Down voting : A Motivational Killer or A Strategic Use of Power?
We all have seen the importance of up voting a post or comment on Steemit and the negative effects of down voting - which can be seen sometimes as a good thing especially when it involves scammers , plagiarists and spammers.
Note: This post is to lift our steemit community spirit: All for One-One For All and not to take sides.
I am 1+ month here , but have seen how steemit community has come together to help a steemian in need through sending in SBD or simply upvoting the persons post. This is very motivational and helps us to sign up new members to this great community. Conversely, however, I have also seen how down voting a member post to zero resulted to big division in the community. For instance, @fulltimegeek down voted @craig-grant post to zero accusing him and his wife @yuliana of a crime -which was escalated by @matrixdweller here however @yuliana explained about the issue excellently here: during her introduction post. This issue led to division of our community and people throwing verbal blows - resulting to @craig-grant quitting steemit for a while (the great news is that he came back stronger and currently posting daily).
Moreover, I also noticed that the community holiday favorite blogger @sweetsssj posts were down voted by @dan and recently, what surprised me was to see 2 posts by @officialfuzzy being down voted by @ned even though the posts were about project information’s that support steemians via the BeyondBit and Whaleshares hangout. This caused some steemians examples, @joseph , @walterz , @patelincho , @anritco , @eirik and @siddartha (to mention few) to post about the issue (rightfully) demanding explanation from @ned and for the action to stop.
Even though , I support the issue to stop because I respect and support @officialfuzzy plans in supporting projects on steemit, plus his use of whaleshares tokens to help steemians in need -we should , however , not come to a premature conclusion without knowing the underlying issues / facts. Hopefully, @ned and @dan will send an official explanations for their actions and this down voting will be resolved (The explanation will help other members to avoid such mistakes -if any).
On the other hand, a clear and undisputed use of down voting and steem power was executed by @ausbitbank down voting a scammer whose thread had about 60 comments, all with ~3400 votes from the same voting trail that seems to be lead by @ecoworld .
See link here and judge for yourself. This is a clear advantage of downvoting and thus @ausbitbank should be praised and supported for his action.
In conclusion, steemit is great when we work together as one community , up vote fellow members in order to motivate them to continue posting great contents and yes down vote those that want to take advantage of our community and not those that disagree with our point of view. Importantly, down voting members posts just to punish or intimidate them will surely cause harm to our steemit community because it is a clear abuse of power.
Do you agree? Send in your comment, Please resteem this for others to join and upvote to send your support.
Pls click this link and see this post: Is Steem Low Price Good, Bad or Ugly for Us?
nice post...
i think those who downvotes should be able to give concrete reasons for their actions...i posted in chinese blog and was immediately flagged and downvoted to zero by someone who uses other blogs too
for @sweetsssj i wonder why she would be downvoted as her blog exposes steemit travels in good light and very entertaining...
lets always ensure we make this community friendly for all and also give good reasons for any actions...
thanks for this great posts
I'm with you...a reason should be required when down voting.
As for @sweetssj, liking the content on her posts is subjective...but not sure why it deserves a downvote.
very correct...
some say she is draining the reward pull alone while she works soo hard for it...
nice reply
well said, i agree.
Good point, I agree.
i also concur
such posts which triggers discussions like this is good for the community...good post to share
welcome
ok...
Great post ! Way to go @ausbitbank , great job ! Never liked flagging , never will like flagging! I lived through a few flag wars myself back in the day when it went on frequently for stupid reasons ! Haha ! Im glad that's over ! I heard about this other stuff going on as well with @ned and @dan etc. And until we know exactly what the cause is im staying on the fence ! Love them both ! some of these others though are posting on a daily basis and making hundreds if not thousands of dollars a day , plus their constantly trending and draining the rewards pool of money , like @sweetsssj for one , so the rest of us make 5.00 dollars a post if were lucky !! Especially after being here for a year !! Im sick of it myself , have over 1700 followers too but get maybe 50 up votes !! Its B S !! End Of Rant ! Have a great day , falling asleep now , good night !👍👍👍
@karenmckersie
You made your point beautifully and with a sence of humor...
but dont you think @sweetsssj works soo hard for her upvotes? that lady spends soo much raveling to get her materials... she needs our support.... if such happens, then great contents will not be encauraged in steemit
I for one work so hard to post and get little or nothing...but still it encourages me to work harder...
am interested in your area of blogging... guess my comments will give you some few hrs delayed sleep... ;)
I don't think sweetsssj is underpaid, quiet contrary. 1/10 of that would already be much.
But I will not downvote because I do not like the amount.
Spammers can get a full downvote from me though if they are too blatant.
right...
some spammers are too annoying and guess they have auto programs that says...welcome to steemit at new members page
well...i trust we are here on the long run...we wait and see how things unfolds
will wish you find time to read some of my new blog posts
I hate spammers !! 👍
Completely agree with you. She works hard for her posts, but since when did working hard mean anything. Obviously it's subjective, so if some people want to upvote her, let them.
