My rant on how steemit used to be, and what it has become. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Heres both!
A happy steemconomy!
I love the beautiful steemsphere! I have been here for quite some time now, and have been blessed to watch steem change, grow in size , and increase in value while I have been a part of this amazing platform.
All in all, I would have never done it differently as far as my journey here on Steemit. I would never look back and say ehhh naw steemit was a mistake. NEVER! Steemit is something that has changed my life forever.
I have learned both first hand, and from watching peoples movement on steemit! I have been blessed to learn from the likes of @sirlunchthehost , @officialfuzzy , @jphenderson, @KPINE the White Knight!
As far as people who has influenced me from just how they interact and handle themselves, There are many for me as well beginning with the wonderful and infamous @berniesanders / @nextgencrypto . While many dont agree with the methods used, (I agree with the methods used because sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures.) I whole heartedly feel that bernie is a true steem hero. He does everything that the witness circle(jerk) SHOULD do! Or tries single handedly. He supports nearly all major projects and is a very accessible guy. Everyone assumes he sits in a black castle waiting to fuck things up... This is not MY OPINION of him, and I think he is a guy trying to better our COMMUNITY, but gets nothing but attacks.
LET ME EXPLAIN WHY before those flaggers go bonkers on me.
I feel if more people on steemit with large stakes joined him in his fight that we would see MANY changes for the better! With this said, Not everything is done correctly morally, but neither is ONE person taking 10% of a reward pool created to benefit hundreds of thousands if not millions of steemit users is HORRIBLY MORALLY AND ETHICALLY WRONG. Especially when we look back to how steemit was founded, created and grew from a seedling. This platform was based on mutual interaction, community growth, and growth within each individual. It was about meeting people, using your skills!
NOW this isnt a bernie is the man post.
ITS A PLEA TO the witnesses, the whales, and all the ruiners of steemit.
At least BERNIE is TRYING to do SOMETHING!
WAKE UP! Please! Steemit doesnt have to become the type of place it is becoming. No different than YT/fb/insta etc. I thiought we wanted to be different guys?
And again lets be real here. All the 99% of steemians that arent whales could team up and try to stop it. But we have no power! The only ones who can stop it are the WITNESSES! I know you guys MAKE tens of thousands a month to run your witness spot etc... then DO SOMETHING! Thats the whole point of witnesses...
Steemit is looking like America. Corrupt and unchangeable, because the people who make the rules for all of us are the same ones that have everything to gain. RESET THE WITNESSES! do something because clearly what yall are doing is not working...
Steemsphere currently.
(no minnows anymore, they see its pointless to work hard because they wont get supported anyways. the whole point of an ecosystem is that each part do its part! aka minnows post great content dolphins show those to whales and also post great content. WHALES SHOULD BE UPVOTING not POSTING! and not delegating to a BOT...)
Notice where everyones attention has gone, and rather than fight they have joined. The same people who are supposed to look out for all steemians big and small have turned their backs. WHY? money... because money. and human greed. and really, lack of backbone. Its easier to bowdown,bendover, and take it rather than stand and fight.
If ya wanna be a coward, then being a steemit witness is not your position. You should go crawl in a corner, post content etc. but you arent a leader. and witnesses are for leaders will to stand up for whats right for ALL those who CANT!
PS: Ill probably get flagged to death on this, but it was time to speak my mind. Notice if I get flagged, who are the flaggers. :) betya itll be interesting.
I've begun the process of powering down because of exactly this. I came on here just in time to see the last glimmer of what Steemit COULD become, and I was sold on it. I bought in, not just with my earnings from my crypto investments, but also with my own disposable income, to try to give myself a TINY voice in the Steem world, and to gain a little bit of traction.
Not very long after I started investing though, the cracks in the system began to show. The constant whale wars, flag wars, and the onslaught of voting/bidding bots, and the lack of interest in fixing these problems by the leadership has proven to me that Steemit is a bad investment, doomed to failure by the same short-sighted greediness that has disenfranchised most of the political spheres in the U.S.
There are better investments out there. Which is unfortunate to say, because the idea behind Steem has a TON of potential, which is being wasted on a bunch of greedy nerds, asshats, and trolls.
The idea isn't to rain money down on the minnows. I also made my dolphin account through making posts, grinding it out and later putting money in.
Specifically what is it that you think we have to do to keep the minnnows motivated?
Not enough people held on to their stake and powered up. I'm not owning that. I didn't spend my steem I saved it. I keep posting even without support.
You don't get to decide what whales do with their stake. It is theirs to use however they want.
