What I Do And Why I Do It
Sit Right Back And You'll Hear A Tale
When I first came to Steemit, my intent was to post. I just wanted to write. I enjoy a fairly wide range of topics, so I figured I could pump out different topics, find out which ones were more popular and maybe concentrate more on those.
Well, as anyone knows who has been around for more than a week, there's more to it than just posting. Just like any other social media network, you need to network. Some refer to it as building relationships, others as making friends, but in the end, it's all the same. As in the real world, if you want to get somewhere on STEEM, you have to meet and get to know people.
In my case, that meant beginning to comment on and curate people's posts. I figured I could do that, because it would ultimately benefit me. Since there's a visibility issue that the trending page doesn't solve without a bunch of STEEM/SBD or friends in high places, that left commenting as much as possible on other people's blogs and responding to the comments on the ones I did pump out.
That was what I did for January, when I started, through about mid-March. At the time, I thought I was doing a lot, but nothing major was happening. Strike that, nothing medium or minor was happening. I was falling into a trap of thinking I was doing all that I could do, with the thought that my work is probably among the upper tier of posts here.
Isn't That Special
Well, what I've learned is, it doesn't matter squat what you think your stuff is worth if
a) no one sees it; and
b) people don't see you adding value/helping them
I was in the process of evaluating what I should do if I even continued on STEEM when it was suggested to me by @themanwithnoname that I join the Curation and Engagement Leagues hosted and ran by @abh12345, and sponsored, at the time, by @carlgnash and @paulag (currently the engagement leagues are sponsored by @curie).
It took me a week or so to sign up, but when I did, that first reveal of where I was at on the engagement list opened my eyes. There were people commenting five, six, seven times what I was doing, with a corresponding amount of characters, so my rather puny contribution to the STEEM blockchain proved to be all the more pitiful. No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere. My sprinting (I thought) might be fast for a turtle or a snail, but that was it.
There's More, And Then There's Too Much
The leagues, however, weren't the only thing out there that I could have joined or was invited to do. There are all kinds of communities that have sprung up just to help others, along with programs and bots. All are designed to make STEEM life easier, mainly for the red fishes.
The problem is, those who are heavily involved in these communities, aside from the red fishes, are the next level up, the minnows. Yes, there are other sea species involved, too, but their numbers are fewer to begin with, and those who are involved are fewer than that. I don't pretend to know the reasons for that, I just know that when you go around to the different organizations, especially ones who are similar, you see a lot of the same people.
Unfortunately, mentoring and judging and dispensing information takes time. It takes time away from growing your account because the things that are being done—coming up with contests, determining winners, rounding up sponsors, coming up with new programs, etc., can and do take away from the account building process. A lot of it takes people off of STEEM and onto Discord, where the chatting can go back and forth for hours and hours if allowed. And all that time spent off the blockchain means there's no chance to be building an account.
Now, I realize there is networking that can be done on Discord, including curating, and so forth. And I can't even judge the value any of this has. I can only take the words of those questioning if they're doing the right thing, or striking the right balance and wonder if there's not a better way.
The Old Fashioned Way
To date, the only community I am involved with, continues to be the leagues.
Why?
Because the leagues help me to do what I should be doing anyway and because I fully believe I am helping people, with my posting, commenting and curating. I truly believe that is where my time is best spent. If I'm posting, I'm providing something for those who see it and find it meaningful to comment and curate on. If I'm replying, I'm building relationships. If I'm commenting on their posts, I'm showing my willingness to go to them, add value, and in so doing recognize the value they're contributing. If I'm upvoting, I'm helping them to build their accounts. Incrementally, maybe, but I am.
As I get upvotes on posts and comments, I build my account. As the curation rewards come in, I'm building my account. I'm also getting my posts and comments seen by more people the more I read, comment and curate.
I might question whether or not my account is building as fast as I would like it, but I don't question if what I'm doing is best for me. I feel it is. The alternatives I know of either won't make me happy. I will feel like I have too much to do, and that I'm not adequately keeping my commitments, least of all to myself.
