Standing at the Crossroads: Am I Missing Something... or is it YOU?
This morning I woke up to our first lovely spring day of 2018. And I felt a lot of gratitude. What an amazing day — and what an amazing time — to be alive!
So then I started on my morning "rounds;" checking email, checking eBay, checking Facebook, checking Steemit.
Winter sun on Mt. Baker
Funny how that has worked out.
I really like this community. It's just more intelligent and less... vapid and superficial... than the Book of Face. These days, I only look at Facebook about once every 3-4 days, in case some family member in Europe has decided to message me.
I don't think any of them are going to come on Steemit, anytime soon, however.
I did suggest it, but they wanted to know "what good it was" without photo albums, internal messaging, groups and a few other things. I didn't have a good answer, to I didn't pursue it.
Steemit is a marvelous community, but it's still a bit short in the features department. As in features youd expect to find on a social content site.
A Moment of Contrasts
There's a great piece out at the moment called "The Tao of Steemit" by one of the community's most consistent and authentic quality contributors, @arbitrarykitten. Go read it. I don't normally recommend pieces "about Steemit," but this is an exception.
A few flowers are starting to show
Besides, she can use a little love, since her Jeep was totalled in a horrific auto accident a couple of weeks back... and this is not just any Jeep, this is the famous "Crypto Jeep" which she had only had for a bit over a month. If you want to help out more, check out @papa-pepper's "Crypto Jeep Challenge" to help @arbitrarykitten get a new car.
I mention these things because — to me — they represent the very best of what Steemit is about, and can be about. A community of people helping people. And why would we not want that.
Now for the "contrast."
I happened upon a post, not mine; one of my followers'. And there's a comment that simply reads "Good. Please vote me, I need money."
I sigh and find a tolerant place, thinking "Another newcomer who hasn't figured out the ropes yet." Although there are tutorials all over the place, I try to be patient... it does take a little while to get the hang of Steemit.
Except... wait! This is not exactly a newcomer; it's someone whose account was created in November and who has posted over 4000 times.
Who's Missing Something Here?
One of the the things I find interesting — as well as a little troubling — is the obvious duality that exists on Steemit: To some people, this is a social content site; a community — to others it is evidently just an electronic cash dispenser that spits out a fraction of a cent every time you click a button.
Something for something?
Or something for nothing?
What am I missing?
Evidently, Mr. "Please-Vote-Me-I-Need-Money" sees Steemit as an online version of this:
The "Minimum Wage Machine" lets you earn one cent every 4 seconds by turning a handcrank...
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/3050324/this-mind-numbing-machine-lets-you-experience-making-the-minimum-wage
It's an approach that sometimes makes me stop and wonder what I am doing here. It makes me wonder if I am missing something; if I've got life all wrong. Which would perhaps be less troubling if there were some place to look for "guidance."
But there really isn't. The Steem White Paper doesn't really help much. Our community is described as "an Incentivized, Blockchain-based, Public Content Platform." Which sounds pretty groovy, but also increasingly off the mark.
Tree against a clear blue sky
Meanwhile, if we "look to the top" of Steemit, Inc. for guidance, the order of the day does not seem to have much to do with building a social platform, and everything to do with promoting Smart Media Tokens (SMT) almost like it represents the second coming of Christ... and sometimes I swear that if they could find a way to "tokenize the tokens," they would.
Doesn't seem to have a lot to do with running a social content site.
Forgive me, but I am a content creator. It's beautiful and marvelous that we can earn rewards here, and even slowly become stake holders. But I didn't come here to start a crypto-tokenized business, I came here to blog and enjoy the community.
And color me cynical, but if it weren't for the people here creating at least passable — if not great — content... there would be nothing here. NO-THING.
But then again, maybe I am missing something. It wouldn't be the first time...
How About You? Do you find yourself thinking about what Steemit "IS?" Does it ever seem like this place has a bit of an identity crisis? Are you ever amazed by the vast range of ways people respond to our community, in terms of why they are here and what we "do" here? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
created by @zord189
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180310 17:33 PDT
I feel that Steemit is almost like a collection of circles on two levels. There's the creative level, and the get-rich-quick level.
On the creative level (that we inhabit), each person has the people they follow and interact with (their "circle"). Sometimes we discover new people and broaden our circles by checking out resteems and curation posts.