That is very true. We cant control how whales react etc. I feel and have done a post on it in the past (with hypothetical numbers for future steem prices etc) that whales have MUCH more FINANCIALLY to gain from increasing the value of steem and thus steemit the platform than by money grabbing and self voting. It seems to me that the money grabbing right now is going to really really hurt the value of steem in the future.
but hey I could be totally wrong, they self upvote and cash in now, and somehow the value of steem still goes through the moon long term and Im the asshole. But I truly do think that cultivating minnows with original creative content is the whales job. They have so much more to gain from increasing the value of steem, and thus their own investment over the long run.
Its a risky play in my eyes to get greedy now. Especially for anyone who has lets say over 100k SP? It just seems very risky to risk that investment (maybe they bought in at 2 cents, and they have nothing to lose.) for some immediate gains.
I have seen the whole steem atmosphere change in the last lets say 6-8 months... as well as the OUTWARD look that steemit and steem have been getting... People from the oustide see it as a circle jerk, as something that was created and is just another thing being utilized by the crypto elite. (I am of course speaking a combination of some of my own opinion, mixed with things others on discord etc have said (people from off steemit) as well as speaking generally. (NOT ALL WHALES ARE BAD!)
Maybe im just crazy... But It has lost some of its shine and happy feel that it once had.
Thanks for commenting by the way. I appreciate your opinion as I have followed you for quite some time and have always appreciated your content etc.
Lastly I guess to answer your direct question, I think there could be a system in place that the large whales could easily put into effect, where it spreads fractional upvotes out etc to top of hot etc.
In honesty that would be near impossible to keep under track, so its really just a tough thing all in all. But trying something is all I plead for.
Obviously steemit isnt working like a perfectly oiled machine right now... (as im sure many would agree) maybe its just time to try something... anything? different? Its hard. and I certainly cant change much other than speak what I see and feel.
I'm not greedy, I'm just using my stake. It doesn't help my investment of time or money to retain people who will not/can not put money in and hodl.
Doing what I can. We have 37 whales, 237 orcas, 1689, dolphins, less than 9000 minnows and nearly 250k redfish.
The minnows better start resetting their expectations and realize there is not enough support to catch them all. They aren't going to make a lot of money until they build their accounts. It is just impossible. Stop telling them they should be able to get dolphin and whale votes. Let them be pleasantly surprised when they do.
Come on, we have to set realistic expectations not complain.
As I said, I am speaking about whales and orcas... those with steempower over lets say 100k? the real movers and shakers on steemit with potential power to make change.
I feel you may be taking it a bit personally, when I have no intention to A) tell anyone what they HAVE to do and B) I am speaking generally about large accounts. (while you have an impressive 15k self earned as you said, I am not talking about your size of account. That is very impressive though and I wish I had done the same.)
I am not telling the minnows to do anything. I just feel that steemit can be a better place. But I understand we all wont see eye to eye.
I am not complaining. As I have done loads of work with many of the communities on steemit, I understand earning your place.
I just see alot of great content that could be upvoted. Truly good content, that cant because everyones tied up delegating to bots or such. What I am saying and have the total right to voice my opinion about is that many whales dont even upvote content. its all delegated to bidbots which we all know just go to the highest bidder. So out of those lets say 270 ish whales and orcas, who even has the SP free to upvote great content when it comes by? not many I would guess. But like I said we wont all see eye to eye.
I realize I sound like I am taking it personally, it is because I care about the issue.
We have to realize the whales hold their stake, and I don't think they are going to change. So, we need to set those expectations with the community.
I also acknowledge your post sounds like you care as well. :) I just want to put our effort into things we can control and setting expectations. :)
Cheers and thanks for being involved.
That is perhaps the more realistic way to look at it. Well said. I enjoyed the conversation! :) I will put efforts towards things I personally can control. thank you for the dialogue!
I'm not looking for your vote on this, I thought it might be worth my time to share this with you, if we can get more people talking about owning the community and things we can change, maybe we can change the culture. :)
https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatsup/we-have-37-whales-and-129-615-redfish
Consider it done :) read, resteemed and upvoted. I agree we have to try and do something!
Im not even a minnow and i find that i help others more that have less. I have been given a head start by some great people on here but yes i agree its so hard to get seen by others for good content. Working hard is a hit or miss on here.
And yet i see people that just post one picture and no words about what they posted and bam they make a killing on the post... smh why not share for good posts? How does it hurt anyone?
Im still not giving up and will tread water a little while longer. But time is harder and harder to come by when its all for pennies.
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.