Why I 'Steemit' like I do / Win a 100% upvote from @teamsteem!
I've had trouble recently, understand my thinking and trying to explain to myself and others as to why I choose to act as I do on the Steem Blockchain, that was until last night...
A brief summary of how I 'Steemit'
I can be tough to look at what others are doing at present, and I have asked myself, 'am I stupid?', with regards to my actions, or non-actions here quite recently.
With all that's happening around and much to the opposite in many (but not all) places, my current 'stance' and actions are:
- No self-voting
- Delegating 4000 SP (which I pay for each month)
- Writing 50000+ characters worth of comments each week
- Not selling my vote
- 0 Powerdowns / Powering up as much as possible
- Hosting 'community' events and issuing prizes (with support from kind sponsors)
- Answering almost every reply that is seeking advice or help
Is the above helping me advance and grow my account? And if not, why do I do this seeing as STEEM is my only source of income at present?
Psychological Egoism: Selfishly Improving the World Around You
Yesterday evening, a post from @lukestokes popped up in my feed. I suggest that it is certainly worth a read and a watch of the video within.
Having read his blog and watched the excellent short video, I now understand better my actions here and fully agree with what Luke says with regards to how Steemit relates.
Luke's words:
I think STEEM (along with Steemit/Busy/DTube/DLive/Utopian/etc) is an amazing example of the future where we all individually benefit by working to benefit others. This is what a positive sum world is all about. The more value we add to the STEEM blockchain and curate great content from others, the more our personal STEEM holdings go up in value.
He's bang on, in my opinion, and I couldn't agree more.
And Luke again:
Those votes create relationships, build my reputation, demonstrate influence, and (I believe) will eventually increase the value of the whole blockchain as worthwhile content and authors are rewarded for their efforts.
Helping others out is of benefit to me over a longer term - Selfishly unselfish, and now with more clarification as to why.
The world you live in is the world i live in :)
@teamsteem's 100% vote and why I think it relates
Yesterday, @teamsteem posted a french version of a post he submitted here 2 years ago, asking for people to comment with their views on @dan's interview with a bitshares presenter.
To me, these posts are connected as I think @dan's vision overlaps Luke's views and 'Psychological Egoism'. Dan is clearly way ahead in his thinking, and his words (and those of many of my followers) give me even more encouragement to continue this path I've chosen.
So if you are still with me, take a trip over to @teamsteem's post, watch the interview and write an awesome comment. At the time of writing, Guillaume's 100% upvote is worth $19.29 and so that should be enough encouragement in itself!
To clarify, these guys are both Witnesses who have my vote, but are not aware of me 'promoting' them in this post today.
Thanks for your time, and Steem on! - however you choose to do so :)
Asher @abh12345
Dear Asher,
You are one gifted individual. Party due to that, I was stunned to read that STEEM is your only source of income at present.
Really? Is that a temporary situation or is it a fundamental choice?
Thanks man!
It's a choice in the main, I don't feel happy sitting in an office looking outside at the sunshine.
I was working for the United Nations previously, and no real issues with the work environment at all, but I'd rather have less cash and more time to myself.
Saying that, things aren't that great for us 'blockchain hippies' right now, but I'm hopeful of an improvement in the coming months.
Cheers!
Wow. More power to you then! Stay strong and keep us posted on your blockchain-hippie adventures while the rest of us slaves away for our masters from within the confines of a dull office, seeing the world pass by outside our windows, feeling somewhat envious about your lifestyle choice, yet the comforts of financial security are too great a sacrifice for us.
The world belongs to the bold, Asher. Bravely ride those crypto-waves, we are rooting for you!
What is financial security? If you saw my books you might think differently on how I see it.
Sure, the Steem Power here looks good - I could live for a while off that, but what is actually available to me a lot less! :D
It was a bold move, and looked good at christmas, time will tell how sensible it was! Thank you sir!
Selfish Altruism, or Altruistically selfish.... Two sides, same coin.
The value of Steem is what we give it both as a platform that we enjoy spending time in and reading bad/good/great content that is posted all day, and what the masses give it as a token traded on the exchanges. As curators of content, we have to go out and find the good to great content and encourage those authors to continue in the efforts they are making here.
Building up the good user base here is what will show value to investors who drive the price of the token. It's a great cycle. Helping others succeed on Steemit the platform, helps us succeed when it comes time to trade in our token.
I do what little I can, and often I wallow in a bit of self pity that my posts don't get more attention, comments and of course upvotes. But averaging around $2.00 per post is actually still better than the majority of Steemians, so I should be happy with my return.
You are right that @lukestokes, @teamsteem, @fulltimegeek and @stellabelle give us great examples of how to gain success through helping others be successful. Your own example is obviously rubbing off on your followers based on the comments to you receive, and each generation teaches the next generation to do good works.
Keep up the good example! Supporting the next round of new Steemians is what will keep this place flourishing! We're all headed the same place in the end. Keep it up Asher!
Hi Mike
Thanks for the great response!
Quite true, and put better than I managed above :)
I have to admit, that your work here had fallen off my radar a little and the 'Fresh Five Curation for Delegation' certainly deserves more credit. I shall make an effort to reverse that, as well as keeping up with the support 'over here' too.
