Steem and the bot infestation
So I've only really started in on steem this week and learning the ropes. That said one thing is very clear that the trending content is mainly just junk and obviously just put there by bots. So I set out to confirm my suspicion and it did not take long.
https://steemwhales.com/clean-trending/
Another steem user created a tool to analyze steem posts on steem it and show how many "BOTS" upvoted the content. Most of the content (80-90%) is just bots spam upvoting content so it shows in trending. This is making a lot of good content creators flock away from the platform and why the overall steem user count has plummeted this year. Will it kill the platform? I don't think so, but I think steemit will remain an obscure blog posting site and will never rise to the usage of a reddit or the like.
The content on the trending page wasn't higher quality prior to the bid bots. It was about the same quality as you see now but for the most part restricted to an elite group of authors. Vote buying took place prior to the bots but now it's out in the open and accessible to everyone.
The problem used to be that you couldn't make any money unless you had a whale upvote. Many fled then just as they flee now. Steem has always had a user retention problem. Blogging is not for most people and most people will not grind away at it long enough to gain traction organically. The problem today is you can't find success without paying for it but at least that is a clear and accessible path to success.
If a content creator is looking to gain traction quickly they should advertise.
Isn't it good for the price if new users buy some Steem or SBD on the market and spend that promoting their posts at a possible profit? As far as advertising goes it's hard to find a better deal on the internet right now. Where else can you advertise for a possible profit? You should try it yourself. Spend a few bucks advertising your posts and gain some exposure and SP.
Now let's talk about your flags. As a long time user I would suggest you stick to using your posts to create change rather than using the flag button. Your flags don't carry enough weight to actually affect a promoted post's payout in any meaningful way and so they won't serve as a deterrent. They will however attract the negative attention of people with enough steem power and reputation to do serious damage to your fledgling account. Using the flag button is playing with fire and the targets you are picking for flags are like adding gasoline to that fire. That's not a threat I'm just letting you know flag wars happen here.
Thank you for the reply, I am definitely seeing the response from the downvote site I used and most of it was not nearly as nice as these comments. It's also very interesting to know the history of steemit and how it was before the bots, and definitely will affect future opinions of them. I didn't know the website flagged the posts but thought it merely downvoted them. Well, no wonder I saw everything drop to 0 lol.
I agree with your point about blogging and people falling off because it just doesn't suit them. I'm going to keep going mainly because I'm already creating content on Reddit, my personal website (christitus.com), linkedin, and other spots on the web. I have a tendency to run into a lot of technical issues and find solutions to some obscure problems.
Thank you and I'll see you around. Cheers!
Chris, I would also suggest you cross link some of your content you post on Reddit, your personal website, linkedin, and other spots you post to on the web to your SteemIt account and/or your SteemIt blog post. Just a little more advertising!
Steem on,
Mike
Found some really great tools, including a wordpress plugin that auto-formats and posts to steemit when I create content on my website. So I only need to go to steemit to browse and post comments which is awesome, because the one sticking point was creating posts in markdown which isn't my fav. This makes it a snap to create content quickly and auto post to all social media platforms in one go. The plugin is called "Steempress" for those interested with a wordpress site of their own.
Very good to know! Thanks!
Have a great week!
Steem on,
Mike
Thank you so much for using our service! You were protected from massive loss up to 20%
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I'm ditching facebook and any other platform. Sticking to steem.
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
Bots delude the content....
I've been writing my ass off, creating good content but when I saw just couple of cents – I said fuckit, it's not worth writing for hours and getting couple of cents.
So now I just post couple of lines wihtout effort, because effort is not worth it.
You post a post that you drink water and boom you get 100$.
NICE
Hi,
You have been verified.
Thanks.
Thank you sir!