RE: Steemit: Noble Cause or Oligarchy?
I heard that it was a place of Freedom of Thought, Freedom Of Censorship, Freedom Subjugation!!! I’ve only been here a few short weeks, and I see Absolutely No Evidence of any of these lofty aspirations.
It is posts like this from new users that the whales (I really dislike the terms used on here to describe the different levels of users) and people running Steem.inc need to read.
What I have seen, is an Absolute Monarchy and Aristocracy built in the early days of Steemit’s inception and launch, that have lead to an Oligarchy. I have read that 1% of Steemians own 90% of the Power, Wealth, and Control Of Steemit. I found it hard to believe that so few people could hold SO MUCH POWER AND CONTROL ON A SUPPOSEDLY DECENTRALIZED PLATFORM.
In the early days things seemed better but the problem you highlight of 1% of accounts holding the vast majority of Steem Power and Steem has always been the same and as time goes on they get richer while the average user who has less than 500SP is grateful for crumbs.
Steem and the way it was designed appears to mimic life in as far as if you have money/power (Steem/Steem Power) or influencial friends (with Steem or SP) you will do well on Steemit but if you do not as is the case for most people you will make little to nothing. Now of course it can be and is argued that people joining Steemit from other sites like Twitter/Facebook were making nothing before but this really isn't the point as far as I'm concerned.
Contests can be fun, but the Plankton, or minnows, as you call them, are not toys to be played with, or be amused by, for the price of a few crumbs of bread. This post is really about finding a way to afford those same opportunities to the incoming waves of people who heard the same positive and inspiring things that I did, which spurred me on to join this community. We need to reconsider how things are done around here, otherwise there is either going to be discord and eventual revolt, or there will come the slow bleed out and resulting death of Steemit.
I agree with your points here and agree that solutions can be found and there are a lot of people on here that feel the same way as you who are trying to make things better @berniesanders and @hendrix22 being a couple of good examples but now we see flagging wars and insults and people using their voting power for downvotes instead of upvotes and it really isn't doing the platform any good and at the end of the day in my opinion but what else can they do when they see a handful of users earning $1000's a week by upvoting each others posts and comments. Those rewards could be distributed amongst users like you and me.
I really want Steem and Steemit to flourish but the way things are going I am not convinced they will. Perhaps when Smart Media Tokens come in it will make a difference. Who knows?
Upvoted and resteeming for visibility.
How is he a good example?
A good example of a whale/witness would be to petition to get the flaws in the code of Steem changed.
It really is a simple fix. All they have to do is remove voting from the API for everything except for Steemit.com. All of this automated bid bot crap would go away. If there is still an issue, then they can add the human check used on Binance when people do votes so that page skimmer bots can't do the votes.
From reading @berniesanders blog I believe he has tried reaching out to witnesses and people like @ned who do have the ability to make changes or at least demonstrate in some way that they care, but maybe he believes they are not interested in making the changes otherwise they would have already done so. You yourself say how easy it would be to fix so why hasn't anything been done?
I can understand why people like @everittdmickey would react in the way he did to this post because he actually has been successful on Steemit due to hard work and perseverance as evidenced by the fact that he posted 29,000 times in 18 months which works out to over 40 a day (I realise this includes comments). He is exactly the sort of person I like to see on here but there are some on the platform who just game the system and put out shit content and upvote themselves and others that just set up a voting bot and watch the money roll in. There is nothing to stop people doing this of course and as I said in my reply I think, Steemit it basically a reflection of the shit system we have now and the world.
There are always the genuine success stories like @everittmickey but on the whole like in life, if you have money/steem you will earn money/steem and if you don't you won't.
Maybe Steemit is a good way of preparing the younger generation for the realities of life and the platform is working exactly as designed.
Sure, he calls out the biggest abusers, but he owns randowhale, of course he doesn't want to do the fix I suggested. I don't think the flag wars are a good thing and he just continues them. But, yes, Ned doesn't seem to want to get things fixed either.
The founders of Steemit thought that anarchy works. They apparently do not understand human nature.
You see, one whale reads my post (@everittmickey) and he responds defensively and somewhat arrogantly. This furthers the point that myself and others are making, that many at the top simply don’t care about others experiences, just so long as it works for them. Like I stated in my post, I’m not bashing the Whales, I’m simply pointing out a few flaws that I observed in the system. I certainly wasn’t trying to piss anyone off. I think that many of the powerful Steemians genuinely do care, but there will always be those that think singlemindedly. Anyway, thanks for the support.
Anyone who posts 40 times a day can't possibly be posting any content of quality, not possible. You expect me to believe that someone can craft 40 high quality posts a day? Not buying it. It took me 12 hours and 2 days to write my last article! I've been a journalist for years, and good writing takes time.
This is pure greed. I would however agree that anyone can make it though. I recently did a video on DTube where I mentioned that every social platform has its stake holders, it power users, and the tough part is getting their approval, along with the approval the wider social masses.
I started out on Google+ with zero followers like everyone else, and today I control a fairly large swath of the social network, and Google gives me the power to enforce their guidelines. So, its not just Steemit that has whales, its every social platform in existence. If you want to grow then you have to build authority and influence. I did it on G+, and I haven't any doubt I can do it here.
You see, one whale reads my post (@everittmickey) and he responds defensively and somewhat arrogantly. This furthers the point that myself and others are making, that many at the top simply don’t care about others experiences, just so long as it works for them. Like I stated in my post, I’m not bashing the Whales, I’m simply pointing out a few flaws that I observed in the system. I certainly wasn’t trying to piss anyone off. I think that many of the powerful Steemians genuinely do care, but there will always be those that think singlemindedly. Anyway, thanks for the support.
Thank you, I appreciate the help.