Testing Out The Voting Bots. Do They Work?
Lately there have been a surge of voting bots to the platform and I have seen some people use them to successfully grow their account. I have a good friend, @gank, who really likes the bots and told me to look into them. I wanted to test some out and see if they did help and here is what I have found so far.
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First of all, I go back and forth on if I think voting bots are cheating in a sense. Although there are some witnesses who use then and promote them, I can't help but think it undermines the overall goal of Steemit. I do feel they provide a necessary marketing and advertising tool on the platform and can help new Steemonians get a leg up.
They do cost SBD, but I don't mind that. It is encouraging transactions on the blockchain and that is a good thing. Like I said, I go back and forth, but I decided to test out a few different bots and see how they worked.
So far I have tested the following bots on two different posts.
My goal was to test the bots with low SBD bids... around 0.5 SBD. I invested a total of 4.65 SBD over 10 transactions. I am happy to report that all worked without any issue.
Using Steem.Supply to calculate how much the posts are worth. The two blogs I used to promote through the bots totaled $43.69 in USD valuation. My average posts makes me about $6.00 so if I subtract that from the total, that leaves me with $31.69.
I spent at total of $22.45 to make an additional $31.69. That isn't a bad investment.
I don't know if all of the increases are directly from the votes from the bots, or new people who saw the post because of the larger number of votes. I do know that after spending $22.45, I'll make an additional $9.24 which is about another 2 SBD.
This all assumes that the value of SBD and STEEM stay the same. If they drop over the next week before payout, then that will decrease the effectiveness. If the price increases then that could increase the effectiveness of the bots.
I will again calculate how things work after payout is done and I can have a more concrete answer. Right now, the bots can be helpful, but it is important to diversify. By doing a few, you can really have a dramatic increase on a single post and help get new eyes to your blog. More followers and more SP is really my goal right now when trying to promote my posts.
It isn't something that I want to do all the time, but it can be helpful. I am going to continue to test a few more bots on posts that are created for new Steemonians. I'm not going to use them on every single post, but will test one a day for another five days to see which ones work best and then post about my findings.
The bots are a curious things and right now they are paying off. The thing is, the more people use them, the less effective they will become. It is important to try and use ones that not too many other people are using. I'm also only testing out the ones with low bids and have not tested the ones that cost more. I'm not sold on using them after my testing phase, but I'll let you know.
This is an ongoing project and I would love your insight into the bots.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
I did not know about the voting bots, thanks for the informative post!
Good post @walkingkeys
I tried a similar experiment a few months ago. I found that the simple voting bots like @minnowbooster were always profitable. The vote bidding bots where you have to place a bid and then get a share of a vote pool we’re almost never profitable
Good post brother! I am still figuring it all out still. Give me a call sometime this week.
I have not tried to use bots per se, I won some whaleshares that I threw at a post. As near as I can tell, the people who usually upvote me saw the post already made a lot more than I usually get and did not upvote me. I timed it PERFECTLY so that about 4 hours after I posted, SBD began to tank. When it was all said and done, I would have made more by just selling the whaleshares. And it was an EXCEPTIONAL post, video of my cow having her calf. I had waited all winter to use my shares for that post, and it was a huge disappointment.
With due respect I think that the boys are quite valuable for new Steemians as they provide an opportunity to them. And your thoughts about that they undermine the overall goal of steemit makes a statement too but I think for the early stages you really need the bots. Thank you
As I mentioned, I have not used the bots, my experience was with the whaleshares. It made me nervous to try the bots. I hope you will not take this badly, but your first line contains a typo that made me laugh really hard so I am going to share it with you hoping we can laugh together...
I suppose we can let boys on steemit, although you know they are just going to make it smell funny... ;)
Yeah sure don't worry about this. It's because of auto correct . Sorry about that.
That sucks, and I am sorry to hear that. I have not looked into whaleshares to be honest. I do know the voting bots work well, but not sure if they are bringing new people to my posts, which is my main goal. Not really the gain in SBD. I appreciate you actively posting and commenting on my blogs. I just went through and added some votes for your posts as a way to say thank you!
That was very kind of you, thank you! My vote power is a bit low, so please allow me to say "thanks" with a tip!
That "more people to my posts" is what I am trying to do, too, and afraid I will have the same type of experience with the bots lol!