In The End
There's only so much time in the day, and we all need to figure out how to use it. If time is limited for STEEM, then that makes it all the more important to know what you want to do and then do it. For me, that's posting, commenting and curating.
I know. I'm sounding like a broken record, but it works for me. And I think it would work for a lot more people if they just decided to do it, but that's not my call. I can talk about it, give my side of things, try to persuade even, but in the end y'all are going to decide what you're going to do.
As for me, well, I don't need to repeat it. I just hope that everyone can find their why, their reason for sticking around and making STEEM a better platform and a more valuable asset.
Who knows. I might change my mind. There might come a time where I can comfortably do more.
For now, well, you know.
About This Post
In large part, this post is a continuation of a conversation that has been carried forward (if not started) by @simplymike, @wolfhart, @abh12345, and then @lynnecoyle1.
I think you're doing well. Yes, the time you spend off the blockchain doesn't directly grow your account, so it's important to be aware of how much time you're spending there. Overall though, if you're doing productive activities and you're networking with people, you should be getting at least small incremental gains.
But time spent on the blockchain is probably the most directly beneficial way of spending your time.
Well, I'm glad to hear that someone else thinks the same way about activity on Discord as I do. You would have to be benefiting on platform from the activities off platform for it all to be worthwhile. Reach people you couldn't possibly reach otherwise. And frankly, a lot of what I think goes on there, unless you're on equal SP footing, comes off feeling like begging. Look at my post, please help with this cause, please delegate to me.
I'm not saying that it is begging. I'm saying it feels like it. It feels like bowing at the feet of the higher SP or the greater connected, and I'm just getting too old for that. :)
I get what you're saying. I don't like thinking that people might think I'm coming off as begging. Sure, I wouldn't mind getting votes, but I don't connect with people on Steemit just for votes. It's because they're talking about something that I want to talk about.
There was a discord group I found before Steemit was gave you points (and maybe crypto) based on your interaction on the discord group. I never really got into it though.
I was thinking about that this morning why someone hadn't come up with a messenger app that allowed you to earn STEEM. I'm not sure how that would work. There's a potential for hundreds of thousands of messages a day, and that's all people would ever do, but hey, it would probably cause STEEM to go through the roof.
The amounts per message available would have to be pretty small, I would think. Or maybe they could create rewards based on CL! Yeah, that's it!
Yeah, so I don't know. I don't want to sour anyone on the use of Discord. I mean GINAbot is extremely useful and it's on Discord. And I do occasionally talk to other people via direct messaging. I just don't think it's where I want to spend my time. Of course, if everyone is there instead of here, no wonder we have a visibility problem. :)
It seems like they should be able to work something out for that, but I am not sure if it would work. Even if it were just a small amount of Steem given out, there would still be people who would just type "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" (you get the idea) to get more Steem fraudulently. Maybe someone could come up with a safeguard against that.
Ha ha, that's true.
I don't think everyone is there all the time. I think it's more just to check in. Ginabot is super useful. I think she's sick right now though. None of my notification links are working.
I had that happening briefly with GINAbot on my end, too but it seems to be working again. At least I got through on one of the links. I'm typically replying from the Steemit reply page and only follow a link from GINAbot if I'm mentioned. Which, since it doesn't happen super a lot, it's a big deal, and I need to get there right away to find out what's being said about me. 😁
Well, see, in the ongoing theme of we can't have nice things, there's always going to be the folks who want to, need to, have to, can't do anything else so might as well, game the system. If the system permits, then it must not only be legal, it must be acceptable. Otherwise, the code wouldn't allow it.
That's why we can't have something where everyone lives within a simple framework of rules and more or less behaves because they want to, because they've bought in. No, we have to have people spitting out "AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" on endless loop in a messaging app.
