Fantastic article… I see a lot of potential in these minor changes if they were adopted. As with anything, it will open up exploits, but this would definitely level the playing field for lower-level Entries onto the platform. Look forward to what this may bring to light.

I am seeing so much talent going to waste when there is so much untalented posts raking it in. It's baffling. This is why I've heard the good ones drop off keeping all the lower quality content in control. This happened to eBay. All the top sellers with amazing original products to sell got wiped out with all the cheap Chinese knockoffs. We need to encourage and support quality, rather than mass quantity. Time will tell if the platform is worth our personal times.

<p>This post has received gratitude of 17.52 % from @appreciator thanks to: @sandalphon.</p>

> Couldn't get an updated chart as the site has been down for an extended period of time.

I don't know which site you're talking about, but you will find an update of this graph in my [latest daily stats](https://steemit.com/statistics/@arcange/steemit-statistics-20180131-en)

I hadn't realized the wide gap between a red fish and the other elite fishes. Yes, minnows are considered elite from a red fish perspective because it will take some time to get to even that status. 

I concur that the current structure of rewards and incentives are not designed to support the newcomers to Steemit. There are talented writers and artists that simply go unnoticed because they don't have the right "connections". Some break out and are fortunate to have their talent discovered, but many of these individuals are the ones that are most active on here. They are able to dedicate more than a few hours on Steemit. Building relationships and connections is a wonderful thing to do on here, but some people are just not extroverts. They love to write or draw or express their talents, but may not have the "social" skills to make the necessary connections to succeed. Or they could be working professionals that don't have time to steemit 24/7, but would like to share their knowledge and interest when they do come online.

There has to be a reward structure in place that rewards active users for them to continue writing and putting out their best works and interests. We need to entice intellectual individuals on this platform. Or else, would they bother to spend hours writing a post when they would only get rewarded $0.05?

Congratulations @sandalphon, this post is the fifth most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Superuser account holder (accounts that hold between 1 and 10 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Superuser account holders during this period was 1402 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $14927.28. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, [click here](www.steemit.com/steemit/@bitgeek/payout-stats-report-for-2nd-february-2018--part-ii). 

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Earning money is not easy. Most people come here because they think that and give up quickly. That explains the dead fish. That's why I don't mind.

Of course, there are a lot of users with lots of Steempower, raping the rewardpool with their senseless upvotes and shitty posts, but the world isn't quite fair. 

You have three choices: Be good, get good or give up. But without hard work, big effort and persistence, success on SteemIt will not come.

What a great and creative idea you have!

i appreciate your work friend!

Now my steem blog could change both your life, world and and how you look at the world in a positive way, please follow me, read my blog and comment if you want me to continue my blog

Sounds like some exelent ideas. It's really hard for a new user starting out to get any exposure. I have over 250 followers in less than a month, but my steempower is less than 10 lol. The curration rewards are non existent for a newcomer as well. I'm in it for the long run though, I'll grow in time...

You make some interesting points and I think you highlighted some potential optimisations that could be considered.💊It is quite a complex ecosystem and interesting points in comments by steemians also.💣 Enjoyed this article so thanks and I definitely got some insights from your viewpoints and noticed some correlations with what I see - it seems odd that articles have minuscule value or are hyper-inflated.⚖️

Super great post.  But I do have a bit of a reservation on the reward pool being evenly distributed to everyone who contributed a post regardless of who they are.  Our platform encourages everyone to submit quality content and stands to reason that if you have good quality you will be rewarded and vice versa.  Unilaterally giving out rewards to everyone without consideration to the content quality will just serve as a disincentive to those who actually work on making valuable and quality content.  We have to encourage members to work on their craft.  Give them incentives to make themselves better.  A reward pool that does not take this into account may just end up being the problem rather than the solution.

I am for the Reward pool.  But I also value content quality.  A happy medium should be thought out for this.

Thanks for reading this until the end.  No intentions of upsetting anyone.  Just my opinion.

What about ordering a statestician, scientist, economist or similiar to create a system that they can prove is going to distribute the rewards fairly. They probably have a lot of relevant experience.

