Rock and a Hard place: Investor or creator?
In a comment, @celestal linked this article to me by @rhondak about bidbots, manual curation etc. In the comments section it is an interesting read with @aggroed putting some effort into addressing concerns too. Have a skim.
Ok, this is something that I have been thinking of here for sometime but don't have a clear answer; what am I, investor or creator?
I definitely create a great deal of content here and I also support a large amount of original pieces and hundreds of coments too but, my support is only possible because I have invested. People always seem to differentiate the two positions but everyone who holds any significant amount of Steem is an investor and I have worked very, very hard to get to where I am now, just under 20,000 SP and, I have done that organically as well as through my own growing vote.
I of course want to support good content but, I also want to develop my account and have the possibilities in the future that come with it. Investing is always a risk and although I haven't brought very much of my own money in, I have definitely poured a great deal of time and sweat into this place. I have invested twice, my content and my earnings. This morning my wife said, "I hope that one day this will give us the chance to live a better life where you don't have to work so much." I hope so too.
We all have our problems to face in this world and we all have our own lives and positions to take but I know that morally, I am in a good position with myself, the only person who really counts from a moral perspective.
The problem is however that there doesn't appear to be any middle ground for creator/investors like myself. It is either use bidbots to grow, delegate to bidbots that vote on things I wouldn't or, sit back and watch my own investment trickle along despite all of the groundwork already done while others who have done much less, advance in leaps and bounds. Even with a paid delegation, growth is difficult. For the new ones in, even more difficult unless willing to pay or work twice as hard as everyone else.
I think I have made it pretty clear that I am not afraid of the work but, where does it end for me, is there ever a time I can sit back and enjoy what I have worked so hard toward? Isn't that part of the point of working and taking the risk to invest and hold Steem?
I don't see the bidbots going anywhere anytime soon as it doesn't seem to be a priority and if anything, is encouraged by those in decision-making positions or at least, ignored. But, this leaves me in a limbo between content creator and investor, platform builder and community builder. These things may be able to work together in harmony but, currently the balance through what is incentivized doesn't allow for it.
For the good of my family, I should be thinking only from an investment perspective, for the good of the platform a community view. If I only think about my family I become a maximizer who I think harms the long term perspective, if I only think community my family will continue to suffer in a multitude of ways for the foreseeable future.
I see accounts that have been here as long or longer than I have been, have earned a great deal more than myself yet, have much lower SP. Can they really complain about not earning enough or the bidbots as perhaps if they had kept their SP, they would have been able to counteract them by finding and upvoting original content themselves. Why is it up to me, a person who has powered up consistently and is yet to benefit at all in the real world financially? When I think along these lines, the investor in me says maximize.
But, I want people to flourish, to grow and to have a chance to make something of themselves in a way that they enjoy, where they can offer their best to the world. I want to support the community too. However, they should have to invest in themselves as well, they can't just rely on my (and others) charity with the expectation because I have more, I must support them. I see accounts that I have been supporting for many months yet, they have no more SP than the original Steemit delegation... How? Why?
I want my daughter to be able to have a chance to flourish and for me to provide that space in the place I live in the world, is going to take more than what I currently have here, it is going to take more work, more SP, more investment. Which should take precedence, the community or my daughter's well-being?
These are some of the questions I have for people at all levels as I am both an original content creator of a relatively high standard AND, an investor who even on the exchanges, is gathering Steem through trades. I have more SP powered up than I have earned, how about you? Considering the price of SBD over the last few months, it should be almost guaranteed for new accounts.
I seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place for as soon as I try to build my account for my own future here and in the real world, a future that supports the community ever more heavily, I will come under fire. Yet, to not build my account now is to reduce how much support I am able to give in the future. To maximize now, the content producers I support will suffer a little also but, to let others maximize who don't care for content at all will mean that in the future, there is no content-based platform at all.
