To all my followers: REward or REspect, it seems you can't have both

in #steemit7 years ago (edited)

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Seven months on Steemit (this is not a milestone post!)!

It's kinda funny how something you couldn't even imagine can redirect your life in a very short time. It was strange to me how many writers on Steemit write about - Steemit! Well, I can compare it with rap music, many rappers write lyrics only about rap. I realized that everyone wants to share his own perspective. Everything new that you found out, well, you have to share that with others. Suddenly, everybody became a tutor. In my beginnings I wrote on Steemit about Steemit, but then, I decided not to do that anymore. I wanted to have something mine, something specific. So I started to write about little things from everyday life. Sometimes, it worked, sometimes it didn't! In August, I was upvoted by a whale for the first time. It was @berniesanders and I know that the guy read the post. I was so proud on myself. I converted all in Steem Power when STEEM was at 2.8$. A week later, the same whale upvoted me once again. I can't say that I deserved it, but I had pretty good comments on that post, a lot of photos and, some people said, really good story. After that, @blocktrades upvoted few my posts and now, I can realize why.

When you write a simple, positive thing, a human thing, a thing that others can find themselves in that, you don't expect too much. Then you see an upvote by @blocktrades on that post! That can only mean that @blocktrades also was reading posts before upvoting.

It is not so easy to plan to catch a whale, so I just continued to do what I did before.

Things started to get better. Before in my life, I never showed interest in photography. A good camera on my phone made me to try to make my blog more creative. @dantheman upvoted me twice.

Then, something strange started to happen!

@ned started to upvote me almost every day. Almost. First those rewards were between 15$ and 20$. Then, between 10$ and 15$. Now between 7$ and 12$. And each time when my post was upvoted my @ned, no other whale upvoted that post!

So I made a mistake! I relaxed too much. I was relaxed much more than I should ever be. And started to post short posts with some photos and small amount of words in it! And those post were also upvoted by @ned. I get reward 5 times weekly and I am not sure that anyone reads that post!

I know that it's not @ned, it is one of his curators. And all those rewards were given to me only because I am an active user, not because somebody actually liked the post.

It's like that I'm working in a factory in @ned's shift. And it's like no other whale have a right to upvote me! Then I started to look around myself. I noticed that many users started to wite shorter posts!

It seem like this: as the price of STEEM gets lower, the posts of Steemit users get shorter. And many users are working in the factory in the shift of some whale.

The next thing I noticed was something that I called a TV syndrome.

What does it mean?

My late father used to say that reality shows on TV were made to make people more stupid. People are hungry of unnecessary information. But that information distracts their minds from the real life. Many people I know would rather watch Big Brother show than documentary about famine in Sudan or about molecular biology. How did I connect this TV syndrome with Steemit?

Each time when I write one of my regular posts, simple minded posts with 5 - 6 photos and some text I get upvoted by the boss of my shift! But if I write something that can break my frames, something creative or intelligent, I don't get nothing! Is it possible that someone tries to suppress my thoughts? I don't think about that, but at this moment, all I want is my freedom!

I wrote few funny stories, my followers liked them very much. It's all in the comments. But on that posts, my whale decided to have some rest of upvoting me!

I know that many people here try hard, when they make some extra efforts, they don't get any rewards. It's not my problem at all! My problem is that I fell uncomfortable because of all bad, shitty post that I was upvoted on them! Really! I feel bad about it!

So, @ned, you are probably cool guy and I appreciate all things you've done for me, on all Steem Power that I have because of your upvotes. But I think that we overgrew each other. I don't want to offend you, insult you, but I think that you should stop upvoting me. I want to chase other whales, I want to have new ideas and I really really want that a whale who upvotes me, actually reads my posts.

Thank you!

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Thank you for posting @dumar022.

A thinking person you are.....

Heres a thought for you.....if curators are upvoting your posts...so be it....if one is becoming lazy in ones presentation...the responsibility lies with the one who is posting.

