About the Whole Self-Upvoting Debate-- Let's Examine the BIGGER Perspective!

As of late, one of the hottest topics around ye olde "Steemit Water Cooler" seems to be the increased use of "Self Upvoting" since HF19 took effect.

Earlier today, I was reading a post by @calamus056 which was basically a listing of Steemit users who had been materially upvoting themselves since HF19 (popularly dubbed "equality") took effect on June 20th.

I won't get into the deeper motivations behind the post nor it's "effectiveness" (or lack of) but it did start a very active discussion on the pros and cons of self-upvoting, and whether the practice will have a positive, negative or neutral effect on the Steemit community, and the overall future of Steemit.

It also made me think of a post by @joseph from a few weeks back, addressing meaningless comments & spam.

I bring both up because it seems to me there's a bit of a connection or "bridge" between the two: namely variations of "taking shortcuts."

I'm not here to moralize on whether that's "good" or "bad;" I just want to name it according to how I perceive it.

TL;DR Version

History from other "content sites with rewards" over the past 20 years has shown that not keeping spam and "abusive gaming of the system" under control is likely to cause a site's gradual demise.

Just because Steemit is "on the blockchain" does not exempt us from having to deal with the darker and more selfish sides of human nature.

Junk content and system abuse/exploitation inevitably drives away legitimate users, leaving junk/spam to dominate. Such content makes a venue unattractive to new users; eventually membership stagnates; ultimately the site dies.

Steemit can't "go bankrupt," but the Steem token can become regarded as "yet another shitcoin" and we could end up with 1/2c Steem as a result of junk content and antisocial behaviors being allowed to proliferate.

We must remember that our actions TODAY become the permanent "advertisement" for recruiting new Steemit members 5, 7, 10 years from now. Is the action you take now in alignment with what you want to tell a potential newcomer Steemit "is about," 5 years from now?

We must have open discussions now to consider how we want to shape Steemit for the future.

End TL;DR

A Couple of Personal Notes

A lot has already been said at the micro and "local" level when it comes to self-upvoting, spammy comments and begging for votes... and I have little to add to that. So I'm taking a more macro approach.

As a personal preference I have the "upvote" box UNchecked when I post. For me, that's a choice because upvoting my own posts feels like going into a bookstore and buying a copy of my own book in order to boost my sales. Again, personal philosophy... not implying anyone else should feel the same.

I occasionally will upvote one of my own comments if it is a long screed addressing an issue in a post with lots of discussion. I do so purely for visibility; that is, to lift it out of the cloud of "nice post, please follow me" spam at the bottom of the comment stream.

But let's back out and take the meta view here-- the 50,000-foot overview.

Part I: By observation-- based on 20+ years of web content creation-- as soon as there is money or "rewards" involved on a user-generated content site, some people start behaving badly. Or if you don't like the idea of "badly," let's just call it selfishly.

If such practices are left unaddressed, there appears to be only ONE possible outcome: Site failure. 

I was there when Nirav Tolia launched epinions in 1999... I was on themestream, I was on writtenbyme, gather, associated content, squidoo, bubblews, tsu and about 50 other sites that all rewarded content. Most "died" within a couple of years, some lasted longer. 

Most had good visions and plans but pretty much all grossly underestimated the destructive nature of unchecked human greed.

The evolution tends to go the same, every single time. Someone has a great idea and starts a project. Legitimate users flock in, grateful for the opportunity, and start using the venue according to the original vision (or white paper). People are happy. Then another type of user notices that "people are making money." For the most part, they don't really care about the site or its vision-- they simply see it as a "free cash dispenser" they feel compelled exploit in whatever way they can possibly think up. If the site were called "counting frozen tacos," they'd be there. If the site was called "herding donkeys" they'd be there. After that? It tends to become a one-way ticket to nowhere, fast.

This "thing" we're just experiencing the beginnings of here on Steemit? Not new.

Of course, the typical "defense" I hear around here tends to be "Yeah, but Steemit is DIFFERENT. We're on the blockchain and we have our own currency and we have INVESTORS."

Allright-- then let's look at Part II: What IS Steemit? 

Is it actually a "Social Content Platform?" Or just a "bit of fluff" attached to an investment vehicle... namely the Steem token?

