Why I’m spending most of my voting power on rewarding people who comment on my posts
Lately the value of Steem tokens have risen very high very fast, and seem to be pretty stable at above $5 right now. I really love that this new price allows everyone to make more money on this platform, and a consequence of the new value is that my votes are actually worth something for a change.
It is not that long ago that my votes were only a few cents each, and it felt really good when they actually increased to be in the two-digit cents when I voted a full vote weight. It has kept rising steadily since I power up most of my rewards, and during the recent price spike it got to a point where a single vote cast by me is actually worth a decent bit. Right now my vote at 100 % voting power is worth $2.5 in the Steemit UI, there are a few factors to keep in mind. Firstly I rarely keep voting power at 100 % because I always end up finding so much good stuff to upvote. But as a counterweight to that, we also have to keep in mind that half the rewards are paid out in SBD (which is still displayed at $1 in the Steemit UI) that is worth $7 at this time.
By removing curator rewards from the equation the vote is worth $1.875, meaning that about 0.94 SBD is paid out. If you sell this right now you will end up getting about $8 for a full 100 % vote from me, despite the interface showing $2.50. Not too bad for a writing comment, is it?
Good comments get rewarded!
Let’s stop the math for a moment, and return to the point of this post. What I wanted to clarify was how I was spending my voting power, which is mainly distributed to the people who comment on my posts and reply to the comments that I write. I try to upvote most comments on my blog posts, but I never upvote comments that look like spam or copy-paste.
If you do however write a genuine and original comment on my blog post, then you will get an upvote (whether you like it or not!), and the vote weight I use will be depending on the comment itself.
To keep it short, longer comments that add new information, questions, or discussion will get a higher upvote compared to those who just add a line about what they liked about the post.
I also have this in mind when I upvote comments:
- Additional information is always a plus. I try to keep most of my posts somewhat short (so you can read it within 5-10 minutes), but it's always nice if other users add more info or funfacts in the comments!
- Do you have a different perspective on the post? In that case, share it with us!
- Do things work differently in your part of the world? I would love to know, and happily upvote those of you that shares your own experiences!
Building a community
The main reason why I spend so much of my voting power in the comment section is because I want to create a community within my posts. I love it when I get to know the people who read my post, and learn what it is you guys are thinking in regards to the stuff I write about. I have already gotten lots of new ideas, alternative perspective, additional information and country-specific information from the comment section, and I hope to keep is this way.
I want my community to be of a high standard, so that you readers know that you will find good and interesting content not only in my post, but also in the comments below. Of course I cannot ask you guys to provide this entirely for free, so that is why I upvote anyone who contributes in the comment section.
There are honestly a bit randomness to it. At certain times I am more conservative with my voting weight compared to other times, simply because I tend to go lower when I spend more time on Steemit. This means that you can write a great comment, but still be kinda unlucky with the timing, and not get as much as you would on another day. I’m sorry that it’s like this, but that is the way it has to be, or else my voting power would be at like 10 %, and no one would get much money at all. Still, I do my best to justly reward everyone.
What's in it for me?
You might be wondering why I am spending most of my voting power on comments rather than curating content, which would give me much higher curation rewards. It's true that I miss out on some curation rewards, but I think my net gains are higher by upvoting those who contribute to my comment community, because of the following reasons:
- Those of you that are active in the community will over time get more Steem Power yourself, unless you decide to cash out of course. This will over time hopefully allow you guys to return the upvote-favor and give my posts some upvotes as well.
- The comment section will be full of good content which can be interesting for others to read, and by such increasing the quality of my posts. This hopefully attracts more readers.
- This will promote activity in the comment section, making it a place where users can interact with each other and talk about biology, nature and science. An active community with lots of interacting people will in term hopefully attract new readers and community members.
This shows that it is a win-win situation for both of us, and in time I hope we are able to have a good community of people who are interested in science here.
