Ah. Now, I think I'm able to make some sense of the thinking behind this: Once the new stacker has begun zapping content, 2.1% of their future earnings will be directed to the last person they zapped

Based on the current understanding of the SN referral product and proposed changes, I guess, in terms of metrics, the proposed change is directed more toward retention and engagement rather than acquisition.

sorukumar

Re-Thinking Referrals

i think people feel uncomfortable going out of their way to add their referral links, so the solve for that part would just be to automatically attribute new stackers to referrers based on their zapping activity (assuming no referral link was used). 

no action required for either party, just carry on with your normal zapping behavior and SN can use that info to direct referral rewards to the right person… and of course the option to set a referrer if one wants to dive into their settings and do so.