I have to confess my sins: Voting bots
Hi Steemians
In my first weeks on Steemit I tried my best to not use any voting bots. I remember that I commented on some posts related to voting bots with a big "NO".
I found myself moving very slow. I spent more than two hours writing a post with a lot of information, but nobody read it. If two or three people upvote your post or write a comment that is not related to that topic, you would understand whats going on. But as a newbie I was very happy for every comment and every question I got. Even one real question made me feel that "Hey there is someone interested".
I started telling people about Steemit and mentioning only the positive sides of it. Even I dont know how to swim, but have dreams of becoming a big whale swimming through the oceans :) A nice cute whale of course :P
Then the big disappointment came! I started watching my account and asking myself " What am I doing wrong?!" I was more frustrated seeing other users writing less than I did or sharing a joke and ending up on the trending page.
I watched many videos on Youtube mostly of @jerrybanfield and @terrybrock about Steemit and how to use it. I discovered many new techniques, tips and tricks. I also found a post regarding Steepshot application introduced by @steepshot and started using it immediately. If you dont know what it Steepshot, you can check my old post where I explained everything.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@hanen/do-you-want-to-add-up-to-20-tags-to-your-post-it-is-possible-now
I joined many photography contests made by @juliank and @kalemandra
I love the Food photography contest made by @howtostartablog because I think that we eat and see nice food everyday and everywhere. Why not share it! Even if we dont win, it is more about fun.
Many new users noticed my photos and started upvoting my posts regularly. I am still joining these contests and other new contests. I check everyday the #contest to see if anything new has been added there.
Anyway lets go back to the main topic :) So after being happy for a while I faced the same problem again. Suddenly after getting 45 upvotes per post I started getting hardly 15 upvotes. So I asked myself again "What am I doing wrong!". I want to make it clear. It is not about upvote or about money. The main problem is my reputation here. I didnt want to end up with (70) as a reputation score and no real followers who value my posts.
Now you can guess why I used voting bots.
I noticed that many users who end up in the trending page are using them whether they have a high or a low reputation.
Many people noticed my posts and started following me.
So my goal was not to end up in the trending section, but to be noticed. I personally never check any posts in the trending section. I prefer the Hot section or my feed.
As a new user it is difficult to be norticed by others unless you have a very unique topic or enough money in your account. And if you dont have the topic and the money, you need to work hard.
So if you decide to use voting bots, use them only for your original content. So you dont end up earning money and loosing followers.
Good luck on becoming a cute whale 🤗 I got to know there is a distinction in Steemit between us "good actors" using bit sparingly- only to promote original content- and bad ones who use the bots to "rape the reward pool" as some Steemians put it. I wasn't aware it was an issue until lately when I read some heated exchanges about the matter.
You are absolutely right. Voting bots can be misused and that will effect the platform. I also noticed lately many people complained about downvotes and seems like a big war going on here. I dont really understand whats happening, but hope that they can find a solution for it.
All you need to do is be consistent my friend. Don't loose heart....
Thats true :)
I think the problem is that you don't often vote for the comments that people make... or you vote for the first couple, but then don't come back to that post. I vote for every single comment on my posts... and I make friends with all my readers and I go to their posts and comment on their posts.
Have a look at this link you can see that @overkillcoin has voted you 145 times, but you've voted that account 42 times.. eventually people might feel you don't care about them... Just browsing your last few posts... one hasn't got any votes or responses from you, and another only has half.
You've always been lovely to me, and I enjoy your content... but while you're building your account you might need to be lovely to everyone.
hhh yes thats true, but I am doing that for a reason. I will tell you why! I am trying to reach 90 - 100% voting power. It takes days to reach it. In my first month I wasnt aware of that and upvoted people all the day like crazy. Can you imagine! And yes thats how I got many followers as well. But I ended up with 10% voting power and 0.00 or 0.01 upvote value. I started commenting on posts without upvoting for a day, but found it rude and didnt want to do it that way.
Now I will tell you why I have been lovely to you :) Because you always write good comments related to the topic or to your personal experience that I want to know about. Thats why you are one of the first people I notice when I come to the comments section. I dont want to upvote comments like " you are cute" or "Nice" anymore because the same users write the same comments every time. That means, they didnt even read the post :(
@overkillcoin has adopted me and is upvoting 2 of my posts everyday to support me reach the 1000 SP. He knows exactly what I am trying to do now. My aim is to reach the 100% voting power. That means instead of upvoting your post with 0.25 I can upvote with 0.35 or more in the next days. That will help me, help you and help many of my followers and non followers.
And yes I dont ignore all comments. Sometimes I dont upvote the comment, but prefer to upvote one of their posts to give it a better value.
I have two days to wait till I reach the 100% voting power and will try to stay in that level always and keep everybody happy :)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
That is really smart... I'm sorry, I never even thought of that. I do absolutely understand how hard it is to come back from going crazy and upvoting everything... I've been on 21% for the last 3 weeks, I just can't seem to shake it because I like everyone's posts and comment so much. I assume at some point I'll take some days off and my voting power will get back to 100%.
