Pride and Foolishness
I am not a proud person, but I am a foolish one. I go through a constant struggle lately at Steemit, do I love it, or hate it?
Today, I was part of a long and fervid conversation in chat about buying votes and delegation that must be used to self-upvote to be able to pay for the delegation. I don't really want to get into that again but I see this as harmful for the community and Steemit as a whole.
For me as a content provider who bought into the Steemit idea that content was required, this goes against my own behaviours and held philosophy as to how value is added here. If one can buy an upvote, there is actually no content needed at all to vote upon, just a bidding service where highest bidder gets the money. With each round, the seller gets more, can increase the vote and therefore the buy-in price.
It starts to sound a lot like a type of pyramid scheme except instead of adding members, it takes them away by making access to the pool more and more expensive. This doesn't sound like my kind of thing, hence the love/hate struggles.
The problem is that I really enjoy thinking, developing and creating content and I spend a great deal of time doing it. There is personal value in this of course but, if people are not reading, commenting or upvoting it, then the time spent developing it and posting it becomes wasted, especially if I need a financial return to be able to warrant the time spent.
But, why post it at all? When I need a bit of extra money, I bid on a vote service send 100 SBD and get 150 back. The step of having content of any quality is superfluous I just need to make sure I bid high enough to get the amount I need back.
Steemit can just become an auction site that has no content at all and you send your bid and account name and if you win, the bidding service credits your account directly. Well, still in seven days otherwise they would have to actually use liquid Steem or SBD, which they do not want to do as that is actually their money out of their account.
Am I a fool, are my own values getting in the way of utilising the site to maximise my returns? It definitely appears so as I need not spend 10 hours a day on 2 or 3 posts, answering comments or curating at all as I can get a better average return by vote buying or through delegation and self-voting.
I understand the site allows it and there are some pros to it but, does this mean that Steemit as a content platform is dead? The only people posting for content will be those who cannot afford to buy the votes anymore, the minnows who have been squeezed out of the market.
Just now, I have chosen to run an experiment and take a delegation from @nextgencrypto and see whether I can get a return for myself and still give some spread to accounts. I am not going to change my behavior too much at least in the first week to see what happens but I have taken it for a month.
I actually feel really weird doing this but I figure I cannot judge others without at least trying it and like in the conversation that inspired this today, The system allows it, so take advantage of it.
In some way I have to agree. If it is only the for profit at any cost people doing this and no long-term investors, the site is bound to die. If it is people with big accounts constantly taking Steem and SBD to markets, same thing. If they are big voters with self-voting and circle-voting schemes, the site becomes filled with toxic whales.
I feel very hypocritical at this moment but I truly feel I have to experiment and see if I can do something good with it and still pay back the rates.
Wish me luck or kick me. I am not sure which I deserve yet.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
Excuse the poor text, it is almost 330 am here. I normally stop writing around 1 am and then spend time getting to know people and with friends in chat at this time. I have a day job, a baby daughter who will be up in 4 hours, a wife who is a full-time student and a small consultancy to run. Like I said, I put in my effort, I pay my dues and none of it is easy. I am perhaps over-invested in my want for Steemit to succeed but I think it can be so much more than it currently is and really help a lot of people. Let's see.
Comments welcome.
Hey man, you deserve whatever returns come your way. Your hard work and dedication to the platform has been, and should continue to be, rewarded in kind. I am an advocate of content and, through my naïveté when it comes to the platform and all its intricacies, will probably remain that way. I don't understand the seemingly endless opportunities of making money on the platform and simply write what comes into the coconut sitting on top of my shoulders. I don't ask for votes or follows and am happy to receive anything that happens to come my way.
I can understand a person's desire for greater rewards; We live in that more, more, more society don't we? And certainly in your case you deserve it through your great content and efforts. However, no content, or lack of valid, interesting and original content will drive me away from the platform. I saw a post this morning where a user posted an image (not their own obviously) with no supporting text other than the heading that said Butterflies or some such thing. It's that sort of thing that drives me away.
Having said that, I am grateful that you insisted I join the platform back in June of this year and have enjoyed writing, sharing my experiences, likes and dislikes, (and my amazing food blog - You know you love it) and so will continue to write and post. I have met some interesting characters and grown my understanding of things.
So, you are after some more rewards? Sure, go right ahead, you deserve it! Oh, you asked for luck or a kick...So, "good luck," and I'll kick ya in July next year when I visit. :)
Really looking forward to having you guys here next year.
I have got to the stage where if I do not try to step it up for me and for others, the platform will slowly collapse under butterfly pictures and nonsense. As said, I am going to try and keep my posting methods similar but spread as wide as I can. Let's see. Talk soon Bro.
;)
This is a tough topic to be honest. I am, at this current point not one that buys votes through bots or anything. I also am wondering if I am not using the system to the best of my ability. But, when I came on here I wanted to try my best and hardest and hoped that my content and enthusiasm would speak for itself, which is not necessarily true. I am a full-time mom and homeschool as well so my time on Steemit is limited in a way but I do the best I can. I have used bots twice for myself and felt quite weird doing it. When I first came on steemit I upvoted all of my own posts because of some posts on saw on steemit suggesting it for newcomers. Once I realized how it was kind of frowned upon (even though still allowed) I pretty much stopped it. I vote for myself from time to time but it is often so just help me get SBD so I can pay out my art contest that I run as the money usually comes out of my own pocket.
