Why I am quitting steemit - and you should too
Steemit is a dictatorship, and I learned it the hard way.
For the past 12 hours I have been the target of a personal attack both verbal and with flagging by the endless bot army of one @berniesanders (or @nextgencrypto or @engagement or 100s of other FAKE profiles) , the self-proclaimed dictator of steemit. If this is what @ned and @dan envisioned, then I want no part of it.
And neither should you.
I know some people here depend on the income from steemit. I am certain they will continue posting till they get big enough to attract the attention of the dictator, who will then bury them.
Like so:
Anyone can be next.
No one is safe.
The platform is doomed as long as @berniesanders is allowed to terrorise its users.
Me, I will go post my content somewhere where stort stories, technical marketing guides and random life tips will not get me called names of personally attacked. Because apparently, posting original content on this platform is punished if it threatens the dictatorship in any way and is considered "being a bitch". Or as he put it:
That's what you get for acting like such a bitch. GFY, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Since posting original content and promoting it is considered being a bitch by this self-proclaimed (and undisputed!) dictator of steemit, I will now go be a bitch elsewhere, until someone decides that is platform is worth saving from the likes of @berniesanders .
Until then, I truly wish for you all to find a rewarding platform to post on that is not seeded with so much hate and negativity. Or one that has leaders who care about it being a content platform more than about their own profits from it.
Let me know if you come across one of those.
I did not come to steemit to be attacked. I was here to share my writing, and get feedback from as many readers worldwide as I could. Apparently, that's not what steemit is about. Steemit is all about being bullied by those with the power.
Peace out.
P.S. I would like to personally thank @patrice , @reggaemuffin , @furious-one , @locke , @suesa and everyone else who took the time to speak to me on Discord. I am also logging off Discord for a few days as I am worried the verbal attacks and bullying will follow me there. Going to focus on writing for whatever platform welcomes me.
Good luck surviving the cesspool of crap posts and bully-whales!
He touched my backport.
Any platform that permits free speech by everyone on the planet will have a set of people who, in your terms, "terrorise its users".
What is it that you think @berniesanders dictates? He has no special or privileged position over any other user of the platform.
Hey Sneak, just checking I have this correct: if someone calls a colour scheme "gay", that is hate speech and unacceptable, but showing a blatant lack of respect for women and calling them bitches is all good?
You don't have that correct at all, and it would appear you have constructed a straw man with which to intentionally mischaracterize my view.
I think you will find from @berniesanders' -19 reputation score (if it is indeed to his content to which you refer) that steemit's community absolutely does not consider his content "all good".
Then why sit there and turn a blind eye as he pays himself heftily for it.
Too many newbies to full flag that need help understanding tags?
Dammit! I missed being able to upvote this hilarious coment!
He downvotes to hell anyone who dares to simply and politely ASK him for his motives, he attacks people with the power he has accumulated by using a botnet of fake users, and throws around insults like this is /b/, and you're telling me this is OK and accepted on steemit?
Everyone is permitted to vote (up or down) however they wish with their stake.
(FWIW, his "botnet" has no more effect on anything than if all of the SP in his various accounts were consolidated into one account. He just spreads it out to make it look bigger. It conveys him no specific advantage.)
As for his insults, I think you can see from his negative reputation score that his immaturity is not accepted at all by the users of this platform.
My account it buried and no content I will ever post appear here anyway. He has the power and ability to abuse the flagging feature to silence anyone he feels like. THAT is a major flaw in the platform. And if it's not being addressed, then it is what will destroy steemit. People like him silencing people like me. While this behavior is supported and justified by you.
That raises an interesting issue. Maybe there should be a limit to how much rep damage (and also rep increase) any one member can do. That way we could avoid any of the centralised censorship that you are proposing, but it will still offer a level of protection against a single large SP holder who was intent on destroying another member.
It's also got me wondering... If one user can destroy you, then it should be possible for another equally powerful user to restore your reputation. Is the reputation score linear like that, or is there some other magic sauce involved?
You make an extremely valid point, as rep is highly gamable presently. Something like you're suggesting would provide some insulation against that, and make rep a more purposeful metric.
You are correct about rep being equally fungible in both directions. @skeptic has had his rep driven into the ground like a post by @berniesanders, and swiftly re-elevated by those that admire his trolling, unrepentant, rebellious ways.
@skeptic, if he could write better, could prolly write a book on rep.
Thanks!
Reputation is a non-consensus value, which is to say it's entirely a UI calculation. It has nothing whatsoever to do with your posting ability, posting reach, payout, or anything else.
Ah ok. I have been mixing up reputation with flagged posts. But still, if your posts get lots of flags they get hidden on most of the front ends.
well lets see if u can create or destroy thins threw seer intent alone example cat 1~infinity hurricanes then YES DUH!
