RE: My Final Plea: Why I'm Powering Down
This post is both the beauty and problem with Steemit. If Steemit is to become nothing more than a donation engine to everyone's pleas, the platform will die.
I've upvoted you and wish you all the best. But these types of awards and postings must stop being upvoted so heavily.
Either the Steemit community learns to focus on nothing but quality content, or the platform is going to suffer.
Lastly, I need to point out the disincentive of producing high quality content versus regular decent content tie to the payout schedule. We need to change payouts to be perpetual in nature, such that payouts can continue forever.
Someone mentioned this the other day and how a Youtube clone on Steemit would never work because of this. They are spot on, but further, it discourages people from updating and keeping high quality content on their "blog", in favor of daily content that will yield better returns.
This place needs to wake up and quit drinking it's own coolaid for the sake of it's future.
Just keep upvoting your own shit and you won't have to vote on anybody else's... That is why you commented isn't it!
That was really uncalled for, especially for an account that's been inactive from posting and commenting for a long time and all he did was say the truth.
Holy crap matrixdweller! -15 rep?!
I must have missed something. Who's Steemflakes did you shit in to get that wild rank? (Not trying to be an ass, honestly would like to know)
Maybe it's got something to do with hijacking posts with totally unrelated videos.
This guy is abrasive and presumptuous, as well as completely tone deaf socially. I strongly suspect he's not even a real person, just some Psychological Operations recruit assigned to Steemit to make "conspiracy theorists" seem like complete nutjobs. Like Alex Jones, only he's the toilet cleaner to Jones' middle-manager.
@acidyo, I'm confused which account was in the wrong? the one that posts frequently or the one that hasn't posted for months?
yep I agree. that attack was definitely uncalled for. I recently gathered enough courage to start posting on steemit, but I am sort of disheartened on day 2 by some poster who can hide behind the internet and attack others.
Well, I'd rather not stake anything in this argument, but don't you lose the courage to post here because of any internet bullies. In fact, if you find any, post about them and call them out on it publicly (obviously if you have sufficient reason to believe they are genuinely negative characters, and not just having a bad day or something). Steemit in its very nature represent freedom of speech, expression, and now, user-controlled flow of cash. We can't allow the internet trolls and whatnot to show up and ruin Steemit for the rest of us.
Get More Upvotes and Followers : https://steemfollower.com/?r=1966
lol, breath friend. He said he upvoted you. He didn't call you a fraud, he just raised a valid concern regarding the bigger picture.
Mouth Of A Gift Horse == Concerns Of Desperation Negatively Affecting Community Quality
Just don't think about it. Good luck with your struggles.
It felt like he was trying to kick a guy that's already down. I'm not powering down or making the post for fun & profit... only out of desperation. I fought it as long as I could
That's understandable. He really wasn't attacking you or accusing you of being a fraud. I'm sorry times are hard. At least steem is rising today, right?
I guess it is... That's something... Watch. by the time I have something to sell it will be under a buck (story of my life) Every time I invest in crypto- it tanks... I'm the Kiss of Death. By the way- don't invest in Ripple or cannabis coin I'm in the process of killing them right now!
Did you catch my offer I posted on my new service? If you can get Venmo set up (owned by paypal) I can at least help save you money while you try to cash out. I also have an individual who is looking to buy in to Steem using my service. I can get it to cycle back and fourth until every need is met. I just need some takers to prove the concept.
The last thing you need right now is to believe your own bullshit stories of failure. Those stories generally turn out to be self-fulfilling prophecies. Thing is, the world is particularly shit right now and it's hitting a gigantic number of people. There are still cracks to crawl through.
As patronizing as it might sound, stay positive.
I stand behind you, @richq11. You have contributed so much valuable content to Steemit. Do what you have to do. I don't have enough Steem Power to dictate my voting power to give you a full vote, but I will compensate for that in other ways. I am praying for you, my friend.
Thank you my friend... If I can ever return the favor just tell me! Winston- Salem huh? I almost went to work for Shields Drywall there.
Yes sir. I've lived in this area most of my life. I had some early life Air Force brat time in Louisiana and Florida. I spent 2004 to 2009 in Las Vegas, but other than that, I've been within a 30-mile radius.