Then there's the other level of users here just out to try and make money without putting much creative effort into it. That's how they have chosen to use Steemit, and while it seems like "misuse" to those of us in the creative level, perhaps objectively, there is no better or worse way to use the platform to mine Steem. I'm not saying that I like what those users do, it's certainly annoying (I'm sort of playing devil's advocate here), but as you pointed out in the post, the white paper doesn't specify that the platform should be used a certain way. We see our way as being more valuable and rewarding, because we value the community and interaction.
However, to the non-creative users, perhaps their way is just as valuable/profitable to them. It surely seems like they would have given up and left the platform altogether if not?
Conflict seems to come when one of the non-creative users happens across the posts of people on the creative level. We flag them and send them packing, and so they stay on their own level doing their spammy comment and follow-for-follow thing. Presumably, it's rewarding for them. I don't think things will change very much unless the system of penalties and rewards changes.
That's an interesting — and from where I am sitting, pretty accurate — way of looking at our ecosystem.
As a "creative," I have never really had a major beef with the "miners" except for ONE rather large detail: Excessive exploitation.
What do I mean by that? Short version, people are killing the goose that's laying golden eggs. It's fine that someone comes here wanting to make money... but please pause long enough to tailor your money making efforts in such a manner there there will still BE a Steemit to make money on, two, five, ten years from now.
By all means, "make money," but nurture the underlying structure so you can KEEP making money for years to come... not just fill your pockets indiscriminately for the next four months and then sit around scratching your head, wondering "what happened" when the well suddenly runs dry.
My views on the Steem blockchain are pretty stable. My views on Steemit constantly change. It's such a whipsaw sometimes! The vote-buying, the generally lousy content on the trending page, and the proliferation of vapid comments all are demoralizing to me. It's been disappointing seeing so many people cash out to a low SP level, or using Steemit as their ATM -
rather than an investment that pays dividends.
But then I enjoy knowing so many people on Steemit (even if I don't get around to seeing them often). And the 'demands' to stay active on this platform definitely pushes me to create -- so much more than I would otherwise. For me at least, a key is to stay within myself. That is, to make something, in aggregate, that is meaningful to me.
I do hope the next hardfork has some structural changes to keep more of the 'haenjin' types from proliferating. All it would take is 3 or 4 of those types of syndicates (or competitors) to crush Steemit.
But it is exciting, still, to be on the leading edge of the blockchain evolution. I hope I can stay open-minding, flexible, nimble, and adaptive to still have fun as things change and challenges appear, again and again! ; )
Way back in the when, I tried to convey the idea that everyone was grossly underestimating the impact human greed would have on Steemit down the road, and how this would need to be addressed before things got any sort of big around here.
Now we have something not-so-pretty; mostly on account of grassroots marketing and the selling of Steemit as a "make money" venue rather than a "content with rewards" venue. If this had been marketed as a social content site; a social blogging site where the contributors are rewarded by the opportunity to gradually becoming stakeholders? Different picture. Instead you have hundred's of people waving around Jeff Berwick's by now infamous "$30,000 post" as an example of what Steemit has to offer. Well, no shit, Sherlock... what SORT of people will be drawn to that? Bottom feeders by the thousands.
I keep bringing up this stuff because I really like this place, and I see its potential-- but I also see the devastating damage greed can do to it; greed is short sighted: "Make me rich NOW!" and doesn't ever consider the impact in the long run. My "problem" is that I still want to be here blogging and interacting 5-10 years from now. I just worry about the impact the spammers, upvote bots and haejin's of the world will have on that picture.
You don't get to clear cut a forest and then complain that there are no trees anymore...
I'm with you on wanting to be blogging here over the long run. You sure have seen so many platforms come and go over the years. So it has to be a difficult challenge for a platform to be successful over the long run. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the communities and SMTs.
Unfortunately, the majority of the population tends to be short-term thinkers. I happen to be a long term thinker. Sure, it's nice to know what we're going to have for dinner, but what food will we grow where, next year, and the year after, and the year after that? And how will "clear cutting" the land now impact what we have available three years from now?
It's very hard to get people to sit down and truly look at how their current actions affect the future; most only want to look at how their current actions affect their current life.
