DOES EVERYTHING ALWAYS TURN TO SHIT IN THE END?
OK, now I'm about to get all philosophical.
A job I'm half way through doing at he moment is scanning a relatives album of wedding photos. Many good things came out of that wedding but eventually it ended in a bitter divorce. And speaking of bitter, that brings me to Steemit...
Like most of us old timers (as @sift666) I started out here full of hopes, dreams, and ambitions. I thought Steemit was awesome, and looking back at what I was posting in 2016 and 2017, it was some of the best shit I've ever posted. Partly that was because for the first time ever I was being paid to blog, and partly it was because this was such a cool scene and I wanted to be a part of it. Unlike fakebook it was filled with interesting people posting amazing stuff.
But now, at the start of 2019, after nearly 2 1/2 years on Steemit, and having learned probably more than is good to know, I'm just a jaded old cynic. And rather than being more sure of anything to do with this platform, I've never been so confused and uncertain. I'll start with the bad stuff.
THE MONEY IS A BIT SHIT
The easiest part to start with is the financial rewards:
Here are my payout averages per post after bot costs - yes, I'm anal and have spreadsheets for them...
2016 - $19.35 with no bots
2017 - $10.01 with no bots
2018 - $12.57 with about 1/3 of my posts using bots
2019 - $3.19 all with bots and dropping like a stone
And now for the first time ever on Steemit, my last two posts have ended up LOSING me money! - LOL, that was never the idea...
Not from flagging, just because the payouts are dropping below what I'm giving to the bots and my actual votes don't cover the difference. About half my upvotes all come in at 15 mins and are worthless votes from bot accounts.
https://steemit.com/teamnz/@frot/arewestillallowedtobehonestonsteemit-egrvu085dd
https://steemit.com/teamnz/@frot/allicouldseewaspinkhitlers-433nrzpft5
There are two reasons I still use bots - as insurance against flagging, and to bring up my rep, but the payouts are so shit, I'm not really doing it for the money anymore. (any post I do without buying a botvote gets flagged at the three day point by an annoying flagbot)
Exactly one year ago I was getting $100 payouts with no bots, we had just made $1/4 mill on cryptos, I thought Steemit was the greatest, and I felt like donald chimp
But financially I feel like the party is well and truly over now. And I won't even get into fucking cryptos at this point. That will be another post and it won't be pretty.
CENSORSHIP HAS APPEARED LIKE FLIES TO SHIT
When I started out there were a bunch of strict rules like always crediting sources. Fair enough, but some people took this shit way too far and were a right pain in the arse. However I could live with that because for the most part if we did a well written post we could talk about what we wanted. For my first year on Steemit I never had a single flagging, and when I finally got one it was because an orca with no sense of humour didn't get that my post was satirical. Eventually he got the joke, removed his angry comments, and reversed the flag.
Things are very different now - several of my friends have been flagged off the platform, and I even have a bot that stalks my posts and comments looking for a chance to flag me if I interact with verboten accounts, or do a post without paying for bot votes. Many of the subjects I'd like to discuss would bring unwelcome attention, so I'm not mentioning them. But I'm literally one step away from letting rip, because it's not my nature to shut the fuck up online and play the gimp (one of those subjects is ai/bots and oh shit is that one a rabbit hole!)
If I was doing Steemit posts for money I guess I could keep my mouth shut, but now the money part is history, so I'm only going to keep doing it if it's fun. Being censored and stalked by bots is just bullshit, and my patience is wearing thin.
Although I do my best to be pleasant and agreeable on Steemit, at this point I'm sometimes turning into a seething pile of repressed anger, because I've watched way too many scams going on. There is a bunch of stuff that needs to be openly discussed, but if we go near it we will get our accounts totally fucked over. So we either shut up about it or stop posting all together.
AT THIS POINT WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
Like most people who have been here for a few years, I have absolutely no confidence in any direction or leadership. This is got to be either a giant scam to totally crash the price of Steem and buy it all up cheap, or this platform is fucked. And I have no idea which. Even my confidence in the blockchain itself - not just this one, but all of them, is shot to hell as well. So yes I think cryptos are dodgy as, but that will be another post.
