Reward pool rape

Boy oh boy! Being absent from steemit for a while makes me wonder why I found it so enticing in the first place. Normally I never visit the trending pages and I think I should keep that habit. Steemit has become a screeming bazar of more or less well thought through money-grab operations.

Reward pool rape

The term was first coined by @fyrstikken

https://steemit.com/steem-politics/@fyrstikken/why-i-am-negative-to-whaleshares-and-believe-it-will-be-another-rewardpool-rape-for-steem

I thought it was a brave and valid point of view. And I supported it until a few days later when the mighty @fyrstikken launched his own reward pool rape. I don't know if it was "lucky Luke" or "minnow boost" or whatever. Point is the money grab operations are rampant and it is now very noticeable. My vote is about halved since July.

are upvote services needed?

Hell no! Today's new steemers are fooled to fuel the fire. @fyrstikken boasts and shows it off to everyone. New production studio and fancier videos. And the power -it ends up in his pocket. Which in turn makes it even harder for new steemers to get some traction. Ironically, the advertisements promises a quick fix and so the elite can laugh all the way to the bank. Steemit reminds me more and more of a pyramid scheme where siphoning off our common commodity steem power is the name of the game.

what can be done?

First of all: find your peers. If salsa dancing is your passion, find partners! If it is fly fishing, well you might have come to the wrong place, but I'm sure there is a niche audience for everyone.

Second: care for your following. And upvote meaningful comments. Skip the ones that are out of context. If someone reblogged you, go to their page and see if there is something that this person does is interesting. Vote for it and say why.

Third: if you're lazy like me (I'm not that lazy, I just find it hard to be active due to a nasty irritable bowel syndrome) make sure to use your power among your peers. A bot is my weapon of choice. Browsing through your following every day is another. Good upvoters are easy to remember.

Fourth: and here comes the politics. I have unvoted some of the most prominent money grabbers that also witness for the network. Not surprising @fyrstikken lost his support. But also @blocktrades lost it. And I suggest you do your due diligence and demand to know if witnesses has economic interest in the network other than witnessing. The witnesses do a job and that job directly influences the ability to run sideshow business. Which should not be necessary, the pay is good and pool raping should be for the users, not elected workers.

Be critical. Be demanding. And spread your power among your peers and the creative.

And mind you: I have nothing against fyrstikken. After all he is a fellow Norwegian. But his morals can -and should be questioned. I use one upvote service. One that I think adds value. It is @originalworks They validate (to the best of the bots ability) that your content is yours and not plagiarism.

Peace ✌️