To be honest with you... At the beginning of my joining this wonderful community, I was just looking for money... I used all the ways to get the money... After a month I'm feeling desperate because I didn't get a lot of money then I'm leaving this community and after 2 months I'm back because I was living a very bad life and I don't love getting into Facebook because it's full of negative things... Everyone is proud of the beautiful things he owns... that made me return to Steemit, but not for the money, but to escape from reality... And I became optimistic and comment and learn from the others and enjoy reading the other ideas...
... Then my brother @wwf helped me, who changed my life so much. he sends me a delegation (500$) but the most important is that he gave me a lot of hope that makes my life full of colors. I felt he took me out of the darkness I was living in... I don't know how to thank him... Then I received another delegation (1000$) from @fulltimegeek and that made me have a high voting power... I was happy when I vote for the others ... The mistake i made was my lack of interest in my account...then I asked my brother @wwf to withdraw his delegation in order to help someone else... And @fulltimegeek withdrew his delegation because of a war... I thank them and I respect them a lot
Now my voting power is weak but my account is strong because I have a lot of friends and I enjoy reading their thoughts and commenting on them.
Conclusion: If we are to succeed here we must make this community a part of our lives... If we reach this goal... The money will come by itself.
Thank you..@denmarkguy. Because you gave me a chance to express this.
Thank you for your heartfelt account; in a sense, a great testimonial.
I've been playing around with this site for a while... and one of the things (once I got over the initial intrigue of earning rewards) was the notion of what Steemit meant to me. What IS this place? What do I DO here?
And I concluded that this is an amazing GLOBAL community with very interesting people. And this is as much a "community" for me, as it is a "writing experience."
One of the most important things to me — about the rewards — is this idea that I can build a stake or equity in this platform, in the long run. And I mean five years, ten years.
So know that I still want to be interacting with interesting people and blogging here in the year 2025, my next question becomes "What can I do to support that?" And how can I support the sort of contributions that support that goal... and help de-emphasize those that might stand in the way of long term growth?
That's sometimes troubled me also. I don't criticize people on steem who asked for "follow me, upvoted u, u.v me also" but by just reading this quote it really annoyed me I don't know. For me it sound like, ahhhh can't explained it and I really don't took for it. It seems like for them steem is to gather u.v and have money though we all need the rewards we can get to ease some of our needs but They never fully understand that steem is a platform that u have to work on it, live with it, enjoy the freedom to post, makes new friends and know great and talented people. Some just blog like this and that, a post that u can't even comprehend what they wanted to convey in short I don't know if they exert effort to do so, so people may find it worthy to u.v, they post even nonsense and then complained nobody u.v their post! Naturally if ur post doesn't click to people and made them interested to it, no one will u.v it. I don't mind giving my u.v for nothing will lose for it, why not give u.v but I only give it to new comers or old ones if find even a little effort that they made in their post. Or I am happy to see new steemians who doesn't think that they just come here to gain rewards but also to gain new friends. And I knew one thing, I like steem it helps me to be me, I can express and be a poet and let other steemians know me that I am also and artist, a frustrated artist :) but still I can express it tru others challenges like @surpassinggoogle untalented contest or I can be a photographer like @juliank and many others who provide challenges for steemians. So many things to do, to enjoy in here and I don't mind if they will u.v me or not, I'm enjoying what I do. Steem was not a waste of time we can learn and knew amazing people just like u sir @denmarkguy tnx for this thought and steem on! :)
Well, you've been here a long time, too, @dianargenti, so you've seen lots of changes.
I don't get annoyed with people who are here to "make money," that's fine. What troubles me is that some of these people believe they are supposed to get money "for nothing." Make a couple of short posts, and they are supposed to get $300.00. No, sorry. But then they invent scripts, bots and various ways to "cheat the system," rather than just honestly sit down and USE the tools we have here-- with which many people build quite good successes.
I like to give my upvotes to people who come here and-- whether they are new or old-- I can look at their content and say "Nice! This makes Steemit a more interesting place!" And I like the genuine connections I have made here, all around the world.
To the same end, someone writing a post that goes: "I am writing in Steemit. Please vote me, I need money" and that's all? That's the wrong approach. What value are you adding? Why should anyone PAY you for that? Sincerely... if you "need money" in that way, go get a job.
And so, you have your niche with your art and photography... and you help make Steemit more interesting. And you interact and engage, and leave meaningful comments like this. Which — to me — is really what the heartbeat of this place is about.
