Monday Rant (#2: Qurator)
Wow, that was quick. Apparently, I've become a person who rants. I thought I might be raving mad, but not ranting often. I was actually planning on writing a positive 5-star review of a local program that I've been a part of. It's called @qurator. I highly suspect that after this post my membership will be cancelled. I'm curious if I'll get a vote from them before they figure it out though. Ha ha.
Source Unsplash
@qurator is a service that was designed to help highlight quality content on Steemit. You would pay a subscription fee for a "lifetime membership." If your content was good enough (not spam or just a picture), then they would accept you and you're get upvotes on your content in exchange for the one-time fee. You could also upvote their daily posts that highlighted especially good posts from that day. Your upvotes would get you into higher tiers that would up the amount of your vote. I have been upvoting all of their posts in exchange for this.
Today, I had someone ask if the @qurator program was worth it. I thought, yes!, but let me do the math to show them. I checked the latest qurator post to get the current upvote values... and I find they're changing the whole system. Rather than being a one-time membership, they're changing to charging a monthly subscription fee... even if you've already paid for the lifetime membership!!!
I got into the program when it was only 2 Steem for a lifetime. Now they're charging 4 Steem. And they're planning on charging 2 Steem per month! (Also, still taking applications at the 4 Steem rate. How does that make any sense? I guess if they can get suckers to pay it, why not, right?!)
The Math Doesn't Make Sense
Here's the deal, rough math-style. Their current tier 2 vote is around $0.14. If you're still in tier 2 in the new system, you're going to need to post every single day to make it worth your while. That's right, 30 times once per day (you only get a vote every 24 hours). If you post too soon, no vote. Miss a post, no vote and the missed value isn't given back later. If you miss TWO POSTS in the month, you're only at literally break-even. As in ZERO profit. As in, "why did I give my money to this?"
I don't plan to continue with the new program. As someone who only posts 2-4ish times per week, this new program won't come close to making sense financially. As someone who already paid for a "lifetime membership" it's sure seeming like the "lifetime" wasn't mine. Should have read the fine print.
Maybe I'll still get the $0.03 upvote for lifetime members. Doubtful after this post. HA!
Even if they're able to give a slightly higher vote, it's still going to be a race to get your money back. Otherwise it's just gone down the drain. We already have plenty of places on Steemit where you can do that. If you're that desperate to get rid of your Steem/SBD, just send it to me and you won't have to worry about it anymore. That's a tangent though.
Regardless of the financials, the bigger issue is that I can't trust @qurator. They lied to me. They sold me a lifetime membership that I desperately wanted. I pulled together 2 Steem at a time when I had barely anything and got a membership because I, like so many others, trusted qurator. They have betrayed that trust. It may have only been through mismanagement, but at the end of the day, they promised one thing and delivered another.
For an organization that promotes quality content, this will only encourage the good content producers to churn out garbage just so they can get their upvote and break even.
Source Unsplash
At the end of the day though, people like @zpedro who scraped together enough Steem to pay the 4 Steem entrance fee were expecting to get a lifetime membership from @qurator. Instead, they find out that @qurator just wants more money. I get that the market is down, and that sucks, but a business model needs to be sustainable. They should be able to operate consistently regardless of the market conditions.
Keep in mind that market conditions are much, much better than 6 months ago. Steem was below $1 for a very long time. Also, with the drop in Steem prices, new leases now should be cheaper now. Regardless of that though, there are a lot of people getting screwed.
Personally, I should be ok profitability-wise as I got in when it was only 2 Steem entrance fee. There are many people (mainly newbies, I would guess) who will not make their money back. That's the hard part. The people they're hurting the most are the ones they purported to help.
This is another step in the wrong direction for Steem and Steemit. Will it be the nail in the coffin? No, but it's too bad that something that was supposed to highlight good content and encourage people to produce content of value as changed their model after already taking people's money.
I could see changing the model for new members coming in, but honestly, it's super shady to take money from people and then tell them their "lifetime membership" has become a monthly subscription.
Sorry, I'm trying to be more honest on here. It's not shady, it's called stealing. It's stealing mainly from the newest, poorest, and most vulnerable Steemians. And it's wrong.
tl;dr Qurator is changing to a montly subscription model... even if you've already paid for a lifetime membership. They have broken my trust. Additionally, the rough math for their new program doesn't even make sense. Newbies who recently paid for "lifetime" memberships are the ones most heavily affected (losing money).
< /rant>
I'd like to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave them below and I'll get back to you when I can.
