RE: Steem - Problems Seed Solutions
For me, the allure of joining the steem blockchain in March last year was two fold:
1 - Sharpening my blogging skills by joining a blogging platform (that's how it was sold to me as)
2 - Potential of earning something from all those hours spent creating music and writing blogs.
As time went on, I found myself getting sucked in to chase an upvote on dsound and the lure of that shiny object - posting a track almost daily for 7 months with a couple of cents to show for it - not sure why I bothered for that long really haha.
However, I also started receiving the dsound upvote which started making it feel like it was all worthwhile, the hard work was getting recognised and it was beginning to pay off.
Just before that happened, I did start diversifying my content as despair was kicking in. Having started writing a beginner's guide to cryptocurrency (called Bluffer's Guide), I wanted to share my knowledge with others and write as basic a guide as possible to get people in to the space. Must have spent 100 or so hours doing the research, writing and everything else to produce the series - total amount earned in Steem (converted) - $1.50! I wouldn't say that was "doing it for the money" haha!
I began re-branding myself as a blogger, traveller and Drum & Bass producer. I joined the Travel Feed community and started writing about my holiday, just to try something different and see how it went down as I was pretty demotivated at this point to stay on the platform. Then, I got noticed - picked up my first (and likely only) curie upvote and made me think more about what I can do and what this platform is all about.
Soon after, I found the Steemit Bloggers after one member kept mentioning it after that curie vote and have a better feeling about the platform than I did in September.
For me, it's important for any newcomer to join a community of similar interests that is actively engaged and interacts with your posts. This place is infested with bots and auto curation trails that may give a quick dopamine hit when you start getting a load of upvotes but I'd rather have 10 comments and 10 upvotes than several hundred upvotes with no interaction.
Whilst we're on the topic of bots, I believe those bid bots are also the bane of this platform, manipulating trending feeds, seeing the same people over and over again and these so called "whale/flagging wars" is just embarrassing, especially when it spills on to new member's posts. They should really resolve their issues internally and not take their dirty laundry outside.
That's my 2 cents anyway.
Hey Nik
Sorry I took so long to respond to this comment. You make a tone of good points and I think the only way we can find a logical expression of the broken aspects of steem is through analyzing it based on our own experiences. Some people may have read this article and thought, there goes raj808 banging on about stuff cause he's angry about his post payouts. Or jealous, or whatever. None of that is true.
My main concern is the turning of cheeks to behaviors that directly take away from everyone, apart from a few running certain 'services' or behaving nefariously to give organisations votes, which should be shared equally based on content quality, to their friends. But the truth is that steem has a lot of bad players at the top and a lot of people following along with them for their support in upvotes. Those same people will deny that dynamic until they're blue in the face, why wouldn't they... and in fact some of them don't even see it that way as they believe the bullshit they're being fed by those people who are supporting them.
As you said:
I absolutely agree and I see bidbots as one of the worst factors for driving intelligent 'professional level' content creators away from steem before they have even had a chance to figure out how to network on here.
It is great that you have found support for the content that you create professionally. This is my point, you create dnb music to a professional standard, and you (insert anyone else with a high level of content) should be supported comparatively highly, if steem wants to attract quality people. I have done exactly what you describe above, in changing my content type to something I never envisioned myself doing. It certainly isn't what I could contribute to steem to bring the greatest value! I write professionally, but I rarely post my poems or stories here anymore and that is a direct result of the behaviors that cause this content market to become a game of bought upvotes.
As I said in the 'witness discussion' discord last week, it is not my loss it's steem's loss. I sell my time writing elsewhere. The thing is no one responded to me in that discord server full of the 'top dogs' of steem, including ned. Also, this is not all about me; it is about the 1000's of people like me who have either removed their best work or just left.
Anyway, it's a big problem that the witnesses either don't care about the content side of this platform, or they are running bidbots themselves and see this blockchain as a cow to be milked. The class system in steem is completely poisonous, but not only to us small players but to the high classes as well. As all of these people of talent leave, they relate their experience outside of steem further driving a nail in the coffin of our chances for mass adoption as a content platform. Mainstream use is the only thing that will drive steem price really high past what it will do riding the coat tails of Bitcoin. So all of this behavior from some of the top players here is destroying the chance of that happening for all of us.
Ha ha, rant over ;-)
Thanks for your comment @nickyhavey. I kept quiet about all of this for a long time but I just can't anymore.
P.s. the one thing that is amazing on steem is community and the level of interaction that you get on posts in comments. I'm not completely down on steem, in fact I'm a huge believer, and have poured a tone of time and effort in to this platform helping behind the scenes in @promo-mentors and @curie before my illness ramped up.
Hey @raj808, sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you but being here made me too angry. Since speaking with @quillfire, I've calmed down and decided that I'll be supporting the #powerhousecreatives as best I can on here without getting too enraged.
I 100% agree with everything you said in your "rant" (which I thought was expertly put together) and I can't see myself posting anything more on here once the dpoll is over. I was at the "straw breaking the camel's back" stage and when I saw more of these clowns posts, that did it for me.
It's a shame because the idea behind it all was solid but there are other platforms out there built on the lessons learned from this blockchain with similar incentives for content creation.
I'll see you around and thanks for the support on my music on here, really appreciate it :)
@nickyhavey & @raj808,
As I read through this comment-reply thread, all I could think was, "Wow ... these guys can write."
Raj & Nicky, those were spectacular essays and, after this Contest is over, I will be composing yet more articles about the blockchain's problems. I'd like your respective permission to quote your comments at length, if not in whole.
Quill
Hi @quillfire
I don't mind if you quote from this article or any of the comment thread I've made with Nicky.
Sry this reply is so late. I've been away from steem and the internet in general as with distance can come perspective. Everything I've expressed in this article and much in these comments are completely true, but I think it's how we let them effect us that matters. I've been becoming increasingly negatively effected, hence the break from all things digital. Anyway, as I said previously, I've stopped putting creative writing on steem for the very reasons stated in the article/comments. Time is something we all value as it's the most finite thing we have. I feel like steem can be a real draw on time, which is ok when you're enjoying it or getting something out of it, but when you find yourself stressing and striving over 'steem politics' it sort of becomes rediculous.
Thanks for reading and I hope it all inpires an interesting write for you 🙂
Posted using Partiko Android
Permission granted from me @quillfire. I have worn my heart on my sleeve and always tried to focus on the positives but there's only so much one can take before the wool is lifted from the eyes.
I look forward to reading your posts as I always do, maybe try and post it somewhere else too hey? :)