I'm not very well-versed in drywall, but I see Shields is still in business. I bet my Dad knows them well as he spent 25 years as a commercial and industrial painter.
Hang in there. You are a valuable member of this community. Anyone, whale or otherwise, who doesn't see that is projecting too much of their personal power toward what they want Steemit to be rather than what it is....a community that helps each other....especially our valued members regardless of the handicaps the platform itself has.
Shields was/is big, I'm sure your dad knows then if he is a painter. I was in Statesville working on a HCA hospital and Shields hired me but I didn't have tools. There was another drywall company from Pembroke and I hired on with them. I lived with the Indians for about 3 years.
Small world. :-)
LOL, You tell em Rich. I'm sure they find their own content much more enjoyable than any of our trash lol...
You have my complete support Sir :)
Not everyone of them. But just little of them are nice
I used to read your posts some time ago, @richq11 . You are a good writer, and you seemed to be doing fine with your rewards. I believe you should keep writing and stop begging. It's counterproductive. You can only beg once or twice, but you can always write. Some posts will do better, some will do worse.
And please, stop barking at people that raise valid points. That's what you are doing now. And you are doing it to someone who is actually giving you alms!
You just joined last month so how could read my posts some time ago?
ok, sooo... with everyone in the 'high quality' content section, how then are you planing to decide who get's awarded? I really don't think this posting is the place for the debate myself but deserved some response once here. I shall resteem this post. I also hope the caring, thoughtful, community helping one another approach deserves that. If you don't think so go figure which community you want to be a part of, I guess is your thought for the day.....
I agree that we all need to take care of eachother and try to bring harmony.. However, lets not forget that the same way the people hiding behind the internet troll and harass others, there is no real way to know if the story behind the OP is real or not. Ultimately it comes to our judgment and chivalry. So he might have take the path of not helping, and you have taken the path of helping. Both of you can be right on your own part. Jsut my 2 cents
I agree. Would be nice if the Steemians asking for help could provide some proof to their stories, like darthnava did and got a lot of help because of it.
I agree with you...totally.
A lot of people needs help but just few are getting it
My concern is more with fraud. I'm certain that some of these posts are completely fraudulent. I'm not saying this one is, but how would you know? I tend not to trust them but on the other hand, if something happened and I was in desperate need of help I'm sure I would try here as well. When you need help, you need help.
I wish everybody will have the same mindset
@papa-pepper knows, ask him ....
Sometimes it happens when there is nowhere to run to too. I just hope it is not a fraud. And i pray he gets the help he needs
How would you suggest changing the current steemit then @jacobt
I agree with what you have posted above, but how would you go about making the platform better so we can all benefit from this.
Sincerely,
@joeparys
Glad you asked Joe.
Firstly, I would extend the second window for rewards in perpetuity, such that it's continually awarded payouts on a regular basis (daily/weekly). This would, in fact change the dynamics greatly, but it'd encourage people to update content they have that's great and further encourage high quality content. Don't forget that Google loves this, so Steemit would gain a lot from the SERPs.
Secondly, language preference filtering. I don't know Korean, unfortunately.
Thirdly, a greater understanding from the community and maybe a section, for generosity and charity. It's not surprising that these types of articles have become commonplace. But, if they don't stop rising to the top of Steemit regularly/daily, new people coming to the platform aren't going to frequent the site. And they certainly aren't going to invest their money into STEEM tokens.
What's needed for Steemit to move forward are companies willing to promote their own blog content because the readership is of high quality, the site is known for amazing content, etc. Right now it's a hodgepodge of random crap: mostly girls globetrotting around, charity pleas, and nerdy crypto crap (that I love), but the rest of the world doesn't care about.
When Steemit starts getting articles floating to the top that resemble articles frequently seen on Medium, it'll start looking promising. Until that point, it's just going to fade away as another quirky blogging platform with an awesome model to reward bloggers, but with little interest from the outside for further investment.
Keep in mind, that STEEM is inflationary. The blockchain just prints more money, devaluing your STEEM to pay out to bloggers. The only way to encourage people to want to invest in this is through utility or speculation. Speculation is looking a little bleak at the moment and utility is diminishing.