Where is the middle ground where I can do what is best for my family and the community because at the moment, it is either investor OR creator with the compromises between being of personal ethics meaning, unsuitable to me.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
I believe that we all came to steemit because it paid us to post. It means that in the long run, majority of us are here to make money.
That being said, I believe that certain realism should be applied. I power my sbd... Yes I exchange sbd for steem and power it up. I believe in growing my SP because I believe in the steemit blockchain and also because I want to be independent of support and also be in a position to support those who are just starting out.
Yet, still trying to be realistic, I still need to eat, pay bills, pay for my hobbies, support my aging parents and little nieces and nephews. Do I forgo them for my steemit dream? No, not at all. I have as a result always left a fixed amount of sbd that I do not sell or exchange.
It is always there for the day prices will rock my mind and I can sell with good profit. I powerup half of everything that comes on top and sell the other half.
It is slow going I know, but I am trying to serve my conscience and that is the only thing that I truly care about.
Of course and as you know, I actually have nothing against this either but, there comes a time where a platform change or some other shift is likely to leave many out in the cold.
I hope the SBD spike comes because it could also return to one.
That is the risk that I have to take. And to lessen the risk I have also decided to exchange half my sbd for steem. So I will something in steem and something sbd. That reduces my risk to a certain level.
It has to go up. Steem Dollars there are 270 million or so and SBD there are in the region of 12 million. The rarity has to force them up to more than Steem. I may be wrong but it doesn't make sense the one that has less isn't more valuable.
Two things here, lack of knowledge and fear, both of which are very detrimental to success in anything. Maybe users dont know the importance of investing or are afraid of it. Its actually hard for me to say why exactly, but when i first got to steemit, i made mistakes of taking out my sbd to buy internet data, as i spent more time, i learnt better to invest all, and the growth has been steady since then
People seem to not realise what is going to happen in the future as they seem content to every day come in as if it is their first day here. When the competition arrives, they are likely to find themselves struggling. It is a pity considering the opportunity they have.
Yeesss exactly, NOW cannot be overemphasized, just recently i stopped wishing i should have known steemit 2016 when it started, things will have been way better, but this is the reality now, here is my own 2016 on steemit, put all my all now! And watch myself thank me in 2018...when 2020 comes
Not to sound to dramatic but...really thats it
This is so emotional and realistic. Firstly I must say you’re a creator as well as a great investor. And truly you’ve done a great deal to help the community which I’m a beneficiary of your support.
But I’d love to point out some things from the perspective of Nigerians {my country people}. The news of steemit got to everyone as the savior from unemployment as that’s the major problem in my country , those coming in from this part of the world are in to make some money to put food on their table and to most it is a social platform where you get paid
Those who understand the business aspect of steemit like myself doesn’t have the money to invest but we have our sweat equity to invest in this platform. Supports we get from leaders like yourself had helped us grow our accounts for those who believe in the long term vision of this platform by using our earning with promotion bots and building our accounts the little way we could and helped most to achieve their goal of getting food on the table.
This is so touching and almost brought me to tears ... thanks for your support now and always . Keep steeming and touching lives
You a good man. I definitely think all your effort will pay off. As for finding middle ground, I don't think there's a true middle so I'll advise from my perspective - look after your family but keep doing what you can for the community. May your investments favor you
I fully empathise...
You know that I stopped using Smartsteem to buy votes a few weeks ago mostly because of your articles on the matter. Being part of the long-term growth and health of this platform, to me, now, is totally worth giving up the benefits of buying votes.
But I also don't have children. And I don't spend as much time as you do creating content specifically for Steemit (although more and more, I'm starting to throw everything I do at it ;P).
Something you could do as a middle-ground, perhaps, is use the bot systems (or smartsteem) on specific posts only, and only do it once a week? ...
Like, for example, you could be darkly poetic by using bots to promote only posts that talk about this very issue, encouraging people not to use bidbots all the time and encourage them to join communities and grow organically.