I don't know as I'm advocating a messaging app that pays per se, as acknowledging the fact and floating the idea that someone would probably make some decent STEEM if they were to develop it and make it a part of the Steemit app experience. Then, I would hope that said makers would be smart enough to wargame and figure out as many ways that someone would game the system (mainly because they have practical world experience, personal, observed, 10-year-old son does it, whatever). KYC, number of characters, filters for repetition or auto messaging. Can't build between owned accounts. All the things we probably should have here.
I mainly use ginabot for the mentions as well. It's one of the areas that steemit/busy should add so you don't have to use a 3rd party to find when you're mentioned. Oh, well.
There will always be people trying to take shortcuts and game the system. It's how it is. People don't realize they're part of a larger community, so they don't care what happens to "the others." They're looking out for themselves.
I can't say I blame all of them as some are in desperate need, but others who are making plenty of money and still keep doing it... that is just frustrating. Nothing that I can do about it right now though, so I'm going to just go about my business.
Apparently there are ways you can do something about it. It's called freeze the blockchain! All you got to do is find that unexpected action that will cause the blockchain to shut down entirely in seven days after you do it. If the blockchain is frozen, no one can do anything. A small price to pay for preventing others from gaming the system.
Okay, I know what you're thinking. You'd rather take a less "drastic" approach. Well, boy do I have the deal for you!
You've heard of the old adage, "If you can't beat them, join them." That's right. You too can game the system in every way possible, but, instead of it being just for you (don't worry, you'll still profit silly), you'll be doing it for the "community." You'll be the white hat to those horrible, selfish black hats.
See, it doesn't matter what you do, it's why you do it! As long as your reason is as pure as the white driven snow, it's okay!
100 upvote bots? No problem. You're doing the platform good sucking in all that SP and sending it out to folks who always post "quality content."
Rage against trash on trending?
No problem! Post an image without any context and vote it up with your own accounts, plus seven bid bots and watch it trend! Read all the accolades you'll get in the comment section because your bad actions are well intended, and really, all you're doing is taking the ill gotten rewards of others and redistributing it to someone far more deserving—you! If you don't reward yourself, who will? Besides, who knows best how much you deserve it? You do, of course! So, get out there and start spamming so you can save the STEEM platform!
Appreciate the valuable information and perspective. Don't know if I'll follow your path but certainly an option. Had to go back to regular slave labor (painting contracting) so time is limited. We'll see if after about a month I have more time to experiment with other visions.
I am pleased, however, that you are doing well. You deserve it. Blessings.
Could be better. Could be worse. I don't know if I deserve anything, but I like to think I'm earning my way here.
I think you're following your own path. You've been chronicling it. :) I thought I would add to a conversation that's already in progress and just add my two cents.
I hope you're return to painting is a good thing. Meaning, it will take care of whatever it's meant to take care of. You've stated your health situation is not up to par, and that house painting had something to do with it, so I hope that means you're feeling better and that you can do what needs to be done.
We all do what we need to do, and hope it's enough. I wish you well with your painting contracting and hope to see you when you're around. :)
f'll be checking in each day and will attempt to post something at least 2 times per week. The project I took on is an old ranch house that was built in 1910. Cool house but they let the exterior deteriorate. Quite the project. After that I think I can scale back my work hours to about 4 per day. Not bad. My helpers can do the rest. So anyway, I'm just slowing down here.
Many blessings.
Okay, well good luck with the project. It sounds like an interesting one to work on. Turn of last century housing is getting harder and harder to find, so you're partaking in some historical renovation. Wouldn't happen to be on the state or national historical registry would it? Those generally have a list of stipulations that I think can get in the way of actually preserving a building.
I'll be on the lookout for your posts to see what kind of interesting concepts and topics you've got going. :)
I saw that you continue to do well with your commenting and curating, etc. Bravo! Ultimately this is what makes Steemit "work".
The old home I'm working on is right on the old emigrant trail to California for the gold rush. Strange to think that just a smidge over 100 years ago this house was constructed entirely with hand tools. There was no electricity, and supplies for the project were delivered by horse-drawn wagons! They have a big old barn built the same time that used wood pegs for construction. No nails!