Glad to see you are sticking with it and see the end goal even clearer than I do, many thanks for yours comments and support!
Man, we can't keep up with everything on Steem. I was not trying to make any statements in regards to your support of my projects. of course I appreciate every eye I can get over there, but you are a busy dude.
The one thing I would like to make sure you know is that I am delegating small SP rewards to new Steemians who help us Curate new Steemians. The Bandwidth issues are real for newer folks, and they don't even understand why they are hitting a wall with trying to post. So I have started encouraging them to go out and find other new people for me to feature in a weekly Fresh Five Delegation digest, from the people who get nominated, I select three nominators to delegate 50SP to for a 3 week time period, which hopefully gives them enough time to get some post rewards in and have their own SP to keep the bandwidth monster at bay. The first Delegation rewards went out Saturday night, and I am pretty excited about it.
Knowing you run into a lot of new Steemians in your journey, if you find anyone expressing frustration on the Bandwidth issue, point them to my blog for a chance to get a delegation. They do have to work for it a little bit, but in the end I think it helps them learn and engage with other new users.
Just a new evolution of the Retention initiatives I am trying to foster!
Keep up the good work!!
Another excellent initiative you have going! I know @techslut issues silence the bandwidth monster delegations, and perhaps you could link up with her on this too.
It's a great idea, and again 'each generation teaches the next generation to do good works' as you stated above.
You keep up the great work also!
I bumped into @mikepm74’s ‘Fresh Five’ post an hour after I asked your advice on delegation to fix bandwidth issues 😁
I’ve been looking for an original idea ever since...
ahh, yes I'm sorry my brain didn't connect your comment to that.
umm, how about getting some potentials to join the league and reviewing what they do there? :)
You don’t have to apologize :0)
That might actually be a good idea. (They’ll probably do better than I do very soon - lol). Thanks for the idea. It’s somethibg I can work with :0)
It looks that you both are a gift to new Steemians. The one support the new Steemains with lots of knowledge and data, and the other one with bandwith.
Both great projects in my opinion. Without your reply on this post, I would never have discover it!
I'm seeing your post far too late for an upvote and I'm sorry about that since it really deserves a hearty reward. Thanks so much for posting this video and your philosophy. Even though I've been here a long time, I somehow missed this succinct look at Dan's vision and this interview offers a few nuggets that help fill in some puzzle pieces in my understanding of steem and the blockchain.
You are very welcome - I have @teamsteem to thank for enlightening me giving me more understanding regarding my actions.
I'm glad you enjoyed the post and the link, thanks for finding it interesting, and commenting!
To be honest Asher.
Left alone what the future of Steemit will be. You are one of the greatest motivators for new and wintered Steemians. The insight your are giving us with your detailed stats, the competition you are running and the people who you are supporting, shows me how genuine you are.
You are climbing the ranks of the steemit ecosystem, without forgetting how it was during the dark days. Handing out help everywhere you can! A real ambassador of Steemit.
If I could vote for you as a witness I would do this without a doubt!
Steemit will have a great future in my opinion. Blockchain and RPA are great evolutions but it will cost some jobs. This free time should be spent at platform like steemit with a proof-of-brain staking method.
I don’t know if you are climbing the ranks like you would. But you are getting a lot of support!
Keep it going,
Peter
Thank you, that's very kind!
My ideas aren't new as you can see from the posts, and on hearing what others have done before e in the same way (@fulltimegeek, @stellabelle and many more).
It was enlightening for me to listen to Dan and the video linked in Lukes post, and I think that's the message i'm trying to put out.
We have a long way to go before the goal is reached, but it's worth heading in the right direction step by step I think.
Thank you very much!
I wish my upvotes had more value because you deserve it. Corrected some typos in the reply above, was typing with frozen fingers. Time that spring really starts here in Belgium!
haha :)
It's not so warm here off the coast of Spain this time of year (the apartments are built for summer!), and so i have plenty of clothes on today and cold hands too!
Thanks for fighting through frost-bite to provide your kind words today :)
Just noticed that you are from Mallorca. My favorite European island. We did spend our last 4 holidays there. To bad, the wife decided to go to Greece this year. I lost the battle :(
Had a great lunch last year at Naan in Palma itself. If it still open and you are not living to far from Palma, really worth it!
I'm english actually, living over here for the cheap rent (thanks mum!) and sunshine.
The east coast is the location, and so a bit of a trip to Palma, but I will make a note of Naan in case of any day-trips.
I see your part of Europe, like England, is looking pretty chilly at present - I do not miss these months in my home Country!
Can imagine. So you are living near the calles. Great place to be. A little but jealous now.
Last year I proposed my kids to move to Mallorca but they didn't think it was a good idea! Still strange that they have a veto right with 6 and 9 years old.
That's right:)
And it's turned out to be a pretty nice afternoon too.
