I Am the Greatest Artist in the World! In Order to Prove My Point, I Will Purchase All of My Votes So You Can See Just How Amazing I Truly Am!
How do you do?
Today, I'm finally coming out of the closet.
No!
Not like that, silly!
< sarcasm >Today, rather than depending on my loyal followers to push me to the top all while telling me how great I am at the same time, I'm just going to say to hell with them! I don't need them! < /sarcasm >
There's a Better Way!
All I have to do is buy my success! Genius!
It's just like that time I bought a bowling trophy at a garage sale. I took it home, polished it up nice, put it on the mantle...
Boomshakalaka!
Me! The best bowler in the world!
...and I can't even lift a bowling ball! Tee-hee! Shhh! That's our secret!
It's just like that but different.
Anyway
The point I'm trying to make is this:
It's a dog! I named him spot!
I worked all day and night on that. All great artists like me never sleep!
Now all I have to do is purchase my votes! I'll spend a ridiculous amount of money and this will shoot straight to the top...
Where I Belong!
Then tonight, when we're all enjoying our new year festivities, I'll show my friends how frickin' awesome I am!
Happy New Year!
You've attached your sense of meaning in life to Steemit and are projecting that on to others. This link you've made between being on the front page and being a great artist is quite telling.
This is comedy. That's typically what I do here.
Are you here to troll?
I don't really understand what you're trying to say.
You seem to be looking for some sort of flaw in my character. Is this just how you defend yourself when someone calls you out for doing something stupid?
I didn't buy any votes on this post. It's comedy. I guess these people enjoyed it and voted. If you're here to attempt to find something wrong with what I'm doing, you won't find it.
I'm pointing out the flaw in your reasoning.
So, because you don't agree with me, you think I have flaws in reasoning? I'm not telling you what you want to hear, therefore I am broken?
Get lost. Don't bother me. I don't want to speak to you. And I think I already told you that.
"So, because you don't agree with me, you think I have flaws in reasoning?"
Nope, the flaw in your reasoning is why you have a flaw in your reasoning. Scroll up for why it's a flaw.
This post, was my lighthearted response to the whole thing. Rather than continuing to be a dick head about things, I decided to have a laugh and cheer up not only me, but whoever else enjoyed this.
What was said, was said. What's done is done. Stop bothering me.
You're not even making sense at this point. This is done.
I didn't purchase any votes here on this post. That was a joke.
I mean this ---> Have a nice day.
I have flagged you in retaliation for the two unmerited and hypocritical flags you left on my comments.
I typically vote for those who come here and leave a comment. I didn't agree with those rewards you gave yourself with 74 accounts, on my blog. Nothing more than that.
You acted out of anger and retaliation. You flagged me nearly 200 times to my 2. If you'd like, we can remedy the situation by removing all flags and self votes from this comment section.
I am allowed to flag comments in my blog. I didn't flag your comments, or your words. I flagged the self votes that I felt were undeserving on THIS blog, my blog. This is common practice and should not be taken personally.
Your flags will be reported as abuse. You already admitted to it. This can be remedied or taken to the next level, professionally.
Have a nice day.
Here is a screenshot of your words. Pay special attention to the word retaliation.
The number of accounts is irrelevant the sum of the SP is about equal to yours and you have higher rep than all of them. If you would like the flags removed simply remove yours.
I chose not to flag your overpaid and spammy comments because I generally don't like to use flags. After noticing that you had not afforded me the same courtesy with my comments on your post I decided to revisit my previous decision.
re·tal·i·a·tion
rəˌtalēˈāSH(ə)n/Submit
noun
noun: retaliation; plural noun: retaliations
the action of returning a military attack; counterattack.
"the bombings are believed to be in retaliation for the trial of 15 suspects"
synonyms: revenge, vengeance, reprisal, retribution, requital, recrimination, repayment; More
the action of harming someone because they have harmed oneself; revenge.
"protectionism invites retaliation"
Yup, I will retaliate to defend myself from your attacks.
"Your flags will be reported as abuse. "
Go ahead and complain to abuse about how you spammed my comments section and then flagged me with 17K SP and got flagged back with 16K SP. Great story bro.
I will also reiterate. Remove yours and I will remove mine.
Alright. This goes both ways. If you want me to go first, I will. That's how they used to win duels back in the day. The flags have been removed.
I win
I think and hope more front ends will be built for the STEEM blockchain that helps people discover content regardless of the vested stake of upvotes.
Vote buying seems more lucrative than it actually is when you consider the price of the SBDs paid for the upvote.
I can find things on Steemit just fine. All I have to do is look. Everyone wants a trick or the easy way. A button to push, boom, there's exactly what you want. Go digging.