I'll have to take some pics and share. Many blessings.
That is pretty amazing to look at where we're at in just over one hundred years time. Makes you want to stick around to see where we might be in another 100 years. I'm guessing though, the only 100 years I might live to see will have to start from my birth in 1966, rather than 2018. Oh, well. :)
I've seen some of the nails used to build homes that were turn of last century, or maybe a little later. They weren't wooden, but the head of the nails was kind of strange—more of an angled part of the nail itself. Pretty cool, though.
Please do put up the photos if you get a chance. It would be great to see the work you've done compared to what it looked like to begin with.
I was surprise to discover the barn had been built with wooden pegs instead of nails. Must have been an old traditional craftsman working his trade to the end. I find the old nails of which you speak quite frequently around here among old buildings from the gold rush days. Each individual nail was made by an apprentice blacksmith as part of their training.
Yes, I'll take and post some pics. Blessings.
You know whats crazy ? One big ole whale could come along and boost up an entire school of minnow in one go. I will will just leave that thought where it belongs in the world of fantasy.
Sounds like your first few months were similar to mine. I spent from March to June just trying to figure out what was going on. Then joining the engagement league in June changed that whole perspective.
I do have to say it has turned out to be one of the most beneficial things I have joined here.
I also agree that there is such a thing as too much. I have maybe reached a saturation point for myself. Keeping up with what I am involved with now pulse a couple of side interest keeps me pretty busy. I think in the end it comes down to finding what is working best and setting those priorities.
Sounds like you have a good mind for keeping it all in perspective.
Making really good posts like this one then keeping up with comments takes time. at some point the more you add in the less you keep up.
I like you am looking forward to seeing what the next fork brings. It could very well offer some great new tools making it easier to keep up with all we want to do.
I also agree with you about Discord. I do love my Ginabot. Aside from that I had Discord long before I was on Steemit. The only real advantage is being able to connect with my Steemit groups and my groups outside of Steemit in the same place. I would probably be way more focused if the two were kept separate.
Yeah, that's pretty crazy. There's only 37 whales, and most of those are Steemit related, investors, and devs who aren't really into curating. And if they are, they either have a curating trail they follow, or a circle group of lesser SP that's still posting and commenting that they autovote in.
Most, however, are delegating a lot of SP. So if you want to live in a world that isn't entirely of fantasy, and you actually want it, you could wish for a delegation, since it's more likely. :) Of course, you'd probably need to be a dev of some kind and build another d-app, or create the next best bid bot.
I guess I'm at the point in my life where I'm tired of multiple things to keep up on and want to minimize all of it, if not settle on just one thing to do, and do that the best that I can. Whether it'll work and be worth the effort is still up for debate, but I'm not feeling like I'm missing out on too much generally. Especially if the stress level is low, which it is for the most part.
I think if more of us can see outside of our own bubbles and try to add value to the work of others, then it's at least a step in the right direction. Can't say it's the entire answer, but it seems to helping.
It amazes me how you find time to write consistently and comment fervently all these months later. You left a comment I felt was most thoughtful on an older post of mine, which I will have to respond back to one day. That's how much I still remember it!
I resonate with this sentiment in many ways. I do see that networking off the blockchain is equally important to growth as being active on the blockchain. It shouldn't be the case but it seems to be the path to success. I'm not active much on/off the blockchain (except to chat with some friends daily on discord), but when I have time, I do stop by some of the rooms. Many of the individuals active there are growing quite well here on Steemit.
Nice to see you @beeyou. I hope things are well with you and yours. :)
Well, spending 10-14 hours on Steemit is how I find the time. Writing consistently and as you say, commenting fervently, has been a little tougher. I went through a period of about two weeks nearing the end of June that I found myself not able to do much of anything. I wanted to. I was sitting in the chair in front of my computer, but not much happened. Not enough anyway.
