Death of an Optimiser
What is the best way to maximise profits at Steemit? How can I maximise my value?
Steemit is a very complex ecosystem that has many sides to it, many factors that affect this and that and when people come in, nearly all are somewhat overwhelmed by the amount there is to learn, interact with and develop processes for. For those that come in and think that it is simple, you have missed something, look again.
For me, the complexity is interesting and all of the behaviours that twist in and out of each other are fascinating to observe and try to understand. Do I always see them clearly, do I always get my evaluations correct? No, definitely not but, overall, I do an acceptable job at it for my purposes.
But, let's face it, most people are here for the money and all people care about it to some extent, even though it may not be the core focus. However, I have onboarded quite a few people now (about 40 in the last 6 months) and have witnessed something that confirmed my suspicions all along. Those trying to optimise for profits are the worst at making profits.
This is paradoxical in some way but quite obvious why in my opinion. They have gone with their desire for profit and their intuition on how that is to be achieved however, haven't factored in how the platform behaves. Most of the optimisers have been technical thinkers and have looked at the algorithms and how they can use it to extract maximum value.
The ones who have done the best however are the community builders who instead of trying to maximise for value have focused their efforts on community interactions. While the optimisers had their head buried in detail, the social thinkers were creating connections, building relationships, getting to know people and finding out all kinds of information that doesn't exist in the coding.
What people seem to forget often here is that for the most part and for consistency, humans vote, not bots. Sure, some of the bots are autovoters but, a human generally sets them. People think that it shouldn't be 'who you know' in this world and it should only be 'what you know' however, getting to know the whos is a skillset in and of itself and is therefore a what you know process. The social people know what they know and that is to develop good relationships.
I read part of a conversation today about answering to comments and how long it takes. Those that are not great at doing this and answer with Thanks! are not much better than those who comment with Nice post! are they? This is part of the social experience and if one doesn't realise they should be interacting more but, they are trying to optimise reward, they are in for an uphill battle. What kinds of reply to comments do socialisers make in comparison to optimisers?
Intuition is based on knowledge which means being social for a technical optimiser is counter-intuitive. It is outside of their comfort zone and not where they enjoy playing but, they classify themselves as intelligent based on what they do know, not what that don't and are likely slowing down their own progress because of an unwillingness to introduce new skills.
Now, here is the really big part of the difference between an optimiser and a socialiser at Steemit, support. Oh, you thought it would be more? Nope, the socialisers get a lot more support and I don't just mean on their posts. They get emotional support, they have helpdesk support and content support, they have people who offer a hand when required and those who they can share a joke and a laugh with. They have, community.
I know there are times this place gets frustrating. I know it. There are times market fluctuations affect quickly, FUD spreads wide and a whole host of changes can combine to make the environment seem very hostile. Even though the technical optimisers should be comfortable here, they still seem to have emotional responses but, who do they turn to? Community matters here even if all you want to do is make money.
Those trying to optimise their way through Steemit, take a step back and see what you are missing as no matter your goals here, a sense of community is likely to help you achieve them. We may all die alone but, we need not live that way.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
People tend to put more accent on their strengths, which is fine in my opinion. Even in a social environment, there will be some who will act as they are alone or without caring for any interaction. Does that make them effective? Not if they need votes, and here in the steem ecosystem they need them. And if we're talking about optimization, it's much better to have relationships and a following which upvote your content and interact with you, than to upvote yourself.
Slightly changing the subject, I keep hearing the idea that once SMTs will be out, steemit and blogging will fade out in the ecosystem. What do you think about this?
I actually think it might strengthen the blogging as those who aren't bloggers will go onto other interfaces. I don't think it will fade out but, it won't likely be centre stage. the good thing about Steem is there is room for many diverse contents.
I've seen that there's an overall discouraged feeling to Steemit right now. Many people from different circles who are lamenting the state of Steemit (and Steem). Stories of people quitting because of _____, people misbehaving by _______, bots that are _____. It can all get a little overwhelming. I appreciate your positive spin on things. It's not so much about the money or whomever is stealing rewards, it's about the community we're building here and if there are relationships that being a person enjoyment here, then don't focus so much on the other stuff... in doing so, you'll probably earn more money anyways.
There are many facets to it and I like to play in all I can (or try to) because I enjoy the challenges. Yes, there are some bad behaviours and flag wars etc but, those who are against it might not yet understand the reason for it. Many don't understand even the basics of how the pool or stake works so commenting on the flagging is difficult. Many misbehave here too and there is a great amount of small accounts doing just that. Read the comment chain on this post with 'joes' and you will see what I mean. All levels of accounts are trying their best to extract all they can with some more, and some less clever than others.
It is fun though isn't it? :)
Unbelievable. I mean I do believe you but in light of my own experience that seems out of this world. And you say that you have brought many kinds of people on board. I must be doing something totally wrong but when I've talked about Steem as a platform allowing bloggers to make money the response I've got from a dozen or so technical people has varied from lukewarm to borderline hostile. I've found that a lot of people get hung up on the value flow model of Steem. Yes, the value given to STEEM and SBD comes exclusively from speculators at the moment. But who the f**k cares if you can start creating content and getting paid right away without investing a dime of your money in the system? A friend of mine who held the most positive view of Steem spends hours every day on Facebook because he loves talking about stuff with his friends. He told me that he only made a few hundred at best per year or a few on Google Ads on blogspot.com back in the day. I told him I made a few thousand euros worth of STEEM and SBD Steem. I haven't been contacted by him since we met a couple of weeks ago in Tampere. I gave the URL of my blog on Steemit to another one on a piece of paper and yet another one took a picture of it with his mobile phone. I'm not going to push it with these people. I got the impression that the hostile one may have some mental issues.
