At a crossroad
I've been feeling a bit uncertain about some activities on the platform lately, even though the future of the currency looks really bright in my eyes and can't be compared to any other cryptocurrency project out there. There are still a few things that grind my gears.
Having come to terms that vote buying is now a natural thing due to linear rewards and the door of endless possibilities the current algorithm enables, it still makes me a bit icky knowing that if not all users use them those that don't will be losing out instead. It feels often as if people don't realize why vote buying is profitable both for the buyer, the service enabling it and the bigger users making it possible through delegation. Even though many of the advantages the blockchain brings seem "too good to be true" for newcomers, vote buying is not one of them since the users not buying votes get an equal cut of their own natural post rewards removed from those profiting off of it instead.
Many of these users don't even realize it, but the fact that we all share the same reward pool should and will open their eyes to the effects it has on them after some time. Although I've mentioned before that the vote buying might just be something that's only profitable right now and one of the first big usecases for the linear rewards, I'm hoping that the rest of innovations made possible by this curve will start springing up to life soon so the platform doesn't just concentrate on the "pay2win" aspect of it.
The beauty of the blockchain is that everything is public, anyone can research on these activities and judge for themselves. Even if the margin of profits is not that big through buying votes, especially now with Steem Dollars selling at a high premium which is the only currency most of these accept a lot of users still use them, no matter how big or small they are, or how well they do without them either way. It comes off as really greedy in my eyes.
Which in turn makes me question my own actions on the blockchain, am I the one being dumb cause I don't use them out of ethics? Should I not care about the rewards my big posts take out of the majority of minnows indirectly by me vote buying knowing with the rewards those posts will get me I'll be able to buy more votes on my next posts?
In a perfect world I would never use them and I'm very grateful for the rewards I do get without vote buying, but comparing it to many others who do it brings forward a certain fear of how the platform will evolve in the future. Even though this is not the case for most of the buyers, let's just say the users using these the most have evil intentions for the future of the platform. Not evil as to harm the currency, since they are vested themselves, but evil towards competition and admitting users have come along that outdo them in quality yet they still manage to get a big part of the reward pool towards their posts due to having used these "exploits" from very early on and are now just using the extra profits they've received from early vote buying to monopolize that market.
It comes down to questions that can be interpreted differently to anyone observing it, many may not see things the same way I do. Many may be biased towards some users due to past experiences or maybe I'm the one that's biased. @aggroed mentioned a few weeks ago that "if we (the "good" posters) don't buy votes, the "bad" ones will win", win as in grow much faster than we will be able to and have way more control over the reward pool in the future.
As some of you know I've been trying my best in the past 5-6 months to spread the distribution of Steem towards as many as possible with my limited influence, the graph above proves that. The @ocd initiative has helped me a great deal and even though I wish I could reward the curators working hard on it more its been out of my control. It feels that curation initiatives such as curie and ocd are becoming smaller and smaller while vote buying services are becoming bigger and much of it feels to me is a result of pure greed. "Greed knows no boundaries" is a common expression and even though the Steem currency is completely different than the "holder" currencies out there since it is designed to give and thrives on its good distribution, there will always be some that will only care how to maximize their own rewards no matter how it effects the health of the platform long-term.
So right now I'm at a crossroad, wondering why I am not buying votes to increase my influence for the distribution of the reward pool even more in the future, seeing many others pass me by. I am not sure how to go forward from here on out and how it will be viewed by the people looking up to me and the ways I use the platform. At the same time I feel as if I've put way too much time and effort into the platform to let others take the bigger cuts of the reward pool until next pump so they can take big value out of Steem again and place it onto other currencies - effectively stifling the growth of it. I feel as if I've been on the sidelines observing others take advantage of the rules of this blockchain way too much while I've been trying to help it and at the same time sacrifice a lot of time and rewards for the greater good but that it just isn't enough.
Then again it might just be some winter depression catching up to me.
It's not just Steemit but every social media campaign thrives on vote buying. What a marketing agency sets up a marketing budget, what do you think the agency spends on. Of course vote buying. It's become a norm in the marketplace. And, when it becomes a norm, it is no more unethical. It's just how the game is played. Unfortunately that's the truth.