I have a really hard time for that stance though when I see a 90% generic post about a Bitcoin chart that is basically a screenshot of something a program made and a text that could be (or even is) computer-generized like the weather forecast, and such a 5-10 minute thing getting 100$+
Majority of that money is probably coming from friends or alternative accounts upvoting her. It's their Steem power, so up to them. But, then you're right...it creates the hype and the post ends up on trending/hot and then all these other people upvote. If dollar value didn't impact the "hot" or "trending" pages...then maybe we can get to a more level playing field where there is still a reason to buy Steem.
Thanks for your awesome comment !! I was just using her as an example because she makes a ton of money on a daily basis and apparently she was flagged by someone , not by me , I don't flag people ! I was just saying that maybe this is why she was flagged , ! I stay away from the trending page myself , because its too lopsided ! I seen some people get hundreds of dollars for a crappy post , just because of their name ! Meanwhile After all the work I put into building up the platform I cant even get one whale up vote , but I see tons of newbies and like one photo posts with no content get up voted by blocktrades all the time ! Go see the trending memes ! Only trending because block trades up voted them all ! LOL! Its laughable really ! Anyway I was just giving my opinion or an idea as to why she may have been flagged , really I have no idea ! Have a nice day !👍👍👍
you are right
seems some people here built contacts with whales or related to them and as such, gets big upvotes but that wouldn't deter us...one day i see you as a whale and do not forget your buddy when you get there soon...
so which area do you blog on... find time to check my blog...stories which i wanna update soon...
Thanks for your kind reply !! Best of luck to you ! You will one day be a whale too ! Steem on !!👍👍👍
thanks ma'am for the inspiring lines
i appreciate!
Your welcome!👍👍👍
Thanks for your comment. Hahaha what a funny pic , sleep well and wake up stronger. Bless you.
Your welcome ! Thanks and good night !😴😴😴
sleep well 😴😴😴 and wake up with more steem power
is this allowed here? see this person copied and pasted the same post I posted
https://steemit.com/steem-help/@ashish1444/down-voting-a-motivational-killer-or-a-strategic-use-of-power
I replied to them and flagged their post. Let people know and provide them with the consequences to their actions. Real rules like plagiarism, spam, and good reasons to prevent someone from earning money by doing those bad things. "Over-rewarded" is a bullshit reason to flag someone, as I've had it used on me just because a few rich people want to decide who gets to keep their rewards, and who gets their rewards taken away since they don't like my content and don't want me to get rewarded for it. The flag is way too easily abused. I used to be a #1 top author for rewards. But all the flagging killed my steem spirit, and I left. Now I'm back to being an average user with $10 payouts in average :P
I feel the same way ! You know how I was also flagged by smooth anytime a whale up voted one of my posts ! It was so discouraging , after waiting forever for a whale up vote to begin with so the whales stopped up voting , and now that they can up vote again without being down voted , they don't anymore . 👍
Yeah, it sucks big time.
Thank You , It really does suck LOL! !!! 👍👍👍
Saw you in action, thanks a lot. Having been reading your posts for a while now, am sure you will be a great success here. Keep steeming and more success to you
@blueorgy your comment is also needed here, thanks
Hi @charles1, I see you have mentioned me.
This is automatic bot response so that I may respond to your mention later.
Learn more about this bot...
Great @blueorgy looking forward to hearing from real you and not bog haha
If it is allowed only you can answer since you are the author of th post, right?
If reposting is encouraged I highly doubt, since for re-sharing you have the resteem button.
Good point, the cheater has been flagged for plagiarism
@karenmckersie
Wow...over a 1000 followers but less than 50 upvotes. That is no fun!
I, fortunately, haven't been through any flag wars, but have seen lately these things mentioned.
Hope you are doing well, and LOVE the 'I surrender' giffy!!
Peace!!
✌
Haha thanks ! Yes as soon as I seen that gipghy it was perfect ! So funny!😂😂😂
I don't like flagging, but flag those big reward posts so the rest of us can get pennies more... lol. Really?
Lol @krnel haha hope they never flag you because you are a great guy ..
Nope hehe. They are just probably tired of seeing the exact same author on the trending with the same voters all the time pumping them up to get curation rewards. When I was a top author, my votes varied, and not always the same high SP voters, and I was making 4 post per day, while others were top authors with 1 post per day because they had lots more support for one post than I did. I needed to do 3-4 posts to equal one of theirs.
good point however I rather make 1 good post every 2 days than 4 a day because of the contents. Its not easy for me to be writing 3 posts daily and getting pennies out of it haha. However your contents are great and I think 1 post a day or 2 max is great in order to have time to respond to all comments and support other bloggers posts.
Yup it takes up time for sure hehe.