Things are improving on that front and I'm moving on, and trying to get back into the consistency and fervency. :)
I'm glad you remember the comment because I don't think I do. I look forward to the response, though, whenever you can make it.
I've been told by no less than a lower witness (for now) that I've been doing this all wrong, and that if I truly want to get anywhere on Steemit, I need to get busy networking on Discord. I've been told that by a few other people, too.
And who knows, I might just start hanging out there one day, but there's just something about it that rubs me wrong. Like needing to go offsite, where the reward pool is, so I can improve my growth and earnings. It just doesn't sit right.
And the feeling isn't with those doing their best to make things work, thus going to Discord, it's the fact that there's not a messaging app or ability with Steemit itself, or even busy for that matter on site. Like Facebook. Like a 21st century social media site.
After that, though, there's this feeling of, "Why aren't you on Steemit doing the same thing?" I've managed to do some networking on Steemit. Surely, it can be done. i don't know. There's something clandestine or backroom about it that I need to figure out how to get over. :)
Hi Glen. The leagues are a guide to help assist you . I have increased my voting and commenting because of them. I thought I was doing well until I saw the numbers of some of the other accounts. I don't think I will reach those heights but no harm in aiming for the top 10 at least.
Very true. Maybe most of us have the experience you and I did. Time is always going to be a factor, and so is how efficient the time is used. I would agree that getting into the Top 10 will be a big accomplishment, and it's doable. The Top 3 gets harder, but even that isn't totally out of reach. No. 1 really depends on the week. Last week, janton blew the doors off of us. Other weeks, though, it will be closer. :)
Janton has set the bar and can only be toppled. I can't do it this week but the aim is top 10 in both. Just got internet back after a week of complaining so will see what damage I can do for the remainder of the week.
No internet for a week certainly isn't helpful. I hope all is well. There's still time to make some kind of dent in things for sure, so good luck. :)
We think the same so yep will have a crack still. There is only one way and that's up.
No internet for a week certainly isn't helpful. I hope all is well. There's still time to make some kind of dent in things for sure, so good luck. :)
a tale of a fateful trip... :)
I've been humming the theme song to Gilligan's Island for hours now.
We all seem to be having a sort of steemit mid-life crisis I see! What I realized after my post like yours, is that we all do what we can, when we can and what works for us. That's it.
I'm assuming that there's always a way to have quicker growth, but it really doesn't matter if you're not happy with what you are doing. I did have to laugh about you thinking this was just about writing posts and figuring out what people want to read! Me too! It really doesn't take long to realize in the beginning, we are posting to the air haha I wish that we could re-post our earlier "good stuff" that no one ever saw.
Thanks for continuing this conversation. @headchange just wrote a lovely post too about it all, and @tryskele had an interesting comment as well. I'm essentially tagging them both, but have a look at it Glen because I'm sure you'll have something worthwhile to add...you always do.
Ah, Gilligan's Island. Shows like that don't come back. :)
I suppose the Cheetah bot would be out and about if we did repost the older 'works of genius' in their original form, but I don't see any reason why we couldn't repurpose those posts if we thought them to be worth it. As it is, I'm sure if I go back and look I've already started to repeat some themes or subject matter, though maybe with newer ideas or different perspectives.
Okay, I'll try to go see what headchange and tryskele wrote. I don't always have something worthwhile to add, which is why I don't end up commenting as much. I need to figure that out!
hahaha @glenalbrethsen, you "don't comment as much", that's funny!!
I'm totally talking repurposing old posts. I think it's a great idea!
I don't. I only have a fraction of the number of comments you all do. I guess I could break mine up into three or four, though. That might help. I'm just not sure how that would sit if it looks like I'm carrying a conversation on with myself every four comments. It would be like Twitter before they upped the character account and you actually wanted to say something meaningful. Ten tweets just to say it. :)
I think we all should do it. I'll need to back at look at stuff that didn't do all that great and see what I can do. ) Good luck with yours.
hahaha that's funny @glenalbrethsen ! I can just see you writing a comment, ending it with ... and beginning another comment 20 seconds later 😅
Ok, I'm in! Good luck with you as well!
