How I Plan on NOT Self Up-Voting and Thriving Regardless
A look through my comments and history will reveal that I am not a fan of self-upvotes. I think that I did do it the first time that I posted - and that was automatic - and that was it.
Why Does Self-Upvoting Bother Me?
OK. Lets say that you've just produced something amazing. The writing is engaging, the illustrations are original artworks loving painted by yourself the previous day, and you have tons of research sources helpfully compiled at the bottom.
You post! Great!
Then you up-vote... your own material...
...
Yes - I do know why you did it.
You do it because the Steemit platform allows you to do so.
You do it because there is no reason for you not to up-vote yourself (So what if 99% of the reward pool goes back to the author? Thats you! Hmmm... does this mean that self-upvoters siphon off a portion of the curation rewards pool (its a fact that the 1st up-voter gets the greatest share)?).
You do it because there is a greater likelihood of others upvoting your content if they see that there is some value already attributed to it (by yourself).
You may even do it because you want a return on your investment in STEEM.
But let's be serious...
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...and lets revisit the purpose of voting in the first place...
...in its capacity as a tool for curation...
...to weed out the wheat from the chaff...
...to improve other users' steemit browsing experience...
...preferably in as objective a fashion as reasonably possible.
Do you feel that up-voting your own content is either an exercise in good curation, or reliably and objectively indicative of you letting the steemit community know that the content concerned is good stuff?
And I have not even gotten into the implications of using one's upvote in such a way to draw a portion of the reward pool towards well-deserving posts one's own interests.
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Yes. Yes... I know that its unfair to get on users' cases for behavior that is mechanically included within the steemit platform. This is why, while I 'will' point out to people what is 'off' about a practice, I will refrain from condemning them for it. The environment produced by steemit, for reasons known only to the developers, allows it - and many, whales, dolphins and minnows alike - are far from shy from exploiting such.
Can one exploit what is wildely considered a feature? Good question.
Now, I could go on about simply proposing that Steemit's developers finally close off or at least limit the self-upvoting option - but that is so obvious to me that I'll have to move onto the next best thing - educating the user base to possible alternatives - preferably before they succumb to the dark side.
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The following is my master plan...
Remaster the Underperformers - Eventually!
Alright! I know that my non-self-up-voting practices are being just a little bit self-undermining - as compared to all others. Its kind of like abstaining from constantly making a video game character jump forwards instead of running because jumping (if silly-looking) is faster than regular running.
Well, I can look back upon the growing number of underperforming posts and 'not' dwell upon the time spent. Regardless of the results, every hour was well-spent - and if it does not turn out to be so the first time around...
...The second time around may be different.
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Yes, there shall come a time in the future...
It may be near... It may be far...
When I get a little stuck for creativity or time...
And decide to glance back over my post history...
Looking for those that I clearly thought would do better...
And...
I will NOT...
Simply copy and repost its contents into a new post.
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Yes its easy to simply copy and paste but it does not add anything of value to the blockchain. Its merely another copy of your stuff - and while you 'may' be fully justified in thinking "Uh... well... this post got $0.00 in rewards last time so its not like I'm really stealing anything from the reward pool" - the principle still applies.
No...
You can definitely 'start' with a pasting of your work into the 'create post' window - but you 'cannot' just post it like that. Make an effort to give it some level of uniqueness that the previous post had that will justify the different rewards outcome that you are hoping for.
The first step is to look at your original content and ask yourself...
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Why didn't this perform well the last time around?
Maybe it simply didn't have enough exposure?
Whether its because you had few followers or the kind of followers you had were 'not' inclined to resteem - doesn't matter much. Both amount to the same thing.
If you've fixed your exposure problem then you may be able to get away with refining the wording of your post, adding one or two extra related things that fit in well, and add or improve the illustrations.
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Maybe the tags chosen, the title, &/or the first image were uninspiring/ wrong?
Make sure that you choose a different title anyway, even if the original was dynamite - and maybe consider the same for the image, but if either of them were uninspiring at a glance, then you know right there and then that they could have failed to capture some views from your following.
"My Hobby Studying the Fascinating World of French Renaissance Stamps"
doesn't have the same impact as...
"My rare collection of awesome stamps!"
Yes, a little info got lost there - but people are less likely to be intimidated out of clicking in the first place.
Similar applies to pictures. Find a real beauty ... stamp - and close-up to a feature - and include your shocked face on the image to make things look interesting. Well - thats one possibility.
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Now... tags.
As you know, steemit allows you to choose up to 5 tags. These tags help your post to get seen in the relative section - and to therefore be found by absolute strangers.
Try to avoid the absolute highest earning tags like 'life' or 'steemit'. The tag may be highest-earning but the competition there is greatest also - with the result that your post will hardly spend a minute on the first page of tag browsing.
Instead look at your post. What is it about?
If you cannot decide on this then quickly read through your paragraphs for key words. Try to use all five tags without including something spammy and completely irrelevant to your post.
