As Steemit is growing more and more people are finding ways how to (ab)use the system for their own benefit. And what is the latest thing? Paying for votes.
There are already a couple of services that I'm not going to mention who will give you an upvote if you send them some Steem or SBD. They will say that they are doing a great service to the community, and if you read the comments you will get the impression that the crowd is very happy about it. As if the sole purpose of Steemit is to post just whatever and pay for someone with more Steem Power to upvote it.
Why is this bad?
First of all, this is not the way the system is supposed to reward you. I was under the impression that you should earn your upvotes and not pay for them. I'm not going to be surprised if people start paying for following. There is a reason why mostly minnows use these services and most dolphins ignore them. Once minnows understand the infrastructure of the platform they will see a scheme, dressed like a good cause. What's more, dolphins and whales are way less likely to vote for a post that has paid for a vote. A shortcut isn't necessarily the best way to reach the desired destination.
Afer all why should I waste my voting power when you paid someone to do it instead of me?
When you pay for a vote, you are making the rich richer and the poor poorer. By paying for a vote the money is drained from the rewards pool for no reason besides making someone even more wealthy, when in fact this particular steemian is harming the financial ecosystem. You know who I'm talking about surely. Not the nicest person on Steemit. Making a bot to autovote whatever crap comes along is not adding value, it's reducing value. The same person used to flag whatever comes in his way, he even had fake accounts to flag even more people. But this is not personal, even if he has good intentions this doesn't change that fact that this is cheating. There are other accounts I came across who will upvote for you manually for even less, draining the rewards pool even more.
I understand that for a minnow to receive a 3-5$ vote is a huge deal, but in the long run, I'm not so sure this is the best strategy to get more upvotes and gain trustworthy followers.
Maybe I can make my own service and I will charge steemians to pay me to flag any posts they think don't deserve payouts. How would you like that? It's for a good cause, after all, money is put back in the rewards pool.
I was just arguing with someone about it . a newbie who offers following back & upvotes for whoever follows him. I told that i think he is abusing this platform and i explained to him with my own point of view why is that. I think i can safely share this post with him now you made easier for me ...thanks @rossenpavlov
Thank you for bringing some sense in people's minds. Steemit IS different, I follow you, you follow me just doesn't work here.
Good points. As a newb I was considering paying for these services as well. Looks like I will just go the old fashion way and earn it. Thanks.
Not many upvotes for this post when in fact what you're saying is totally true.
I'm a minnow and I've used that kind of services myself with the hopes of increasing my SP. That is something that minnows fall for because we feel small and want to grow faster but in reality this type of practices hurt the ecosystem here.
You should make a post on how to write better quality content and how to grow as a steemian even at a slow pace. It's always good to be able to set goals.
Thanks, I'm already writing these kinds of posts, just browse my blog.
Will do.
so agree with you, 5 min early I was declined a proposition of join a discord group how will love 100% of my publication without looking at them. I don't post for money, I post to make friends in the entire world ! Last day I Was talking with the indian about waffle ! That was amazing !
Steemit is a great way to interact with people.
I love it so much now XD
And you know i just used this service for the first time two days ago... Now i feel bad!
Thanks for sharing this. It earns a resteem.
Don't feel bad, at least now you have a different point of view.
Very informative and well thought out post. While i have paid for upvotes it's mostly to increase my own SP so I can be beneficial to others on the platform without cost to them. The chance of a whale visiting ones post on this platform is very small though after all minnows severely out number the combined whales and dolphins and there are only so many votes to go around.
Nice post!
You ar eright, while getting a $4-5 upvote is a big deal to a minnow like me, it really isn't worth it. My earnings have been all over the place ($40 all the way down to $0.04) but I still post the best content I can.
I know that after a while the community will discover me and earnings will pick up.
Until then, I will continue to be a part of the community and try to make it awesome. Like me. ; )
Ohhhhh hey, I'm a newbie and have been using these bot things. I thought it was just the done thing.... glad I found your post, I'm still learning and I feel like something has just clicked about the Steemit ecosystem. I'm not going to use them any more. Cheers!
We all learn as we go along. I'm glad I was helpful. Steem on!
@rossenpavlov the main thing is vote for those only those who are genuine and 2nd thing is don't uptove to your comment. 3rd things is keep supporting to begginer steemians.
I find myself reading topics that interest me and I must admit those blogs doesn't carry much weight when it comes to earnings. I have been up voting some post recently but I am still trying to find out if it affects my steem power. I heard someone say it is a good thing to up vote your blog but I read nothing about how up voting your comment helps or hurt you. I comment on a lot of posts so I would find it weird to up vote my own comment. I would up vote my own comment if I learned it gave some kind of benefit. I'm a new steemian been here for about 3 weeks now and I appreciate any support from other steemians minnows, dolphins and whales.