So true
Worse still, steemit is not just a social medium. Making vote buying more consequential than ordinary social media
Sure. I can see your point.
We don't have choice, if the rules of the game are like this we have to play it, if we don't play we will never win, I accept the rules and keep playing, I will never give up. ☺
what if the goal isn't to win, but to succeed as a group?
we succeed as a group by having the best content out there, not by individuals 'winning'
and i say buying votes will not get us the best content, but it will get us mediocre content, and even downright garbage, as people continue to 'play the game' without respect to the whole.
There is a position that is healthier than either "I'm here just to make my numbers get bigger" and "you must abdicate your self interest in favor of the group."
And that's to adopt a system which rewards people positively for actually engaging with content that they consider to be quality, whether that is creating it or making sure that someone else who is likely to like it sees it.
It's in my best interest for me to get more content that I like, however that is. It's in your best interest for you to get more content that you like, however that is. Ideally, if we both pursue our best interests, we both get what we want – we both profit.
As the system stands now neither one of us profits by pursuing our best interest. Unless our interest is very narrowly to make our numbers bigger. And our only interest is very narrowly to make our numbers bigger.
I've said it before, and I will inevitably say it again:
You get what you reward.
Steem is set up to reward "playing the game" of making your numbers bigger – and that's it. Observed as a game system, which is really what it is, the current situation of vote buying and influence delegation in order to facilitate evermore vote buying was inevitable. That's what the system is set up to do.
The system rewards acting at certain temporal breakpoints which humans are lousy at doing. The system rewards not caring about content, per se, but only about gaming those upvotes. The system rewards a fixation on chasing the dragon of the most upvotes at the right time.
Because it literally does not reward human interaction in a meaningful way with content. It makes no statement as regards the content of the system. And because the content doesn't matter, the game can be played without reference to content.
And so it is.
The only fix for that is not social. No amount of social influence or interaction can make that change. The only thing that can make that change is a change to the rules of the game so that individual choice makes a difference at an individual level. Individual choices have to empower individual desires.
Until that happens what you can expect to see is what you've already seen.
it may be the norm, but that doesn't mean we should continue doing it.
buying votes is akin to advertising, which in and of itself isn't bad, but it will be used to make ideas seem more valuable than they actually are. this is how walmart, mcdonalds, and microsoft all maintain their market share. (and i would argue their products are less than alternatives and they actually push out alternatives) they use their resources to keep themselves in the limelight, while up-and-comers are overshadowed by the behemoths. i do not see this as a good thing.
let things live or die by their merit alone.
just because it has always been done doesn't mean it should continue.
buying votes is deceitful, nobody likes sellouts (except other sellouts) .. your vote can be delegated to those you trust to vote for you, perhaps, but it should still not be an automatic vote just because you gave me money. that is how united states congress works right now, and corporate interests always have more concentrated wealth to override the individuals.
if vote buying doesn't 'die' it will destroy steemit, because it is only going to get worse. are we really modelling the political world by allowing vote buying?
yes, yes we are...
most people are doing that I think
otherwise it motivate us to earn more steem power and I think steemit is done for that, make people invest and buy steem power or buy upvotes and earn steem power
this is not creating more value, it is a circle jerk that creates 'wealth' but has no value.
we can create good content and at the same time help our selfs that way, we are free to do what we want with the steem that we earn !
no, there is no 'helping our selfs that way' that is good for the economy.
you think you should get paid for doing nothing? what? how is that good for steem? it will destroy it, because it is like a cancer that is not good for the whole.
if it keeps growing, it will kill it.
If steem as a token is capable of succeeding at all, then this problem will solve itself. The only way a token can justify it's value is if holding it enables one to profit also outside of steem, meaning that one can invest in Steem Power and use ones ability to reward certain types of work allows the holder to build services or online businesses that generate revenue completely outside of what the reward pool generates. If people do succeed in that, meaning they can buy 100 000 STEEM and expect to make let's say 2 000$ pr month on top of curation rewards, then their willingness to pay for steem will be higher than those wanting to purchase delegations to self-vote or purchase a whale's vote (as the whale is then better off selling delegation to the one doing the actual business).