The Bot of a thing is scary even though i dont have SBD to spare am still abit not not sure of how they work
Thank you so much for the kind tip.
Hi @walkingkeys! You have received 0.1 SBD tip from @fishyculture!
@fishyculture wrote lately about: Hitt Mountain From The Outskirts Of Midvale, Idaho. Feel free to follow @fishyculture if you like it :)
i mean they work but to boost up your post you need a lot of bots to upvote you and they are worthy i guess
Your lone upvote of your own comment has put it above mine, even though it contains no original thought or analysis. I'm not surprise you favour bots.
Wow, just checked out your profile. Your most recent post is complete spam, but it's already worth $12, from only 2 upvotes.... both yourself?
I see how you've attained a rank of 49 here...... smh.....
lol i did hard work for that ...and thats not my account .. i wokr for it .. dont cry or dont just blame others ....work and gat the same ... that is not my account ... who upvoted me ... and what ever i do ...what ever kind of comment i do its my chose .. okay ...
I don't believe "bots" are within the spirit of the Steemit community. I realize it's difficult to get started here without them, but that in itself points at a problem. If good content isn't being found and seen naturally, within the coding of the site, then something is wrong with the site. Using tricks and gimmicks to get noticed is depressing and I refuse to do it. If I can't grow because I'm producing good content here, I'll go and produce it somewhere else where I CAN grow.
I agree with a lot of what you are saying and do think that the good content will rise, but the rise is slow. I have gone organic for much of my journey on Steemit. I used Randowhale a little last fall, but stopped when it wasn't effective. I'm testing them out, and they are profitable if you do it right. So I can see it getting exploited and getting out of hand quick. I still think the organic way is the best, but I am not against using them in general. I like Steemit and I know I've had some really solid blogs thad didn't get attention or ones that were geared towards minnows that didn't make a lot. A bot could help boost those. I don't know. I go back and forth because I do like the advertising aspect of it. I'm still torn. Not sure I'll use much after I test them out for a week. Thanks for the great reply. You got a new follower.
Thank you. And to be clear, I'm not judging anyone for their behavior, just stating what I believe and how I do things. I'm too new around here to think I understand how it all works, anyhow!
I do notice a LOT of content on Steemit that is nothing more than promotion. Promotion isn't wrong in itself, but the amount of content that is promotion can't be too high. We've all seen those YouTube channels, where all they talk about is themselves, and how many subscribers they have, and sell coffee mugs and keychains with their YouTube name on it? Just fluff (at best).
And some of the stuff I've seen on Steemit is even worse than that! Accounts that make completely useless posts, like ",,,,,,,," (yes, just a bunch of commas) or a stupid picture taken from Google Images. And those posts get hundreds of dollars of upvotes, using bots, and 'arrangements' with other accounts, and minnow pools, and lotteries, and other gimmicks. Even members who copy/paste comments from video to video, in the hopes that somebody will waste upvotes on them. This is a problem because it indicates the site is rewarding (essentially) garbage, while original content is (as you said) mostly unseen, and the rise is very slow. Unless you'll pay to play!
IMO if a site continues to punish quality original content and reward nonsense and gimmicks, it's on a downward course. Good content WILL go elsewhere. There's no monopoly on the concept Steemit is operating under! As easily as it came, it can go. Just my thoughts, so far.
DRutter
PS: The entire concept of PAYING so that your content gets paid more is ridiculous. That's like a publisher offering an author to publish their book, as long as the author pays $10000 up front. Yes, this actually does happen in the publishing world. But think about this: If the book was any good, would the author have to pay?
If the post REALLY was any good, would the poster have to use pay, or use gimmicks and bots?
Add quality content, be rewarded!
Not only that but when new users check out top posts they will only see artificially boosted "meh" quality posts. Bots are hurting our long-term growth.
interesting post....upvoted and followed
Thank you! You got a new follower too.
Definitely agree with you that they undermine the goal of steemit..
But they are probably needed in the initial stages if you don't have a whale as a friend
I agree, but with so many new people, it is hard to get through the clutter sometimes. Like I said... I go back and forth. Thanks for the reply.
Nice one..
Your project is great.
The bots work.
Atleast d ones i have seen
Thanks buddy. I appreciate it.