The kids could not be persuaded by beaches and ice cream? what is going on in the world today?! haha
Your work in this system is a very big contribution to the community. I see Your daily work and how productive it is. I can say for sure That you , Asher, are one of the most striking examples of active interaction with members of our community. I always pay attention to the feedback that many people have as an empty sound . Not so nice is - when comments get no response. But I see that your blog situation is completely different-you will always find a few words for everyone. It's very valuable to me and that's why I'm here. A list of your actions and your position - they can be an example for many. I always read with interest all comments under Your posts because I see a lively discussion . It is always interesting and a priority. By motivating others, you help them grow and develop with the community. And I agree with the comment above that if You were a witness, I do not hesitate to give my vote for You.
Thank you @madlenfox for your lovely comments :)
It's good to feel appreciated and I know this is the case from the comments I receive - I appreciate anyone who gives me a comment to reply to, and all the excellent work that is going on here on Steemit.
The witness comments are very kind, but I don't see myself as one of those yet, or ever. I will though be reviewing mine in the coming weeks and perhaps write a blog with reasons as to my choices.
Thank you again, very kind :)
Interesting thoughts, I was going to write something similar today, as I have found my limit with steemit, I only need 75 sp to survive on here, and I do not need any income from steemit ever, so I decided last night to delegate anything I have above 75sp to other people, that like you, I choose myself. I will continue to do this for as long as steemit lasts, and I do.
That's a fine call if you have the means to do that, great stuff!
Thanks for your input here @deliberator
Your views are pretty much in line with mine on the subject except i cant afford to rent steem power and i am only about half the characters writen. Lol. Thank you for what you do for the community. We do appreciate it even though we may neglect to say it. It does not go unnoticed . Thank you.
I'm wondering if I can afford to pay for delegated SP and give it away, but I shall continue for as long as financially possible!
Thanks for your kind words man, check out the posts linked above if you have some time :)
l will try and check it out on my lunch break when i have a bit of free time. As for the steem power thing i don't know if you can do that unless you lease it in their name to start with perhapse. I don't know.
Yes I'm leasing mine and replacing it with what I buy, not so easy when you don't have it there to start with.
Oh , I see. I actually went out on a limb this morning and tried delegating 100 SP to @upmewhale so we will see how that goes. I don't like to use the bots but i wouldn't be against makeing a few bucks off them. lol . hopefully it will pay off and i can help some minnows in the future. I like taking new people under my wing and helping where i can, not to say i am particularly good at any of this.
Although I still use them and some would say i'm part of the problem by doing this, i'm not a fan of delegating to them.
The curation exercise has gone out the window in recent months due to the lack of rewards in comparison to selling your vote and this already has, and certainly will have crappy consequences down the line if something doesn't change.
Simply, the cream of the content crop is not rising to the top, and at present it's a case of who's got the most money to throw away promoting their own work. I'm not sure how long the place will last if this continues as it must be really off-putting for newcomers who look at trending and think 'I could do better than that', only to see their work recieve cents.
Anyway, it's your call, business is business as someone apparently said :)
I agree. i don't really approve of the bots but at some point i have to try and make a little bit of $$ off them i guess. We will see how it pans out and i will make a post about my expeirence in a few weeks and decide if i will continue delegating or if it was a bad life choice.
don't know about others but you are the one who don't think of yourself but think for other and the community as a whole first pushing everyone ahead so that they could go beyond and help others you are creating an army of great content creators you are playing a big role and changing others life along the way be like that always its hard but good work never goes waste :)
Thanks for your kind comment @blazing :D
and curators too, thanks that sounds brill :D
It might be hard to tell right now, given all of what goes on around here, but I believe in the long run, your strategy of no self-upvoting, commenting, not selling your vote and delegating to responsible users without charging will be a winning strategy.
Posting, commenting and curating without any other means (bots, or other revenue streams) is how this platform was designed to work. I commend you, and anyone else who is trying to keep things as they were intended, which in my mind, also keeps them simple.
Hi @glenalbrethsen
Thanks for your words of encouragement here, I hope you have a little time to check out the links in the post too, as it sounds like your way of thinking is in line with the co-creator of Steemit and others mentioned above.
I believe and hope the same also, I guess we'll just have to wait and see :)
Thank you!
I have checked them out. The interview with Dan in particular is pretty inspiring. If we can settle our differences here on Steemit so we can get out of the way of our own self-interest long enough to let the blockchain to do its thing, then the natural course of this is unprecedented global freedom and prosperity.
If not, then even as incorruptible as the STEEM blockchain is supposed to be, it will not reach its potential because we didn't.
That doesn't mean, however, that some other blockchain with better self-governance won't figure things out. It would just be a shame with as much potential as I believe STEEM has that it would not be the one to give governments, fiat, control, centralization and corruption the run for their money.
Very true, it is down to how the collective choose to act. Together this place could be awesome, but many have opted to take a different approach, as is their will.
I agree with the last point, if this one doesn't get out of the gates, another might :)
I LOVE this post, Asher. Thank you for your support of my post today. Following and appreciate your steem thoughts in this post! Coffee is on me next time you are in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
Hi :)
My pleasure, I enjoyed reading it. I was mobile at the time and typing is not enjoyable!
I've not visited the north of Thailand and so this is another reason to make the trip someday!
Good luck with your product/s :)