Whoa.... @jacobt Steemit is supposed to be an alternative to social media, not blogging... or is it a combination of the two? As an influencer on both Twitter and Medium I can say that Steemit is more twitter than it is Medium, mixed in with a bit of Tumbler. It's what Facebook used to be...
I happen to hate reading most Steemit blogs, with the exception of a few alt-life topics that I manage to find, because, well.. they just aren't that readable. It's like reading a reddit post at times. It's like a club of crypto traders typing stuff simply to earn more crypto. When I do find high quality content, the formatting or readability kills any chance that I might read it. The general public doesn't have the patience for all that. I base this on my professional experience as a content marketer and my medium experience.
If we want to say this place should be anything like Medium, we'd have to get celebrity bloggers on here to set the bar, and they should probably bring a few of their followers as well.
I think it's more fitting to view this platform like a microblogging site where emotional displays and pretty pictures always trend higher than high quality content. ... just like the rest of social media.
I invested to STEEM and looking for long term commitment.
I agree with your assessment with contents, you nailed it. The steemit platform needs to provide enforce some rules with regards to contents and comments.
I hope it will happen soon, otherwise steemit will be just another spam bot cms.
Follow me @Yehey
Thank you.
STEEM is an inflationary token. That means they print more of it. That means that the value of 1 STEEM token today will be worth less tomorrow, unless... demand increases for it. So, ask yourself, what is going to cause more people to buy more STEEM and why.
I think that people being real, and posting real content is more valuable than "quality" content. More people will be attracted to what is real rather than to read "professional bloggers only" content.
Professional bloggers can be real. Unfortunately, like other forms of social media, it's hard to get a following when you are a newbie. So why bother coming here if you are already getting paid to write. Plus when the only way you can make money is if you get the attention of a whale, this site is very unattractive. I know professional bloggers on this site that make money, but they've been here for over a year and built a following, or started with one in the first place.
These are interesting propositions.
I'm starting curation accounts myself. None of the "pay me for resteem sir" service stuff. Just a nice account stocked daily with curated posts around a specific topic I consider to be high quality.
Perhaps, this platform could end up being led by myriad tailored curation accounts like the one I'm starting. Again, unpaid curation accounts.
We could potentially solve the problem this way and stamp out the trash posts without going all commie and outlawing them or anything.
Like independent journals on the platform.
Ah, yes. I get it now. I agree too. When people from outside look at the trending section of Steemit, they should see a variety of awesome. I DO think crypto-topics are overwhelming that streem of content for outsiders to relate to easily, and the success of panhandlers would not make it much better in that sense. I think my new idea might help. I'll throw it around a little and see if it's worth attempting.
Oh, and I agree that the 7 day limit might be more of a problem than a solution. 7 day payout cycles work, but older material deserves to be rewarded for newer upvotes, I think. I have yet to hear an explanation of why this isn't already the case.
I agree with you on the older contents .. Not everybody will see the post the same time since they get buried
Your proposed solution is great @jacobt . I love it and thanks for that. But a question is how do we stop the issue of some people who prefer to upvote themselves. No matter how great a content is, they will never upvote you.
Let people upvote themselves. If you don't allow that, they're just going to find other ways around it with different accounts. I don't think personal upvotes are a huge issue. Also, if the content is great, people WILL upvote it.
But, just because you think it's great, doesn't mean others will think it's great. Likewise, it may be great content, but doesn't reach a mass audience. This is why pop news and terrorist bullshit gets plastered on prime-time TV, b/c it appeals to the masses, and the more viewers, the more money in ads.
Find something that's highly unique that appeals to a larger pool of people, spend the time to actually write it well, choose awesome images that complement the piece and always link to additional reading and sources.
God bless you for the kind gesture
Thank you for the advice.. Thou art great.. Really could use this
@oddnugget, I think you have got an amazing idea here. Making curation accounts for specific topics is one of the sure ways for great posts to get noticed and praised. Even if the payout were not great to start with, it will still encourage people to continue posting great contents.
Eventually these "hodgepodge of random crap: mostly girls globetrotting around, charity pleas, and nerdy crypto crap" as @jacobt smartly named it will have their own space and will not prevent everything else from appearing under the detection radar.
