What I Learned from Auto Votes Not Working
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It’s no secret that automated votes are a huge part of this system and how authors are rewarded for their content. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out who votes, for example me, automatically.
People use different voting services, which don’t always work like they should. Sometimes there is a glitch in the system and the vote misses it’s target. That has been happening quite a lot in the past couple of weeks, I suspect it’s something to do with the hardfork.
Of course I have gotten used to a certain minimum number under my post, and feel disappointed when it’s less than that. This is after all my livelihood. But I was always prepared for things like this, because I know you shouldn’t take anything for granted. There is no contract, no guarantee that you will get rewards, any rewards, let alone whale votes. They can come, they can go. It’s the name of the game.
You just need to keep on doing what you do, and do it even better, if you are serious about it.
I keep a same pace of 2-3 posts a day, no matter the rewards. Of course, if this would no longer pay my bills, then I would have to get a real job and reduce the rate I’m posting.
Getting to the actual point of my post, I noticed I have a fair bit of manual support. A few times where a post missed all automated votes, the rewards were still higher that what I would have gotten with the normal autovotes. It has been really heartwarming to notice that I have actual followers who see me, not just the blind upvotes.
I have said this before, but how I determine if my post is interesting, is not just by the dollar number, but by the comments. If someone gets a lot of big automated votes, most of those voters might not even see the post, so the big number doesn’t actually mean that there is something valuable in the post.
The fact that a post doesn’t have much rewards, isn’t such a big deal, if there is an active comment section regardless. That is what for me, shows that there is value in what I do, and I am more encouraged to keep doing this.
Automatic votes are against the concept of STEEM and only exist because the economics are poorly designed. Humans should be judging the content instead of mindless bots voting whenever a set of rules is matched.
Steem is what ever the people make it, isn't that the point of decentralisation? Of course I think people shouldn't just blindly upvote what ever, but for investor point of view, most don't have time/care to be carefully curating every day. And me being on the other end of it, the one receiving rewards, I am not gonna bash a system, that is beneficial to me. Yes, I am very selfish.
Steem is good people but also bad people.
So you like your content and being auto-voted, because of the money, despite knowing that no human saw your picture or read your text. I guess if that makes you happy and gives you some validation... then good for you...
Not going into it too much, but determining good and bad people, is not black and white. But there has always been, is and always will be both good and bad in the world.
I'm not sure if you read the whole post but this is a part of it:
But I'm also not saying that the money doesn't matter, of course it does, it's what makes me able to do what I do, and pay my bills while doing it. If you take a few minutes and check some of my posts, you'll find that I have a very active comment section, so it's not just blind upvotes but genuine interests in me, and what I talk about or show, not many people in here can say the same about their activity levels.
I have always felt uncomfortable about autovotes and it's impact on the quality of posts on the system and it's use for gaming the rewards by their timing . So i know where @heimindanger is coming from.
I also agree with you that it is the comments that show value. For me it is disheartening to get votes but no comments, this is a social media after all. I was thinking of setting aside a reward for the best comment on my posts and see if it improved engagement.
I think removing the ability autovote or use bitbots would do jack shit for the overall quality of the posts, or if it would, it would only be for the worse.
You don't need to make a big thing out of it, but you could try what I do, give little upvotes to most people that comment to you, if the comment is half decent.
I don't like the way Steem is becoming a network full of bots and vote selling. I know there are no rules against it and people can do as they wish but I signed up for Steem for the romantic notions that it was advertised as being. All I can do is stay true to what I think is good for it's continuing growth and try and ignore all the nonsense.
I already upvote most comments on my posts as I think engagement will be Steems saving grace and like to thank those who take the time to be organic users with a similar vision as my own. Ok, i'm down off my soapbox. Thanks Eve for your reply.
I'm not a huge fan of the vote bots either, never used one, and hardly ever upvote anyone who uses them. Automated votes from people that want to support a content creator they like and bought votes are two very different things, don't get the them mixed up.
I have you on my auto vote list, it's a pretty short list though, mostly friends and people I know make good quality posts. I set it up so they always get my vote, because I am a busy person who can't always manually vote for them. But I usually go back and read the posts, well after the auto vote, when I have time.
I have no problem if people start implementing CAPCHA before every vote.
Ain't nobody got the time for that!
Except me, I have no life outside of internet, and I rather give bigger votes and less of them, than spread tiny ones everywhere.
I voted with a bot for time and consistency reasons... I'm here in person for real interest reasons. I wouldn't just let the bot run blind. I'd be missing all the awesome content I directed the bot here for in the first place.
And ... I know the comments are going to be entertaining.
Eve, you have a fantastic blog! I'm glad you're here.
I know you keep tabs on the people you have set automated votes for, and I think that is the best way to do it! For people like you, I will do my best to keep the entertaining ongoing in the comment also :)
Wow, great post! And it gives me the confidence that what I do will pay with a bit of endurance and patience :)
It’s not easy, but it’s possible :)
Have a manual vote today 😛
I've had several, thank you very much ;D Someone needed to pay for her own Steemfest ticket, so I would prefer not having many more at this time 😂
You need a sugar daddy :P
Yes I do, but I'd be a shitty sugar baby, I'm not very compliant 😈
yeah, your comments section is always full and fun - it is a good sign that you are on the right path...but i'm very envious lol ;)
It's taken a lot of months of almost around the clock comments back and forth to get this place to what is today :)
Yeah, i know how much you post and how often you reply Eve - these are the fruits of your commitment...
I had the same thing....
I know it's not all about the money but it does help prevent you from taking it all for granted/ getting complacent!
I paid for my own steemfest ticket too.
I've seen far too many wealthy westnerners with the begging bowl out for one for my liking!
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Exactly, it does good to have a bit of reality check to wake you up from the face sense of security.
I'll see you in Krakow, soon! :) P
Ps. have you checked/participated in the #roadtosteemfest writing initiative? Check it out if you haven't!
Cheers... see you there!
I've seen the series, but I'm just really not in the mood for writing about myself atm tbh.
I'm just looking forward to a few days holiday and to meeting a few oddballs.
I'll probably spend most of the time in the spa!
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It's a good way to lurk what kinds of oddballs will be attending ;)
I'm very much tempted to run away from the conferences too and just go explore the city :P
That's always an option!
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Well it's not much but I will do what I can so you never have to get a real job. upvoted ;)
Thank you :D but I think you bring more to the table with your regular comments :)
I just gave you manually one cent, hope it at least warms your heart :D
It does, thank you!
It would be sad if you had to get a job and not add the amount of value you add to this platform. So hopefully you can keep it up :D
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THANK YOU! 🙏
Absolutely true. For now, almost all my votes are manual and I hope they will continue to be in the future; no point in upvoting something if i don't like what I see. As I grow here and follow more and more people, unfortunately I can't upvote them all as I would want. And since voting at 10 or 20% and not rewarding an author makes no sense to me, manual is how the vote will stay. Maybe after minnowhood or dolphinhood, I can spread the love more easily :)
I tried the autovotes at some point, but it was not good. I only vote manually, and usually it's a pretty small circle that produces content that entertains me regularly.