A Minnow Speaks: My Open Letter to the Steemit Community... The good, bad and the ugly.
A Minnow Speaks: Hoping the Whales and other members listen......
I've said these things elsewhere so I will say some of them here too. I wrote this reply on the @ozchartart post today with all the whales fighting and flagging and whatnot while the community and regular posters suffer.
(Link at end of my blog post)
I am one of the many minnows struggling on the platform continually putting out some good content and continually getting not many views, votes, comments and payouts. Most of them are under $1.
I work hard on here. I really do. You can say it is subjective, like with Oz's charts or with this whale's comments, or that person's posts -- but I know myself and what I am dealing with and I work hard on here.
I'm not really a blogger per se. Just a regular guy who blogs. Yes, there's a difference.
So I fully understand what it is like to do my best on here and see the same people making all the bank no matter what they post and what it is like to see a "drained" reward pool and that is precisely why many people have left while I have stayed and struggled and posted daily here and interacted lots with people.
Graphic showing I am in the top 25 or so on comments, and now nearing 4200 posts. I did not buy those posts. I did not mine those posts. I have no bot set up.
I have been on here typing them myself, trying to build a community.
Just saying, I am on here a lot, as a regular person.
Regular people are the key for growth, I will say again. And the graphic there just shows you I am on here trying my best. Like many many others.
I am a regular person, not an IT person, not the most talented but I am a regular guy and possess regular guy online knowledge. Online stuff has never been a big interest to me. My talents in life lie elsewhere and I don't like struggling with computer stuff I will say again. It is not super fun to me.
As that regular guy crypto noob I am open about being --- I found these Oz charts pretty helpful and again I will say -- if Steemit wants to open up to the masses, they have to engage regular non IT types like ME daily.
They are the key to mass adoption.
Charts like this have been easy for me to understand and learn from. The online programmer types and IT people need to understand this and know they are gifted behind a computer screen and not everyone lives in that space and they (you) are indeed in the minority.
Said another way, THE MASSES are like me -- who don't like being on a computer all day, don't have the software and interest and ideas to do the stuff you / they can do. It's not a shot, it's just a fact.
Another fact is we all have gifts and talents. And we should help one another to get along and prosper in all areas of our life. I could drop scripture here but I won't. But it is part of my life.
Do I think it is right that the only way anyone here can make any money is by hoping a whale upvotes you? No.
Do I think it is right to see some of the stuff trending every day that does while lots of us are regular daily posters and work hard here building a brand and content and community for Steemit, while the bulk of people suffers watching the problems and squabbling? No.
There is a huge disparity of power and commerce here. Yet we all have a stake.
I use Oz Charts to learn. Back to the regular guy stuff again.
I have found him funny and polite and he answers my questions. I regularly stop by his posts to learn but you would see to encourage him the last 90 days and say THANKS also -- because we are called to help and encourage each other as humans. Again, I could drop scripture but I won't.
The Whole World is Watching.
I have been sad to see most of us on here, get little help a lot of the time and watch these fights develop here and there -- saved on the Blockchain for everyone to see.
We are supposed to be building this big shiny new thing. Together.
I know my role on here. People are scared to say anything because 1 downvote by a whale could screw your whole account you worked hard for months to build and everyone knows this.
If the "top 50 whales and authors keep up the same things that are really causing the problems, then that is all Steemit will have at the end of the day -- the top 50 on here will have each other, and everyone else will leave" -- things I have said elsewhere. -- which you see happening over the months and I have already said why.
The slogan for Steemit is -- "Where you get paid to vote, post and comment" -- I have said elsewhere -- and also it does not say --- ..."if you are lucky enough to get a whale vote or 2, or are favoured as an author ..." etc.
I've been lucky to have had the odd founder or whale vote for my stuff in posts or comments and many of them have been named here today, or in the other posts or have commented. And that's great.
But the disparity of power here is the root of a lot of the problem. I say again.
Think of alllll the problems here -- flagging, who is right, the politics, yada yada -- it generally comes down to the power brokers.
Sadly -- like most other places in life. And that bums me out.
