Follower Bot Repelant
I have already talked about this before, but a short time ago, I decided to stop using upvote and bid bots on my posts.
It has been a bit of a shock going back to the lower payouts. The cool thing is 100% of it is profit now, so that is always a good thing.
When I was purchasing votes, I noticed that my followers were growing pretty steadily. Many people have commented on the interesting phenomenon of 7 or more recently created accounts following you as soon as you posted something.
Since I have stopped purchasing votes, I have in turn noticed that my posts are not gaining the immediate followers like they had in the past.
I am not sure about the mechanics of it all, but I can't help but think that the two were somehow tied together. While I am always happy to gain new followers, there seemed to be something pretty artificial about those new accounts following me.
It's easy to discount those bot followers as insignificant since they are newly created accounts and their upvote(if they even upvote you) will be worth pretty much nothing.
Having more followers does make your content more attractive to legitimate new users though, so I am also a little sad that I am not gaining those bot followers.
Ultimately, I think the trade off is worth it. Although I haven't really noticed any immediate benefits to not buying upvotes, I still get that warm feeling inside knowing I am putting in the hard work on something.
So long story short: If you want to reduce or eliminate those bot followers... consider not using upvote and bid bots.
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That was my experience exactly. I've been here for about 2-3 months. My posts with bots always resulted in losses, for the bot purchase, and then the "real" votes brought it back to slightly positive so I'd come in around 1-2% ROI. My number of followers would significantly increase. When I post bot-free, my posts bring in typically less than 0.10 and my number of followers is roughly constant. There was little to no change in my post style or quality.
My conclusion is that bots maybe a losing proposition, but they are needed to bring the human votes. From the perspective of aesthetics, I dislike bots and I can agree with those that want them banned, but as a new person here, I really feel that bots are needed for building a following.
Then there is that discussion of what is a "real" following versus a following of those that vote for the sake of having a cut of the profit. I see articles on supersymmetry with 750+ upvotes, 200+ come within the first 20 minutes. Did 200 people really read and appreciate this article in the first 20 minute? I doubt it.
I get the feeling that there isn't a huge "real" audience here on Steemit. A number I'd like to see is page views and origin of the viewer. How many people read articles after the first 25 minutes? How many external viewer exist?
Very good points! I know that a lot of people don't like what the whales do, and they refer to it as a "circle jerk",. One can argue though that it is a pretty effective model. If you can find a reasonable good group of people that you can count on to upvote you every single time you post and you do the same for them, you can maybe see some kind of returns. Besides whales I have a feeling groups like that are pretty few and far between. How I wish I had heard of Steemit even a year sooner. My content though not fantastic would have been guaranteed gold I think.
I'm trying to stay as positive as possible, but the level of hypocrisy on this platform is pretty steep. This is what we see in "real life" too. Once someone has established their place in the hierarchy, they are willing to adding rules and restrictions that limit the growth of other.
Forgetting the money, I'm frustrated because I don't know that my content is even being seen. If I knew that I was getting 10 views per day it would be easier to feel good about taking the time to post, even if I don't get upvotes from the views.
I think I need to consider using google analytics to determine if any of my content is receiving attention outside of those internal to DTube and Steemit. (I'm publishing cooking videos so I'm hopeful that my work is getting attention.)
There used to be a thing at the bottom of your post that showed how many views it had gotten. I am not sure what ever happened to it. It's like it was there one day then gone the next.
You are raising an important issue here, @bozz. Some kind of solution must be found here, for Steem’s continued success. It should either be a technical solution or a social one, adopted by the community of Steemians.
Yes, I don't think they are going to find anything quickly to remedy it though...
Interesting! I havent bought bid bots before, but people have bought them for me, and I noticed the same thing...
I think Im happy just to keep on doing what Im doing. :)
As long as you are happy that is what is most important 😁
True, and ignorance is bliss... haha! There are still some aspects of steemit that I don't quite get, but I seem to be advancing and making progress,so I guess Im fine! ;)
For sure!
I keep going back and forth on this issue. Right now I am staying away from bidbots, but I have some delegation relationships that I receive payments for. Is that really any different? Yes and no!
Great topic. Unfortunately still no great answers.
I hear you. I have considered that when I am larger and have the spare SP to delegate am I going to need to review my stance? I don't have a problem if people want to use them. I am just trying to be more reserved I guess.
I don't hear you as being judgemental - just stating your feelings about personal use. I think there bidbots can be beneficial, but the outcome depends on the user and his/her motivations.
Know what you believe in and execute plans that match up with that belief. Keep pressing forward and keep Steeming!
Thanks you too!
I'm not really bothered about the bot followers, my follow list is mostly made up of these anyway. I wont be doing a '500 followers' celebration as its just not real.
I only have round 20-30 real followers and they are the ones I care about, not the masses.
Good point!
Yes I noticed the same, I think they were accounts setup to follow any one who used a bid bot, and never have seen any activity from any of them on any of my posts
Yeah. It is too bad too. Even a .01 upvote from each of the accounts would add up over time. They make me think of the movie Independence Day where they are just sitting there following you waiting for the countdown to reach zero so they can strike...
@bozz SO true your comparison with Independence Day really struck me I wonder what they are waiting for lOL
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