He's one user with 100s of bots. Even if it was possible to limit the damage one of his users can do, he'll just use the whole army to reach the same cumulative effect. Perhaps the solution is some kind of "blocking" mechanism to allow users to block bullies' bots from downvoting them en masse. But I am getting the feeling no one is looking for a solution, but rather ways to excuse this type of behavior on the platform.
Why do you think that his multiple votes from multiple user accounts has some "cumulative effect"?
It does the exact same thing as if all of those accounts' stake were held by one account and made with one vote.
Not in terms of rep. The rep is spread amongst the various multiples, and unlike SP, can be greater thereby than if he had but one alt.
This kind of "blocking" would be nothing else but censorship based on subjective assessments. So who would you allow to decide whether an account qualifies as a bullies´bot account?
On Facebook and twitter I have the ability to block people from viewing my content when signed in. They don't see my comments or posts, and so cannot attack me. I would very much like the ability to prevent mean people from randomly flagging my content or writing mean comments on my posts because they have all the power and can afford it.
Imagine what other social networks would look like if people couldn't block the bullies, trolls and spammers from hurting them through the platform. Do you think Facebook would have as many users as it does if it supported bullying and dictatorship like steemit does?
Yeah, I don't either.
He does not have that power or ability; nobody is silenced as a result of flagging—by anyone, regardless of their SP. Your posts go through as normal. Nobody on steemit can silence anyone else.
You're being somewhat disingenuous, as you are silent no matter how loud you scream if no one can hear you. Posts from accounts with negative rep are invisible.
Screaming into a void.
What minnow can do with their stake what he does with his and not have their account nuked?
No account can be nuked by anyone else, regardless of how much stake they have.
It's a figure of speech meaning the account rendered powerless or useless. It is easily done to a minnow or even dolphin account whose reputation being destroyed can mean no longer being able to reach an audience making both social interactions and monetary gains significantly more difficult. For example it is a nuked account when downvoted so many times that the account holder is forced to power down and move to another account or another platform. Larger accounts that do not post can also be rendered powerless (proven by the abit&smooth experiment before the hardfork) but what you say about this user not having special privileges is a lie. We can see he is not held accountable like everybody he holds accountable himself. Blind eyes are turned with every thing that this user does that other users cannot do without "having their account nuked" or rendered powerless.
I like this.
All minnows can and should do at this point is cash out and leave steemit to bernie and his bot army. It's a lost fight because the people with the power put their greed waaay ahead of their desire for steemit to be a successful content platform. And since that's not about to change, and bernie and his bots will just get stronger, I recommend you cash out and seek out other platforms for content monetization.
He has mined considerable special privileges, and he especially likes to use them thusly.
I don't know why do you feel this way. Although, I understand your point but you have got decent readers, a good repu and wonderful contents. Don't let them win over you.
Stand Tall and very Tall.
I don't care if you are paid for those contents by @minnowbooster , @randowhale or any other service. That's your right to do so. I believe everyone should be paid for the "Time" and "Effort" they put in. That's how it works everywhere.
Just because you are a minnow, a lesser known personality or lack in skill doesn't mean your contents should goes unnoticed. It makes me sad that I have to see things like this.
I don't understand the flagging and how people are using it for malicious purposes. I believe flags should only and only be used for copy-paste contents only.
Just because you don't like a particular post doesn't mean other shouldn't too. You can leave it and the audience will decide it's fate. I know some people use these bots for even copy paste contents but that's a flaw in the bots. They have to be smart enough and refuse upvoting such contents.
Similar thoughts led me to establishing Tpot community and I hope it counters that problem.
At last, I certainly do not support the idea of leaving Steemit but that's your choice and I respect that.
Thanks!
Not even a week ago you were flagging people's comments on a post of mine. If you had more SP would you then be the dictator?
hmmm... @techslut ... what do you have to say to this??
I have seen this pattern a lot.. they say they gonna quit Steemit but still continues to give replies and make new posts and all.. Steemit is more addictive especially because of the reward.. no other platform can offer even half of what any average blogger can earn
And as for @berniesanders I have noticed a pattern.. he doesn't pick on innocent people who have never annoyed him with anything.. but once he is pissed at someone.. he can really show you some awesome magic with his flagging power..
as for the vision of ned and dan.. their vision is already true.. they wanted to make millions from selling steem which they already did.. no wonder dan ran away and is now selling all his remaining steem.. he is the reason why the price of steem turned so low recently..
as for me I really like the screen name techslut
hey techslut let's be friends okay
חבל...
את טובה
מלחמות יש בכל פלטפורמה
פה הן פשוט גלויות.
מקווה מאוד שתחזרי
Many people can not handle Freedom. They can not cope where people can say what they want and use their stake how they want.