So many people got ripped off with the vote buying. It's sickening. I'm to the point where if I keep focusing on that, it's going to ruin my night.
Happy new year!
I think steemit needs promotion options for the value of SBD/steem to remain high. Anyone selling their steem into SBD at current rates is obviously doing that to either buy votes from the bots or sell it to people that are, and because the built in promotion is such a joke these things are just filling an extremely large void. There is no way to expect large investments coming into the platform if there is no way for us to cater to the notion of marketing, and while this is a strange thing to think about in terms of art, it's a critical element to the system as a whole if there is going to be any kind of significant growth to the real value of the platform. Companies will drop millions of dollars for a week long facebook ad campaign but nobody even considers steem except in fringe cases, because for advertisers this place is not very useful, and yet some people seem to think making it go from bad to useless will somehow increase the value overall? This is not how economy works, we need MORE ways of spending the SBD, not less.
I can agree it's annoying to see random pictures on trending with $200+ when real art gets buried and has much less, it is not ideal, but that is a different issue in my opinion and one closely related to how you have a giant whale (cryptoctopus) autovoting everything you post, because the highest stake holders are often too busy doing more complicated things to go around curating everything that is posted, it takes too much time.
I think the trending page is damaged by the paid votes, but trending being a factor of payouts will always be a problem in one way or the other each with pros and cons, but at least in this way some people can justify more serious investments to guarantee exposure for whatever it is they want people to see, opposed to the promoted tab which does nothing.
Google has infinite money because of advertising, you know?
I fully support paid voting simply because it's the closest thing we have to something that caters to advertisers, and I think we need even more ways for people to dump money into having their stuff gain exposure. Let me buy a banner on your post, I want to give you infinite money for a 100x100 box on the side panel, what do you mean my money is no good here? This is the kind of thing holding back gigantic investments into the platform, because in the real world everyone is trying to sell something and a big part of that is marketing for some stupid reason, but enabling and encouraging marketing type things is how we get the billions of dollars dumping into other social media to move over here instead.
Honestly, steemit could be #1 ranked alexa but if there's no way for big companies to utilize all that traffic there's not much chance they spend their money here instead of facebook. They would rather go buy a bunch of ads on effing yahoo answers than get some SBD if it can't even be used to promote whatever it is they're selling.
AAAAHHHHH
sorry this turned into a rant, maybe I am defensive because I buy votes for my art, not enough to be on trending but enough that I feel a little insulted thinking about it in this context, but more than that I also have posted before how steem needs to cater to advertisers more in order to really grow in value on par with other social networks, so going in the opposite direction is not something I could get behind. I want to see steem explode in value but nobody seems to have a plan for where that value is actually coming from...
Anyway I hope you enjoyed my novel, happy new year :)
You just got a new follower. Your art is cool. I like it!
So there you have it. With all those followers you have and all the tricks you thought you could pull to get seen, you're still buying votes. I'm not the only one who thinks like this: Well, I guess you don't need my vote, you have it covered. Maybe it's not Steemit. Maybe it's you! I mean that kindly with a smile on my face! Maybe, on an new, innovative platform, it takes new innovative techniques to succeed here rather than just going to the books, finding what worked in the past and just applying the same thing here. Throw some shit at the wall and hope it sticks.
You can go ahead and spend all the money in the world. Feel free. I'm following you for free, and I hope to be able to have time to get to your posts and vote.
Maybe you don't want my vote? Those big whales who you think autovote me, are not your enemy. If not for people supporting and enjoying my work, I would not be able to give you a nice little boost of my own.
It's not my fault people here buy their votes, then take their tiny profits and cash out, instead of building up a nice amount to be able to give back. Don't blame Steemit.
OH SHIT... now it looks like I'm ranting!
Sorry, I don't mean to sound so negative, I just try to convey how the paid votes could actually benefit steemit indirectly, since most of what I see lately is either saying they are really bad because of the examples where they're used on trash posting, or small people are defending it from the perspective of "I need these to survive". Your perspective is quite different than either of those, but I generally take the stance that steemit as a whole could benefit from such a thing especially if it is improved upon because of what is going on outside of steemit and where the big investments might actually come from. In fact I think promotion type utility could go way beyond what we have now, make the voting bots obsolete in the process to solve the problems people have with those and maybe we get the best of both worlds.
