My first rant - WTF did you think you were getting into when you joined?

in #blog6 years ago

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So I see lots of people complaining about all sorts of things more and more recently, vote buying/quality/trending page/spam, you pretty much name it. Many of their points I often agree with. The thing is, WTF did you think you were joining? Did you really think this was some bastion of fairly rewarded high quality content? Let me pause to laugh.....

Did you see how this place was started and where the initial mining went and how it was distributed? it takes just a few minutes to google and look into the stake distribution. Now if any of that seemed "fair" and about "quality" to you, I almost feel bad. When I saw you could upvote yourself the first thing I thought was well people can just solely upvote themselves so that will happen a ton. The next thing I thought was oh you can set up an offsite vote selling service not even linked or talked about on steemit. The already powerful players from early days have ridiculous sway and can make people popular/"wealthy" with no regard for quality or even popularity just simply who you know. That is not a recipe for "quality" or "fairness" or some grand sense of "community". When the game starts out rigged its not going to change away from a rigged game because it is rigged by definition.

The seeds were already planted, so if you thought steemit was something different "back then" you were mistaken because you didn't see what the seeds were growing into. Did you join and think self voting and vote buying and spam wouldn't flare up into a huge issue? I think that would mean you misjudged human nature by a long shot. So did you know WTF you were getting into? and if not and you don't like it, why not just leave and spare us the melodrama? when someone says "oh I hate x about steemit" I think, ok bye! I encourage everyone who is not happy to leave. Why would you stay somewhere you are not happy?

Now if you are here and didn't buy in at all and just posted to make steem/sbd and you are complaining I simply don't care. You are posting and making "money" from it and only contributing the time you want to spend on it, whats not to like, if you don't like it....bye!

If you bought in and you are complaining I simply don't care. Why would you invest in something that a quick google search and a quick browse through the platform would reveal all the problems you are now complaining about? Seems kind of haphazard to do that and I have no sympathy simply cause you put money in.

Now why am I here if I agree with many of the seen "problems" with steem/steemit? because crypto is still the wild west and its fun as hell to be involved in! I made some what I would consider to be friends and met people I want to help support in their work/writing/art/life and this platform gives me a chance to do that. I can post and make some extra "money" and learn new things while having fun, that's just awesome to me. I can watch drama and be involved in what feels like a reality show? count me in! such excitement!

I cant even think of anyone I dislike on this platform, its a grand game where everyone is free to do what is in their power to do, with money involved that makes it so much fun. You throw a bunch of people with different ideals, desires, social and wealth standings together in a game where money is rewarded and you get an exciting hot mess! whats not to love. But if you got involved thinking this is something its not you may not enjoy that side of it but I suppose that is on you.

I just do my little part to support those I particularly enjoy reading and those who are taking steps to what I see as improve the system and even those who just run around complaining at this point I enjoy that as well, all good shows need drama.

I am not going to spell check or worry about proper grammar or punctuation or even go back and read what I just wrote because that would sort of go against the spirit of a rant! It just seemed they were really popular at the moment and I figured I should write one to get in on the action :)

Love you all and thanks for the good times because this place is one of a kind!

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I'm glad that you can still have a positive outlook on the platform regardless of the problems that are present. I get kinda cranky over them myself sometimes, but I'm in the same boat where I think this is a fun time to be active on here and in the crypto community in general.

Though, I can think of one or two people I dislike on the platform, sadly, lol. Where have you been, by the way, dood? Been wondering why you haven't been posting much over the past few weeks. Did real life just kinda take you away for a bit?

I was out of town for a bit so wasn't posting much while relaxing but I have to admit I missed it. I can totally understand getting cranky and even posting some of your own rants about things like spam etc, I think it just gets to me a little when the person ranting puts no time or effort into making things "different".

Agreed ! If some people would use all the energy they use for whining to focus on how to improve the situation instead, surely that would be much more beneficial for both the platform and the individuals themselves

This I think is the heart of it. I have no problem when some sees a issue or potential issue but its best when coupled with positive action.

Yes - and in the same breath you gotta take the complainers along with the spam and vote buying and all the rest. Every single platform has their share of complainers. Complainers are usually the ones that annoy people enough that small amounts of change happens. If everybody was satisfied we would not work for something better. So please don't throw the complainers completely under the bus too quickly. It just takes one complainer that knows the right people to watch a whole platform shift it's attitude towards something perhaps better.

I devil's advocate for complainers... But ha ha spammers can fuck right off. That being said I aint going anywhere even if they grind me down.

Completely agree and I may have to make another post to address what I consider useful critique even if "complaining". I think there needs to be critique and noise made to get some sort of change implemented but I find its best done when thought about for awhile and coupled with effort. I find some just are new here and complain for sake of complaining. More power to em because it is their platform too and all this post really was was a complaint in of itself :)

If someone really wants some change, they need to become one of the big guys :D Through blood, sweat and tears! Just half kidding, but what half? :P

Did you really think this was some bastion of fairly rewarded high quality content? Let me pause to laugh.....

This is excellent.

Great rant post, spot on. Aside from people even knowing/realizing that before the rewards matrix leaned even more towards self circle of jerk the 1%, why would anybody even think that any money based is fair and doesn’t follow the principles of money talks and rewardingly those who have more exponentially better.

