The Steemit $$$ Challenge: Prove To Yourself Why You Are Here
If we're honest with ourselves, most of us are here because of one little symbol:
Many of us like to think we're here for a decentralized, peaceful revolution leading to a utopian meritocracy, but are we fooling ourselves? Anyone who's been around cryptocurrencies for even a little while knows we have a long, volatile future ahead of us with regards to the STEEM price.
Will you be here next week if the price drops, and you no longer see $10,000+ posts on the home page?
Is it really about community with quality, decentralized, uncensored content?
Here's how you can find out for yourself:
- Go to the Chrome store and install the Stylish extension. This lets you customize how you see other websites by automatically applying your own CSS style rules.
- Create a new entry called "no prices" for Steemit.com with the following code:
.FormattedAsset {
display: none;
}
It should look something like this:
Turn it on. Browse the site.
How does that feel?
Does it change how you vote for content? Does it change how you feel about the content you read? Does the site keep your interest as much as it did before or will you gravitate back to Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter?
I'm not bashing our emotional responses here. They are very real and important. They help us survive and thrive, and we've been programmed by marketers for quite some time to respond to the all mighty dollar. What I'm asking for is perspective and clarity. We don't know what the price of STEEM will be in 2 years. We don't know what the price will be next week. If we focus too much on the dollar signs all over the site, we can set ourselves up for disappointment.
Things will be volatile.
I for one am very hopeful. I'd love to pay off my house with STEEM and be in a position to give generously to others. That said, that's not my only motivation here. I truly want to see this work. As I said in my explainer video, Steemit is a decentralized social media platform built on blockchain technology which pays content creators and curators in tokens of real value.
Regardless of what the $$$ amount of those tokens ends up being, this is an amazing experiment, and I'm grateful to participate in it.
The Challenge
I'm going to keep my Stylish no prices plugin running for a whole day. For 24 hours, I won't see the dollar amount of the posts I vote on or the ones I write. Will Steemit still hold my interest? I'm about to find out.
What do you think about the motivational psychology of Steemit? Leave a comment, especially if you're joining me in this challenge. I'd love to know what your initial impressions are of the site without the mighty $ attached to every post and comment you see.
I think it is safe to say that a significant portion of the current community indeed are highly motivated by the potential quick buck - and who can really blame them? But, you know, that is fine if it means people are willing to dedicate time and resources on expanding the platform and creating content. It works both ways though, indeed. I do feel it is important to note in this regard just how successful Reddit is and how there is nothing beyond the sacred Reddit Gold to be "earned".
You can moreover make the argument that Steemit, regardless of price, offers more than Reddit for content creators due to the simple fact that Reddit offers nothing. $1 on a single post is still $1 more than what a lifetime on Reddit could yield you. The incentive to post and contribute on Steemit will always be present - sometimes more lucrative than others. Similarly, creators from other platforms with existing monetization models would be able to post that content on Steemit as well and thus create an additional revenue stream with the potential of hitting jackpot, so to speak.
It is also worth noting how the rewards will increase significantly as more people arrive on the platform and accumulate power. However, we very much rely on the platform being finished so that we do not lose the game due to lacking functionalities or the like.
Yes! I've been saying this since day one. It's amazing to me how quickly people will complain about getting only $0.25 on a post when, for years of their life, they have posted on other platforms and received a grand total of absolutely freaking nothing.
I'm all about this system making a ton of money for a lot of people. Value in money, to me, is a certificate of appreciation (that's not mine, it comes from Rabbi Daniel Lapin). Money is needed to hire developers, run marketing programs, handle PR, etc. This system has so much going for it. Time will tell what that ends up meaning for us all.
I totally agree @lukestokes. I regularly make $10 - $15 for just asking basic questions here. That's huge motivation for using Steemit. One user suggested this as a replacement for sites like StackOverflow. Couldn't agree more. Why shouldn't users who put in the time and effort to answer questions be rewarded. I could see code snippet challenges play out with bounties paid in real time!
That's a great idea, @billbutler! A StackOverflow powered by Steemit would be amazing! Payouts would continue coming in years later as well. Brilliant.