I used to hang out with a social scientist about fifteen years ago when I lived Tampere. But he is a bit older and his English is poor. With one friend of mine (also in IT) who is not on any social media (except for LinkedIn maybe) and is also a go player, I discussed the possibility to create an account for a go club and finance the club activities on income generated by that Steem account but there is the problem of everyone having to create an account to be able to participate and also tax complications if the account is owned by a club or perhaps the national association.
Who else have you onboarded except for @markos86? @markos86 is a busy professional and family man. Was he into cryptocurrencies before joining Steem? I'm running out of ideas. I don't know any artistic people who've been struggling financially and eager to supplement their income by engaging in creative work except for the man who onboarded me himself. There is one young aspiring web developer in Lahti who has an account already by he's been away for over a year now. He says he's afraid of posting anything on the blockchain because it "stays there".
Before experiencing first hand the incredible resistance to new things even rational people can have I wouldn't have believed it. My hat is off to you because you've been able to persuade that many people to create Steem accounts.
Many have been students of mine or their family members so there is already a decent relationship there. There have been a few friends and friends of friends too. I only have express permission to say markos86 so I respect their privacy. @adigitalife I onboarded 10 months ago but he has only just really started. Also, some of them have started asking me to onboard a couple too. My brother @galenkp has also brought a few onto the platform also.
Early on, I tried to get a couple friends I thought would be interested from Australia and one said 'scam' the other followed the advice of the first. That would have been in march or so. pity really.
Have you tried setting the account up them through steeminvite? I have found that for a few, it was the hurdle of going to the site themselves that was the issue. Quite a few have actually signed up themselves though.
I don't understand why it is so hard for some people, what is the issue? Perhaps the idea of the money actually scares them to some degree or perhaps the warning of immutable blockchain. It could also be tax too I guess for Finns. Whatever it is, the resistance is very high.
I think it could be just like anything new for Finns, people want a crowd first. Twitter was well established in Sweden almost 2 years before Finns started really adopting. Finns in general are not early adopters.
Maybe try more one on one with a laptop?
Honestly though. I just don't get why so many seem to fear it.
Couldn't agree more.
Your comments should remind people that they're not on facebook. That they've found a better option.
Then they'll come to like you as they grow to like the platform.
Many miss the true value of this place as they are focused only on the financials. I know that you see long here too even though there are financials.
I am going to take this and sit it beside a bottle of chilled beer and sip it slow until I get everything it promises.
When we accept that community is the mainstay of steemit and that who you know matters more than what you know, then we will find that which we seek.
I came here for the money fair and square. I was told that it was an easy way to make a quick buck. I learnt the rest from the different communities that am in and I am still learning.
But the thing is, I am not making friends or chatting because I want upvotes or follows, no. I have made friends with intelligent people who I believe will walk past my post if I write trash.
Interact on steemit because I have a life outside steemit. I may be worth so and so sp, have a reputation of 54 but out there I am still a struggling writer, who dreams of being published. So a little group of like minded individuals who share my dreams and aspirations, who are or have faced the obstacles that I face now, is not bad idea. I am making friends for life here and that is the truth.
You know I have come to build a world around here over the last 7 weeks that I have been here. Glad I was quick to take a round study of the platform to know the role socialization will play in my success story here. Like you mentioned I have onboard over 50 people since I came here but am disappointed cause a lot of them gave up within weeks when the money wasn't coming. At a point guilt took over me when I look at all the Steempower delegated to those accounts by Steemit which is lying in waste and consuming bandwidth. But Oh well, sometimes when trying to do good in life sh*t shows up.
The community part is where people are missing. This place can be fun, entertaining and educating at the same time. There are tons of people to meet here, on discord and on Steemit chat that you can even build a relationship outside Steemit.
I think the issue with optimizer/socializer is a reflection of who we are in the real world. It has been in us and we are only showing it here. I was looking at a case of three accounts last night which have been flag over 50 times in the last two weeks for spam comments (I have done upvoting you.... kinda comments). Instead of them to look at why the community rejects them, they simply improved in their spam act by trying to make the comments looking.
I took this one from one of the improved 'nice post' on this thread.
I think there is a difference between optimizing. Optimizing is not bad, if you know what you should optimize.
Is it posting? Commenting? Upvoting? Networking?
exactly. people optimise what they know without working out if they should actually be knowing something else.
most of us came in with the money notion and we lost the war easily cause we became frustrated when we saw our hard work earn peanuts, we have to learn to connect with people on a social level rather than economical . i have been here and had the same thought pattern . alot has changed and the platform keeps changing
it very true we get the same idea as those get rich quick scheme and we believe that it will happen in an instant and then reality hits you, this is a journey
we try to cheat our way to earning steem and in the process deny our selves and the community the much needed experience and knowledge that we posses when we fail to add to the rich conversation been articulated by the writer
Joe and Joe, it seems like you are the SAME Joe so it makes this conversation weird.
name sake not the same person, coincidence .... maybe
Maybe. I just noticed the transfers between the two accounts in the wallets.
Ha ha, I haven't seen someone do that before! What will they think of next?
I totally agree with you about
I am the newbie in steemit and I am working on generating good contents especially funny gifs. But, nobody upvote and resteem. This means I never grow up.
There are so many people like spam. I hate them but people who work too much on steemit getting nothing, disappointed and do these things.
When my account was stolen one week ago, If it is not for people who knew me through my comments I wouldn't have been able to recover it. Human interaction will always be the last resort for everyone who actually wants to make real and long lasting progress. For steemit to evolve it should emphasize on socializing more that profiting, in other terms profiting that is solely based on socializing. Thank you @tarazkp.