Disclaimer:
I could be wrong. I could be overreacting. This change could be an amazing thing for everyone involved. My figures might not be correct. I could be entirely off-base. I don't think I am or I wouldn't have written it.
I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and this may have been a difficult decision for the folks at qurator to make, but I feel there is a lot more discussion and transparency that could have occurred on their part. I'm very disappointed in their decision. Full disclosure: I do give them mental credit for not implementing it immediately.
Maybe I should do that transparency rant soon.
Everyone has his/her opinion, no doubt about that. But to state it publicly like you just did, one should at least try to understand all the facts and not just focus on the negative points.
The fact is that there's no whale backing up the project. All that has been done so far has been done organically, using all the sbd gathered to lease SP to curate all you guys's content. NOT A SINGLE SBD HAS BEEN USED FOR PERSONAL REASONS BY ANY TEAM MEMBER. So I don't know where you got that idea that @qurator is stealing people. That's actually offensive.
You also omitted (intentionally or not) the fact that who ever jumps in now will get a Tier 2 spot for the first month to help covering this initial change. And you have ZERO knowledge about the future upvote's value as well.
Unfortunately a considerable chunk of people thinks and acts like you:
Supporting the project with the minimum, demanding the maximum and creating noise on the slightest sign of turbulence.
Like it or not, this is a readjustment period and it is very needed. Every project has to go through it sooner or later.
@qurator has always been one of the most proactive and interactive projects around, giving back to the community all we gathered. A lot more than others, without looking at personal profits at all.
There were two options on the table:
1- Not doing anything, hoping for the prices to go up again and risk a slow implosion of the project.
2- Be proactive once again and change it.
So we followed our nature and chose to be proactive once again.
The short and selective memory of some people is actually saddening.
Thanks for your response. I appreciate your point of view. I believe you're a qurator moderator, so I can understand the frustration. I don't believe that anyone was misappropriating qurator funds for personal use. I was referring to selling a lifetime membership by taking money, but then changing the rules after taking the money. Those who are just starting out are the ones this is going to hurt the most. Their smart investment has now become something that won't pay off for a while.
Regarding your table of my voting history: I hadn't realized how little my 20% vote had been giving, so I switched to 40% to give more because I wanted to contribute more. It's not a lot, but I wanted to do what I could. Also, as I don't post a whole lot, I support the project with my lack of votes taken. Turbulence I get, changing the whole model after the fact is something different and I believe that justifies some "noise."
I must have a really bad memory because I don't remember what you would be referring to. Ha ha. Time for some Omega-3 pills!
Thanks for stopping by! :)
Yes, I am one of the @qurator moderators, but that's about it what you got correct there.
The selling of a lifetime membership gives everyone a lifetime account approval (IF they post accordingly to our rules) and a place in the Tier 0, nothing else. All the following tiers can/could be obtained by upvoting or delegating.
We ONLY changed Tier 1 and Tier 2, swapping it for the monthly subscription or the delegation as before, for the project's sustainability sake.
You seem to be pretty sure that "Those who are just starting out are the ones this is going to hurt the most."... Perhaps you can explain us all how @qurator will address that, since you seem to be so much well informed? Perhaps you know something I don't...
Regarding your votes... I can understand your lack of awareness about its low weight and effective contribution, the same way I hope you can understand that we still have to keep moving the project forward, irregardless of those "forgetful" moments, covering all the expenses to keep the smooth and so much appreciated upvotes flowing for all the other members.
And by the way, I posted a ratio between your contribution to the project and what you got back from it in our @qurator post. Hopefully that will be enough to revive your memory and save you some money on those Omega-3 pills. I'll add it here too in case you missed it:
I have nothing else to say to you, from now on you'll be conducting a monologue.
Cheers.
I think you are rude the way you answered this post....period........
Well, this was an interesting ride.
You are still a member, we do appreciate your view and opinion.
The lifetime membership is still in play for T-0.
You make some good points, sadly you judged a lot sooner before the new account was even active. The upvotes will be slightly bigger than current T1 and T2 to make up for the subscription fee.
We are focused on growing, and the subscription was the way to go. If we stay the same, well. Then we are going to drop by about 25-30SP. That is going to hurt a lot for many members and even then we will get members complaining about the smaller upvote. No matter what route we take, there will be people who complain. Sadly we do not control the price of steem.
Yes, the newer members might be affected a bit negatively, they still have 3 weeks to get into T2 by upvoting Qurator Post.