I hope I don't offend you with the random things I say though. The part about whale votes was more about how it is basically impossible for them to go through all of the posts to find lots of things to push up and how that alongside the paid vote issue probably makes it seem even worse because a larger number of things in trending are from paid votes rather than curation, it was just an example I thought related to the trending page problem and in no way meant to imply you should have less votes for any of your posts, or that I should have more :)
The way i see it promotion was built right into steemit but the promoted thing doesn't really do the job right because in order for it to work those promoted posts have to be alongside the others instead of being placed into some quarantine zone. I imagine if google ads were in an ads-only page and nowhere else instead of listed near the search results or on different websites, then nobody would ever buy google ads and they wouldn't have had the infinite money to develop so far as creating things like google earth :)
[Chapter 4]
turns out it is easy to end up ranting about such a topic!
ahaha ^_^
I tried this and I didn't feel so good about it. However now that sbd is going down in price, I just may start up the practice again :P
I did too! A long time ago I think I bought one vote for me because curiosity killed the cat! Then I bought one for a friend of mine who was struggling.
I felt dirty. Then I felt like I bought someone false hope.
If it comes down to it, and nobody is willing to vote for my work naturally, the community has spoken and I will kindly walk away. It's my fault anyway, if I can't succeed here.
My problem is I am not naturally a social person. This site is for networkers and community builders. It operates much like the real world, where content is based os social status and who you know. I am staying here even if I don't make it to trending or hot posts because I want to be part of this extremely interesting social experiment.
I've been on the trending page a couple times early on, it's thrilling but also tiring. You must post content every day and as an artist I don't create art that I can post every day.
The good side of this I've been pushed to write articles. I have always been a poor writer now I am pushing myself to become a better writer. The social part will always be a struggle. I would rather just talk to a few good friends on here....Now I push myself to find new and interesting friends, this has been good and bad. It's exhausting, but I have met some amazing people from all over the world that I want to visit. So I write articles and push myself to earn money so I can travel the world and visit friends.
Plus if I earn enough I can also travel the world and do meditation retreats. So how do we make money here on steemit? It's about finding trends and developing relationships that are mutually supportive without compromising my honor...using the bots is like advertising. If I look at it that way, they aren't so bad. I don't know how good vote bots will be for steemit's ecosystem but looking at the real world advertising is a must for any business besides the tried and true word of mouth.
It becomes problematic when a new member arrives and naturally assumes the highest paid posts are there naturally. They try so hard to be that person! Then they find out the truth. Many leave feeling depressed and defeated knowing full well they can't possibly live out their dreams here.
This is me, living my dream. Doing what I do. Being me. A performer. Party in the front, business in the back.
About a week ago I managed to get a post up into the art tag top 20 trending. I didn't pay anything for that. I've been there before many times. I'll continue doing things my way, because that's how I've always done things. I'm stubborn. I'll just keep doing it and proving the naysayers wrong. We don't need to buy votes. I'm a firm believer that if I can do this, anyone can. I'll put my ass on the line and look like an idiot just to prove it too. The lone wolf who travels freely between packs.
What I do is not easy. If things are easy, I become bored. I move on. I left for awhile and now that I think about it, maybe I was getting bored. Now I'm back, got knocked down a few pegs, eager to take on a new challenge.
I just think to myself. I look at this post. I'm honest. I could easily spend the money and have this post right up there with the rest. Easily. I can't predict my future though, so why should I pretend like I'm in control of it?
Thank you for saying that, I needed to hear this as well. I am glad you are back!
Lmao, of course you are a great artist. And a great comedian. I have yet to run into (but not physically, since that is impossible) (and then my caps button got pushed, so had to retype this next line, ugh) any post of yours that does not make me crack up. The bowling ball part was epic. I always wondered how many people would actually do that, lol. Steem on, my talented friend. :-)
I was going to continue on in the character of pompous prick artist throughout this entire commenting process... but I can't.
Thanks for enjoying my stuff. I love doing this!
But even if you did attempt that, I would still bust up. It shows that you enjoy it, and that is what makes you who you are, and why I will always enjoy catching your posts. After all, there is the saying about laughter being the best medicine. :-)
That's why they call me The Doctor!
...nobody calls me that. I just thought it was funny.
Lol, I could be rich just off the sounds of my laughter. One of my friends told me she wishes she had recorded it. It is not something which can be faked, so attempting to record my own laughter is never gonna happen. But yes, that last comment is funny, lol.
I hear your point, but there are different ways to look at this. There is the idea we are trying find the absolute best content in the world...
Or.. We are trying to build an economy.
There is a limited number of true content creators and other sites that I have seen focused on that haven't been really successful.
You hadn't posted in a long time, but it was very obvious when you came back that many people still had you on their voting bots. So, where do you draw the line?
Anyway, the culture is pretty annoying right now, so kudos for the rant.