To me, it seems obvious that we're better off spending time inventing new ways to use our Steem Power to incentivise the talented people already on steemit (there are quite a few actually, not even counting myself(!) ) to create something of value that can be monetized both on the platform and outside of the ecosystem. It will benefit the innovators, it will benefit the token, and it will help solve the problem of abusive vote and delegation buying.
Got a few more points to add on top of that, but this comment is already becoming longer than my average steemit.chat post.
That is so true what you said: “Greed knows no boundaries", greedy people here get more and more inventive day by day)))I think you should do whatever you think is better for the platform, I don’t think people who understand will ever judge you for that🙂Thank you for being there for us and spending your precious time on finding ways for the everybody’s betterment✨
I disagree that if we don't buy votes the bad posters will win. I refuse to buy votes. I am growing organically, and I will brag about it. I will not be bullied into buying votes when I can't afford to, or ever. Don't give in to what they want.
but if you are unsure and you feel you are going back and forth, may I suggest some Schleranthus? It's a Bach Flower remedy, I use frequently, and it helps us choose between two or three things when we are undecided. Just take it in some water. It really does help.
I will say again that I believe those of us who use organic curation, not bots, and who don't buy upvotes, should keep doing it, otherwise, there will be none of us left. We are in this together. You are not alone to not buy votes. So many people who follow me and whom I follow also don't buy votes. We are more numerous than it may seem. Just because the bots are big, doesn't mean they are more numerous than those of us who believe bots should not be a thing on this platform. I tested bots and they don't give rewards fairly. I cannot afford a single SBD on a bot, I need every single SBD I earn because it pays my bills. I will not give that SBD to a bot. Why should I? It won't give me back that SBD, only a small portion of it back. So no way. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.
Question: do you believe that those who use upvote bots are part of the problem? If the answer to you is yes, then you know what you must do, or rather not do.
Anyway, I won't judge, I just hope I can help you gain clarity for a decision that will be what is best for you.
What if I was posting for six months, almost everyday and earnign cents ? I don't like to keep working here for those cents, if we don't buy upvotes so how we can grow ? I did a lot in steemit, advertise it, recorded video, wrote poems and proverbs about steemit, wrote very big texts with the help of my wife, because my english is not so good and she helped me because she is an english teacher, I helped a lot of people, I have more than 1800 followers, and I spend a lot of time on steemit, do I deserve cents ? this is my reward ? hell no, I am here to earn money, I have a waife and sun, bills ? I can't even buy candies ) so there is no choice for people like me, the only choice is to buy those upvotes to earn a little bit.
Steemit need to change a lot or to comback to the old hardfork, I was earnig good money when I joined steemit for about two months, but after the last herdfork something crazy happen and people stopped voting like before, I am not a programmer but something wrong happen to steemit I am sure about that.
I still learn on steemit and blogging but change have to be made a lot of people are suffering here earning cents even with more reputation then mine.
I understand. And it's frustrating. The decision is yours. I know that I am not going to buy into upvote bots.
I agree, something broke, big time. I think it has to do with the change about minimum votes at 100%. It decentivised people from upvoting as often or as much. I still have hope that things will change and I will bide my time and see what happens.
In any case, you must do what is best for you. It's a shame, since I personally feel we need to stick together, but I won't judge you and will still respect anyone who posts valuable content, even if I disagree with their use of bots. Because it is frustrating to see people with lower rep earn more for less valuable posts.
I hope Steemit can change again and for the better this time ;)
Very good answer. ☺
@acidyo, this is a delima. You, @donkeypong and a few others have been exceptional steemit builders and I wouldn't want you to change your approach towards a fair distribution of rewards just because others are doing it. I understand how it feels to see yourself being left behind when you're trying to abide by what you think is ethical.
I have not been a fan of vote buyin, but a lot of my friends who patronized it, got more seen on the blockchain and even though some have stopped buying, they still reap the benefits. This makes me feel like I was wrong for not buying votes. And I know that is what might be happening to you, seeing what is happening on steemit presently, you may start having that feelings that your efforts are becoming insignificant and you're falling behind the trends.
However, I still commend you for what you have done here in regards to the aspect of spreading votes and I suggest you shouldn't give up. Some of you here are the reason Steem is not yet dead.