The choice was hard for us and we have to adjust for the market changes. I think we all got spoiled with the high prices a while back. @scrooger has been pumping steem into the main Qurator account to help out with the leases. Way more than Qurator is making per week... Sadly he can't keep it up...
For us, it is sad that Qurator members are upvoting at minimal upvote rates and then as soon as we change the system they all get angry since we can't give bigger upvotes. Yet, they are more than happy to blow that 2 steem on pay4vote bots. So much for community then. A lot of ME ME ME instead of WE WE WE. Qurator is only as strong as the community makes us. We give back all our SBD and more each week to keep our upvotes high for our members.
The changes are in and a lot of people are not happy about it. Some are fine with it and understand the long-term approach.
If you do not post that much, don't go for the subscription. You still get the lifetime support. And when the price of steem rises again then so will that lifetime support vote.
Sorry for the little rant but felt it was appropriate in this case. =P
Thanks for your rant! I wouldn't have minded seeing it sooner, but can't change the past. I understand where you're coming from and the math behind it. It's very unfortunate for a lot of people. Yeah, at this point I don't post enough that it's going to make sense to get the subscription. I hope it goes well though. Thanks for stopping by! :)
My opinion is that qurator is supposed to value quality over quantity and this monthly fee is basically pushing minnows to write garbage 7 times a week to get their money back at the end of the month.
It just makes no sense, and that's a flaw qurator had anyway. But I just thought "ok that's a bit paradoxal but hey, I just keep upvoting them and it will pay out anyway" .
Steembasicincome doesn't boast they value quality over quantity but they offer a weekly income so you get the same no matter if you write once a week or 7 times a week. Also steembasicincome calculates their bonus based on upvote weight, instead of that 0.01$ upvote strange rule... Because a 100% vote for a minnow costs the same as a 100% vote from a whale, right?
I won't go very deep with maths because I'm not good at it, but I know steembasicincome also pays for leases. I already knew from the start that their upvote would go down with the price of steem as mine and yours and everyone else. But they won't be changing the rules at the middle of the game.
In the end yes, I'll still get the lifetime membership, that's ok, a 0.03$ upvote and maybe with the new T1 and T2 upvote values I'll even go to the monthly fee, but it just feels wrong and unfair.
Thumbs up to @steembasicincome, which is now the best club on steemit!
It looks like they're keeping the tier 0 membership, so you should get your money back eventually. I'm sorry that it's been a rough ride for you. Keep at it and things will improve. It's back to just posting quality content and letting things happen naturally.
Thanks for stopping by! :)
Thank you! I found steemit right when the price of steem was getting lower and lower so I probably joined on the worst time. But sure I'll keep at it! After all this is still MUCH better than any other social network!
Hey, it's better than FB, so we're already winning. :D
I see all the points of view... And frankly agree with most everything you said. I especially feel bad for the new members that paid 4 steem to just recently buy in.
You are right about the business model not being sustainable and that is their flaw (along with many others here too). In hindsight, the deal was simply too good to be true for the longer run. My personal thoughts were they were supported by an whale who was giving back to the system. It turns out that was not the case, or if it was the case, then he dropped his support.
I do feel bad for the people at qurator too... I don't think any of them did this with malice. There are some people that intentionally steal money from others, and in this case I think it is more of a mistake in not having the right support base and not knowing their economics (plus not anticipating a sudden prolonged drop).
I think you are also dead right on the economics about the new plan, if you plan on being perfect then it makes sense. But if you post irregularly then the new plan would not be economical. I'm sad for all the people involved.
I think it is bad for the people at @qurator that were trying to offer a good service to help others. But I agree it is worse for the people that recently joined at the 4 steem level... Maybe the backer @scrooger can work a plan to help those people injured and find a way to make it up to them (they shouldn't be many as it happened only a month or so ago).
I also think it is another black eye for steemit. It will cause people to question what is considered "integrity"... I don't think there was a person involved with qurator that had a bad thing to say about them before this, so those are the worst blows to image to take.
I realize that you are upset and I think you have every right to be. And I do think you are right when you say that the newer members got really hosed here.
I don't think they did it with malice. I never thought that. I just don't like getting mislead. I didn't understand how they could keep things going, but they made the rules and I just played by them. Things have to change and what's done is done. I think there were good intentions, but the math depended too much on getting new members. By switching to a subscription, they get "new members" every month. I don't know that I believe in the lifetime membership model so much. If it's just being used to lease SP as a group, you're always going to need new members.
