I'm going to make this short, mostly because I've lost faith in writing long thoughtful posts on Steemit. I could be wrong. I'm just a month on Steemit, after all. These, however, are the things I have observed during that time:

Steemit.com is supposedly built on a proof-of-brain reward system. You contribute to the blockchain by posting valuable contents--emphasis on valuable--and get rewarded for your contribution. What I have observed, though, is that you DO NOT get rewarded for your contents, valuable or non-valuable, you get rewarded for how much you can make big friends and connect, in other words, how many whale-asses you can kiss.

P.S: THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT!

I repeat, P.S: THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT!

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Arbitrary Upvotes: Do they even exist?

Joining Steemit, listening to my friend who introduced me talk about it, reading the whitepaper, reading people's posts, my expectation was simple: write something good, post it, if it's good enough, people will like it; these people, by liking it, will upvote it, and give you monetary reward for your content. In other words, the better you write the better your chances of earning.

Fundamentally this is true. Theoretically this is true--and admirable. Practically, however, I have found it false.

One month of Steemit and I never received any unexplainable Upvotes worth up to 5 cents. What do I mean by unexplainable? I mean an upvote given by a total stranger, who isn't just connected to your post, but feels a connection to it.

Could it be then that my posts aren't good enough? A writer is the worst judge of his own work, but, really, I have written some kick-ass stuffs on Steemit. It also gets more depressing when you see a useless comment earning $100.

The first major upvote I got on steemit was from @v4vapid, for entering into his contest. That is explainable. I get up to a dollar upvote for using some tags. That is explainable. But a totally totally unexplainable upvote, on a post, given by someone not connected in any way to it? NOPE!

Once again I could be wrong, but I don't think I am, seeing as my friends here say the same.

Once again the reminder: THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT

I keep saying this is not an indictment because even though Steemit.com is not proof-of-brain as advertised, it is Proof-of-good-relationship (skills) which is not so terrible given the fact that this is a social media site first and foremost. But there are drawbacks and advantages, which I would be happy to explore, but which I'm discouraged to because even though my brain wants to work on it, it knows it won't get shit for this post because my heart hasn't felt like making much relationships, (i.e kissing asses).

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So here's what I'll do; I'll put my observation to the test. I believe this post is good enough to generate 8 arbitrary SBD (took that number off the top of my brain). If it does then I take it all back, and write a stunning panegyrics on proof-of-relationship and apologize for ever criticizing proof-of-brain. But if it doesn't, well, no one cares, right!?

The medium is the message.