ThunderMessage Institutes Lightning Network Voting System

The popular message board app ThunderMessage announced a new incentivization plan today that would allow users to upvote or downvote a person’s post depending on its quality. This system is very similar to other messaging platforms such as Reddit or Steemit. The main difference between the platforms is that users can utilize the Lightning Network on the ThunderMessage app.

ThunderMessage is considered the main rival of Reddit and the institution of the Lightning Network is sure to give the platform a fresh look from BTC users. While not as big as Reddit, the development team behind ThunderMessage believe their latest functionality will help to push the platform forward.

ThunderMessage

Lightning Meets Thunder

Users can upvote by sending one Satoshi. A Satoshi is the smallest amount of BTC. A scannable barcode allows anyone with a Lightning Network enabled BTC wallet to participate and there is very little technical know-how required. Simply scan the QR code and decide if you want to upvote or downvote a post.

Decentralized Quality Filter Principle

ThunderMessage is utilizing a strategy known as the Decentralized Quality Filter. This protocol works by allowing users to make a small payment to upvote content. In essence, people are unlikely to spend their funds unless they feel moved by the content. In this strategy, the more upvotes a piece of content receives, the more quality the content is determined to be.

Adversely, users can downvote content they feel to be lacking quality. The theory here is that if someone feels your content is so bad that they are willing to pay money to warn off other readers, it is probably not of the best quality.

Of course, there are some serious loopholes in this train of thought. The popular messaging platform Steemit utilizes a similar system to determine the quality of their content. The problem is that in many instances, users simply upvoted their content to help push their products or coins. Also, there is the potential for strong financial censorship.

Companies Pay Millions to Silence Negative Stories

You could imagine a scenario where a company spends a significant amount of funds to bury a story under a mountain of dislikes. These issues are still to be addressed by messaging apps looking to employ the Decentralized Quality Feature Principle. Regardless of its shortcomings, the protocol does, at least partly, remove a large amount of “shit posts” from the main boards.

Perfect Synergy

ThunderMessage is correct in their assumption that BTC users will be drawn to the app because of this feature. ThunderMessage developers are hoping the LN community can help push this app ahead of their competition (Reddit) and into the top position for the sector. For now, LN users are praising the decision and only time will tell if the move produces enough momentum to get ThunderMessage the top spot.

What do you guys think? Is ThunderMessage looking to the future with their latest maneuver? Let us know in the comments below.