The "Follow-4-Follow or Get Unfollowed" Attitude [Steemit Philosophy ]
How does that make sense? Here is how it rationally works, voluntarily.
If you like what I post about and want to follow me, great!
If I like what you post about and I want to follow you, great!
That's how it works for me. I don't try to use reciprocal psychological pressure to get followers or votes.
Do you want to see or upvote content you're not interested in?
If I don't like what the content you post about, then I am not really going to follow you, as I don't want a Feed that is full of posts I'm not even interested in. I also don't follow people who mostly Resteem content I'm not interested in, as I don't want to have Resteems "polluting" my Feed when I'm not even interested in the content.
You don't need to follow everyone that follows you. You don't need to upvote everyone that upvotes you.
People don't need to follow you for you to follow them. People don't need to vote for you to vote for them.
I evaluate and judge the content for the content, and follow people for the content.
Go ahead and follow people for whatever reason you want. But only keeping a follow if they follow you back, or only voting if someone votes back, indicates you didn't really want to follow someone or upvote content out of appreciation of their content/post/work. It shows you were only willing to give a follow or upvote if you got it back from the same person. This would create a closed loop of feedback interaction.
Do you think acting like that will produce a free-flowing interactive platform?
The interactions would be limited to direct reciprocity in 1:1 exchanges of follow-4-follow or vote-4-vote. Whether it's everyone doing it, or 2 people, the principle of the issue still applies.
Reciprocity should be applied in terms of general behavior on the platform. If we want to get upvotes on the platform, we should upvote others on the platform. You can like other people's posts, but they don't like yours. Other people can like your posts, but you don't like theirs.
You can't force someone to follow you if they aren't interested in your content, just like you can't force someone to upvote your content if they aren't interested in the type of content you post about.
Does it really seem reasonable that you should stop following someone if you are actually interested in what they post about? No. Then it's also not reasonable to expect someone to follow you simply because you follow them.
Lets drop the follow-4-follow mindset, and build a following of people who actually like the content we post, and where we follow people with content we like. That's how engagement will happen based on what we want and like to talk about. There is no engagement from so-called "followers" who aren't even interested in the content and are only followers because of follow-4-follow. Many just say "good post" or quick generic comments in order to get upvotes for fake support.
Don't you want real followers that actually follow your content because they like it?
Don't you want to give people a follow if you are really interested in following their content?
Thank you for your time and attention! I appreciate the knowledge reaching more people. Take care. Peace.
Please consider supporting me as a Steem Witness by voting for me at the bottom of the Witness page; or just click on the upvote button if I am in the top 50
Thanks for stating this well and eloquently @krnel... I have a very similar piece "in the works," which includes a couple of "real-life" cautionary tales to illustrate just how stupid and ineffective the whole F4F business is. I'll hold off for a few days till this has run its course...
Ultimately, do people want "followers" or actual readers? I suppose that depends on who you are, and why you are motivated to even be on Steemit...
To which end... unfortunately the "new generation" of minnows is starting to include more and more "clicking for cash cockroaches" which can be devastating for a platform... and we are only seeing the very tip of that iceberg, at 2000-ish new accounts per day; now multiply to a place where there are several million of them, all here purely on the "How To Get Free Money On The Internet!" (overuse of caps added for satirical effect) trail.
It's kinda sad... I never used flags for anything but blatant abuse in the past, but I'm more and more spreading a few about for repeated use of copy-pasta in comments, typically ending with the upvote-for-upvote and follow-for-follow crap.
I'm all about freedom of speech and all that and I wouldn't actually give a toss if I hadn't been part of 50-odd content platforms that went TU as a result of this kind of stuff being allowed to proliferate, unchecked... But I'm basically SELFISH! I still want there to BE a Steemit, 5, 8, 10 years from now...
I hear ya man :\ Thanks for the feedback ;)
Don't just buy friends family :) Make friends instead...
Exactly my take on this topic. @kernel.
It's weird and illogical all this follow me I'll follow you.
I see that I am gaining on average a couple of follows a day right now. I believe that much of that has to do with potential curation rewards that "followers" might get.