We can easily be talked into things in one way or another, even though we may think it is our own thoughts. I express caution, but it is an interesting experiment. I wish you well with it.
I fear you have gone over to the dark side..;) I sincerely hope you find that balance between using your delegation for the greater good of Steemit while still being able to pay for it. It's a fine line.
I think your sentiments are in the right place, and I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Having to self upvote more than for others should be a red flag that it's not worth it.
Good luck
We will see, I am darker than those around me but generally live on the lighter side of life (despite the coming dystopia we will face :D ). I will experiment but I am willing (and able) to wear a bit of a loss if making a gain means crossing over.
Keep an eye out anyway, just in case.
I look forward to seeing how your experience goes.
Personally, I don't look favorably on it, but I don't think any the less of you about it ... for now. Ask me again in a month if you stop writing good stuff and heavily upvote your own stuff.
What I'm more interested in is the behavior of the system over all rather than what any one particular user is doing. It matters what we each do but
nonefew of us can reach all the others, so what you do doesn't really matter. It's the trends that matter.yes, I know but it feels like the gap is ever-widening and there is little chance to close it the way things are going but, at least I can potentially share a little bit out. maybe it makes a local difference.
Now I have a moral dilemma, am I meant to upvote my comment or yours? :P
Oh, this will be my note: current curation 15-17 SP a week.
You are walking the path of moral dilemmas, but you should get something out of it, in several ways at once. 🤓
Btw, I have been upvoting my own posts for a month or two consistently. The vote now is 2.50 instead of 75 or so. There is no way I am going to write 70 posts a week although I was writing 30-35 for a long time. At the moment it is about 15-20ish. But I may have to go to 25ish but unsure.
I figure that gives , around 50 full votes a week to spread in the community at different levels so we will see if it is able to return the fee. I am not the best curator but have been adding my votes to @ocd the last few weeks after I powered up as there is no way I can find, sort and read 20-30 articles a day.
I am not very systematic with these things but I will try to put a post together to at least cover me thoughts on it each week. I only just got the delegation and my VP was already burned to mid 80s. I have to say it has been nice to add a little more than usual to some posts that I think deserve it and people I know consistently put effort in in various ways.
I'm done thinking too hard about self votes, the community has spoken on that issue. Vote buying still concerns me but not from a p2p point of view, I quite like it from that aspect really. But I think the system itself has several serious flaws.
You know, the blogging-as-earnings idea has never sat well with me because I've observed it leads to entitlement, which leads to fear, which leads to anger, butthurt and ragequit. I think you don't suffer from that mindset one bit, but I've seen many a meltdown when support is withdrawn by a "fan base" for whatever reason, or big flags come in to counter them. Then it's about food on the table, but why was Steemit putting food on the table to begin with?
And yet I know this is the position some (many?) find themselves in, doing whatever it takes, as well espoused by your recent post. Still, you cannot feel entitled to the continued patronage of voters. Nor the price of Steem.
Hypocrite who is raping the reward pool with bought delegation while boosting his own posts over others who don't buy delegation, all while spam posting. Also supporting a notorious vote seller and helping him gain more power and corrupting the system even further and encouraging others to do the same.
10/10 I approve! :)
Great decision my young friend @tarazkp. That's exactly the spirit I love so much to witness in you buddy. There is only one way to gain true knowledge about flying things around. And this is invariably climbing up the tree with a tiny net in hand and try to catch those elusive birds of experience by your own fist whenever you can. No matter that you afterward have to risk having to pick up all your teeth spilled over the floor if you happen to fall from the top. }:)
"There is no wisdom nor awareness to be acquired by just asking dumb questions to the dumber bots"
Go mate, ¡Go! and then, I'll patiently wait until you tell me later how many healthy teeth you have left. :)
¡Upvoted & Resteemed! this great post to spread more awarenes through my blog about this issue.
I will try and run some updates once a week to let people know how the experiment is progressing. Maybe it will be a few teeth per week :)
Sure thing brother. I will be attentive every week.
I trust you'll keep that cute smile on your avatar for years to come. :)
Ahh that's a really great point about delgationnand buying voting power. I would hope that steemit continues to have high quality content, and not become a spam fest. Great points in this article.
Don't forget to come and visit me while you have that delegation. LOL All in honor of the circle....
Great post , steemit is an awesome comunity thank you for sharing
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, eh? This will be a good experiment and I expect you to keep us all posted with your findings. If Steemit is turning into a vote auction site I'm really not interested in being part of it. I know you are a person who values quality content and that will not change. I also know you want that Lambo and understand that making money has its expediencies, especially when you are young and with family. It is a horribly corrupting force. That makes you the perfect person to run this experiment, someone who I feel will be honest in his appraisal.
Quite a few times I've been put in positions wherein I could have profited heavily had I only give up my morality. I never walked that path. My father was money obsessed and he died relatively young (and rich). My mother fretted herself to the grave worrying that she would somehow squander her inheritance. I know first hand that there is no salvation in that direction yet it seem to be everyone's obsession. Good luck to you and I look forward to your honest findings.
Wow post i like it thanks for sharing upvote.