The reason why Minnows vote power sucks!
People are arguing that minnow’s votes should be worth more. I would present some reasons why they are not. When you are starting out on Steemit you need to show the community why your vote has value. Steemit does not want people who are not invested in the system being able to determine how it is used. When I say invested I don’t mean monetarily I mean ensuring that the platform has quality. If you don’t agree with this, you can still use the site like any other social media site and you will get the same rewards those others provide you (none).
Think of Steemit as a company. The rewards are the daily salary of every one that works here. When you start out you have to prove that you are a good employee and bring value to the system. Your votes initially do not carry weight because you have not proven yet that you are capable of determining what is valuable to the community. The best way you can show your value initially is by posting and commenting on the content that is already here. Posting and commenting is fastest way you can gain Steem Power outside of buying it directly. This is how the community can judge the value you bring to the platform initially. Imagine you are a new employee, do you think it’s fair for you determine how much someone who has been working at the company for a while should be paid? You need show that you value the company and people in it. Earning Steem Power is the way you show everyone that you are invested in the success of the company. Voting is like being in the finance department. You are determining who and how much the other employees should be paid for their work that day. But you don’t have anything invested, how can we determine that you have the best intentions or judgement for this?
I know a lot of people think it is not fair that whales and dolphins have so much influence. They have this influence because they have brought value to platform. There four ways that these people have brought value to the system.
- They found Steemit very early and choose to take a risk on it
growing by investing their expertise in making it what it has
become. - They came in early and took the risk of buying Steem Power with
their money. - They created content through posting and curating that the community
felt was valuable. - They are well known outside of Steemit and have brought many people
(you) to the platform which increases the value.
These people have brought value to the platform and earned their influence. Why should someone starting out have a lot influence if they have not done any of the above?
Now I’m not saying minnows votes do not have value. They do. On aggregate minnows carry a lot of weight. They help determine what users should pay attention to. If a post has a lot votes but the monetary value is not that high, it means there is something valuable that is being missed. The number of votes is a signal that the community finds this content valuable and should be rewarded. This is a signal to those with more influence to make sure that user is paid. Without these votes, good content can potentially go unnoticed. It is impossible for whales and those with influence to be able catch everything without these signals. So you as minnow have a duty to vote on content you feel is good because it does carry weight in mass, it just might not be as valuable monetarily because you don’t have enough Steem Power yet.
Excellent post! UPVOTED! Your analogy of Steemit as a company makes a lot of sense. As a minnow I am willing to work hard at improving my comments, posts and therefore my voting power! Actually it's fun!
Great points, I've thought this and for some reason haven't voiced my opinions...but thanks for sharing yours.
You make some good points. This is a complex issue though and there is no way you will ever be able to make everyone happy. That's why things need to keep gradually being tweaked to arrive at the best system we can have through slow iteration.
Thanks for being part of the good fight. Cheers!
Minnows make what they put in, it's as simple as that. I'm a minnow myself. I signed up a few days ago, and I've gone from 25 to 51 in reputation, gained about 30 Steem Power besides a small amount I bought, and just had a $200+ post. Three whales upvoted my post, which is why it went that high so soon. If I hadn't created content others found interesting or amusing, I would still be stuck where I started!!
So, if 1,000 minnows of 3SP each could outvote a 3,000SP voter, what incentive did that 3,000SP voter have to not simply create 1,000 accounts of 3SP?
Because having all those account just dilutes the votes of each account. You could 1 account that gets 3 SP versus 1000 account each getting 0.003. There is a finite pool of resources that get distributed each day.
Great post, im very much a minnow, only been on for a week or so. But agree 100% of the logic of it. Its good to be pushed to make the best content you can. Learn what works and what does not.
Yes I agree, everybody has to grow. It's a challenge that all of us minnows has to face.
Steamit is virtually a microcosm of the larger creative economy as a whole. If you want to make money, you have to put time, effort, and thought into everything you do. You also need to have a sense of humor to accept the mistakes you make and to laugh at the times when you get lucky.
First, no voting and commenting is not the best way to earn SP. Mining is far superior as far as I can tell. I've earned 4-5SP through mining in the last few days, and maybe 1SP in the last week or two.
Second, the problem isn't that minnow votes are low powered... it's that they are value-less. I've seen posts upvoted into the double digits with no reward whatsoever, and posts with around 4 votes worth $20. Meanwhile a dolphin can vote on their own comment and earn money.
The other thing I'm noticing with comments is that people don't vote on them. I comment far, far more than I write and have gotten a few upvotes... but I've gotten more people actually replying and saying "good comment" or similar who did not upvote. I realize the algorithm was changed to put more emphasis on comments but that doesn't seem to be working when people don't vote on comments...
And still the major problem is that this creates a strong motivation to vote for what you think whales will like, rather than what you like. There's a strong anarchist population here, for instance, so voting anarchy stuff is a better bet than voting for anything "statist" or even things about current politics. That may sound fine to you, but if we actually want the platform to go mainstream we're not going to draw people in as a 24/7 anarchy platform. People with other political beliefs need to be able to meaningfully upvote quality posts supporting their viewpoint as well, especially for Steemit to go mainstream.
This probably should be more coherent but I should have been asleep an hour ago. :(
I said posting and commenting are best for gaining SP not voting. Second the average person is not going to jump into mining. If you have the expertise to mine then you are not the typical user on Steemit. A typical non-technical user would be better off buying the Steem Power than purchasing hardware for mining.
Well I've gotten even less from posting, and mining is still better even if other people can't do it. :)
Let's face it, the BEST way is to be famous enough to bring a following... But not everyone can do that either!