Hi, i'm new here,

I am interested in promoting the idea of a currency of 'esteem' in our daily transactions and toward this end I will be learning a lot about steemit and its future by reviewing these types of threads and possibly jumping in and giving an opinion, suggestion or observation.  I'm also working on ideas for a basic new 'face' (interface/look/feel), as I don't want to just make complaints without working on solutions...

On rewards:

The only measure for the 'quality' of a post should be in the number of upvotes it gets from people who have appreciated the post.  

If my cat picture gets more upvotes than a doctoral thesis on a forgotten language, so be it...  

Networking, reciprocity and collaboration mechanisms are the things that should bring in the upvotes and the rewards.

Also on rewards:

I'd like to reward the writer that drew me to Steemit - and get rewarded for those I refer that join in...  Is there such a reward program?
![P1010260coolcatfacewmpsy1rt4rb.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcJzRUHPEcBdpe8WJhLnSwmQ5jy8UdjSTCvdyWV8FyuPx/P1010260coolcatfacewmpsy1rt4rb.jpg)

I totally ageee that the reward system should change and  insentivice the biggest population, orherwise they will vore with their feet and leave.

This is my second day in steemit and i'm having a hard time to gain points/score/vote whatsoever. After I reading blog. I found out that i'm one of those red fish who is having difficulty of earnings.

thanks for sharing knowledge

Definitely agree. Less needs to be given to
Those that hold so much SP and more to new users in order to incentivize them to stay. We don’t need steemit to become a place of greed.

Excellent breakdown and great solutions

Sorry, mate. Your heart is in the right place; but this is a terrible idea.
Who's going to buy up steem knowing that it'll be distributed not as a reward for adding value, but just for being here?
This mindset has done untold damage throughout history; and I think you'll find a lot of the reason a lot of people like myself have chosen to invest in this place, is that collectivist ideas like this one won't be adopted. 
You get more of whatever you reward. 
If we reward consistent quality; we get more of it; if we reward need, we get more of it.

Unfortunately, today, what I saw in Steemit, users of Steemit with a small voice power is very difficult to climb up. You can write a quality post, but this post is difficult to notice in Steemitt. They vote mainly for the post that is in the trend because of the invested money. It is not profitable for rich users to notice the post of small fish.

Did you write so beautifully. If we support for small minnows it is super.

Steemit is still an infant,so it will probably change a lot in the near future.This is definitely one of the biggest vulnerabilities of the platform.We break up with Facebook,because of the censorship,just to find out the same exist here in the form of powerful whales.We gave up our Youtube account,because the company either demonetize our videos ( and keep the profit),or takes a huge chunk of it.Then we find out the same exist on Steemit as well,just as this post described.That means the original purpose of this platform is already lost and a lot of people won't see any difference of being here.Great post,thank you for taking your time doing the research!

I like your post, you've a new follower. 

My post: [Sin otro sentido, hoy comienza el día](https://steemit.com/poetry/@mpfiguera/sin-otro-sentido-hoy-comienza-el-dia)

> Steemit should introduce more incentives like the Pulitzer Prize, Most Influential Steemian of the month, Intellectual awards etc. to recognize and award high-quality posts.

are we on the same blockchain?

Nice :). I would be really, really happy, if you guys could look up my paperpiano and tell me, what you think of this :D.
Thank you
Piano Master

I love you ideas, they seem precious to me. Your analogy of Steemit reward distribution with current financial states fascinates me. And most importantly, I quote:'There are more DEAD than LIVE fishes in Steemit. If this trend continuous, the pond will be full of rotten fishes that could poison the whole ecosystem'. Thanks for sharing your ideas!

great post

great post

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The other thing that still strikes me as probably outdated is self-upvoting. I'm sure there were good reasons when steemit was still in its early phase, but now more and more people enter and participate it's at minimum a bit strange that whales can divert quite a bit of payout to their own work. It's a bit like as if people fear that if they cannot upvote themselves it's not really worth the trouble. I would think it's quite the opposite: most whales seem to know eachother and ending self upvoting will probably lead to higher rewards if you post good work. Anyway, my one cent, because that's what my opinion is worth today on steemit ;)... Upvoted and resteemed!