Also, the usual quality debate is tiresome. When I go to a bookstore I see 98% trash and if I search long enough and visit the furthest corners of the shelves I may actually find some quality too. Quality to me.

But one’s trash is the other’s quality. And while we may not like that, we have to respect that. And trash easygoing content just sells better because most people prefer not to think.

Ever since the internet started to go more mainstream it has been the floodgates of content. Which, of course, means that the more people joined, the more lower quality content was shared and popularized. Not merely statistically.

lol you know great points that I agree with, things like books and internet itself. How in the world was I not following you? ugh well I am now. Appreciate you taking the time.

I think there can be positive change on a platform here that some sort of "complaining" is needed to change but some things will never change and it just becomes tiresome to see focus on those.

... here that some sort of "complaining" is needed to change

A certain degree of “complaining” is needed. There are issues which need be raised and awareness about those needs to be spread.

But there’s complaining and complaining. The first would be the endless, tiresome whining. The latter would also include seeking for or even suggesting possible solutions.

I like to “complain” but if I don’t think I can bring anything constructive to the table while doing so I prefer to STFU.

We'll just keep doing what we're doing. Creating original posts, interact on Steemit (like we are now) and on Discord with the groups we are in. We see how the platform is being played and hey, some people want to rape the reward pool and that's their choice. We want to grow organically with the help of some support groups. We might try, just to try, an vote bot on one of our post in the future, just to see (or will we end up going to the Dark Side?). We're sure like a few other Steemians, we put time and effort into our posts, so seeing less than $0.50 is a bit degrading. However, we came on this platform as we always wanted to blog, so getting 'money' is just a bonus. Some Steemians that have become popular probably were in the same mindset as us, but attitudes can change as one becomes more popular. Appreciate the rant and one shouldn't expect a 'free lunch' on this platform.

Appreciate you stopping at my blog! I think I had read a post or two of yours now and will go take a look again now.

I think that this platform and concept is so new that things should be spoken about and thought about etc but I think my rant post was mostly aimed at some newer type of accounts that don't often look into things but then complain with no actionable solution.

No problems at all @steemitadventure! Thank you for stopping by and reading our posts a few times. It really depends if you are interested in our content or not. Not everybody is into travel, nature and food-related post.

As we said in our comment above that we would try out a vote bot. We did it with our post from yesterday and yes, we can say it's very appealing. Yet, it's not the true spirit of getting a deserved portion of the reward pool. We're tossed up about doing it again. Maybe keep it to one blog a week and at the minimum bid. This way, you reward yourself for all those (we do 6 original posts a week) posts, hours and creativity spent with a small token of gratitude to ourselves. The other posts that we do during the week can get a couple of cents and maybe even $1-2, but to have one that reaches almost $5-10 is satisfying. Still....we aren't sure yet if we will do this as it still feels 'wrong'. But are there any clear ethical behaviors and rules? We're relatively new (almost two months' old) and figuring out what is the best approach. It will be interesting to hear your take on voting bots.

I thought I would become a millionaire in 7 days with Steemit. Just kidding.

I can't believe you didnt't.... haha

Ah, excuse me sirs, but my friend told me I could make money on steemit, and I see lots of people making lots of money and I would also like to make money. Please upvote me.

Hahahaha, I love the grammer of this rant, it's easily my favourite part!
It's so much easier to make money on Steem than to say... go to university for 5 years, then do an apprenticeship, then get paid terribly for years until eventually you can get paid well... imagine how rich would could be after a decade of Steem. I don't know what anyone has to complain about really... I wonder if people think the very act of complaining will get them somewhere...

Working on your card! I was out of town for a few days but I'm back into it now :)

You touch on a point that is a great one when its just a complaint to complain or when someone keeps going to different posts etc and voicing the same "rant". I wish that effort was put to use instead of just complaining.

Absolutely no hurry on that one... I really love all your art, so as long as you keep sharing I'm super super happy!

I think complaining can be important to help people vent and maybe even bond over things that aren't working... but you've got to back that up with discussions on resolution and action. Continually complaining is bad for everyone!

Nicely written. Good points! So many people I tell about Steemit just think it's a scam anyway. OK, so, don;t bother joining. Better that than making 3 posts, not commenting on anyone else's posts, then complaining to me that Steemit is a "waste of time".... The community thing IS getting to know people and making connections and friends. That's what I love about it.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the type of accounts my rant was directed at. I think its a different ballgame if you "complain" about something when you have a solid grasp of the problem and also try to come up with some positive steps to take to remedy it.

I've realized how few people actually want what they say they want. They only want it if it's given to them, not if they have to do even a minimum amount of "work" for it.

Yup, this place indeed is "one of a kind."

I've gone on a few minor rants of my own, although mine usually involve the insistence that whiners MUST show me where Steemit hired them and guaranteed them some kind of income that seems to fit "a job."

Maybe it's just part of the human condition that people all have stars of unreality in their eyes. I signed up here expecting... exactly NOTHING. And I have to say that things turned out WAY better than that!

Keep on keepin' on!

Yea that's sort of the point too, like who is deciding "fairness" or what deserves rewards etc. Often times its like they are ranting to the wind since its POS and built in.

Same. I came here to post and was pleasantly surprised when one of my posts earned me some money. I was just as happy to post when I didn't make anything (or made a penny's worth of SBD) on my posts. The happier you are being engaged with people and building things up, the more successful you ultimately end up being in the long run.

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