BuzzSteem Ep 14 - [Whale Fraud, Facebook Fights Back, dSound and More!]
Hey guys!
So I had technical difficulties up the wazoo today, and therefore this is my current format. It's not the best, but it's not too bad, and the sound is way better!
Today I talked about:
User @farazahmad and his uncovering of a huge whale scandal involving user @sweetsssj who allegedly has at least 12 other accounts to her name, and upvotes all of them.
User @mathuselah and his awesome review of Assasin's Creed: Origins on Dsound.
User @Dubson and his amazing folk/bluegrass music.
Facebook and their ban on ICO and crypto ads.
And the Steemian of the day: @barge and his awesome poetry.
I am feeling too lazy to repost links today, so if you want to see my past videos, take a look at my channel @bethwheatcraft!
and
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
@bethwheatcraft my best author.
I read through
As always ur post ll always rec my upvote.
By the way is it a bad thing to run multi accounts on steemit?
If you aren't doing it just to rape the rewards pool then no. I am considering making a separate account for my non profit to post all my music stuff, since it is unrelated to what I am doing here. The whale I was talking about though, seems to have only created those accounts just to make money on her heavy upvote 12 times a day!
We are on a blockchain platform and have to discuss the morality of its users. Imagine bitcoin would work like that. But bitcoin is fine with bad actors as they are by the protocol prevented from having influence over the platform.
The truth is that steemits protocols are flawed as they allow exploiting the system. Can bad actors be stopped by the community? Only to some extend. But instead of trying to hold the system together, we should instead focus our energy on building new protocols that no longer require this.
Of course the whales and dolphins dont like this as they are already too invested in the system.
So my point of view is to use steemit for what it is, a decentralised communication platform and that part is fine. I just see the post rewards more as a game than real money.
The problem is that the whales are what keep the community running. They designate the SP that pays the devs and the people behind the scenes making everything work. The danger of Steem becoming a Ponzi Scheme is that Ponzi Schemes inevitably collapse. Once Steem is worthless, what incentive is there for people to keep the different platforms running? Even if they wanted to, who can work a full time job for nothing?
The post rewards are real money, and for some, obscene amounts of real money. This is a world like we have never seen before, where people are being compensated for their time, even if it's not a typical job. I think this is a very important aspect of the platform, as that's what sets it aside from say, Reddit, where you can still maintain your anonymity but you can't get paid. I think this Libertarian utopian idea is among us, and we are all still figuring out how to navigate it. We have lived in a shitty society for so long, where it's important to steal and save all you can, that I don't quite think people have gotten the memo yet that this is here to stay. Whales who are pilfering money can clearly not see the long term ramifications of doing that. If all the whales just took out a fair amount, but continued investing in the platform, it would extend the platform's time and then this world would just become a way of life.
Ultimately if Steem fails, which is highly possible, it's because it was first in an experiment of humanity. We are building the foundations of literally a new world. My mind opens up to this more and more every day no matter how much I try to fight it.
Ya know, I think I am going to turn this discussion into my next video. Thanks for the genuine response!
thanks for your detailed reply, looking forward to that video.
I fully agree that we are in an experiment to build a better future employing blockchain solutions. Most of the first generation projects will fail and as they do we learn more so that the follow up projects can be designed better.
Beth you wrote: "Ultimately if Steem fails, which is highly possible, it's because it was first in an experiment of humanity. We are building the foundations of literally a new world. "
Steemit could possibly be called an anarcho-capitalism experiment.
Ironically, whales dominating and directing society are exactly what I believe would happen under anarcho capitalism (when implemented under modern society's resource scarcity and spiritual condition).
I fully agree that steem and blockchain in general is an anarcho capitalist experiment. It is fully voluntary and almost free of regulation.
Where is disagree is the conclusions you draw. I think you judge the experiment before it is finished.
Yes, in steem there are wales that have a lot of power. But we, the users, do not have to accept that. Nobody can force us to stay. So when we find or create something better we just move there. Then the big whales can upvote each other for all they want, but without mass support the steem they generate is exactly worthless.
In the short run, the wales benefit since they are promoting a new product that did not exist before and early adopters have made it what it is, so they deserve some rewards. But if the whales want to benefit in the long run they have to create fair incentives! And honestly I can not see that happen under the steem protocol.
So I think that this is an experiment in anarcho-capitalism and it will show that conditions in which a few whales have massive control will not be able to survive in free competition.
My prediction is that for the coming few years steem is supported by an influx of new users and then will collapse and people migrate towards competitors with better protocols.
agreed.
I like the your shows!
I came a across sweetjess all those months ago when I first joined steemit.
It was a good exercise in realizing early on, that the quality of content is not what steemit is about. (that's the hook to get you here...)
Which is fine. If you know the game, it's up to us if we play or not.
I have made money here, so I'm not complaining. (anymore)
I did my complaining about the morals of the way it works months ago, and then stopped.
sweetjess is not the only one......there are hundreds if you want to waste hours of your time digging around. I did. lol.
Well, bringing people news about Steemit is kind of my shtick now, so I don't really consider it time wasted, or feel like anyone is complaining really. Believe me, I get it. There are a couple of singers on D.tube that can't carry a tune in a bucket and make my ears bleed, as a professional singer myself and they are making triple daily what I make on my videos. d.tube seems to have abandoned me haha. But that I don't really care about because they are still bringing content to d.tube (albeit not good content, but I digress.) That is what I see as complaining. "user blank is making more than me boo-hoo".
