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This post is set up as "Decline Payout", which means I'm not taking anything from the reward pool. However, if you feel like this post is worthy of something, you can transfer me whatever amount of Steem/SBD you feel appropriate, using the memo "crab mentality sucks". It's my own experiment here, on Steemit. I want to see how likely is for people to reward other people content from their own pocket. I will update the post with the total I'm receiving at the end of the article (you could always look for these transactions in the blockchain yourself, if you want to track it down).

What Is Crab Mentality?

According to Wikipedia:

"Crab mentality, sometimes referred to as crabs in the bucket (also barrel, basket or pot), is a way of thinking best described by the phrase, "if I can't have it, neither can you." The metaphor refers to a bucket of crabs. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the bucket, but instead they grab at each other in a useless "king of the hill" competition which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise. The analogy in human behavior is claimed to be that members of a group will attempt to negate or diminish the importance of any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, to halt their progress."

The highlighting in the last sentence is mine.

Now, if you're on Steemit for more than 3 weeks, you may have an epiphany reading this. And the epiphany will be like: "so that's what you actually call Steemit? Crab mentality?". Yes, unfortunately, during the last few weeks, Steemit became emblematic for this definition.

There are flagging "cartels" formed primarily in the chat, which are hunting authors who are making more than the average and punishing them by downvoting their content.

There is also a so called experiment running now which claims that whales are not going to vote, leaving dolphins and minnows more room to play, but it is not endorsed by all the players, so some whales are still voting. Under this pretext, the initiators of the experiment, @abit and @smooth (and for a while @beniesanders / @nextgencrypto / @engagement / @thecyclist - all accounts belonging to the same person) are countervoting these votes. Which, as you already saw, created a mess comparable only with the one you can experience in a barrel, basket or pot, by a bunch of crabs trying to escape in the search of the mythical reward pool.

It's not very nice living in such a barrel, you know. It's kind of nasty, to be honest. As a matter of fact, it's absolutely frightening. You get punished for writing content that other players are enjoying. Not to mention the fact that the very value proposition onf Steemit, which is "blog and get paid" is a total lie. That line should read: "blog and maybe you will get paid, if you will form alliances in the chat, or something like that".

And the most incredible thing is how some of the crabs are adjusting to the situation, calling it "normal". It's ok for people to downvote other people just to equalize the pot. Why some people should have more than others? I will vote my stake however I see fit, without any moral or ethical guidelines. All these sentences are part of the crab mentality.

What's The Alternative?

As I said, for many of the crabs, this is the only reality they know. It's hard to explain them that things can be different, if all they've been exposed to is like this. They may even feel that you're lying to them, that you try to fool them.

But there are alternatives. There are always alternatives. There are always choices.

One of the alternatives is to accept that we are different. Not only fundamentally different, like human beings, with different skills and experiences, but also we are different in every moment of our lives. Sometimes we may create content that is very likeable, sometimes not. Today we may have a good day, but tomorrow not. Today it's ok to get $150 because some big player voted us, and for the rest of the month we may have less than $2 for every post we publish.

Or it may be normal like somebody who is consistently producing quality content (content which is enjoyed, which is useful, which is relevant) to receive more than the average. Because their writing skills are over the average.

If you allow that difference to exist, you open the space for your own growth and for the growth of others. If you confine your potential reward, to a fixed amount for everybody, you become a prisoner of your own choice, a crab in a barrel, condemned to grab down other crabs and equalize the reward pool for ever. It's a dead end.

I know, allowing that space to exist is difficult. Because of the fear. Fear of "draining the reward pool".

But it's exactly the feeling of fear which gives birth to envy, spite, conspiracy, or competitive feelings, to all these emotions that are creating the frightening environment in which we all live now.

The other alternative is generosity, compassion and the wish for others to be successful.

You can't understand this if you're in a barrel, fighting to keep other people down.

And unless you take a leap of faith, unless you decide to stop that stupid fight, allowing everybody to receive whatever he or she deserves, you will be forever confined in that pot.

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Edit: the rewards for this post, manually sent to my account, are listed below:

Contributor	Value
@denmarkguy	3 SBD
@trevor.george	10 STEEM

At a price of $0.18/Steem, this amounts to about $4.8. Which is pretty much the same I would get in liquid rewards by looking at the votes I got so far.

Anyway, all contributions have been returned with a 10% premium, as you can see below. Giving is receiving :)

image source - Pixabay

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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