Anyway, now you guys know how I reward those of you who spend their time to add contributions to my posts, so if you haven’t already been interacting, then now is a great time to become a member of the @valth community! I really appreciate every single one of who you who either reads, upvotes, leave a comment, interact with other readers, or even all of these, so don't be afraid to tell us what you think about the post or subject.
I like your point of view.
Just a couple of days ago, I bumped into someone that was doing the complete opposite.
After I commented on his post (and if I may say so, it was a very good comment), a very interesting conversation followed. At one point I asked him why he didn't upvote my, or any other comment on his post. His anwser was that he saved his VP for posts.
Everybody chooses his own ways, of course - I have no problem with him doing that.
Personally I think a useful comment can be worth more than the post itself, and by rewarding the people that comment on your post, you're actually saying 'thanks for reading'.
I also try to reply to every (genuine) comment I get. Not just to be polite, but to use SteemIt for what it actual is: a social network platform.
A comment and reply to it can lead to a very interesting conversation or discussion. And next to getting the chance to learn something from that, or getting to see another point of view, it also builds relationships which can be fun and rewarding for both parties.
One last thing: I haven't been here for very long, just a couple of months, so I still remember what it was like when you're new and your account has no value. Curation rewards are very low, because your voting weight is still low. Posting an article brings in just a few votes, because your reputation score is low (believe me, I know: some rookie mistakes made my reputation score fall down all the way to 11), and loads of people simply don't bother to read it. At that point, commenting and getting rewarded for it is the only way you can earn some rewards.
Upvoting comments from people who are new - even if it is just a couple of cents - can make a big difference to them.
That's why I really appreciate what you're doing.
I'm going to stop commenting now, because I'm too curious about any other posts you've written. Time to check them out :-)
Hi, @mike314-0005! Thanks for leaving such a good comment, this is exactly the type of comment I think adds lot of value to the post.
It's very interesting that you just read about someone who did the exact opposite! You already know what I think about rewarding comments, so I won't repeat myself, but I'm also a big fan of the fact that everyone chooses how to spend their own voting power. Some only upvotes themselves, other upvote comments, some only posts, and some people even only spend it on downvotes. I'm glad there are different people here, and in the end I think we get a good mix of all of these types of voters.
I completely agree. There are many posts on Steemit that are decent at best, but get's bumped into my subjective good post category because some comments added a lot of content and maybe even explained in greater details.
That's good! There's no point in having a social media if people aren't planning on interacting and replying to comments in my opinion, so it's good to see that there are more people here who tried their best to reply to all comments. I do of course also understand that the whales who get 500+ comments on their post cannot reply to all of them with the same effort as us smaller accounts can, but I agree that interaction is a key aspect here that is often forgotten or devalued.
It's interesting that you mention how commenting is the only way for new members to get noticed, which I have almost completely forgotten since I've been here for such a long time now. But it makes sense, and I think networking and building up a reputation is extremely valuable if you want to earn money here. It's just like all other social medias; you need to build up a following if you want to make any money.
Best regards from @valth
lol - I came back to this post because when I read it a couple of hours ago, I didn't actually notice who wrote it, but I did remember your commitment and I thought of asking your advice on the 'changing my username' thing. Funny to see you already did and it was you who wrote this article :-)
Hehe, that's funny! I started following you after you commented here, so that's why I commented on your post earlier today :)
I love a good debate in the comments. The better the community around the poster the better the debate is. A good community will bring the 100 viewpoints that the author couldn't possibly have brought to the discussion. Its also a double edged sword, post rubbish or lies and you get called out immediately.
I am sure in the long run building a brilliant community will reward you far more than simply self voting. As you said it's a WIN WIN. Your generosity is appreciated!
Hey, @tony10.
Heah, you are absolutely right, and in a great comment field we can often find lots of good ideas that supplement the post well, or that is even better than the ones in the post. It can really bring a lot of value to the post either way, even if the comments have a vastly different opinion.
It's good that we have the option to downvote those who post lies, rubbish and spam, so luckily these comments won't really destroy the community much, but instead lie hidden at the bottom.