Thanks for sharing the idea :)
I dont think there is a way out of it because most people prefer to upvote themselves. And people get desperate if they spend hours on posts and dont get anything out of it..
Lol I have a channel on youtube that is growing at a great rate and I am super happy with it. Every morning I wake up to new growth and it has been progressively growing more and more this year than ever. The videos that make me the most every month I put up 2 years ago. My new videos take a few months to snow ball and then they catch on and many go viral. Here on steemit no matter how hard I pushed after a few days the videos or recipes become useless. After trying with everything I had for a couple of months, I decided to put max effort into what was working and lay off the steemit coolaid.
Well said @jacobt in all your comments and suggestions.
I am happy for @richq11 for getting the help he wanted, which shows that steemit still have caring people. Yet, us new people a.k.a minnows, are suffering defeat and discouragement because those kind people don't seem to see our posts. And in order to part of the helpful force we need to grow as well. The more people grow, the better the platform will be. No one loses if we all gain, actually everyone will gain from it. Sometimes it feels that people upvote with the minimum % they can, as if they are giving money from their pockets.
I think that the fact that our upvote gets less effective the more we use it should be changed. We can manually change the % of voting depending on how much we liked the contents and that is a way that individuals give their fair assessment to the things they read. However, many people upvote with the least % to preserve their votes for themselves or their friends, which is not fair for either parties.
I have read few times now, and started noticing myself, that many people comment (with as little as "nice post!" or "I agree!") on others posts without caring to upvote, but you will always find their comments upvoted by them and by some other giant SP accounts that seem to follow them around like a loyal puppy.
I am not against anyone voting for themselves, but at least vote for others with the same %. Or is their few-words comment is worth more than the efforts other people put in their posts?
Everyone keep saying there is a problem, but not many are doing something to solve it and the cheaters continue gaining more and more. It is quite sickening to see how people are taking advantage of the system.
(Shakes head)
I cant say one way or the other if this particular post is a legitimate plea for help or not. One thing I can say for certain is the community as a whole has chosen to accept it as so. At the time of this (my) comment, there are 2611 views and 750 votes, providing the author with what I assume will be a decent payout. To that I say "congrats" and good luck to the author. If it truly is a farewell to Steemit - somehow I doubt it...
That being said, my comment is really focused on the larger point you were making - content. In the short time I have been here (on Steemit) I have read works from a few truly great authors, journalists, poets, and bloggers that I never would have had the opportunity to read without the platform. Unfortunately the time it takes me to sort through all the noise makes finding the truly great content almost impossible. This has been a recurring issue for me - someone who enjoys reading, as much as writing.
In my opinion, (and I have said this in other comments) there has to be much more emphasis placed on the curation of posts, and more incentive for people to actually "curate". Right now there is very little incentive for anyone to spend the time necessary to sort through all the noise. Increasing the percentage of rewards allocated to "curation" would solve the problem of "noise" almost overnight. Just my opinion, and as I always say - your just gonna have to make up your own dam mind...
Yeah, that's pretty much the approach I plan to take going forward. I am going to focus on curating, following and resteeming. That way I help improve the quality of content organically, earn some STEEM, and only see "interesting" posts on my home page....
I like to write also so my time here is pretty much spent 50/50 ... Point Set Match... Steem on...
you're totally right! let's not kill this platform!
You are absolutely right. It may sound harsh to most people upon hearing this hard truth but that is it. If we keep on doing this people will lose interest in the system or even worse take it as a joke. I pray a miracle comes your way @richq11 before anything really bad happens to you. The future of steemit depends on the authenticity of content authors create . If we continue to condone this act, people will take advantage of the system. I hope i did not sound mean.
Very good post jacobt! As a new steemitite (Is that the correct teminolgy?), I love the way this super frindly, unique and seemingly supportive community works as I know it at this time. I am not quite familiar enough to have an educated opinion but I do have an opinion. jacobt stated it much more eloquent than I could and it seems to give me a little disappointed feeling about steemit if, if we become a "gofundme" website.....there are many websites for that very purpose so, why do it here...It would be awful if the timeline is filled with "needs" post/blogs. Good stuff jacobt...I second that!