However, a whale, that has 12 accounts open just for the intent to drop over $300 a day in upvotes in each one and cash in on that weekly, that's some bullshit, and it's wonderful if you are financially doing well for yourself on here, but everyone is in danger of losing what they have earned if everything goes belly up. That's why I am doing this, and will continue to do this even if I start making a lot more money, because we have to protect our investments. That's how I see it anyway.
I understand where you are coming from - totally.
the likes of sweetjess are many - and as whales - we really can't do a lot about them.
The big players will continue to game the system..
Not sure what the technical difficulties involved, but it was my green screen that drove me crazy for a while. If you need any advice for editing green screen video in adobe premier pro, let me know. I'm not the best at editing, but I have learned a lot about how to deal with the various obstacles that have arisen as a result of the screen.
I recorded the whole show and my mic cord had become lose and it didn't actually record anything. So I had to do it all over again.
Your edits are getting better and better Beth. Thanks for posting about the whale fraud went over commented upvoted and resteemed, its true this is just blatant theft steemit does need to have a fraud team investigating stuff like this to protect the blockchain..
Well call me Detective Beth I guess, haha!
Hey, nice pop filter ;)
I try!
Hey @bethwheatcraft - what a treat this episode has been for me - great content, super-solid points, and the honour of being SOTD and showered with kind and beautiful words. I'm totally SteemBuzzing......Thank you XX
There's no one kinder or more deserving! :)
When I first joined Steemit I thought wow this girl is good (@sweetsssj), but as I looked further she upvotes massively and the posts come across as promotional work for businesses where she is.
So I'm not surprised.
But I am surprised she potentially runs other accounts :-D Great work @farazahmad
No, I'm still not surprised, now I think of it. As I'm not even convinced she writes the posts. Could just be a model for all we know.
And OMG you are soo funny! ROFL
Yeah I hope bringing this more to light doesn't hurt anyone. I am really not trying to create a controversy, I'm just trying to present information as I see it. And thanks, I definitely think the pain killers help my humor and overall don't give a shit presentation!
Here I am, fresh off not making it to the interview stage for restaurant dishwasher job, and someone is making $132,000 a month (possibly) gaming the system!!!
I literally kept repeating the number after you stated it, lol.
That aside, I hope BuzzSteem takes off. I find you a funny, bold and caring Steemian - and your vids give great insights into the Steemian community.
Thanks so much! It's really important to me that Steem takes hold! I hear ya on the job front. I have been working toward passing the physical fitness standards for the police department for almost 2 years. I finally passed all the first tests, and I have a panel interview on Monday, and I just know I'm gonna fuck it up, haha. Oh Lort. Times are hard. We have an awesome little #fight4steem group going here though, and if one of us can make it upward, then all of us will!
Congrats on passing the first tests!
I understand your worry and self doubt. I'm sure you are going to do your best at the panel interview, and - as you know - that's all you can do.
Word of unsolicited advice (I have a friend who is a martial arts instructor of 10 years, and I've done a bit of training and have worked security) for a woman in your position... Strength training is your friend. :-)
https://www.strongfirst.com/
https://www.t-nation.com/training/strength-training-for-women
As I'm sure you know it only requires a few times a week, but the benefits for self protection are often underestimated. I'm just passing on the advice, because it's a dangerous job.
#fight4steem
Oh totes. I have been hitting the gym hard, and my brother in law is a Taekwondo Master. (And I mean that literally, like he just tested out of 5th degree blackbelt!) I definitely want to be able to defend myself, but I look a lot meeker than I actually am!
Good on you.
I didn't mean to imply that you weren't hitting the gym (I thought so, because you past the tests) I was just trying to emphasize the benefit of strength training for self protection.
IME you'll be spending a lot of time restraining/grappling people, and so raw strength will help a lot. (Grip strength IME is of great help when restraining.)
I didn't think that at all! I really love getting suggestions/criticisms/help, it's the only way to grow ya know? Yeah I imagine there will be a lot of restraining. It's interesting though, I have been reading that female cops have an easier time with male perps (if they aren't on drugs or something) because their "I have to show this guy how tough I am" reaction doesn't kick off with women. Some of the male officers I know also said that men will be nicer to female cops because of how they were raised (ie their mothers) ironically enough. Although just because someone is being arrested for something doesn't mean that they are sexist haha. It's all very strange and has made for a really interesting learning experience! Thanks for chatting with me about this though, I don't talk to many people about it. (Around here people don't like cops too much.)
I'm glad my intention wasn't misinterepreted :-).
That's a great point, about men being nicer to female police. Hopefully you will mainly only need to restrain women.
I remember one time at a job a person known for a violent past was having a very heated argument with a female member of staff. I was close by, but kept myself outside of his field of view, and made no attempt to move closer. I knew from experience that most guys will not try to physically challenge a woman, and they will just be verbally aggressive (which can be intimidating enough). I knew that if I walked over they would likely feel challenged, and want to try to intimidate me simply because of my gender. The guy walked off angry, and noone was hurt.
(I get a lot of random men and women who try to 'walk through' me, and depending on my mood I stare them down or reluctantly move. Occasionally they will even passively aggressively brush my arm on purpose, and I've had 'heated' exchanges afterwards.)
No probs on chatting.
Maybe one day you'll be on BuzzSteem talking about how you arrested Adam Kokesh.
ROTFLMAO! Hittin' the Ventolin hard. I'll check out Dubson and faraz ahmad right away, thanks!!
Yeah this one was a doozy for me. I think you will be impressed with @dubson! And @farazahmad is in beast mode!
I checked on both of them this morning and followed.