I'm thinking about working on a game for the newer signups. We'll see. It's still just the beginning of an idea. It still wouldn't be a lot, but something would be better than nothing. Since Q is keeping tier 0 (again, don't know how they're funding this), the newbies will get their money back eventually (assuming nothing else changes), but we'll see if they can't get a boost now. More to come on that!
Always a pleasure, @davemccoy! :)
Tier 0 is the lifetime and is funded by the organically growing portion of the Qurator SP as well as the Qustodian bot. Nothing is taken, everything is given back to members
Same here @themanwithnoname!!! Much respect to you always! :)
Hey, you have a more detailed response here. It seems many of these lifetime membership clubs have made unfavorable business decisions for the members. A change in the market and popularity and wham, rules change. I also agree that new terms and conditions should have applied to new members only, not existing ones. The monthly membership fee will now rule out many newbies from the extra qurator support. Heck, even I won’t be enrolling. I only post once or twice a week.
It was an understandable rant.
It's a learning experience for us. Maybe we can remember that in real life too if someone tries to sell us a lifetime membership. I want to find the lesson in this and part of that is to do your homework.
Yeah, even if you post 6 time per week (24 hours apart) you won't make your money back. It doesn't mean the new program is a bad program, it just means the financials are tight. Hopefully the people who sign up are aware of that ahead of time.
I paid 4 steem for lifetime membership, good to know they changed the conditions, as I was also enthusiastic about them. Back to Steembasicincome then.
They might be still giving out the tiny votes for lifetime members. I haven't heard guidance on that yet.
If I read it correctly, tier 0 is still lifetime, while tier 1 and above are subscriptions.
Tier 0 pays 0,03 at the moment
With 4 steem investment it means that you get your money back after about 133-177 post depending on curation.
it's just the T1 and T2 that changes :)
your life time membership is covered with T0 ..
so all your ranting is .. for nothing :)
Hey, @macrophotography! I've seen some of your work around the Steemground. Thanks for stopping in.
I wasn't really referring to the T0. I hear they're keeping that, and it should pay off eventually. The main reason I joined (and recommended that others join) was for tier 2 membership where you vote 7+ times per week and get a greater vote than just the T0. It makes quite a bit of difference in terms of profitability and ROI.
The rant wasn't just about the result. It's also about the change from a promise of one thing to delivering something different after the sale.
Hopefully that makes more sense. Thank you for stopping by. :)
Busy isn't letting me edit the post to link to their post, but you can find the details on their new plan here https://steemit.com/@qurator/qurator-tiers-and-upvote-weights-update-10-04-2018-or-big-update-if-you-are-a-member-please-read
I think I'm in the highest tier with them. Well nvm I'm tier 5. I get about half a dollar's worth of an upvote. Honestly though I was considering canceling my delegation to them so I could put it towards another cause. But i don't know.
Glad you mentioned the change that's coming because I had no idea.
Wow! You really opened up a can here, didn't you? :) I read through the conversation between you and @brumest, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that she's none to pleased with your post:) I must say that her comments to you really did clear up some questions that I had though.
I understand completely what you're saying! Both you and @davemccoy said that it seemed most unfair for new members, and considering I joined last month, I know what you speak of. If it wasn't for a certain very kind person here who gave me the 4 steem to join, I wouldn't have been able to swing it, and I feel badly that now only one month later, it's going to a subscription based membership. I don't post enough to warrant that, I don't think, but I will continue my membership because I feel it's a slap in the face to my donor if I don't. I'm sure you'll disagree with that one.
Having said all of that, I feel badly that @qurator has to takes these steps to ensure their survival. It is really too bad that those who are able, don't step in to offer their assistance, because they are a great group who does their best to support a lot of those of us who need it. Unfortunately during this time, they need to change the way they do it. Perhaps their fault lies in the way the post was done; maybe people like yourself would have been better appeased with a post explaining things more clearly and more "transparently"? Anyway, it's done now, and I hope we can all look proactively at understanding it and suggesting other ways of assistance if @qurator is interested in hearing them, and more importantly, if those who are truly capable of helping are choosing to just ignore the requests for help. That is the real shame in all of this!
The problem here is how this particular post is presented to all of you, as a really deep and intelligent analysis of what's happening and why in @qurator. When truly is nothing but a shallow, unbacked and defamatory roll of assumptions.
Who ever doesn't know the project and reads this, will most likely believe it, as seen already in some comments here.
We are aware of the "injustice" regarding the users who joined recently and will address that accordingly.