Cheetah bot is avoidable if you want to repost some older posts. You can do so, simply do a search for #steemitzombies (Discord channel), part of the Dead Post Initiative.
Hey @simplymike! Good to hear from you. :)
I've ran across these guys before. I liked the idea a lot. The last time I saw anything from them, though, was probably several weeks back now, where one of them was describing how they were being flagged by someone for reposting, even though it was clearly the steemitzombies and the dead post initiative. Do you happen to know if that was resolved? It didn't sound so favorable at the time. :)
At any rate, tackling similar topics in a new way is the staple of bloggers, and while it may take longer, there's certainly some quoting that can take place of those previous posts, so I believe there are various ways to make this work, including steemitzombies.
I must admit it has been weeks since I reposted anything with the tag. There was no problem back then. I hadn’t heard of the flagging, though.
Would be a shame..
Anyway, i agree that there are plenty of ways to repost older post without it actually being a literal repost. Different angles, quoting, repurposing content,... all are possibilities to get the same message through without being ‘punished’ for doing it
I agree you should be doing what is best for you and what you feel good with.
I don’t regret any of my actions, but I do realize spending a lot of my time in different communities have limited my personal growth a little.
I’m still not sure which path I’ll be following in the future but I sure have read a whole lot of interesting perspectives on the matter :0)
Apparently it's the topic du jour among us little SPers. :)
Without knowing if you've invested or worked with steemcleaners or some other of the groups around the STEEM ecoysystem, I would say you're outpacing a lot of us as far as SP goes for the time you've been here. So whatever you've been doing, keep doing it. :)
I'm sure you'll know which to take. There is no one size fits all, and even if there were, undoubtedly results would vary. Even with equal opportunities, there are no equal outcomes.
And I think that's the way it should be, unless all other things are equal, too, which they rarely are, nor can they be.
I think my main issue is that I've been involved in a lot of things over the course of my life that has taken me away from the things I wanted to do to the point now where I feel like every minute I can spend doing it is precious. The other thing I feel is that by continuing to do what I am doing here, I'm providing the best opportunity I can for others to grow.
So, anyway. I could certainly grow faster, no doubt about it. I could also not grow at all. Been there, done that. It's simply going to take some kind of consistency and commitment no matter how it's approached.
I agree that everyone has his own approach, and the main factor should be that SteemIt should be enjoyable, no matter which road you choose.
I had been lucky enough to make quite some crypto-profits, which gave me the opportunity to re-invest in Steem. That’s the only reason I managed to get my SP higher than a lot of others.
And you’re completely right: any growth is better than no growth at all :0)
Very good. I think investing in STEEM with crypto or fiat is probably one of things people overlook or do last because either they can't, don't want to, or think it's possible to grow faster without it.
If Steemit being enjoyable equates to knowing why you're here, than I agree. There definitely has to be more to being here than the price of STEEM involved, as well as the amount of rewards on posts. Otherwise, it doesn't take long to walk away.
If the price of Steem would be the only factor, I guess we’d all be long gone by now, lol
howdy there today @glenalbrethsen! you said y'all. you did man I seen it. So there IS a chance that there's some redneck in your system ain't there? lol.
I've been teasing manwithnoname about that because on the bottom of every one of my posts I put a "you might be a redneck if" joke and telling him that sooner or later it's going to be something that he does or has done. lol.
sir, you definitely have earned your way here and are doing really really great for just joining ..I forget when you joined but it wasn't that long ago and look at ya! and how in the world did you get that much sp in a short time? jeez louis dude. you're awesome.