Good point, I agree.
exactly ! I agree with you ! Same thing day after day ! 👍👍👍
Its not really what I was meaning , but can you explain why a lot of us veterans , after working our asses off and helping out the community in many different ways , especially the new members as well , that have been here over a year and worked hard to build up a following as well of over 1700 followers built up , now get 0 whale up votes ! O money !? While its always the same people every day raking in thousands !!! I quit even going to the trending page , it never changes much really ! I just feel like We paid our dues on here and get nothing in return for it which we should after a year . Anyways , the system is flawed ! Good night ! I don't agree with flagging for that reason , im just saying maybe that's why they did it ! 😴😴😴👍
Yes, that is a big problem. I mean even just average posts get hundreds of dollar. If I would post them, I would not even get ten (at the moment more like under 1$ from others)
That is not fair and does not advance steemit.
The thing with her is she has the same big people that up vote all her stuff every time she posts from like author guilds and things like that , so she will always make big money ! . Her same post is also on line on other sites where she's really big and makes money their as well ! She just posts the same travel blog everywhere . 👍
Good point, thanks for your comment.
I've mentioned it before in a few posts, the way downvoting works now is in my opinion flawed.
A fine case in point is that some downvoters, e.g. steemcleaners, will downvote a post because as they say it may be considered spam.
Problem is that nowhere in the whitepaper, faq or TOS it is defined what is considered to be spam.
One point people tend to forget is that they potentially open themselves up to legal action when using the downvote functionality.
When I buy an account to market my website, product or service on Steemit, and someone downvotes me, they are actually stealing and censoring me.
Some countries, like Sweden, have very strict rules regarding censorship, which can very well be broken by someone downvoting a post.
In my opinion no-one should have absolute power like @ned and @dan. If they don't agree they can downvote with a power of 1 and if other people agree, they will support them.
If others don't agree the post is apparently not a real problem.
Very good point indeed, thanks for your comment
@blevley
great point and comment...no one should have absolute power of downvotes...
well written... and if such continues..guess it may discourage great contents... and encourage bullying...
No one has absolute power of downvotes. Not more as you have over upvotes that is.
yeah...which area do you blog on... i really love to support good spirited steemians
depends. Sometimes Tech news, politics, fiction (mostly german)
ok great...will check your blog out...
Wow! great content @Charles1
I just hope some people will not abuse their voting power in this community by forming a clique and haunt down people they don't like. This will really not augur well for the future of this platform.
Good point, thanks for your comment
Nice article, the debate is on. My take is that power should be use wisely. Good job. Upvoted .
Good point, I agree.
My dude...this is the best UN-BIASED description of the whole thing! Congrats...on actually speaking up about it all in this way, and not supporting one another's views of each situation. I agree with you 100 percent!
Sometimes it does get old, when some bloggers aren't even trying on post anymore, and they make 100 dollars...when good, important, well-articulated post get swept under the rug.
Good point, thanks for your comment. I agree with you.
Ah yes, the downvote. We know that the steemit voting system was created with a checks and balances opportunity built into it. With the freedom to upvote comes the freedom to downvote.
Personally, I have never flagged a single post or comment (unless I did so unintentionally by "fat-fingering" on my phone. Though I have not downvoted others myself, I believe that they serve a purpose and were built in with good reason.
Obviously spammers, scammers, and plagiarists are some great enough reasons for the downvote to exist. Even when a reputation becomes negative, these people can still post and comment, so other than losing some visibility, they have not "lost it all." At least one user has even returned from a negative rep after a while, which is good that a person can learn their lesson and change their ways.
As for post payout disputes, I think that the downvote is a useful tool as well. I have personally received a number of downvotes for a variety of reasons, but most of them fall into this category from back when the abit/smooth experiment went down.
Getting flagged can hurt, and I have felt that pain. When I received my first whale flag my reaction was about like this.
Yes, I got over it and pressed on. (In fact, I even talked to that particular whale about a few things and they removed the downvote!)
Anyway, I think that steemit and the world are both big enough to leave room for differences of opinions. If people want to fight and use them against one another, they are certainly free to do so. But, we know that people do not always exercise their freedom in the most beneficial or wise ways.
wise words, thanks a lot
@papa-pepper , is this allowed here? see this person copied and pasted the same post I posted
https://steemit.com/steem-help/@ashish1444/down-voting-a-motivational-killer-or-a-strategic-use-of-power
No, someone did the same thing yesterday, @johnnplayer. That account was flagged into negative rep though.
Haha , that is why I like you my buddy. No nonsense gentle man hiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Thanks for this, I am yet to make up my mind on the topic, but I believe so far Steemit has a pretty good self-regulating model. Thanks for the post and have a WONDERFUL day!
You are welcome , and thanks for your comment.
You are also welcome sir!
Well put. I have yet to downvote anything myself. Maybe I will use that feature in the future, but I've seen others become the target of downvotes on their posts for handing out a single downvote to the wrong person.
I agree..hope we never get the need to downvote anyone
Awesome post! Downvoting without a reason is called bullying!
Good point, I agree.
@apple64
very correct and such acts will kill the spirit of fellow steemians who are eager to work hard creating values... seems we have so many bullies in steemit... which is not good for the community