure to cryptocurrencies, which is a goal other projects are still trying to accomplish. WE ARE AHEAD.
The success of SteemMonsters and other Apps on Steem can be traced directly back to our community, not the apps themselves.
As demonstrated by the weak response from Splinterlands debut on Tron. As well as the lackluster use of ETH, EOS, and NEO apps.
We are giving up a Market Advantage by routing SteemIt, Inc's fund to "Successful Businesses" instead of growing the community.
THE ENTIRE PROCESS DISCUSSION IS FOCUSED ON THE PROCESS AND NOT THE RESULTS
Most disappointing in all of the discussion is the lack of Business Metrics by those who love to say the word Business.
How are the current delegations being used? (math and charts here)
Who are they benefiting? (Math and Charts here)
**What will be the real-life financial impact on our current community and businesses by removing and reducing the current delegations? **
These funds are already in the community and supporting real end-users and businesses, don't you think you should evaluate that instead of your questions?
The committee has made zero attempt to understand the benefit and costs of the current delegations that I have seen. Making a great PROCESS without any real metrics is extremely risky. The impact of your decisions should be reviewed and considered before taking any action based on a process.
Steem is currently operating in an ALT-Coin depression, while I know everyone is frustrated and wants to see that turn around it seems like a terrible time to put a bunch of regulations on a struggling economy. And that is what you are doing Re-enacting Government Control methods, by trying to enforce some arbitrary standards without regard to whether or not they will take a bad situation and make it worse.
Seriously though stop talking about legally binding contracts it doesn't make any sense. Legal in what country and enforceable by whom?
I respect each member of the team and SteemIt's right to use their stake and have it managed by whomever they wish.
This is an opinion post and I do not pretend there is a right and wrong in this situation. You asked for feedback and this is mine. I support whatever direction you decide to go and hope you are successful.