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Maybe it expressed an unpopular opinion?
People are less likely to up-vote content that they don't agree with. If you find that your post has more unique user comments than upvotes then it might fall into this category.
If you are going to revisit this kind of a post then try to also pack in elements of stuff that has happened since. Maybe evidence surfaces that NASA is having a hard time getting a person to the moon - 50-odd years after they put a person on the moon - and your post is about them faking the original Moon Landings.
Maybe 'that' is the right time to repost and repackage your original post within the context of those failures.
Incidentally - the above is but a hypothetical example. A critical mind considers all possibilities - including those less savoury.
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Maybe its simply badly written?
Don't worry. We all go there sometimes. Your software doesn't seem to support automatic spell-check and so you let some "typos" (spelling errers) through - or maybe this isn't your first language and you simply have room for improvement.
Thats alright! There is always room for learning and the best way to do so is to take that which you've already written...
...and reword it such that the meaning stays the same.
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It is really fine! You have many opportunities to learn and the optimal strategy in doing so is to rewrite your old post...
...in a way that retains the spirit of what you've said.
And don't be afraid to expand upon it!
Well... that is my plan.
I plan on looking at every post fading into the night with a very low reward as an opportunity to smile and imagine it saying...
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Whether you make such an occasion of triumph and glory is up to you and how much additional effort you put into the remaster.
Oh... and one more thing...
Again... if you 'do' engage in self-upvoting...
I personally feel that the lion's share of responsibility...
Lies with steemit as it is thus-designed.
How do you feel about this matter? Whether you agree or not I am keen to hear your views in comments down below. Do you think that you'll be joining me upon this non-self-upvoting path less tempting but more ethical? Also curious to hear about that!
If you found this post interesting and would like to share this with your friends then a resteem couldn't hurt.
If you 'didn't' like this then feel free to share your views in comments. A civil conversation can go a long way.
Sincerely,
Previous Post: A Tower of Light and Good Fortune - MonoMad
Thanks for this! Sometimes I worry about whether or not my post will be found if the tag is not a top one or even one that anyone has ever used!!! I hope you have a WONDERFUL DAY!!! Following you...
Thank you @pjcwart, both for the up-vote as well as your comment.
Well - now you have a couple of avenues to explore should your post underperform. Let it slide into the night. You can always bring it back another day. :c)
Thank you again for stopping by. Have a great day also.
How by resteeming it?
Sort of...
Its more like taking the old content, making it better and reposting it.
Makes sense, yeah...
I won't join you on the non-self-upvoting path but I admire your dedication to the cause ! Now, let me explain why I upvote myself.
Pride in my content
I am always proud in what I make and I believe anybody should if they took some time and effort to create a post or anything else for that matter. I've always expressed that pride by liking my stuff, I did it already on YouTube by liking my videos as soon as they were uploaded. So it seems natural for me to keep doing that on Steemit.
Indicator of my view on the quality of the post
I have actually told to my french followers what my votes percentages meant when voting on my own posts. I vote at 100% when it's for charity as every cent counts, 50% on posts that I genuinely think are quality posts and 25% on shitposts (posts that take no time to get created). So it's more of a way for them to know what I believe the post is worth.
Giving it a boost in view
As you mentionned, upvoting your own post can attract the eye of users scrolling through the various new posts that get added every second on the "created" tab. Most people are more inclined on clicked on a post with already an upvote than none as they have the mindset of voting to make money by curation rewards.
I don't actually care about the money I make from self-upvoting. What I've always wanted to see on Steem and I hope to see is a change in the self-upvoting rewards. I would love to have self-upvotes only upvoting and not giving any reward to the author and sending the reward of the upvote to the @null account. It would ultimately be beneficial for the value of Steem as everything sent to the @null account gets deleted.
It was a nice read, thanks !
Thank you, @ragepeanut, both for the up-vote as well as the top-class comment. :c)
Seriously - a little more of this and that and it could easily enough have made for an acceptable post. ^_^
You make very good counter-points. Adding a dimension of pride does add a degree of legitimacy to self-up-votes, and variably judging your own posts when it comes to deciding how much up-vote to give them is a lot more consideration than some users undertake in doing so. As such I consider you to be ahead of the curve!
Yes - visibility is something that I knowingly sacrifice - and that effect shall be more pronounced in future. :cP That is fine. I have a backup plan. ;c)
Your suggestion that Steemit allocate self-up-vote awards on posts to the @null account is an excellent one! I am getting a few ideas on the basis of this suggestion In summary:
A cool-down on voting content from the same user. The cool-down does not prevent user voting but it does determine what percentage goes to @null
A comment up-vote is /automatically at 10% unless powered up by a given user. Cool-down on comment-upvotes on a given user is similarly automatically at 10%.
The @null account, rather than destroying the monies incoming, cycles it exclusively towards development of SteemIt and Steemit Initiatives.
Thank you again @ragepeanut. Always a pleasure to see you in comments. :c)