RE: Voting bots... A problem or a resource?
I have been asking around Discord about this for days - it's like you read my mind! I have been researching various topics on Steemit and voting bots, circles (or pods), etc are a major source of interest for me.
While I'm unfamiliar with specific voting bots, I have mixed opinions about the concept:
- Buying votes seems like it negates the curation system of quality post = quality reward
- That system only goes so far as bots do exist and seem to be widely used
- The smaller you are, the less you're able to earn per quality post, and bots seem like a pot of money that allows for higher voting values in relationship to cost, account reputation, and post earning capacity
- If you're writing good posts, self-curating shouldn't be entirely frowned upon, as you're still investing in the Steemit community and utilizing all available resources to maximize your investment (of time, expertise, etc)
- When your post has higher value, it gets more exposure (trending, hot) which is a means of growing your account, especially if you're doing something positive, impactful, or otherwise beneficial to the community - so buy paying a bot to vote for your post, you're maximizing benefit by exposure
It's still a self-driven act and that's where I get hung up. Curie and other curation programs seem like the natural antidote to the need to pay bots for exposure (smaller accounts are what they focus on), but you're still relying on something centralized (voting body with rules) and are limited by time as to how many of your posts can be curie'd.
Overall, I believe humans want utopia but get the wild west, whatever we try. And in the wild west, there are expressions of utopia and expressions of chaos. Finding a personal balance and doing what you believe is right for the greater good seems like the only way to proceed.
Self curation was originally my first leap over this hurdle. When I really thought about it, this platform is designed for you to do so. You have the option of upvoting your own post before you even post it. Thinking in that term make it very justifiable in my mind, although I don't do it all the time because I like to give my maximum voting power to others.
If you think about your content as your business, why wouldn't you promote your business? If you wouldn't why would anyone else?! So I feel it's mandatory for minnows especially to self promote.
I love what the communities are doing to keep it people oriented, bots help maximize efficiency and it would be silly not to capitalize on that as long as you're down for the rules and direction of the group.
Getting back to bots I think the biggest challenge right now isn't using them, it's how many of them are actually bringing in roi and how many times are you not getting what you invest? Which bots are better than others ?
Just found this post on bots! https://steemit.com/minnowsupport/@fuhreresu/6-bots-to-trust-when-thinking-of-upvoting-your-post
My feelings exactly. I appreciate the way you presented these thoughts so succinctly!
I came to Steemit hoping for exactly this utopia that you speak of, while being sceptical due to the fact that we know this "wild west" springs up instead. And yup, it definitely has.
There's still a hierarchy based on "wealth" and only that wealth can help you to do better for yourself. Such is any form of society, in the end, right?
It has disappointed me that quality posts don't often make it up to trending without the help of the "powerful". It further disappoints me that posts that tend to do well are often posts about Steem or Steemit (and I get why this is, at this point in Steemit's life, but I wouldn't want to go onto FB and read posts ABOUT FB as the most talked about, you know?)
As a final and lesser point, upvoting my own post or comment makes me cringe every time. I hate the idea of it and have never done so on FB or Insta, for example, but out of some form of desperation, I do it here.