I must admit that I very rarely down vote after all the mad flag wars that went on recently. The best votes always float to the surface as you said : )
I very rarely hit the downvote myself, but it might happen if is see very bad spam on my posts.
Very laudable and interesting prospective....
I think nothing makes a creator more happy than others trying to examine/understand his/her work....This also happens with me....When some one reads my post and makes a genuine comment, I feel so happy(doesn't matter if he/she upvotes the post or not)...
It's in the nature of an artist to expect that his work get explored(even critically)....
I don't agree with the point that "lengthy comments are more awesome", some time terse complements can be more enjoyable and valuable....
e.g. Suppose someone writes a rhyming verse about your post, I believe you would feel honored to have poetry written for you...regardless of verse being short.
Hello, @xabi. I agree; getting feedback on your creations is very nice, even if it's critical feedback!
I understand what you mean by length not being a good indicator, and I think you are right. I suppose I should have formulated it differently, because what I was going for was something like comments that are more than just a few sentences are better than a short comment without any real information.
Yeah comments like...
Nice post....
Awesome blog...
Thanks for information...
:)
Yeah, those were the ones I had in mind, and will not upvote.
Great information again @valth. Sometimes I get so impressed by you and some of the others here, the way you seem to knoweverything about this platform in detail. It's like you where a part of the developer team or something. As the dude said; the more I know - the more I realize how little I know...
I think I might upvote too much, simply because I find such a lot of interesting post and, as you, I try to upvote (almost) everyone who comments on my posts (not spammers). Also, I think many on this platform might be thinking too much about money. As I wrote somewhere else today, this is a great platform to share everything you love. Why not do so without worrying about money and what you're earning/worth.
But on the other hand... Is this a great platform, filled with positive people BECAUSE they have the potential to earn money? Are we faking the positivity? Hmm...
Thanks! It takes a long time to learn all the different functions here on Steem and Steemit, but my best tips for learning it is to just stay active and participate in discussions about the blockchain. Most people are more than willing to teach others about it, and after a while you will start to get the hang of it.
That's completely true. I still have lots of things I don't understand about the Steem blockchain myself, and I think I ask about something new a few times every week. It's a good thing that we have some very skilled witnesses who know all the small details that us regular users have no clue about!
This is an interesting discussion to have, and there are certainly a lot of opinions. On one hand everyone here wants to get paid, and my opinion is that it's fair to get paid for producing content. Most content producers will need to make money one way or another, and it's better that they earn crypto than filling up a blog with ads (in my opinion). However, it's not always easy to figure out who is posting just for the money, and who is genuinely just wanting to share their knowledge. But does it even matter as long as the reader is entertained? Again, lots of very interesting questions to discuss!
That's a good questions, and to some extent I believe we do. Just like we do in any society. It's just like when you meet an acquaintance you don't really care too much for and you still say "nice to see you again, let's catch up some time" or something like that. It's pretty much the same thing, but you get social capital in the real-life example, while we get economic capital here on Steemit. I still do think that we get a more extreme example here on Steemit.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and commenting, @driftnerd! You asked some very interesting questions.
Thanks for a great answer @valth. Steemit is incredibly exciting. Hope it grows into something big and beautiful, with people helping each other to make the best platform possible.
Yeah, that makes two of us! Or more like 600,000 of of ;)
@valth
Wow, this is good of you, comment upvoting does not only bring Communication among members, it also make both the author and the members to be able to share more ideas, interact well and mostly it bring more closeness.
Moreover this can be of great help to the steemit newbies in general. I will love to know more about this community
@valchiz
Hi, @valchiz.
I completely agree with you. I think interacting with the readers and building a community is so important, and I'm surprised that so many of the popular authors are only sometimes responding and upvoting comments. In here I want to make sure everyone feels welcome and have a great time.
As for me and my own community, it's mostly about science and nature, and most often combining these. If you enjoy reading or learning about nature, animals or biology, then you will most likely have a good time. I try to make the posts understandable for anyone, so you don't really need any prior knowledge to enjoy the posts.