The minnows and regular people = the long term success of Steemit and mass adoption, I say again.
If all you whales keep ignoring the main issues, and fighting with each other, there will BE NO STEEMIT I have said --- someone will just look at the issues here - what was right, what was wrong --- and go build the next Steemit from the template here they saw.
... and that would be a shame.
I am a regular person, with regular issues on here, who posts regularly, and is doing my level best and not getting anywhere.
Mass adoption by people like me, I say again, is the key and many have left because of this and the roadmap out just yesterday -- clearly identifies onboarding by the masses and making it easier and changing some thing are the key, so my evidence is backed up there even by official sources.
It makes me sad watching all these petty fights and arguments and power struggles on here.
I've been a well known activist for years like you guys calling this stuff out in life. It has cost me a lot and I want this place to be different. I was run over by a car and many of you know this and my file is being buried, because I have called out the politics of division and waste of tax dollars and the theft of civil liberties trying to help the greater good and now I am suffering for truth speak since 2008-9.
Am I going to suffer now even more on here, for speaking my mind? Because like the issues on here, and the fights, that would be a real tragedy of the commons.
I came here to Steemit for LIBERTY.
To learn and share and be rewarded as advertised.
This place is supposed to be DIFFERENT BY DESIGN than all the places the Liberty Minded types are already suffering in and that is what is supposed to be drawing us TOGETHER for real change.
Change we can believe in.
Build another system since the old one is not working... they said.
That can be taken a lot of ways and I love this and what Steemit can become and it cannot be done without you computer / IT smart guys ---
and it cannot be done without us regular people -- or you smart computer types will only have each other to talk to and we see how well that is going so far.
We are called to encourage one another -- I say again. None of us are getting out alive and we need to build this thing together.
-- end Blue Collar Barry post ----
Check my posts, because largely, they have all been Steem Powered like many others -- to INVEST in this community - to build it with you guys, not in spite of you guys --- TOGETHER.
Just a Minnow --
Whales and Community have been fighting for days and days but I posted my reply on this one here today and that is what you just read. I really wanted to use a 6th tag here but we cannot -- and it would have been FAMILY
https://steemit.com/steemit/@ozchartart/my-response-to-dantheman-s-downvoting-campaign-against-me
EDIT - the day after this post --- my post here was used by long time user and Steemit Queen and Elder on the platform - @stellabelle -- as an example of a post deserving of more rewards on the Steemit platform WRT to the amount of ENGAGEMENT it generated -- things I have said a long time now. She is one of the people trying to find solutions to the issues and we thank her for that :
... and to @rebeccaryan who also had a typical genius post with her brains and charm and humour along the same lines -- she is great if you have not followed her! A tiny little bundle of awesome is what she is!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rebeccaryan/what-little-fish-say-to-each-other
If you feel my posts are undervalued or you want to donate to tip me - I would appreciate it very much.
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Interesting, I keep seeing so many people saying how useful they found these charts, yet, I was following it for 2 weeks before this became a popular topic and it actually rarely got more than 10 views, including mine. They were trending 3 or 4 times a day, among the other 600 Authors (1000 posts) a day who are putting out content. I really can't figure out how anyone thinks it is okay to have the few power voters of the community voting up the same content EVERY DAY. Get that... EVERY DAY more than once. Even if the posts are useful to a few people, people are arguing these charts are the most important posts out of the rest of the 1000 posts a day.. EVERY DAY? Now add the same voters voting every day for Steemsports and Steemvoter and Curie. What is left for the end-users of the platform? New Users? All of us that have been here for 5 months, we already know before we post pretty much what value our posts are going to earn.
You seem to miss the fact there are other ways to view post that do not trip the view counter on Steemit.
That damn thing was the worst addition ever...
seriously -- how many views in addition to the view counter views do you think a post gets... do you really think there are a ton of ppl pulling the post up on the cli and piston (or busy too i guess)
It would be a guess, but I would say many times the amount actually logged into Steemit are viewing the content.
As over 90% of my votes are cast while not logged into steemit via a browser I suspect others do the same. If you are in a habit of casting votes by other means there is not reason to risk keys in a browser.