The reason I believe this to be true, is when I was on wordpress I had maybe 1 new follow a month maybe a comment or two and 5 or six (likes) on my most popular posts.
I realize this is a slightly different platform and I'm comparing green apples and red apples, but they are still both similar fruit.
It's easy to tell the Mcfollows from the ones who are truly interested in your content.
Steem on boss. 👍
Sooo, you won't follow me even if I say please and have a nice day? What if I said pretty please, would that help? Sugar on top?
What about an upvote then, I've got bills to pay you know cuz I'm quitting my job to get rich on steemit with a bunch of followers.
This type of mindset is absolutely hurting the platform, but unfortunately to be expected. Many people view their upvotes and follows as an investment and a way to attract some followers for themselves. This also leads to feeds being absolutely useless for people and actually devalues the whole concept of following people.
Yeah, feeds are cluttered indeed. I don't know how some people get through their feeds with so many following #'s.
I personally have that problem and I still haven't cleaned enough of the people I'm following to have a feed I'm really happy with. When you're following too many people, it's like you are not following anybody at all and I end up having to check on my favorite steemians manually when I get the time to be on the platform. If the feed had two levels, I would be very happy. I could have a few dozen people in the priority feed, so I don't miss any of their posts and when I've checked those out, I could move on to the wider-scope feed that I currently have to check on a wider selection of steemians who also have interesting stuff to offer.
That's a really good idea :)
I guess it shouldn't be that hard to implement for somebody who knows what they are doing and is already familiar with the Steem blockchain.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I noticed once I got up to around 800 followers I started getting the "follow me because I followed you" comments. I even got a few that sounded like thinly veiled threats.
I upvote quality, it's that simple. There are people that I follow on here, but that's not a guarantee of an upvote. If I don't like a post- sorry! For the first 6 months on here I never used a flag... but now if I get one of the "follow me, or else" or "I'll follow you back" comments- they get a flag. I don't like it but it's the only way I see to stop this behavior. Maybe they'll get it and go back to Fakebook where they belong. It seems that Steemit has become watered down with people that do not produce any content (quality or otherwise) they're just here for what they deem "free money" and they think they'll get rewarded for inane comments. Which ever way you slice it... They're ruining the platform for the rest of us!
"My Lord" ... LOL, that's something...
Yeah, more newbs means more people coming for money than normal :\
I noticed a lot from India.
I know what you mean and I try to avoid that behavior myself and those that ask that of me, like a plague!
You said it best. If members with your rep and SP keep flagging these, the problem will correct itself.
I hope so... Like @kernel says... They're polluting the comment feed!
I am glad you are shinning light on this.. I've been considering pulling the plug on steemit. This follow for follow attitude is what turns me off of this platform; it's in-genuine and reeks of desperation. I'm gonna give it a second to see if I can curate my feed to the content that interests me and hope F4F dies down soon.
I feel ya, it can get pretty annoying :P
I voted for you as a witness a while back, and thank you for providing that service. As for this post, I wholly agree, and I'm grateful I found you on fb last year, cause I do love your philosophizing, this platform needs truth on it! I'm also grateful that you follow me too :) And that it is genuine <3 <3 <3 Hugs!
Between that and the incessant spamming of comment threads with links, it's getting taxing.
I agree with all the points you've made about the follow4follow/vote4vote which is taking over. Where is Emily Post when you need her on Steemit?
Up until recently I had never dropped a flag on anyone in the Steemit. Now, I find myself using it in my own comment thread when unsolicited advertisements and self-aggrandizing post promotion with zero relationship to my own content start spamming my thread.
I feel ya, I've done the same.
Yeah referencing other contributions that add to what you are reading makes sense while just STUPID upvote me and I will upvote you is just, like you said, TAXING!
I'm starting to become of the opinion that everyone who comments asking for a reciprocal follow should be auto-flagged. It's toxic. Back when we had 30k+ members in our GP community if someone tried promoting their thread in another thread or something of equal bullshit value, their acct would be banned. If Steemit members wanted to play the follow for follow game they would've joined Instagram.
LOL, yeah it can get pretty annoying. I ignore it or ask them to not do it.