No Name can stand to be razzed every now and then. I'll be on the look out for it. :)
I wrote y'all all proper and purty so you would see it. :) There's probably redneck somewhere in my family tree. Most of our folks who were here during the 1800s living in the middle of nowhere would qualify. As for being in my system, y'all is a convenient way of distinguishing between you, the individual reader, and you, as in all of you people. I've also been known to proudly, unabashedly and without regrets use the word ain't. And yes, it is a word. :)
I don't know if I consider it earning my way yet, but little by little, I'm getting there. I joined the last week of December, between Christmas and New Year's Day. It took a couple of days to get in, so I think officially it was Dec. 30. I didn't start to do anything until January 1, and my first post was January 4.
So, I've been here just over six months.
I posted my monthly report yesterday. Can't remember now if you commented on it or not, but there I outlined what happened last month and then I gave some highlights of the last six months. The short of it is, most of my SP, over two-thirds of it comes from investments I made in STEEM over three separate months. I started earlier than I really should have because I was tired of dropping dust votes. Had I waited, I might have close to double the SP I have now. Live and learn.
I've earned 420 SP through posting, commenting and curating during that period of time, so 70 SP per month. That does include, I guess 1.5 STEEM from my engagement winnings that I accidentally included. :) Otherwise, it's all from upvotes. Oh, I did get some SBD from a friend early on, too. Forgot about that. Wasn't a whole lot but the conversion rate was better then so I'm sure it added something to it.
how did you find out about Steemit?
and do you let your voting power get low, like to 50-60% ?
I have a friend—@bbrewer—who actually mentioned Steemit back in July of 2016. He joined then, and told me about it, thinking it would be something I would want to do. At this point, I can't remember if I even looked up the site, but I don't believe so. I was just coming back from college, and I was working on a Facebook page and trying to make that work, and I basically just let the opportunity slip to get in then.
This last December, after working for about four months on a comic book project I was developing, and getting no traction on Patreon, I remembered about the site and asked him what it was called, and if it was still around. He told me the name and told me yes, it was still around. I went to read some of the posts to see if it would be something I was interested in, and after seeing a few, I decided to open up an account.
I believe it took a few more days to do that, so most of December was gone by the time I signed up and the account was opened.
re: voting power
It depends. Mostly no, but when STEEM goes down, and I don't adust my voting habits, it can get pretty low. Mostly, though, it's whatever it is to get through the evening without getting back to 100%. I watch the time it's supposed to go back to 100% and try not to go much past the next day in the morning when I'll be back at it again from the night before when I shut down.
It's tough at the lower SP to keep the voting meter up, though, when you're trying to reward all that you would want to reward.
howdy today @glenalbrethsen! wow just think of what would have happened if you'd joined in 2016..however you ARE about to catch up with your friend aren't you?
so what do you see as the main reason for keeping your voting power high? i just can't do it. I can't expect people to vote for me and then not vote for them.
He's still 1100 SP ahead of me. He may have bought more, too, so I don't think I'll be catching up to him any time soon. He has a lot going between work and family, so his time on STEEM is limited, plus he's created a hunting and fishing community account, which he puts a lot of his time in on.
Well, really the only reason for keeping it higher is so you can leave higher votes at lower percentages. Getting things over the dust threshold so they actually pay the creator as well as you the curator. If the threshold isn't met, then your vote goes to dust and doesn't help out the person you intended to help out.
I understand the voting for others. I do that with comments, though I might not reward a comment that is only a small sentence. Otherwise, it feels like I should leave something.
It's hard. The lower the SP, the harder it is.
howdy back Glen, it's so good to be able to get good advice, wisdom and education from you, I'm a lifelong fan...well, as long as we're both on here, as long as our wives will let us! lol.
I tried and tried to save my vote power because people tell me that I have to but then I just have to vote for those voting for me so it drops way down everyday. lol when I explain the situation to people they say that it's the encouragement and sign of support that matters most, not the vote power. so I'm usually scratching my head not knowing what to do.
We all have to figure out that comfort zone. When I first started, I wanted to reward everyone for talking to me. I still do, and I still do it. But because I'm trying to also leave enough for them to get paid, I can't really reward as many people that way. Just now I had to adjust my percentage of vote upward just to leave my $0.03 because the price of STEEM is going back down.