It's an important question. 

Because if this is merely "a bit of entertainment" to be enjoyed while we invest and trade on the exchanges, discussions like this are no more than a very insignificant storm in a very large teacup.

But if Steemit is-- as I suspect-- actually the "flagship app" that lends validity and substance to the Steem token? That's a whole different kettle of fish. 

How so? 

Thinking About "Investing"

If we allow the flagship representative of the Steem token to just become a giant ocean of spam and selfish behavior... as an investor, I would probably take a quick look at that and then pass on by.

Why do we invest in things? (Sorry folks, "day trading" is not "investing." It's a whole different beast.) Usually in hopes of appreciation, which piggybacks on the expectation of growth and maybe profits, which typically are a product of a thriving venture. Point? If Steemit doesn't look "thriving" to the world, getting those investment dollars will get harder and harder.

Sure, something will still be "here" and a bunch of people can have fun trading their 1/2c Steem because most people will look at this otherwise brave new social experiment and think "Oh yeah... that's just another shitcoin." But sure, all the "investors" will have the freedom "to do whatever they want" with their upvotes. Have at it!

If that sounds unattractive-- or even "over the top" to you-- maybe it's time to have a conversation about what we're trying to achieve, here.

So What IS Steemit, then? An Analogy

Here's a bit of my own analogy and thoughts on "what Steemit is:"

I see this community as most resembling a big ship, and we're all out on the ocean, sailing towards the future together. All sorts of people are on the ship, with various intentions, aspirations and histories. Some will be selfish, some will be selfless. But as different as we may all be... one would still assume we share the common goal of wanting the Good Ship Steemit to keep sailing. 

Now, I'm all about the whole "free to do whatever we want" thing... so the question arises of what to do when some insist that their "freedom" involves drilling holes in the hull of our ship "because they feel like it?" What do we do when some choose to exercise their "freedom" by using the ship's fuel oil to light their BBQs on deck so the ship runs out of fuel?

I know some of the community's "Freedom Absolutists" are going to to start saying that any regulation is a bad regulation... and somehow addressing self-upvoting is like a form of communism or "government." 

I don't think so. I think it's a form of giving a shit about our basic survival.

If you have termites in your house, do you take steps to ensure the survival of the structure... or do you just hit the metaphorical "mute button" believing you are thereby granting the termites their "freedom" to be termites while not being able to "see" them somehow means they don't exist?

Might work... UNTIL you wake up one morning, and all that's left is a pile of dust.

So what's my point of this post? 

I think some people are losing sight of the fact that we should probably focus a little more on the broader aspect is what it takes for Steemit to thrive and survive in the long run... rather than get bogged down in "who's entitled to do what" in the short run.

If there's no Steemit left, it doesn't really matter a whole lot whether you get to upvote yourself... or not.

It also seems to me that a lot of these "mini crises" we encounter are the result of people acting out of short term self-interest, at the expense of long term stability and growth.

It's not my place to judge that... but perhaps to toss out a cautionary word or two, pointing to the danger of possibly killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, like in Aesop's fable.

A Final Thought...

I am not convinced this is all that much about "good" or "bad" so much as it is about "short term thinking" vs. "long term thinking."

What's perceived as "selfish" behavior typically revolves around very short term thinking-- i.e. "What can I put in my pocket, RIGHT NOW?" It tends to disregard the long term "price" or consequences of focusing on short term gains. 

So, in a sense, my reasons for writing this article are COMPLETELY SELFISH! That is, I still want there to be a thriving Steemit community, in 2025!

I think it's high time we started looking at Steemit as a long term proposition, rather than a series of short term fixes.

How about you?

What do YOU think? What is your vision for Sreemit, 5-10 years from now? Or do you even think that far ahead? Do you believe self-upvoting, short spammy comments and vote begging will hurt Steemit in the LONG run? Moreover, does Steemit "matter" to you in the long run, or do you see it more as a place to make some "grocery money" RIGHT NOW? Do you think these issues can "solve themselves" if we simply "mute" or ignore the offenders? Or does the community need to take action? Or does some of the underlying code need to be rewritten to prevent certain windows for exploitation? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of this important conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170727 16:05 PDT