A Reply to: Why Steemit Sucks
I came across a post(https://steemit.com/steemit/@steddyman/why-steemit-sucks-and-probably-always-will) by @steddyman and I was initially trying to write a comment on it but then it became too long and I thought it’d be better to do a post on it.
As I read his post I was a bit confused about my own feelings. I would agree to one of his points but then I had to disagree with the other. He made several points that held great merit, but some other points were mere conjectures.
For example, I had to completely agree with this one:
“However, the social network aspect of Steemit and how users are interpreting it, completely breaks the platform and prevents quality content from surfacing to the top”
This is so true. I see folks trying to treat this platform as not only a smaller version of Facebook, but they also expect to be paid for it. The worst part is that those who have large voting powers can forcefully extract this payment from the system. Essentially turning this place into an ATM from which they can loot rather than withdraw money from.
The forceful extraction is not only harmful to the immediate survival of this platform, but we have long lasting troubles arising from this issue as well. People who are new here are not just discouraged from using Steemit further but the word spreads to the outsiders as well. Forming a cycle of negative publicity.
Then the next point was:
“I am told the only way to get ahead in Steemit is to follow other users with high SP (Whales) and to vote for every piece of content they publish”
I couldn’t disagree more. If you must only follow Whales/Orcas/Dolphins, then there are plenty of good content creators amongst these high-ranking individuals in the Steem hierarchy. You can follow as many as you like and you are also free to vote for whom you choose. For example, if you are following ten whales/orcas and like any decent person you want to earn rewards without kissing ass then there is a solution here as well. These ten whales probably will publish hundreds of posts in a month and you can choose only the ones you like. I am sure out of hundreds of posts, there would be something that one can find to be to their liking.
The point that you must vote all their posts is just not true. I mean I am a very serious follower and I try to interact with as much content in my feed as possible. Sometimes even after spending 6-8 hours a day on Steemit, I still miss several posts that I wanted to upvote and comment on and yet didn’t get the time. This is all after the fact that I don’t try to follow more than 100 people at any given time.
The truth is that sometimes I struggle to keep my voting weight from dropping too much. There is plenty of good content that one can find here. Not looking for it is perhaps the issue that needs to be addressed before we get discouraged by thinking that ass kissing on bad content is the only way to rise on Steemit.
Let me also be truthful – I have done some ass kissing here and it’s not very effective. Like all places Steem Blockchain has its share of the problems, but I think that it is something that we can deal with and change/manage them in a constructive manner.
My video is at DLive
If you're just an ordinary Schmoe without a spare $100K lying around to invest with, the most effective approach here is simply to be authentic and interactive/engaging.
Kinda like what you're doing.
Whether it's "fair" or not, the majority of people here with 20K+ SP EITHER were part of the pre-mining of Steem in the early days, OR came here with lots of cash to either buy in, or to buy promotional votes. So one of the things that does hold somewhat true about Steemit is that old saying "It TAKES money to MAKE money.*
Ass kissing doesn't work. But I have built authentic friendships with a couple of good sized "Orcas."
I also found that having a few mutually beneficial relationships also necessary. But for that to happen one has to stay on their toes to not allow that to degrade into circle jerk. The fact remains that those with most amount of SP do have an unfair advantage, and to find balance that there is a certain level of cooperation needed between redfishes and minnows.
There are also plenty of Orcas here, who share their love with the minnows
Great perspective! I also believe that too many expect this to become the next Facebook when in reality it could be much better! I actually like the fact that #Steemit is unlike Facebook as a social media platform. Blogging is much more value-based than knowing what people are eating or where they are checking in at every moment of the day.
Regarding the need to follow high profile names, I myself have been surprised on how wrong this is. I have been evaluating my experience during the #minnowuprising initiative and have found some interesting results when it comes to curation. I am still analyzing more data to share on a future post.
'Better' is definitely the key word here. Steemit doesn't really need to be bigger than Facebook or any other social media giant (it seems impossible as things stand). You are right in saying that we could be 'better' and to that I want to add 'better rather than bigger'.
Cooperation with low level players, who are decent content creators themselves, can yield positive results too...
Thank you for your continued support of SteemSilverGold
I agree with you. As our reputation gets higher and higher, we are more prone to the "dirty" secrets of Steemit. Like you, I tried to kiss ass and made a few dollars here and there, but their contents was terrible. I had to unfollow them haha.
" I had to unfollow them....."
LOL! Amen to that brother :-)
I'm trying not to clogged up my feed with trash. That makes it difficult for me to see your post and the rest of my steemit buddies.
You are right man, seriously. Over time your feed becomes clogged up and you have to clear it out or nothing of value goes through.
Thank you for the video and detailed reply.
What I have learned since posting my article that my 2nd point is incorrect. I believed this is how the interaction was portrayed to me by a couple of friends, but having met one of them face to face today and having seen the many replies to my post contradicting this view, I have decided to stick to my guns and vote only for quality content I want to promote.
Thanks for dropping by man! I was actually so late in posting the reply that I thought, I might have missed you.
I found your post really interesting. Since half the time I was able to agree with what you wrote, while the other half I couldn't really agree to. The two points from your post that I mentioned are perhaps a reflection of my own mental condition while reading your post.
I really appreciated your honesty in the portrayal of how you felt and maybe that's what prompted me to make this post. I guess we are all still learning and as long as that's happening, then there is still much that can be accomplished here.
Thanks. It was either be honest about how I felt or quit Steemit for good. I was becoming so frustrated with the expectations.
Very interesting article @hashcash. Appreciate your perspective here.
Thanks for reading man!