That wasn't voting bots. I lost majority of that support after the hardfork months ago. I even wrote about it. Am I being hardforked up the ass... something like that. It was comedy again. I had lost about 100 votes instantly.
Many who follow me and vote would beg to differ with you. When I came back, it was word of mouth that boosted me up there. I had no idea I'd be able to pick up where I left off. I give them the credit they deserve. They enjoy my work. Believe that, or not, it doesn't matter to me.
When I post, I am not seeing a constant stream of votes from the same people at the same time every time I post. There are a few bot votes, they insist they come later to read. I can live with that. If I'm ever bitching about something, it's views. Lots of art here. What's the point if no one looks?
Every now and again people drop a few big votes on me. I can't predict that. When they do, I know they were here and enjoyed it, because that's how it's always been and many of them comment.
I draw the line right here. Those people are choosing to vote for me.
OK. I think I clearly understand you perfectly now
Please tell how you know you were not still on voting bots?
Everyone has a point to make..
Everyone thinks their view of how the site is going to be is the best.
Everyone thinks their content is of the most "Value".
Remember Krnel was spreading the "truth"
Steemsports, was showing us how a business could work or maybe that was ats-david...
Now you are the only guy deserving to do well because you make art and you managed to get some attention when we were smaller and the culture was less abusive.
Yep a broke artist could make it then and maybe now... Now they also have more options.
I've always enjoyed some of your content, but this is just kind of entertaining.
Your point is fuzzy
Whatsup. I think many of these people actually care about me. I'm not being arrogant when I say that, because I know there are many more who don't. They were excited to see me back and word travels fast. If people are using bots to vote for me, I can't control that. I don't know for sure, but many sent comments here and in chat. They were happy to see me. I didn't burn any bridges when I left. I just vanished.
If I thought my stuff was the best stuff, I'd be buying votes. I think that's the kind of mentality it takes to be interested in purchasing votes. Some self-righteous superficial nonsense. This is just how I feel. That doesn't make me right.
This post was comedy. Satire. As well as a performance. It's here to entertain people. Nowhere, in anything I said here or EVER, does it say I'm "the only guy deserving to do well." I'm not sure if that was some sort of attack, or what. I don't know what you're trying to say.
I think, if you took this seriously you're missing the point. It's comedy.
I write in character. It's a performance first. I just want to entertain people. That's the business I'm in. So I write my jokes, perform them in this manner, stick around to have fun in the comments. I'm still a real person sitting here. Listen. I can't even explain me.
This post is satire.
I absolutely think people care about you and are happy to see you back. I was happy to see you back! I'll leave it there.
I don't know who you are, but I guess you are one of the first steemit comedians. I think I found this post because you said something to stellabelle that caught my funny bone or something, then I right clicked your name, and well ended up on this long long long post. The post itself was not to long, but the comments, You just kept going and going, like a pink bunny rabbit. Took me a long time to read all those comments, I did not read the last four of the first comment thread because then I would have had to open a new window. It's winter, and cold outside.
I think that would be a way to lose a lot of money. Well maybe not, there are always some people that want to see the latest mind numbing drivel from advertisers, me I would just end up adding you to the long and growing list of "Natural law", "resteem", "Vote 4 me", and all those send me money and I will take it and then vote back a tiny amount to you people. You know those people that are all so altruistic toward the new users, (Minnows), you know why they go after the minnows, it is because the real new users, the red fish and the plankton, don't have any money to give them until they reach minnow status. So they all go on my "Mute" list. End of my little anti-minnow supporters.
Thank you for looking past the blemish on this post. Nothing more will be said about that.
If a true, real advertising agency bought our tokens and then used those tokens to pay us while they get clicks(who really clicks those damn banner ads? It's a dying business model), all investors would see a profit, even if they don't have a post with an advertisement on it. The "geniuses" behind advertisements would continuously purchase more and more of our tokens. The most popular blogger here might be contacted first because they get a lot of views. That member would earn a little more, but it doesn't take away from everyone else. If the most popular blogger was using tricks and acting shady, the advertiser would be forced to use discretion. That would contribute to removing garbage from the trending pages. No minnow would be harmed. They might be encouraged to work harder, so they too can earn on their posts after the seven day rewards payout. All of this, was what I had in mind, when I said those words. That was a compromise. The platform could cater to it's members and offer a free, push button ad blocking service to accommodate those who don't want to see ads, much like flagging nonsensical comments, but without the crybaby effect(zing).
Happy new year, my friend.
Thanks @oldtimer. Thank you for everything!
Happy new year!
At least you got to the point, happy new year!
@neoxian wins!
The hidden riddle has been answered! Sorry I don't have a prize for you today. I just love it when people pick up on the jokes I didn't write in.