Best regards from @valth
@valth
I would love to learn more about nature, animal and mostly biology since am a medical social, it will make me know more about what going on out there and if I have any ideas or point I can easily list them out while I learn from you post. No knowledge is lost
@valchiz
That's great, @valchiz! I'm looking forward to seeing some of your ideas in my posts in the future then. It will be very interesting to get your perspective on things :)
sure, I will always drop by to see the latest post from you @valth and be able to know more because I do love those research of yours
Thanks, I'm looking forward to seeing you (hopefully) in the comment section with your perspective, @valchiz!
I like the way you work, i can see thant your are a personne who really whant to use steemit in the good way, continue like that !
An other thing, if its important for you to dont receive messages from people who really reads your post maybe you should wrote in your articles something like "if you whant to comment, please put an @ at the end of your comment" its the beginning of idea lol, but maybe you can improve it...
Hi @ronystb,
can I ask you something?
I noticed you've got a $0.29 upvote from esteemapp.
Most of my comments I make by using the app, but I never noticed any upvotes from esteemapp on these comments.
So now I'm really curious how you got this upvote...
Regards!
Hey Mike! truely i have no idea how it's append, i havent notice it before you tell me.. maybe there is no link between esteemapp and using the app?
I sent a message to ask them, but my best guess is that it was a manual upvote from the esteemapp account here on SteemIt, so it might have nothing to do with the app. I'm waiting for an answer from the team. :-)
Back in the days, chainbb did the same thing, but they randomly awarded upvotes instead of giving it to all, so it might be that comments have like 5 % chance (a random number) to get upvoted or something like that.
Thank you, @ronystb!
Oh, you mean like a way to tell the people who actually read it compared to those who just comments without reading? It's a nice idea, but I don't really need it right now; I can usually tell who just commented without reading.
I really appreciate what you're doing for this community but then this thing has it's downsides. You're going to have to deal with people who comment for no reason and simply "NyC PosT" isn't really going to cut it haha. It's surprising that you decide to help the community even after knowing you'll have to deal with so many people that really takes a lot of effort haha. If everyone starts to do this, we're going to have a very huge community where people help each other out all the time and everyone will be quite rich. Thank you for doing this, I hope after I get a decent amount of steem power, I will be able to push this thing forward with you.
Thanks for your comment, @adityabhat. I don't really care if I end up with 100+ "nice post, plz upvote" comments on each post, because it will only take me a few seconds to read them anyway. It's very easy to spot good and genuine comments amidst the sea of spam!
That is true! I've followed you and I will be following your post's henceforth, you seem like a really good human being.
Thank you, that's so nice of you to say!
My pleasure!
This is great brother! like this is how you make a community grow, not just thinking about your profit and getting money but actually helping others and grow together, is a win-win interaction! Thanks for this post! ill take this idea in my posts also, im pretty new in this community and still understanding how is that everything works. Cheers!
Hey, @nadabrahmasounds. Yeah, it's really a win-win for everyone involved. While it does give me some less profits for upvoting my own posts (since my voting power is lower), I still think it's worth it to create an engaged community, and I'm sure it will actually also be profitable for both my personally and my followers in the long term.
I'm glad you like the idea and want to do it yourself :)
Best regards from @valth
Good post and comments are part and parcel of good blog. @valth I like your philosophy.Good post should be commented. It motivates and encourage author to write better and better, and vice versa good comments should be rewarded, as comments is the only way to make newbies noticeable. It also help writer to perceive things from other point of view. keep sharing.
Yeah, it's such a big win for all parties involved. Thanks for stopping by as always, @kamchore! :)
I have started to upvote comments more than I did, and I think it's a great way to make people come back in the long run. I just hope Steemit get their notification system to work properly, because it's hard to keep track on everything when the comments adds up.
You are far from alone in missing the notifications, @dieterschneider! I think it's been like 6 months since the last time they worked properly for me, and it's so much more difficult to keep an eye of for replies now.
It's great that you've started to upvote your followers as well. I think it will pay of for those of us who are planning to stay here for a long time.