There will always be a set of users who are only interested in maximizing their own short term rewards, even if it comes at the expense of the long term success of the project and community.
There will (hopefully) always be users who see that by doing what is best for the long term success of the project is the best way to profit.
I believe that as long as there are enough users in the second camp (which I do believe there are) then we will succeed.
Talking about losses from vote buying, but what about losses from people downvoting simply because they want more of the reward pool for themselves?
Yeah I'm questioning the motives behind your downvotes just to be crystal freakin clear.
Are you talking about me flagging this user writing nonsense constantly?
If you think I flagged that cause I want a bigger piece of the reward pool you must be more delusional than thinking those comments deserve that payout.
Blem off.
I think all the downvoting is just silly, and I think the average comment should get "that payout" if you want your average normal non-crypto person to be interested in moving their social media life to another platform. I think better comments deserve better than that too.
To weigh in on vote buying, I was one of the first to offer a form of vote buying long before the fuzzy votebot. It is my steem power, and I should have the right to rent, lease or sell that power.
I have also been an acidyo fan for a very, very long time. Your opinion matters, I am conflicted.
Why is that user not providing real comments then? What's the point of what he is doing and you encouraging it through votes? Just as anyone is free to do with their SP as they please, anyone else is free to flag what they think doesn't deserve the payout, especially if its that kind of nonsense on their own posts making the comment get to the top, like you just now questioning my motives.
I can't just not vote for family
(Even if they are a few bricks short of a full load)
That's understandable but they also need to understand that there can be consequences to spam or in his case blem.
Maybe if he used the platform in a more normal manner and not just for the sake of getting your upvotes he wouldn't be receiving flags. Its also quite frowned upon to not vote on the post you comment on but spend most voting power the comment instead.
I guess this will have to be brought up and a less spammy way found to differentiate between what is and is not BLEM. BLEM is a possible name for something special that's sucked all my time for a good year.
Getting someone in the autism spectrum to do something "in a more normal manner" is a difficult task to say the least.
Is that one of your alts getting downvoted?
I think it is better to keep your example and usually avoid using vote buying services. If you want/need to use it one time to really promote a single post, I think that is valid.
But we need examples like you that MAY sway the opinion and the majority of steemit users to do the right thing. I didn't mind giving you a $0.30 upvote just now. I know what you do is good. But if you start vote buying I maybe will give a token 5% upvote. And maybe I am not alone. So, I think you are doing better by NOT vote buying.
Yeah, winter depression is a bttch. I get it sometimes too.
Take care! Love your work with OCD!
And keep on Steemin On!
Thx
I feel weird about the entire vote buying thing. I’d rather be in this in a rather pure form - just putting content out there.
Essentially, what has been crafted is your standard social media advertising layer and I feel that is the one thing Steemit was purporting to offer an alternative to.
For better or worse, I’m going to carry on as I am. I’m time poor and having to get to embedded in an entire economics model to post is just a massive turn off. I’d feel like I was a chick in a nest “meep! meep! meep!” if I submitted to it.
As such, I’m avidly watching the manual curation crew. They’re doing the job of what you’d hope would become a front end native thing.
I understand where your coming from. I was against the bots when I first signed up to steemit. It seemed to me and still does that buying votes goes against the philosophy of the Steemit Community. I struggled with the realization that my post would not receive much attention unless it had a decent value attached to it. Yet I believe in the concept of helping others. I've giving a good portion of my earnings away to other steemians hoping that my actions will inspire others. I do not like the fact that with the current system upvoting seems to profits very little. I also find it disheartening that even with fifty upvotes only two people will leave comments. The feeling that no one will really read my post, even with the higher values. Is something that comes up frequently in my thoughts. The current culture does not promote quality and creativity. It promoted upvoting only for profits.
Personally I upvote to show love. I pay little attention to my upvote power, but I do use the bots to boost other people's post. I feel it's a win win. I figure hopefully they'll remember me next time my post crosses their feed, and show it some love. Unfortunately the pay for votes have become part of the system. Though they are a nice way to give back. If using bots on other people's post became part of the culture. It might balance things out.