Not really. If you make enough posts on reddit in the right sections, you'll probably receive a few tips.
Not uncommon to see $1-4 tips on the r/bitcoin section .
Reddit bitcoin tips are kind of an anomaly in the larger ecosystem of the Internet. Though I agree with you, the Steemit white paper goes into great detail on why micro tipping isn't as effective as this voting model. Thanks for pointing this out though. Some may not know about the tipping bots on reddit.
Lol. Quick bucks ? I have an average of $0.1 per post XD. And many times it took me even a lot of effort to make it. You earned more with your reply than me with ALL my posts together :-p.
this!
The most amazing thing about this project is the fact that for the first time people started to truly believe that they will get the right appreciation for theirs contributions in something really Big...but still we have to take under consideration that this is still an alternative project in prototype stage ...so shall we expect unexpected? Time will tell...till then let it steem...
@dantheman thank you very much for showing your appreciation on my comment. This's my first decent SD I'll make with STEEMIT. It will motivate me to write better quality comments in order to boost quality of the whole project. Cheers
Let it Steem indeed! I've chuckled at how many strong opinions (including my own) are thrown around this early in the game. Time will indeed tell. Hopefully a pretty awesome story is being formed which is why I'll be doing #journal posts now and again so I can look back at the blockchain years from now and marvel.
Brilliant. Going to do this. Looking forward to the progress report.
Nice! I'd love to know how it goes for you as well.
Nice and I agree who's here just for the hit and run, and who's here to make the Steemit community better and help it grow.. and become a part of the next big thing :D
I made some posts about Steemit being a new digital world and then another one about how "sexy" images are starting to ruin everything and how we can prevent the site from becoming a porn site..
https://steemit.com/steem/@stealthtrader/steemit-has-created-a-new-digital-world
https://steemit.com/money/@stealthtrader/art-vs-not-art
Great posts, thanks for sharing! I upvoted both of them but have no idea how well you got paid on the first 24 hour payout. Isn't that interesting? Didn't change my vote, but I think it might have if my Stylish plugin wasn't running. I might have said, "Oh, cool, they got paid well, I'll save my vote for some new content."
Interesting indeed.
Why save your vote ? If the content is good , it shouldn't matter how well they got paid, no?
That's what's so interesting about this platform to me. Unlike other platforms where content that's older than a few hours is essentially ignored, old content here can be resurrected to popularity. Curation is rewarded because it's a valuable service to the network. If everyone just voted for what they like and didn't actively work to find great, under-appreciated content, we'd all miss out on something. I think we need both free, active voting and strategic, targeted curation.
Got it...so if i want an old post resurrected and i have enough swing i can just vote it and bring it back to life.
@royaltiffany: Yes, in theory... but you can only vote for a post once. Usually you already voted for your post once you published it. What you can do is use votes to alter the comments section a bit by voting for things you want to see spring to the top.
Well whatever they are complaining about , they should be more aware of the fact that , this site , needs exposure first , diversity second. And how do you get that exposure ? Why not a youtube make up tutorial ?! And the more people join, in time the power will be more equally divided. At least that's how i see it...
Can't reply to your last comment so doing it here. I am new here..and i am still figuring things out . I have seen so much content and comments about voting that i don't know what to believe anymore, i don't know if 2 months old posts are still right or if things have changed, so yeah. Thank you for answering :)
Speaking of targeted curation , is that what whales do , when they vote a post ? Like it happens with the famous make up tutorial that everyone is complaining about and i dont understand why they are complaining..
@royaltiffany:
For some, it's greed. For others, they are concerned with the centralization of power represented in just a few accounts. Still others want a labor-theory-of-value meritocracy where posts that took 5 hours to create with world-class content and commentary don't get ignored, but instead get highly rewarded.
To me, it's all an experiment. Who knows what we'll happen, where we're going, or what path we'll take to get there. To me, it's pretty damned exciting.
Your a rockstar man thank you I will continue to return the favor :D
There should be room for everyone!
