We Have the Opportunity to Make Steemit Our Own!
As most of my fellow Steemit members witnessed, the stunning rise in the altcoin markets dramatically boosted the STEEM cryptocurrency. The end result is that we are far more powerful than we were back in the doldrums of the Steemit network, where it was simply not possible to earn decent revenues.
Naturally, we’re all excited about the shift in sentiment. Not only are we seeing increased rewards for our own posts, we get to substantively reward our friends. Essentially, we’re enjoying a win-win situation. But to further improve our Steemit network, our increased power or leverage can be used for the greater good.
Recently, I noticed multiple hot-button controversies impacting the Steemit network. While I won’t get into specific names and details, the controversies have a common motif: they center on complaints that some STEEM users are milking the system for their own greed.
Con Artists in our Midst
I certainly can understand the frustrations of this dynamic. Many months ago last year, I made a YouTube video about charlatans on the Steemit network. These individuals migrated to the STEEM platform under the false story that YouTube was banning their content (for the record, YouTube doesn’t ban videos about stocks and bonds). Today, these charlatans amassed incredible wealth due simply to their cult of personality.
But ultimately, those who take advantage of Steemit are facilitated by our collective members. Much of the reasoning is understandable – people latch on to charismatic figures, hoping to engender for themselves the success they see in the target figure. However, with the added valuation to the Steemit network, such cults of personalities have become less relevant.
That’s because we have the opportunity to make Steemit a network of our collective will; a platform that advances issues and ideas, not just rehash aphorisms for the benefit of charlatans.
An Organic, Diplomatic Solution
Some high-level STEEM users and witnesses have directly called out con artists in this network, and certainly, that is one approach to solving a chronic problem. However, if you want to help in a more diplomatic manner, I would suggest discernment.
In part, this means not being so cheap with your upvotes. With STEEM coins priced at $6 or so, your voice is no longer worth pennies. Rather than supporting con artists or people who merely recite tired aphorisms (ie. work hard, play harder!), consider supporting true, unique content creators.
By voting for original work instead of, shall we say, horse manure, the con artists will organically run out of oxygen.
Eventually, someone will have to make the call on who are the con artists. Given how Steemit is based on a Proof-Of-Stake, holders of a large amount of SP gets to make the final call. What if the con artists are the whales themselves? How are we then going to police and get order onto Steemit?
Well, my article wasn't about policing con artists as most of my followers don't have the POS leverage to do so; some individuals who have the clout have chosen to take on the charlatans directly. My point is that con artists thrive on the oxygen of the cult of personality -- if people collectively wake up to the game, deserving content creators will rise, which will mitigate the problem.
we can only cross our fingers!
yes it really a great opportunity for us to use it great comunity
It surprises me every day again that people who are posting content that is obviously copy/paste material are getting so much upvotes and - as a result - earning so much money.
I can understand people using a YouTube video they didn’t create themselves - after all, YouTube is full of videos with valuable content - but only when it is used to add something extra to an article. The video shouldn’t be the main content but only an illustration or an addon to the content ...
Unfortunately many people around here don’t share this opinion.
Everyone knows lots of those non-original posts get a lot of upvotes , and since everyone wants to maximize curation rewards, they will keep on upvoting them, because that’s where the money can be earned.
I completely agree with your proposal to stop rewarding content that isn’t original, but I’m afraid the money factor is too important for most people...
But don’t let that stop you from trying to raise awareness. Maybe I can write a post on this topic later this week. Someone else might do the same. This way, the message will spread around the platform and it will reach more and more people. I‘Ve noticed there are lots of Steemians that have the same opinion, but don’t take any action. Maybe this is the perfect time to stop being passive and step up. Because I believe we can change this when we all stick together. If all people that share the same opinion get active and start writing posts like yours instead of doing nothing and just watching it happen from the sidelines, we might be able to succeed. It will take time to ‘educate’ people, probably a whole lot of time, but if no one takes action, nothing will change. Even if doesn’t work out, I’d like to know that at least I tried...
I started with resteeming your post. It’s a small step, but it is better than no step at all :-)
Thank you so much for your comment! You're one of the very few people that I came across on Steemit that cares about this issue, and I agree with the points that you raise. You are especially correct that this will be an education, and therefore, will take considerable time. However, in doing so, you are also creating revenue-generating posts, so it's not a complete waste :)
I have just followed you as I'm eagerly looking forward to hearing your perspective on this and other issues.
I’m definitely not the only one. I’ve made so many similor comments this week. All on posts from people who share the same opinion.
Maybe I should track them down, so we can set up some sort of ‘Action plan’. (Lol - that Sounds more serieus than I planned it sound ) I’m not experienced enough to know what the possibilities are, but I’ll do some research this week
Can I ask you something? It’s not a question with a hidden agenda. I’m just plain curious :-)
Last week I’e been doing some research on how to earn through commenting (I’m still a noob here just trying to learn the ropes).
When I started out here on SteemIt, I saw a lot of upvoted comments, but that seems to have changed since last week. It’s not just my comments, it’s other people’s comments too.
This conversation gives me the oportunity to find out more about the issue. Could you maybe tell me why you didn’t upvote my comment? I checked and you have 100% voting power, and taken from your answer, you liked my comment. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I expect you to upvote it, I’m just trying to find out why people upvote or don’t upvote a comment. Like I said before, most things here on the platform are still a mystery to me. I search and read articles all day long, but I don’t get a lot of opportunities like this one when I can inform myself and learn new strategies by simply asking people directly...
I rarely upvote comments, which is an improvement from the time I rarely commented. That said, I think it's standard operating procedure on Steemit: if you upvote willy-nilly, eventually, your voting power becomes degraded. I'd save it for your posts and great original content that pique your interest.
Thanks for clarifying :-)
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the rise of the altcoins has been freaking epic!