Are You Spending Your Daily Voting Power And My Thoughts On Upvoting Your Own Content
@transisto wrote an excellent post the other day that garnered a bit of attention. In it, he called out many of the whales for what he viewed as abusing the reward system on steemit. Here is the article for those who missed it.
https://steemit.com/steem/@transisto/whales-witnesses-we-have-to-talk
For those who are unaware, @transisto is one of those whales who has a desired interest in seeing the STEEM platform ascend to great heights. He was one of the early entrants on here and truly is one of those who likes to see things get better. Sure, he has a financial interest the same as everyone else. However, from what I can tell, he is not out there trying to scalp curation rewards simply to pad his account. In my opinion, he is one of the whales trying to make things better around here. The fact that he took the time to call out some of his fellow whales shows this desire.
That said, I am not really in a position to call out the whales. In fact, I feel that many are doing their best on here to make this place grow. Nevertheless, as I close in on 5000 SP, I feel there are some points I can make to those people who are in the range of 1,000SP-10,000SP.
Each day, we get 20% of our voting power replenished. At a 100% vote, this amounts to roughly 10 votes since each one takes about 2% power. Of course, if you use less than 100%, you will get more votes. My point here is that many like to complain about the whales circle voting and taking up an unfair percentage of the reward system. I believe the mindset is "the rich get richer". Leaving all this aside since I expressed my views in a couple posts already, I will ask those who are not whales what are they doing with their voting power?
One of the reasons why the whales can get a larger percentage of the reward system is because most people on here do not use their voting power fully. The whales know exactly how many votes they are using each day and are mindful of where they go. Some will complain about them using their 10 votes on each other (or 20 at 50% or whatever they do) yet few point out that one major factor is they are using their votes whereas others are not.
Whales carry a great deal of voting power on an individual basis. We cannot contest this point. They have the ability, with one click, to move an article to the trending section. However, on a collective basis, there are a lot more dolphins, minnows, tuna, swordfish, and whatever the other categories are. There are a handful of whales when you compare the numbers to the total minnows and dolphins. Without looking it up, I am going to guess that the 1000-10000 SP range is the most heavily populated. The total voting power in this group most likely exceeds that of the whales.
So I ask you again, are you using your allotted voting power on a daily basis? Are you aware of how many votes you can place at each level? How many 100% votes did you give to other people yesterday?
One whale placing a vote at $12 is the same as 100 people upvoting at $.12. So, before we complain about what the whales are doing, let us all spend our allotted daily voting power on the quality content we find.
Upvoting Oneself
There appears to be great debate on here about upvoting one's own content. I stood back and watched for the past three months before drawing any conclusions. Since a few have asked me, here are my thoughts.
Upvotes are for quality content. Personally, I feel I post quality content, hence I am worthy of an upvote just like everyone else. I see nothing wrong with anyone upvoting their own articles. If one is willing to take the time to create some original content that required a great deal of effort, I have no problem with someone recognizing him or herself.
The next point of contention is with upvoting one's own comments. Personally, I rarely upvote one of my own comments unless I write an essay in the comment section. While I do my best to make quality comments, it just is not something that I feel I should upvote on a regular basis.
What are my thoughts on those who do? From what I can see, most who do this are selfish in nature. What I mean by this is that those who continually upvote all their comments tend to not upvote others. They use all their voting power on themselves. To me, this is unacceptable and I try to not upvote a person like that for any reason.
Now I will state that I have someone on here that I follow who I respect and admire. He upvotes all his comments. However, I noticed that he upvotes almost every comment posted in his articles. In addition, not only does he upvote all comments, he uses the same VP as he does on himself. He does not place his comments above anyone else. If you post a comment, as long as it is more than "nice article, thanks", he will upvote it. To me, this is him spreading his VP around to anyone who interacts with him. This is much different than simply upvoting oneself to the exclusion of others.
So there it is. Overall, I have no problem with anyone upvoting his or her own articles nor do I think it out of line to upvote yourself if you are treating others the same. Spreading the VP around is what will move steemit forward. Those who use their VP to only benefit themselves are showing how little they understand the broader concept of a thriving, active blockchain.
Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.
If you found this article helpful, spread some of your VP to me and throw this a resteem.
Pictures from Google Images
Thanks for the excellent post covering a relevant topic – in a well-reasoned way. (See detailed praise at bottom of this comment.)
After 6 weeks of being an insignificant minnow, I did a bit of research re Powering Up, and soon did so. Immediately, I began upvoting more of my following, and noticed that the returns were worthwhile (even though minimal). I'm here for the long term, and while it is nice to earn rewards, I am currently focused on building the community, with a long-term perspective.
A large part of that "community building" involves creating quality content.. But with only a mid-range reputation and a mid-range SP, my rewards are usually minimal. Nevertheless, I strive onwards.
So, I continue to create quality content, upvote my followers' posts, find newbies that will bring value to this platform, and upvote their posts, too.