I don't approve of every move that Bernie makes, but in general he cares about the platform and he has the right to use his stake how he wants.
To be fair in the early days, I didn't get the concept of Stake based power either. If you don't like the ability of people use their stake you should probably go ahead and decide not to continue.
I hope you might stay around and see if the concept grows on you as it has for me. Either way, Peace.
He created the monster he's taking down. And taking it out on users as if he's an innocent avengalist.
You mean he started the bots and now he is fighting them?
That's how I'm reading it.
I can't stay. He's killed my profile and put a bot army on it to ensure every post I publish gets buried. This isn't freedom. This is violent oppression. Bernie cares about his own profits and ego. Nothing else. He contributes zero quality content and uses a bot army to generate profits in an unfair way. Heck, I didn't even know it was acceptable to have hundreds of bots on Steemit! No other platform would allow this!!!
I don't like the ability of people to use their stake to bully users who aren't as rich as they are. And no, I hope this concept does not grow on me because I don't want to be part of any community that supports and excuses this type of violent behavior.
I don't know where your rep was before but 63 rep is not dead. He didn't touch your earnings.
It is a flag, it is uncomfortable, I've received them as well. It doesn't actually cause physical pain nor does it equate to violence.
immutability is built into the blockchain earning isn't. I am not defending this, but I am having trouble following the extreme language.
He flagged you, he didn't knife you in the alley.
"didnt knife you in the alley" hahahaha
What happens there is that reps above 60 (or is it 62) do not get reduced by down-votes, but her complain as i understand it; is that when she posts she gets down-voted by several accounts, in this case, the interface still dims the posts because of the amount and stake of the down-votes, not because of her rep.
This isn't a dictatorship, this is capitalism. Pure, unregulated capitalism, with absolutely no way to fight back.
In the real world, past a certain point of influence, we might see the poor physically attack the rich. On steemit, there is nothing to physically attack. The only thing the masses can do to fight back, is leave and devalue the currency.
This is actually magnified drastically by the choice of the authors to use proof of stake rather than proof of work. Unless I'm mistaken, there is no way the masses can accumulate 51% to kick someone out. Only the top 51% of the people with the most power can do so, not 51% of the entire user base. Resulting in even more power in the hands of the rich.
The system is broken because of the idea that one person's vote is worth more than someone else's. I understand the need for it, because if every new account had the same voting power as an account with lots of power, you'd simply get hundreds of fake accounts.
If you look at reddit for a similar model, you know that they need a lot of systems and moderators in order to keep the site working the way it is. Downvote brigades happen there too, only there people get banned for it. There is no central authority on reddit, so nobody can ban anyone.
"Pure, unregulated capitalism,"
Capitalism established with a pre/flash-mine. So more like communism, really, where the party apparatchiks got everything at the start, and all the scraps going forward are spread around the plebs roughly equally.
"There is no central authority on reddit, so nobody can ban anyone."
I'd disagree. Some reddits are total cesspools of censorship. Look at r/Bitcoin. Absolute propaganda front.
Superb insight!
Also, some reddits get banned outright. Totalitarianism in action.
The incentives are there to decentralise the system. Irrational people with lack of understanding of the incentives are blocking us from getting there. And I agree it's not a dictatorship, but I do see a despot gaining more and more power.
Since this post was made, I have participated in two other posts that were similarly crushed, but broad support reversed the flags, and those posts both made more money than I have on all of mine in months.
@berniesanders would have to forego returns, at all, in order to counter the mob that has sprung up in support of those folks.
I found it unlikely, but it happened.
You're right. And I am sorry I dragged you to this awful hateful place. Let's go back to reddit where there's at least some moderation and case for the community. They've already paid me. :)
Pretty much everyone who doesn't kick Bernie in the knee is safe. You seemed to have taken the battle directly to him. Based on your comment section.
Why go start a fight with him and then be mad, it happens over and over. People should be able to predict the outcome.
I didn't kick him in the knee before my first bernie flag. In fact he posted the same thing he flagged me for posting.
Ever heard the term "victim blaming"? Yeah, you're right. We should all be good little sheep and dare not ask the dictator for his reasons to attack people. Let's blame the people attacked, why don't we?
Just keep saying to yourself that if you stay quiet and obedient, you won't be next.
No, I haven't can you please explain it to me.
Next-level satire?
I just can't tell.
Ever hear of the term "stopping". :)
Stopping what, exactly? Showing everyone that nextgetcrypto (AKA bernie) is a bully ruining steemit? Why should I stop?
Whining.
/shrug To stop getting flagged.
As long as there's something to whine about - I see it as my duty to point and whine.
You should hear me go off about online journalism, or what is left of it. All the whining!
<3