And have a paragraph at the bottom of each post like this, explaining why you're using a bot for that post. (lol... It'll certainly generate controversy, which is always good).
I am hoping some other options pop up soon that allow me to use/delegate somewhat ethically. At the moment, I do not trust any of the current bots that I know of.
Sometimes I wonder how accounts that are older than mine have less Steem than I do. The thing is that it is actually not easy for some people in the real financial world, myself inclusive. But what I do is, add value to the platform, get rewarded and when I really must, I reward myself. I believe in Steem and patiently wait for that moment when it brings financial freedom to all who believe.
Thank you for your usual support.
You are right, it isn't easy in the real world yet, here we are. The issue is that for many people, this income wasn't available to them a few short months ago but they seem to think it is going to continue on this way forever. Competition is coming, Steem prices will raise, it will get harder to get. If the SBD returns to where it should be at 1 US dollar, how do they survive?
So true. Great question, What would they have when SBD returns to 1USD. I just got a deeper understanding. I’m so investing more. Thank you
It can be hard to justify that fact indeed. although I do understand that most people come here to earn money because that is how steem is promoted, and I guess some people lack the long term view and cash out as soon as they can, or perhaps they have urgent financial needs and use steem to help cover them.
So far I have powered up everything I have gained on the site. But it is also true I am planing to cash out the equivalent of 10 or 15 dollars by next month probably which is totally reasonable btw.
I have no issues with people taking their earnings out but, there comes a time where the support will stop or move on and then where do they find themselves? They are still in the same position as any new signup which should be the case for an account that has been here a year or more already. With the recent SBD unpegging, it was quite easy to add a few SP extra. I had more SP than I had earned before that though also from trading and powering up my liquids.
Each plays their own game here and these questions are about my own position and how I move forward.
These people are not interested in building the platform or their own investment in it. Time to cut the deadwood unless they are friends you know are under duress.
Yeah, I think they will come to a rude awakening one day when they realise that they are always going to be a noob here and the coming competition squeezes them out of the market.
Obviously, I don't know what the specific goal for you is, but it seems to me that yoi have managed to grow your account quite a lot (which is awesome, of course), but you also do a lot to support the community. I'm sure I am only one among the many, many who should thank you for all the very generous support.
It seems to me like you're both, and that you're helping yourself (I hope) as well as helping the community. :)
To do what I do currently takes between 8-12 hours a day. I am fine with it now as I see a future here but, I can't keep it up forever. To be able to offer the support I want in the future and live a little, I am not yet large enough with my own vote (remember I have paid delegation) so I need to keep growing. I see it as an investment period but, I am old school, that means hard work and skin in the game.
Hi Taraz. Here is how I see it. We both don't like bidbots. It takes a lot of time and effort to get anywhere on here. There are no shortcuts the way we both think. I have tested a few bots but not the ones that you spend $100 on and its a gamble. I can't do that with my blood, sweat and tears.
You are and investor and a creator and are doing rather well. I see you as my mentor and have got to know you through your posts. We like to call it as it is.
Here is my proposal so you don't feel bad. There are some bot's but they are not really bot's if you understand what I am saying. You put $1 SBD in and you basically get that back with the only gain being about 0.15 SP. You are growing as an investment but not on a monetary gain. Yes you can argue that your vote will go up but it is still not as bad as what the others are doing. You are still taking the moral ground but not gaining on the upvoting as such. You are not risking and you are only gaining marginally. I have done a few where I put in .3 SBD and benefit with a marginal gain of SP . I don't gain on the SBD side at all.
It's just a thought and I don't think it is a bad option. You are growing well but not at the rate you should. Some accounts are growing at 30 percent per week.
Crazy isn't it?
There might be alternatives coming that play the middle ground more closely but at the moment, I will likely continue on my path doing what I can for what I can. :)
I hope you are right. look forward to any change that stops the nonsense.