(I get quite a few upvotes in return, but as we all know, newby / minnow upvotes don't amount to very much at all. But I also get gratitude from quite a few newbies, and that amounts to plenty. And I believe that those upvotes and that gratitude will pay off in the future, for both parties.)
Eventually, I was advised to upvote my own posts, too. When I do that, I generally do so at the same VP as the upvotes I give to others. That's only fair, and if I am not allowed that, I'm not sure how long I would continue on this platform.
After reading this post, the one thing I intend to change is to increase my voting. I've been limiting it somewhat, so as to stay in the 50–90% VP range, but I think I'll abandon that pointless stategy. As this post clarifies, if I have the power, I may as well use it.
And if all goes well, I will most likely Power Up even more, in the coming months. For the good of ALL, myself included.
Full Steem Ahead.
Thanks.. I didn't think about VP that way..
As far as upvoting your own post I don't see the problem... I've invested about $900 in Steemit ... if I want to upvote my post for .06 I think I earned that..
Of course, if it should not be done, the upvote button would not exist.
The point is not to be greedy and vote for any publication with simply a photo without text, for example, although you can do it anyway, and nobody will stop you, it is not the goal of the community.
good info here @taskmaster4456. I agree with your comments about upvoting your own content and your own comments.
Part of my rationale is that if I can figure out how to increase my rewards that will increase the rewards I can pay others whose content I find has merit and worth upvoting - not sure if that made sense - I figure what's good for me is good for the community if I share the rewards wisely.
Of course...and that is a sensible thing to do. Again, I have no problem with someone upvoting their own content as long as they spread the wealth. Yes, it is a compounding situation so the more SP you get, the more your votes are worth which will bring in more SP.
Time is the key element...and consistency.
I agree that you need to disregard the whales if you are a minnow - There are less than 100 of them all wrapped up in their own troubles - nothing we can do.
I think the biggest problem with the newest people is lack of reward and lack of knowledge of what to do. I try to help by referring this old post many times a day.
Make Money Blogging on Steemit Top Tips and Checklist for Better Results!!
The biggest problem in all ranks of us is voting with less than 70% power which happens all day long. I't's like gasping for air underwater. Everyone needs to stay above 70% and them poof! the rewards of little people expands.
Yes. Everyone needs to vote. Oh my God, I'm dying since I found out how much non-voting goes on. I started looking and I wish I didn't. I can't really believe that some people are active here with good power yet don't vote at all but it's true.
Bangs head on desk.
Please, vote down to 80% once a day - on anything you like - and everyone will do better. If that's all you can do - do that and come back tomorrow.
I'm glad to know more people are on this topic. You should be connected with @abh12345 because you two are on the same wavelength.
Great write up @fitinfun.
I agree with what you wrote on here. I didnt look at the stats but I will go based upon what you stated, the amount of voting is abysmal. We can see that just in the number of votes the average post gets. There are so many who do not upvote anyone other themselves and maybe the heavy hitters hoping to capture their attention.
I need to work on getting my upvote count up some.....I usually push it below 90% each day...but rarely get to the 80% mark.
Great point. As you will see from my comment below, I too have realized that I should be voting more. (I upvote various posts every day, but rarely get below 70%.)
That will not only be effective for its own ends (that is, for doling out rewards), but should also be good for the entire network / community, and for its growth.
If you stay above 80% and do not rest at 100% I think you are doing well. I think I will go on a mission to try to help people understand this. If 50 minnows improve by 50% - that would make a difference in this crazy place.
@penguinpablo stats are easy to read and good to follow.
I am glad you are going to go on a mission for this. Perhaps we can team up. I am writing a post which I will link to your comment on an idea I have. It is a way that those of us under 10K SP can help each other.
Let me know your thoughts on this...if you think this could be viable and of help to people?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@taskmaster4450/1ksp-pathway-to-freedom-for-many-on-steem-please-share-your-thoughts-on-this-idea
Ok going over now :)
Wow - thanks for this post and for the link @fitinfun ! I wish I had seen your post 2 months ago - I'm still learning how to maximize the reward system - I figure it's win-win - the more rewards I earn the more rewards I can pass on to those with great posts and comments - like yours.
That's exactly right - you can't help others unless you get stronger. Focus on doing what works, networking, and improving. This is a tough place! So glad to help.
Thanks for this from a steemit newb! Very good article!
img credz: pixabay.com
Nice, you got a 18.0% @nolnocluap upgoat, thanks to @watertoncafe
It consists of $0.05 vote and $0.01 curation
Want a boost? Minnowbooster's got your back!
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @taskmaster4450 to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
I agree with you - exellent explanation
Hello bro, please upvote & comment my post
That is exactly the wrong way to get upvotes and followers on here.
If you want to have people help you out, start by helping others. You want votes and comments, upvote and comment others while posting quality content yourself.