Thank you for being so lovely with me... I did notice that one of the posts that you didn't reply on, they were all nothing comments... As a married man I sometimes forget that women have to put up with silly comments all the time. I definitely wouldn't encourage that if I was in the same boat.
Thanks for this amazing reply... since you're working on your VP, I say keep doing what you're doing. I used bots for a few days (I learnt it from you actually) but they got too popular and the returns were often negative so I stopped.
Even if you like everybody's post, it better for them when you upvote their post at 100%. You will benefit from the curation and they will get benefits as well. So try to work on it in the next days. Instead of 40 upvotes per day, do only 20. Thats how it worked for me :)
Yes bots are popular these days, but I noticed something. The more money you invest in them the more reward you get. Try to invest a good amount in one good post and give it a try.
And you are following 98 users while I follow about 1000 and now I am reducing them. I and keeping only people with original content or good friends, so that I can upvote them regularly without anyone feeling upset lol Believe me thats a very difficult things to do. I spend everyday one hour checking my feed and every single post to decide whom should I keep :( And you will do the same after a while :P
I'm actually very, very picky about who I follow... because, yes I agree, it's very easy for the feed to get entirely out of hand.
I did notice the difference in returns the more money you spend... the percentage did seem higher the more you bid. Like if you bid $5 you might make $2 profit but if you bid $50 you might make $60 profit... but no more bots for me... I'm happy just commenting on my friends.
I'm not a bot! I found this post on "New" so there you go.... ;)
Thank you :) Now I am 100% sure that you are not a bot :P
I'm totaly agree with you, me too in the begenning I found my self advanced so slowly but time by time I discovered a lot of ways to earn , for example "good comment" it will be more value than post if you write useful comment
Yes thats true. I think in my first months I was more commenting than writing, because I didnt had many followers at that time. Now I try to do both.
thats good
by the way I put your @hanen in steemvoter I upvoted you automatically enjoy ;)
Oh thank you. I am glad to know that you are a genuine follower :)
I also joined Steemvoter, but didnt add anybody yet, because I upvote people when I am online and dont want any confusion.
I used bots too, for several months. I try not to anymore though, I think my last bot vote was in September.
Although it's an option I don't completely leave off the table either...
I see bot votes as equivalent to advertising... If someone spends hours on a post that's truly nice and a lot of people will likely enjoy, it's not a crime to use bots in my opinion. But if someone uses bots on stupid posts, this is something I'm against.
A good product might have expensive tv ads, giving them an advantage... But if their competing product that only advertises in the newspaper is a bad product, I'll support the good product! Advertising (or bot use) is not the issue so much as quality. (Just my opinion).
And who knows, I may change my mind again haha...
Good to know that I am not the only one lol
I called it a sin because I know that many people are totally against it and you feel like you committed a crime here :)
But yes you are absolutely right. Good posts deserve the advertisement at the beginning till the user gets more followers and wont need them anymore.
I didnt use them much in the last two weeks and wanted to see which content users liked more than the others. And I feel that I am doing well now a days :)
I don't remember the 10 commandments speaking about bot-votes XD
The potential for abuse is high, so that's why a lot of people would like to do away with them altogether... Will there be a solution to limit them? I'm not sure!
Glad you are doing better!
Hahaha, your bot up there does not look too friendly at all.
As the bots get more popular, they actually don't pay out so well and people actually lose money... especially if the currency changes between purchase and payout.
I wouldn't mind if the bots disappeared, but I think they'll always be around... as long as there is money to be made, people will always try and figure out the tricks to get more.
I know what you mean, I remember when booster or randomwhale were worth it... nowadays... not so sure... Too bad there's not a short-cut way to get more visibility without draining the reward pool, but commenting, replying and posting is the tried and true way to go.
When I first started with bots, I literally thought it was money for free... but when I started to spreadsheet it, it was rarely the case.
I was much happier once I forgot about the bots... trying to pick unpopular times and then seeing someone scream in at the last 2 minutes with a big bid to make it unprofitable for everyone was too frustrating.... but also I like the interactive nature of Steem, it really does suit me.
hhh the 10 commandments is nice. Well as people didnt follow the real 10 commandments, they wouldn't follow it here as well :)
You cant limit them because now many people and whales joining the service.
You are doing better than me. And I have been here 4 months longer. I'm where I am suppose to be and so are you. :-)
Maybe you should try some new tricks :) You have lovely cats and you can always use the #caturday :)
Tricks are 4 magicians.
hhh Thats true, but you can be one of them :)
@hanen
I also tried upvote bots, and also made a program that analysis their behaviour. How many people use them, how much upvote they give,which one is the best etc..
We passed the same way.
I am exactly with you on your point, only use the bots for original content.
According to my analysis, generally the money you get from the upvote bot, when curation is slightly more but generally less than you spend.
Stay positive.
FD.
Yes you are absolutely right. I noticed that I get sometimes less than I spend. Now i dont use them like befor. Once in a while when I see that a post didnt get what it deserves!
you loking soo cute. and thanks fot your post @hanen
Why you no upvote her post, but you upvote your comment hahaha... silly guy
Truly you have seen so many beautiful pictures of steemit steemit members will be crazy. @hanen
ha ha ha