So, it was beneficial for the voters to vote for the exact same content every day? If you were addicted to that simple chart, imagine what others could do, if their charts were given the same attention. Most people who would view it from other forums, could also create a simple chart of their own.
Personally I stopped voting for Oz once he had much stronger support than my vote. I felt my little vote was best used elsewhere.
But I did and still do find value in the various price charts that are posted for my own tech analysis, no one should be investing based solely on others opinions. Serious Investors know this and it really is pointless to have to point it out.
But, the fact that some feel they need to guide the reward pool more so than simply voting for what you like I find very disappointing. Claiming that anyone that gets more votes than you is somehow stealing from you is just whiny and childish.
None of us can vote any more share than we own, some own more than others. That's life.
Thanks for reading my ever so humble and completely correct opinion on the matter.
I read it.
You vote your conscious. You vote for what you think is right. I appreciate every vote on here whether the person has a rep score of 25, or 250, because like I said, we build it together.
.... thanks for commenting.
I stopped voting for it as well.
lol, tell me some more about serious investors.
Nobody claimed they are unhappy with someone getting more votes. To clarify, exactly what I AM saying. Is the key stakeholders voting for the same accounts every day, reduces the number of "winners" on the platform, is scammy looking, and makes the platform boring. Thus: Is short sighted. IMO.
True, none of us can vote anymore share than we have, and I like that.
You're welcome.
It will work itself out I'm sure.
Steem On!
I don't get your point, sure others could create the same thing. I often fail to see your point @whatsup but I believe you have good intentions.
For example, I seen you were flagging post that had more votes than views over the new year Holidays, yet you volunteer'd for @cryptos @robotev project and you have 4 or 5 bots following you around creating 4 or 5 extra votes for everything you vote on...
Not trying to pick a fight, honestly I am not. But I don't get why it's ok for you but not others who choose to join curation trails with their voting power..
Anyway, I still say if someone has steempower then they earned it or bought it and they should be free to do with it as they choose.
If mamafoot starts posting here and her post is crap, she still gonna get my vote :)
I don't want no trouble..
No fight required. I am fine if you don't get my point. Yes, and please vote for your wife!
I talked to you about it days ago on his post. I told you what I felt then in about 2 sentences.
I found value in them as a person learning. I said that again today here, and on his (Oz) post about all this
If you are myoptic and think this post does not address a few issues, then you are really missing the point of threading things together.
Yes, you did.
I hear you found value in them as a person learning. Understood.
I think you meant myopic. I disagree that I am the one not threading things together.
I don't see any problems with Steemit in any way, and even if there are, I think Dan and Ned are on top of everything. This is an experiment and in beta, so there are bound to be wrinkles to iron out. Personally, I just keep posting what I want to share and everything seems fine to me. Dan Larimer said in an interview (paraphrasing) "Don't expect to get on Steemit and become an overnight success. Be patient and build your brand. It takes time and effort."
Well said, @chessmonster.
I personally worked very hard to get to my level. I wish I was a little more consistent lately but a good portion of my day is dedicated elsewhere now. :(
That being said, I never have had expectations of earnings or attention. Frankly, I have no idea WHY I have as many followers as I do. The ONLY thing I have any control over is my content and how I interact with people. It seems that a huge amount of people are talking about flag wars. I haven't seen them because I choose not to. I am better than the petty B.S. The people I choose to follow are better than the B.S.
I love this experiment of Steemit.
@barrydutton - my biggest recommendation for you is to get rid of the mindset of disappointment because it's like a snake that begins to eat its own tail. It will keep chewing and swallowing itself until it's very small. Don't do that.
Excellent advice!
Thanks papa! How's mama pepper doing?
I am doing the best I can. There are a lot of co factors at play on here and in life.
I appreciate the feedback! Thanks for commenting -- I tried to put a lot of balanced info into my post here.
As another regular guy who has limited computer skills and has been very active here, i know how you feel. Of course I've gotten paid a lot better than you (so far) for my time here, but I know what you mean.
Keep it up Barry, you are making a difference!
