Steemit has created a giant cult of pretentiously positive people.
People are earning money here at Steemit by gaining upvotes on their posts and comments, and it has created the most positive and welcoming culture on the internet. In way, this is GREAT, because often times the internet can be a mean mean place. The atmos is transformed at Steemit, without a troll in sight and helpful heads all around.
But it has its downfalls too. Each and every single comment here on Steemit is unbelievably positive and friendly. But do we really believe that each and every Steemit post deserves such glowing compliments? Schools introduce uniforms mainly so that children can't be discriminated against for their clothing, but it largely restricts expression. I reckon that our behaviour here on Steemit (I'm not saying I don't participate - totally do) is not completely honest either, reflecting this in a way... Because of the attitude, I also believe that competition is swayed and actual good writing sometimes doesn't get the recognition that it deserves, but rather people build up a cult following and just keep receiving upvotes from them over and over... Are the rich getting richer while the minnows waste their time?
It sort of reminds me of that episode of Black Mirror where everyone is disturbingly nice to gain social points, but in this case it's about money.
Thoughts?
You are making a good point here.
But essentially it is just a mirror of real life.
If you have no power and need support, you have to suck up and play nice.
Once a certain status is achieved, you don't have to do it anymore. You can ignore, unfollow, vote down as you like.
This is what "power" gives you, the liberty to do as you please and to influence other people.
The good thing about steemit though is that it appears to keep the real assholes away who post nasty comments just because.
If social pressure or maybe even greed causes people to be nice it still creates a sort of pleasant environment, even if it is not 100% genuine.
My thoughts exactly. It's pretty cool and unusual to see a platform with no internet bullying tbh!
I forgot where i heard this from, but some advertising agency did a study on people and advertisements on websites and found that human's are so focused that they can completely ignore ads to find the information they are seeking (predatory response thats part of having 2 eyes looking forward). This is the same thing with the post that are happy feeling. you can read through the falsity of the post SO quickly that you just ignore them.
but as @herrleeb said, if you need support, you will suck up and play nice. I want to add into that, that if you have NOTHING to add to the steemit community, you will never gain enough status to not have to do that. But if you do have something to contribute, then you wont ever need to pull off that sort of fake behavior. Anyone commenting on my post like that , I wont upvote. Everyone else who posts a meaningful comment gets an upvote depending on how much value they add to the discussion.
Once the community gets large enough, I bet there will be niche channels on Steemit dedicated to trolling, gossiping and bullying. It's part of human nature, and I think there will be people with such fetishes as enjoying a savage cross-bully with a total stranger on the internet.
I can just about imagine that...
Haha, that's really interesting @motoengineer
I'm new to Steemit and have had similar thoughts. That Black Mirror episode was actually one of the first things I thought about when I learned the basics of how Steemit works. Overall, I think being positive is a really good thing, but when we're exclusively (and sometimes artificially) positive I think that can really limit human interaction and growth.
Thought provoking post!
Thanks, I agree completely.
Is that a bad thing though? With all the negativity & polarisation that you find in other platforms.
especially because they is more than just positivity going on, negativity & polarisation is replaced by rational criticism that is valued by the community
Exactly. It's probably a good thing at the end of the day - as we say no trolls! Have you ever heard of Nora Reed and her twitter bots? She has an excellent anti-online-bullying one!
I'm brand new to the community, but your point already has a ring of truth to it. Something I'd like to guard against, because while the old adage of not saying anything at all if you don't have something nice to say is sweet in theory, that same line of thinking will definitely create a weird dynamic if unchecked. Thankfully, this is the internet, collective of all human thought and emotion, so I can't imagine such a watered down line of communication prevailing.
In a way I agree. People are less likely to be genuine about their shortcomings especially pertaining to views regarding certain things that are posted. It's a valid observation. One of the best ways to even the playing field might be to assimilate as many minnows onto the platform to dilute the power of those making the most. Eventually. Till then, be honest with yourself and nurture the content and following you seek.
@sonofthesoil
I've noticed this too. Sometimes it can feel like the feedback is disingenuous or maybe even a little saccharine just to have something to say. That said, I find it a little refreshing to be surrounded by positive people on the internet for a change lol.
I think you make a good point. I guess there are pros and cons. On one hand, being a troll is probably not a great idea on this platform; unless a trolling sub-cult emerges. Which might actually be interesting since the trolling might become more sophisticated if you need to impress your fellow trolls.
On the other hand, it's not hard to see how having upvotes as currency could lead to some issues similar to those found in the Black Mirror episode.
Either way, nice to see someone has opened the topic, but in the interest of not being pretentiously positive, you're the worst!!! It was only a matter of time before somebody had to drag their negativity on to this platform.
Ahh, thats refreshing!
I've been mentoring several people on how to use Steemit through snap chat and am willing to devote steem delegation to my followers that post content I believe in... The fact that the community has supporting me makes me more than happy to help others when they have shown a solid effort.
Great way to go about it.
Thought provoking post. I think that it is more productive when people have polite discussions on topics rather than arguing their side and getting nowhere. I have seen people disagree on here but it always seems to be in a friendly discussion. I think steemit has created something very special and I hope it is for the better.
Same here!