Update discovery, ssb, blockchain-social

applications/blockchain-social.md

@@ -1,23 +1,35 @@
 # Blockchain Social Applications
 
-This section will cover a few aspects of applications that store data on a blockchain, and use an associated cryptocurrency for monetization.
+This section covers some aspects of social applications that store data on a blockchain and/or use an associated cryptocurrency for monetization.
 
 # Steemit
 
-The Steem cryptocurrency was created for content monetization in social sites. Steemit, a Reddit/Medium-style social network, was the first site built to use Steem. User identities and post data is stored on the Steem blockchain. There are over a million accounts on Steemit.
+The Steem cryptocurrency was created for content monetization in social sites. Steemit, a Reddit/Medium-style social network, was the first site built to use Steem. User identities and post data are stored on the Steem blockchain. There are over a million accounts on Steemit.
 
 ### Identity
 
 User identities are stored on the Steem blockchain. There is a monetary incentive to create many accounts to upvote posts, so as a spam and sybil prevention mechanism, new account creation requires an email and phone number, and must go through a centralized review process.
 
-A Steemit account functions as a cryptocurrency wallet, and users are responsible for their own key management. There is no account recovery available, and funds can be lost or stolen if the key is compromised. Accounts cannot be deactivated or deleted, since they are permanently stored on the Steem blockchain.
+A Steemit account functions as a cryptocurrency wallet, and users are responsible for their own key management. There is no account recovery available, and funds can be lost or stolen if the key is compromised. Accounts [cannot be deactivated or deleted](https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/787), since they are permanently stored on the Steem blockchain.
 
-### Moderation/Reputation
+### Data
 
-Reputation determines the weight of votes in the network. Older accounts have more reputation.
+Text data is stored on the Steem blockchain, but larger data like images are stored off-chain in a database.
+
+### Moderation
+
+Steemit takes a bottom-up approach to moderation. Content is [moderated](https://steemit.com/steem-standards/@arhag/moderation-standard) through the up and down votes of users, instead of through the actions of a moderator. Low voted comments may be hidden. User reputation determines the weight of votes in the network, and since reputation accumulates with age, older accounts have more voting power.
+
+Steemit's approach to spam, plagiarism, and abuse relies on a single mechanism: user voting to downgrade undesirable posts. To add a negative signal to a post and downgrade its rewards, users could ["flag" or "downvote"](https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@steemcleaners/understanding-flagging-downvoting) - two terms used for the same function of downgrading a post. A discussion of the [downvoting and flagging problems](https://steemit.com/community/@baah/a-solution-to-the-downvoting-flagging-problems-on-steemit) on Steemit goes into the drawbacks of various approaches.
+
+Users can flag content they find objectionable, but they [cannot block other users](https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/382), due to the potential for abuse of the block feature in a system that monetizes upvotes. For example, a user might block users with high reputation who might downvote them, so they could upvote their own posts within a circle of participating accounts.
 
 ### Monetization
 
-Steemit mined 80% of Steem in the first week. Steemit benefited from the appreciation of Steem during the 2017 cryptocurrency run-up, but did not manage the bear market well and had to lay off much of its staff. When a company’s monetization strategy depends on a volatile asset, its leaders have to be prudent portfolio managers as well as good operators.
+Steemit mined 80% of Steem in the first week. Steemit benefited from the appreciation of Steem during the 2017 cryptocurrency run-up, but had to lay off much of its staff when the price of cryptocurrency declined.
 
 Other than depending on Steem price appreciation, Steemit monetizes through users promoting their posts. When users perform certain actions on Steemit, they earn Steem. Creating posts that get upvoted qualifies users to earn from a rewards pool. Upvoting posts that later become popular can earn voters a curation reward. Votes are weighted by reputation, which accumulates with age, so older accounts of early adopters have more power in the network. This, as well as the fact that Steem tokens could be mined easily early on, means that Steemit’s incentives are geared towards early adopters.
+
+### Links
+
+[Steemit frontend application](https://github.com/steemit/condenser)

protocols/ssb.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Scalable Secure-Scuttlebutt (ssb) is a distributed gossip protocol designed for social sharing. Identities are cryptographic key pairs, feeds are a signed append-only log sequence of messages, and nodes use a gossip protocol to disseminate content. Feeds can be thought of as essentially personal blockchains, as they consist of immutable, timestamped content.
 
-Ssb is based on the idea that your social network mirrors your actual communication network, and your network peers mirror your actual peers. Ssb focuses more on moving lightweight social data rather than large data, unlike protocols like BitTorrent, Hypercore, and IPFS. Users are distributed across a few different client apps that work on desktop and mobile.
+Ssb is based on the idea that your social network mirrors your actual communication network, and your network peers mirror your actual peers. Ssb focuses more on moving lightweight social data rather than large data, unlike protocols like BitTorrent, Hypercore, and IPFS. Ssb's design philosophy avoids [centralization and singletons](https://handbook.scuttlebutt.nz/stories/design-challenge-avoid-centralization-and-singletons.html), and strives for a maximally distributed architecture. Users are distributed across a few different client apps that work on desktop and mobile.
 
 ### Identity
 

topics/discovery.md

@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 # Discovery
 
-In decentralized networks, whether federated or p2p, there is often no global search functionality.
+In decentralized networks, whether federated or p2p, there is often no global search functionality, as no node has a unified view of the network. This section covers methods of content discovery in decentralized social networks.
 
-This issue being discussed in Mastodon: https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/9529
+### Mastodon
+
+Mastodon has no global search functionality. This issue being discussed in Mastodon: https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/issues/9529
+
+Servers store content from users followed by members of the server. Mastodon users are presented with three timelines: a home timeline with posts from accounts the user follows, a local timeline with posts from the local instance, and a federated timeline with all posts that have been retrieved from remote instances.
 
 Hashtags are used to filter and discover content in ssb, diaspora, mastodon
 
-### Data availability
+### Matrix
 
-No server has a unified global view of a decentralized network.
+All conversations on Matrix take place through rooms, which people either join (if public), peek into (if viewable), or are invited to. Because of its focus on conversations in rooms, there is no focus on having globally discoverable content.
 
-Data is only available along user connections or the follow graph, whether that is determined by node or by server.
+### Ssb
 
-Mastodon - No global search functionality
+Content is propagated and discovered through follow relationships in the ssb network. When a follow relationship is initiated, the posts of the user being followed begins to be synced to the follower's node. Those messages and files are stored locally on the user's computer, indefinitely, for applications running ssb to read.