Thanks. I appreciate that
and I posted some flags below on my own account to save everyone the hassle of doing it for me lol
lol
(:
You do realize I agree with pretty much everything you say about these issues, right? Tell me you get that. You are so focused on the Oz thing, you may not see we are on the same page
I am pretty sure you read my whole post. At least I hope you did.
Flags.
They are not just for Jeff Berwick of @dollarvigilante to burn to wake people up. LOL
this is why i'd like to stop seeing the same users again and again in the
trending section... other people work so hard and get nowhere and it's discouraging for them. whereas some people come and post and are succesful from the start.
hope those whales spread out the votng love alittle more!
I am on the same page.
Ned and Dan may be the founders and some whales and whatnot are larger stakeholders -- but this goes nowhere without the masses, like we are saying.
We build -- together. Amen
The problem is not you. This is the bandwagon effect produced by some whales. The founders wanted to prevent sybill attacks coming from outside but they produced whales that have the same effect as a sybill attack. This is accepted because the rules were made as well. What different between a person with 1000 bots or accounts and a whale with a power of 1000 votes?
You make good points.
I guess some more of the proof is the fact that about 18 hours later, look at the overall numbers on this post I poured my heart and truth into.
Thanks for commenting today, I appreciate it.
THIS. This is the problem with steemit. I love the platform, but honestly? If this continues it won't last forever. Hell, I don't even think it will survive the next few years. I would like to see a couple of things: A cap on voting rewards if you vote for the same author multiple times, and a balanceing of vote power so that you dont have users who's vote is worth 6000 of another users votes.
It's easy to say that good content is rewarded, but that is simply not the case, content popular with whales is rewarded, quality is irrelevant. I think a lot of oz charts posts could be automated. That is a pretty ridiculous thing to make so much money on when you have people like barry here spending what looks like hours formatting inteligent opinions.... the whole balance is whack. And steem will not survive unless it's overhauled.
As a very new user on Steemit, I don't have a nuanced understanding of the charts, or the whale bickering that everyone is talking about. But from day one it is pretty easy to see that the power distribution in the community is troublesome. I personally have been hesitant to write any in-depth posts (the type of content I prefer), as I find it extremely unlikely that given my minnow status it will even get read. I agree conceptually that the biggest stakeholders should have the biggest sway in how things progress, but once established, it is hard to counterbalance influential individuals. As stated above, the power ratio feels a bit too much like CEO compensation in the US :) There should probably be some sort of cap on vote power ratio?
First of all - welcome to Steemit @hellhen.
Take heart - unless you were a member of Steemit before the BIG JULY '16 payouts, or came in with a huge social media following, everyone worked their way up the ranks - myself included. This is NO pyramid scheme, for if it was, the person who told me about it would always have a rep score and more earnings than me. This is not the case.
Do the 3 Cs
Content creation - Curation - COMMENTS
It took me nearly 5 months of DAILY blogging and interaction with very little support in the beginning. I've earned my stripes and my voting power. I'm a little dolphin working my way toward orca and I will never say I was held back or that this platform is unfair. It is what YOU make of it. Period.
I agree with @merej99, @hellhen. I'm still a minnow, but I don't have the time to blog daily. I have seen some progress, however, and will continue to work and earn my badges, voting power, steem and reputation, one post at at time. And, I'll have fun doing it! Steemit truly IS what YOU make of it.
I am still glad you are around @merej99
My Steemit b-day is coming up on Monday and I have been doing some reflecting my friend.
Thanks for the comments, helping me when I was new and the posts to help me and so many others.
Bro, you've written one blog. You expect to have high reputation from that? Steemit is not going to hand out STEEM on a silver platter. You actually made more than most do on their introduceyourself blog.
No of course not! I absolutely expect it to be difficult to get started and you always have to earn respect. However, as a casual observer for a couple weeks, it seems clear that Steemit is very good at showing and rewarding content created by and for whales that is of dubious quality relative to other posts. What worries me is the acceleration effect of the power distribution (the more power you have, the easier it is to get more). For Steemit to really succeed, it will need to cater to many different groups of users, and as the size of the pie grows, under the current system, the disparity between the top users and the "normal" users will continue to grow as well.