So, it's a little frustrating to say the least to try to strike that balance. Personally, I'd rather know I left something that won't be just a token gesture, but that's me. Others could be subsidized by dustsweeper so they're paying for others to upvote them over the threshold. In those cases, votes can be spread farther.
So, anyway, you do what you feel you should do. And then don't be surprised if you change it up a time or two either, as you stumble upon new information, or get tired of your voting power at 50%, or any of a number of other things that can happen when you're here. It's kind of the path I've been taking, and I don't think it's exclusive to me.
The thing that I like about this platform is the ability to start and carry on a conversation about a topic. To get all views from all angles that can result over time a solution to a subject. Nothing may ever be done about it but it is out there and in the thoughts of many.
In this day and age that sure is an accomplishment in its own right. I look forward to different opinions and thoughts. The more I grow and exposed to more people the more it happens and I for one am better off for it
I agree. It is nice to have these kinds of conversations, especially when all parties are recognizing it as such, a conversation, and not taking offense and then becoming offensive.
As it is, I'm not sure if there's "a" solution as there is, as you say, things to consider. Some of us here find a great amount of satisfaction and fulfillment in these other projects. To stop doing it isn't much of a solution, right? Those who are engaged in other activities wouldn't feel good about doing that.
I think that's awesome, and a great undertaking. I haven't done things like that here, but I know what kind of an effort can be required, especially if you're by yourself or even coordinating a small group of people.
I just hope it all works out and continues to be a positive for everyone involved.
It's all a valiant effort, and at the same time, I wish something would be done about it on the UI/UX level. Maybe Communities will do that, when/if it shows up. :)
This is still so new. all levels are working through things. We don't see much of what goes on and then there is the conversation that go on off the platform that we really don't know about until later on. Most of the upper level have the platform in mind and would like to see it improve but they have limits to. There have been some great improvements over the past two months and I see it getting better by the month, even if it is baby steps
What would say are the great improvements over the past two months? In the platform itself? Something else. I'm curious because I'm not sure what you're referring to.
Yeah, news can travel pretty slow around here, and then we get some and more times than not it puts people up in arms over something. I'm not really that much into the reactionary part, but at some point, finding out about things after the fact can be frustrating.
I believe we're supposed to have some say in what happens here, but I haven't really seen that in action. I've heard about it, but that's about it.
I don't automatically assign any bad intent to anyone at Steemit Inc. I would hope, if they're working there, that they would have the best interest of the platform at heart. I've been in business for myself, though, so I tend to look at decisions being made or not being made and wonder why. Sometimes it's hard to come up with a reason.
At any rate, I believe you're right. We're still early on in this and hopefully the changes that they've been working on for a while now will start to roll out and they will give us more tools to work with.
SBI , Dustsweeper, esteem and other apps, steemfleamarket, Dlive to name a few off the top of my head
I have also seen where some of the bigger fish have shown some support to some organisations. even curie has branched out with support in other areas.
It is not like a business where the head sets the goals and path here there is no formal head
Okay. I see. So you're talking about apps and programs that have appeared over the last few months. I don't use the apps other than Steemit and occasionally busy, and I'm not set up with the programs. Hadn't heard of steemfleamarket, but I have seen steemhunt and is it steemdeals? Something like that.
It's true, curie is involved now with the leagues. Hopefully that will continue after the current two months are up. The other bigger fish seem to have their SP delegated to all kinds of causes, some I'm okay with, others, not so much.
I would say there is no formal head, but there's a lot of looking at ned and others at Steemit for help or guidance or direction. We have the independent apps showing up, but they're always soliciting SP delegations, and that's primarily coming from official Steemit Inc held accounts. The witnesses theoretically could create, release and adopt their own forks, but that's not happened (lack of expertise notwithstanding), so while there's plenty of things moving forward, it's not without the blessing in some way from Steemit inc. At least not for the projects that last very long.
Life is a struggle. we have to over come it an prove our work. Wat do u think about u.. I think u r d best..