Thank u so much @denmarkguy for your pinpoint reply. Yes many have changes around for good and many have come also to use it for their own benefits, but it doesn't matter we can defined the real steemians a really good steemians who's been here to for too long with or without u.v or big rewards but still keep on going that's the steemians who look for real people and wanted to knew more and didn't expect too much for their own benefits. I'm happy I was part of this one worthy platform in the words of web. Steem on :)
I've talked about the multiple drivers heading in many different directions issue on Steem in 2016. There is no unified direction for what Steem is or should be. Everyone is pulling in different directions, with no clear goal...
That is the thing that worries me most around here. I think there are a lot of sincere visions for the future... but this is perhaps the Achilles heel of decentralization, at least in trying to create something like this particular social content site. It needs guidance, structure and direction... not just a random set of "whatever we feel like" moves, every time the wind changes.
Right now, everyone is going "SMT crazy" and I have this feeling that if they could somehow find a way to "tokenize the tokens" they would... like it's some sort of "magic pill" that will solve all our problems. It's not. It won't. If you build a luxury mansion on a shitty foundation, the house will fall down just as surely as a corrugated tin shack.
Yup, foundations. Principles. Token crazy eh? Tokenize the tokens... funny shit. People hope for new things to fix existing problems, yet the existing problems aren't fixed. I've talked about that aspect of needing to deal with negative, not just try to do more "positive"... as if that fixes the negative... it doesn't...
Hey, I'm cynical as fuck, at the best of times.
Here we have all these people carrying their banners of anarchism and freedom and "the government is evil because they just print more fiat money, willy-nilly!"
Uh-huh... and here you are, issuing "sub-currencies" of a currency... pretty much out of thin air. And this is different, how, exactly? Anyone? Anyone...? Bueller...?
Meh. We both know that "problems" don't become "un-problems" just because we slap a fresh coat of paint on them.
I have to remind myself that Steemit is still in beta mode sometimes :) Just imagine what it will be when all the features are finally in place!
You serve a great cup of coffee, much appreciated :)
And thanks for the plug, too!
True, it IS in Beta, still. Thinking back, I remember Google being "in beta" for something on the order of three years. Maybe it was more.
Regardless, the process is eternally fluid and changing. One of the game changers (and certainly what's unique around here) is that this is decentralized. There's no central corporate structure around whose profits everything revolved. There's no "they;" WE are "they."
It's funny, I came here to write - for the first time ever -and not to check crypto markets...
Somehow, some of my time is now taken up by checking crypto markets...
(and I ain't going to be posting about them..)
The only thing I knew about crypto when I came here was that there was such a thing as Bitcoin, and that there was such a think as Ethereum, because someone I know worked on that project.
I came here to read about Universal Basic Income on a site that wasn't ON Steemit, but the article happened to have been written by a Steemian. I've been here ever since.
I do get annoyed with the "follow me" and such comments. They don't add a thing and are just a waste of virtual ink, I think. I have learned that my best response is to ignore them, not acknowledge them or anything. I too am going to FB a lot less these days. It's nice!
It's just annoying... and what's more, it's not effective. Most people are put off by it. I heard someone who "speaks blockchain" better than I refer to it as "dust on the blockchain," meaning it clogs things and adds no value.
Great analogy. I do wish people would post quality, as I mentioned in the Tao of Steemit post- treat this like you would your house! It'll be around for all too see long after you are faded from the Earth... How do you wish to be viewed by the generations that follow you?!
....?
That's true, I'm sure. I agree, it adds no value.
At first i also not liked steemit . bacause i was just waste of time .
But after some days steemit make my life better. A lot of things i learned from steemit .
So i started use steemit daily and read blogs and write to post something new.
I also suggest to my family and friends but they say . why we do this its fake its waste of time .
How much you earn i say only 15$ the make laugh on me . but i like steemit more then any other social media .
And good for you for staying with it! The point here is that this is a COMMUNITY. But people suddenly forget all they know about social media because there is MONEY involved. If you just "do good social media," the money will come by itself.
Yep its true . the main thing is to do best and after some time you get good
Well loved to read it, really steemit is a better platform than Facebook and other social media, I also use Facebook after 3 to 4 days, I wasn't used to it from the very beginning, also on this platform people help people, which platform provides this facility. Only steemit.
This is also more of an international community with people from all parts of the world. On Facebook, everybody pretty much stays with the people from their own town/country.
I agree