It is the individuals responsibility to produce that which comes up to one's own standards. The curator could choose not to up-vote but the quality of the work is firstly in the eye of the producer.

Yes...one could test the waters to see how low the quality would have to go before they stopped up-voting but in the end it is the producer who holds the standard for ones work....not the curator. The curator may have a standard and should hold to that standard, but that is not the issue. The producer is responsible for the quality of ones work.....is the issue.

Principle...With privilege comes responsibility.

and this principle....We cannot change others, we can only change ourselves.

Yes...it would be nice if they read it.....yes, it would be nice if the votes were real ppl......we just Steem on and please our own sense of responsibility.....and we will do fine. If you are a believer in Christ Jesus...we are to work as unto the Lord and not to men......now that changes the perspective indeed.

thank you @bleujay, your words are always encouraging... i am just very confused because I think that I haven't deserved some rewards that I got...

@dumar022 at least you're humble to think that you don't
perhaps that is why you are blessed with more

....and maybe you have not...only you know....now put it behind you and see it as a lesson learned.

That it is you who must believe in your work...no one can do it for you.

Guilt is not productive and must be set aside.

Wishing you and yours all the best. Cheers.

Yes, @englishtchrivy...you have said it beautifully.

bleujay could certainly have used less words...however @dumar022 is a gracious host and let bleujay write and write. ^_^

Are you giving other people more chance by "sacrificing" yours?

It's not about the chance. I see many better posts than mine without any reward! And when I make better post, I don't get any reward.

But you do support those other post with your upvote, that's really all we can do until their time comes.

From what I have seen, anyone who is consistent will have their time, some are just lucky enough to have theirs first. But eventually everyone will be compensated for our early efforts here..

Steem on my friend and know that I am happy for your success :)

whysoserious ? lol

Thank you for your support, I know that you can recognize a worthy post!

So that's interesting . Somebody called @abit gave you a huge vote right here . As I wrote before I can't get my mind set why they vote and who "they" are. Just keep on moving ...

Write more and I'll probably upvote.
Playing the lottery game.

I write when I feel it, quite active since June and I am not a gambler of numbers 🙄 but sweet for your reply. Much appreciated!

Thanks for the reply. Now following you.
These days I prefer voting on comments.
But sadly there is no comment feed feature on the steemit.com website.

I opted out of ned's votes really early on, by criticizing how those curators work. They are called the 'guilds' and there seem to be a few of them.

And you came to the same conclusion like I did.
They reward the same lame efforts frequently.
Some pictures, some text ... like a little essay for school.

Sadly, you already named the whales that would read your posts - the rest simply don't 'have the time to read all posts' and therefore simply don't.

Good luck !

and

Respect

Thank you @felixxx, i know that people wrote about this already but I had to say it! I know about some really good writers who posted very interesting content on Steemit. They were rewarded each time they posted. Now, their posts are shorter, uninteresting and they still get rewards..

Looks like there actually is another whale reading the posts; even the comments :)

So, can you explain why this one who reads and votes in comments doesn't vote for the whole post ? Super confusing

[nesting]
Yes, I voted. As of writing, the 7th one.

You can see it's funny that this post is now trending.

Super ! I start understanding your style . Really interesting ....278 votes ! Well deserved @dumar022

You mean me? I think I voted on the post.

Wow that was thinking out loud what I wonder myself for a while. I never heard of @blocktrades and I don't think I got any votes ever. I actually don't look much who really votes or even reads and cares for unless my followers post some comments. That's when I get real excited . Anyways your post made me follow you and very nice to meet you

Thank you, this is a very nice comment and I follow you back

@abit sorry to reply here >>>
It's good then if you choose your own way.
Geee , it would have been so much fun to vote on your comments but give you at least 1 cent 🌈 Soon ! I am patient hehe . Since I believe in building my network and followers without chasing some whales, it's super great I got one more. You got me back ! Thank you much. You just motivated me to write again tomorrow.