As much as I'm not a fan of Che Guevara, this image gets me every time. :)
I allowed myself to upload your style to userstyles.org
After installing stylish extension, you can just left click its icon, choose "find more styles for this site" (while browsing steemit.com, of course), click on "no prices" and then "Install with Stylish", "Ok"
All done in 3 seconds :)
Thank you!
Really interesting idea. Most of us don't want to know such things about ourselves though.
Ah, now there's an interesting philosophical/psychological point. For me, so much of my thinking lately has ben influenced by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. As we move up the pyramid, we not only care about these things, but we can also position ourselves to make important changes to improve the world around us.
I'm really amazed at how many people come here and think of yet another great way to use what they've built. Like I said in one of my earlier posts I love seeing 100 people getting ten bucks for their thoughts but I step back a bit when I see one person get 1000 for a thought. Maybe your idea will change my experience that much for the better.
Then again how would it feel to pour yourself out there for a week, and come back to find that everyone said 'meh'?
I guess it doesn't really matter either way -- we were all fine without outside affirmation the week before joining steemit and we haven't changed.
Or maybe we just worked cheap? Maybe a like or a favorite was all we needed to keep our fragile egos from crumbling.
Don't get me started, 'psychological needs' are my favorites.
Perfect post. I have been thinking the $ sumbol should really be replaced by the steem symbol.... it keeps it less money focused while still showing a rank that becomes more like a badge in perspective. I encourage people to do just this and stop following in the wake of whales!
Is there a STEEM currency symbol? That would be sweet.
I guess I meant the actual steem symbol on bittrex, or upper left hand corner in my browser. Sorry for inaccuracy.
As the freakonomics guys taught year ago, incentives drive behaviour. I've always thought about blogging but never did it, until now. I never thought about buying crypto currency, until now. So assuming there's more people out there like me, I think Steem has a future. But you have a valid point about price movements. To be purely financially driven, it requires a long term perspective to keep posting. Any idea what percentage of people start posting and then stop?
Hey Jason! Incentives do drive behavior, but I also find interesting the research on intrinsic verses extrinsic motivations and how rewards can actually decrease creative activity. I haven't read Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn yet, but I've read some of his other stuff. It's really interesting.
Will initial excitement fade if it becomes harder and harder to get noticed? Will it fade if the price of STEEM drops through the floor? I think it will for some, but I also think there are a lot more people out there just like you.
I think Steem has a future as well.
I've been personally motivated to start fresh. I've had a tough year in Eugene and am looking forward to starting over on my move to Nashville. There are many "friends" in my Facebook network that I no longer want to keep in touch with. Those people base most of their life choices on shocking others. I'm shocked out. I intend to base my future on intentional and genuine communication.
The bi-product of spending time on Steemit, will be educating myself on alternate types of currency. I enjoy working while traveling, and I expect to get paid while I'm in Thailand this winter. Paypal is nice and easy for my clients, but it's limited. Bitcoin is out of the question, I might as well ask them to ship me gold coins.
I'm noticing the quality of content on this site is more useful than Facebook, most people are aware that time spent generating good content will return good search results. (Like SEO strategy) I like your challenge to hide the dollar amount. I might apply that filter on my own browser some day, right now it's a key factor in the network's dynamic.
There's a lot going on, it may take me some time to get ahold of how Steemit works, and how the developers are planning to grow the network. If I weren't a web designer, I might have some trouble with the lack of hosting jpgs and such. Seems like a basic feature of a social networking site has been omitted. In fact, I still don't understand how my profile image was generated. I guess some day I might have time to search for an answer. Today is not the day, I have to prepare for my move!!
Hey Terry! Great to see you here! I'm looking forward to hanging out in Nashville together. So far, the community here has been pretty amazing.
Putting the images up can be a bit confusing, but basically you just use an image hosting site and past a link to the image or use Markdown syntax. Takes a little getting used to, but once you get it, you're good. Since it's only storing text in the blockchain, the images have to exist elsewhere. As to your profile image, it was probably brought in when you registered via Facebook. The avatar images next to comments aren't configurable yet.