Yep.
Thanks for taking time to comment.
I am still glad you are around man.
My Steemit b-day is coming up on Monday and I have been doing some reflecting my friend.
Thanks for the support here and off here, over the months @fulltimegeek
I keep trying to put out good, engaging, fact filled - and some fun stuff.
Today is no exception and tagged you on Twitter on one of them you might want to read!
The wise people will read your comments and reflect.....and the rest will get offended.
Welcome to Steemit @hellhen -- Steem On.
LOL YOUR SHOW ME THE STEEM MEME IS GREAT
I am not the most gifted but I really am proud of my super basic meme making talents and MS Paint! lol
TY for understanding.
Sincerely -- Regular Guy.
You make some very valid points!
Thanks for taking time to comment. Honestly
TY for your support to the COMMUNITY -- and myself. You are a true servant.
I told you that is why I want to interview you, LOL.
I am new on Steemit and so I guess am a Minnow, if not smaller 😀
I joined the platform because an FB (or as Barry calls it FascistBook lol!) friend recommend it to me. My friend felt that I wrote good posts and I would be better appreciated on Steemit informing me that my content only added to the pocket of Zuckerberg. I was intrigued and took the plunge. And I have to say that one of the first people to welcome me was @barrydutton and also @dreemit and if I had not had those "welcomes" well let´s just say they meant a lot. And because of this welcome it encouraged me to do the same and so I also use some of time to welcome newcomers. This is part of the "human" factor that Barry speaks of here.
I am still learning the "system" and as such I have made some mistakes I did not even know were mistakes. For example about a week ago suddenly this box appeared when I tried to upvote a post. It was this percentage box. No one told me about it and I had no idea what it was for. Now I am not stupid but I was nervous as it looked scary to me lol! I actually thought I had done something wrong. Why? because I am new to the system. My first thought was that Steemit was telling me I was using too much account activity and so I turned down the bar to 10% just to see what happened when I voted. Nothing bad happened. 2 days later I got time to do some investigation about this percentage bar after I googled it. And then I realized with horror that I had actually voted on a post with using only 10% of my "power". I felt awful guilty and I did not know how to fix it. So then once I understood how it worked I found myself "judging" how much % I should use. But now I have come to the point where I think it is nonsense and so I just use 100% on all posts. Whether or not I will stay on Steemit does depend on the human factor as Barry mentions. I do not want to live in a world of cold calculating bots. This island earth belongs to humans and we have to make the best of it faults and all.
With regards to the Whales dilemma, who are "naughty"- perhaps something could be done with their reputation in that they could become known as "sharks" lo1 -well if Steemit is a mirror then we know in the real world of business and money, that term is used.
I think you do a great job Barry and I for one appreciate your efforts.
Well, that is one of the most fulsome replies I have seen for sure.
You raise a lot of salient points --- well done. And thanks for the kind words also. I really appreciate that reply covering a lot of points.
Sharks. LOL
Thanks for commenting today!!
👍
I'll promote that. It's worth spending my income to help spread this message. Obviously I've never heard of you before, but I followed and I'll be watching now. Fuck the whale wars, just support good content and the bullshit goes away eventually.
I am still glad you are around man.
My Steemit b-day is coming up on Monday and I have been doing some reflecting my friend.
:) Stay woke.
#BroHug !!!!
Dude I forgot what this was about. I remember I used to pay to promote people's post! Then I realized the whole promoted list was kind of dumb, but I'm glad I did it! You deserved more exposure and higher payout than that post got and I should have just sent you the SBD instead of promoting it lol.
LOL.
Promotion can be such a racket LOL
I am always taking donations anyways hahahahahaha
#Pizza
lol
That's pretty neat! Thanks for that and for taking time to comment.
I do appreciate all of that, have a good night!
I noticed I gained quite a few followers off this post tonite, and some from the similar post I mentioned here that led me to come make a blog post about it -- so I hope to get to following back everyone by tomorrow.
Thanks again.