@stellabelle I 💯 agree sister on fire haha

Thanks for this post, @dumar002 . I'm relatively new here and I'm a silent observer of the "dinamics" behind the posts, the votes and the whales. In the few time that I've been here, I saw the same thing that you noticed about the different "use" of the upvote from the different whales. I always try to write good contents using my thoughts, my pics, a bit of my life and the right time to write my post in a "understandable" English (I'm Italian). My posts are not too long, but I work hardly to put myself into them. In the time, I was upvoted from different whales, but I see the same difference that you wrote and it's sound so strange for me because I always write in the same style and about similar subjects. I'm confused and I'm trying to improve my content, just for my satisfation and because when I write I need to write something that make me feel good ^_^

Hello from the other side of Adriatic Sea (Croatia). It seem that you did pretty good job in last 30 days. Steemit actually helped me to improve my English so... keep up to good work

Thanks to Steemit I really improved my English and now, when I write in Italian, sometimes I confuse italian/english words :D

I really like your story @dumar022, and Im feel in the same way like you @silviabeneforti !
My original language is Spanish and Im studying English in California, so this is a nice way to improve my grammar and also I love to write. Definitely I need to write something with my emotions involved!

Then write it! Include your thoughts, emotions and ideas! You new here, but you will do good work

Thanks for the advice. I will!

My impression is that most people are busy and with all the social media sites normal people do not have more than a few seconds to scan something. In my experience dealing with busy people they only have time for a sentence. I think its more of a time issue for people than any problem with your posts.

So, who has some extra time and extra million dollars to be a new whale who reads the posts?

That is the million dollar question, good luck!

thanks for sharing this valuable opinion. I agree everything you said and to some extent, I was/am in a similar situation like yours but not to the point that I would come out and say that I don't need big votes though! :)
people's satisfaction from writing comes from social recognition (views/comments) and facebook nails it to achieve its current success. Steemit comes with an extra motive - rewards, but it changes everything. people start to care how much they 'earn' and not only that, they start to care how much 'others' earn. without rewards, steemit is hardly anything new (not many people need their blogs blockchain-saved).
You may imagine what will happen if a company decides to fully disclose all its employees' salaries. "Why is he getting so much more than me? I did all the work!!" The company will fall apart. So, given that example, I think Steemit is doing alright, but still far from functioning well as this issue is something totally new. But again, I am not sure if this is only a lucky result because of a vibrant community (though decreasing) or if the inc. really try hard to tackle this issue. I would guess the former.
As an active user for quite some time, I find myself impossible to read a lot of posts, sometimes not even a few. So, IMHO, a good partitioning of the whole community will help, so people can have their limited attention within a limited range so we can build a lot of smaller and healthier sub-communities on top of this conceptually unified community, instead of just a single and huge steemit community where people's jealousy, frustration, disgruntle... spread wide and fast.
Thanks for sharing again and look forward to your new style. :)

Sub-communities is in the plan. Eventually it will come. Hope it's not too late.

yeah, I know. it is a Q3 goal in the roadmap. but the mechanism of how the sub-communities work is not yet clear. it might solve some issues but has the potential of creating new ones too! :)

I agree with all you listed, but I can't imagine Steemit as a company because I can't get fired. I do what I want and don't do what I don't want. I wanted to get rid of the daily ned's upvote because I noticed that I stopped to care about quality of my own posts.

Dont stress so much buddy, keep doin what you do. You would be making $0 on facebook or any other platform doing what you are doing here. I for one read this post and will read your future posts. upvoted + following you now.

thanks a lot, @thejohalfiles! I appreciate it!

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Sadly im not the best in steemit but i have posts with 2000 + upvotes , and how many look at them maybe 200 ..... i alredy have post about how you vote on somthing you never see but whu cares ( this mine post have 0 on payment s :P )

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