And like most of my "conspiracy theorist" friends I have ideas about what is really going on here. Insane theories involving mad shit like the CIA and other retarded stuff... Better stop there I guess.
So all the work we have put into making this place something special, may be about to be flushed down the toilet. And saying that may be shooting myself in the foot. But so might not saying it. And there lies the problem.
WHY DO I CARE IF IT'S ALL FUCKED ANYWAY?
Because we really do have something special here - so much potential, and so many cool people.
Right now I have no solutions - so I'll just say this: I still think there is a glimmer of hope because despite all the totally fucked up useless lying wankers who are trying to do every scam in the book, some of us are real and some of us are exceptional. Even though my default setting on Steemit is now "everything is bullshit" I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Maybe we can still get this to work.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.frot.co.nz/design/steemit/does-everything-always-turn-to-shit-in-the-end/
It is getting hard to watch some of my favorites go away, and some of the always optimistic ... especially those of us who have been around since the early days get so frustrated.
Recently losing nonameslefttouse and several others. I'm watching a lot of the best group... fade away.
Yet, even well connected I have no idea what to do about it or who to appeal to.
Hang in there one pump and this turns around.
You realise you are my go to person for brilliant solutions?
Hmmm, are you scared to touch the topics that really matter?
This was a honest post from @frot it's not about the price of steem. Its about the toxicity of the platform. And what do you mean with "hang in there one pump and this turns around"? You mean, there is always a greater fool?
There were enough examples in the post, to come to the conclusion that some "totally fucked up useless lying wankers who are trying to do every scam in the book" destroyed the social media use case for all of us.
If you read the post and read between the lines, we all know to whom and what kind of behavior the finger is pointed. Of course spam is an issue, nothing new here, but the so called self appointed spam hunters are an issue too. We get both for free, and we can do nothing to stop them.
A price pump will not change these facts. The potential of the steem blockchain will also not change these facts.
A mantra like "everyone can do with his stake like he wishes" make us look as the greater fools.
The Matra everyone can do what they like with their stake is TRUE.
If you would like to replace it with "As stupid is so stupid does" that may also be true.
If you have nearly 3 years in like @frot and I do, although you can see the truth is many are making bad decisions... There is no sense of accountability or influence to change it.
So the difficulty becomes, do you walk away or do you stay?
I agree, I probably over-simplified with the one pump fixes this statement, but I guess I know how much effort and time frot would be walking away from.
I've never thought we could compete with Facebook, but I think many can and will earn. It is pretty clear when it comes to building a social media site our largest stakeholders including Ned just aren't that passionate about it. Some are busy playing "coinstacker" and some of the rest are too impatient because they aren't rich yet.
They can not and will not hold the course. They see investment as get money out instead of put time and money IN.
So, yeah while we have major problems I don't have much hope in a sudden change, so each person will have to decide if it is worth it to keep on looking for small ways to impact it.
Well spoken, I stay, because I can see those small ways to have an impact.
Yes everything was always shit, is shit and will always be shit.
This is my opinion, on a day where I feel overwhelmingly upbeat and positive....I''ll come back again when I feel really shit and update you again on what I think!
Sometimes you're a real negative prick...
@frot, are you getting bored with steemit? I am. I hardly ever check anymore and I don't write nearly as much. This is totally not on topic with your post either. Just checking in to see what you think
yes - i'm very disillusioned...
https://steemit.com/teamnz/@frot/solongandthanksforallthefish-g4igq6aozk
hey can I subscribe to your blog? I do not see how to do that. PS funny that you are going away right as your score is 66 don't you think? LOL
Holy shit.
Talk about stunningly accurate reflections - navigating to this post as a result of your comment on mine, expressing the same cynical, jaded tone about disillusionment with this space...!
The rewards for good content have dried up for most in here. And it seems money is the #1 incentive to post. #2 incentive, having fun I guess just doesn't cut. Too bad we need to be payed to have fun. Keep on humping.
I must admit money used to be an incentive - a year ago kiwideb and I had over 15 000SP worth $8 - so we had made US$120,000 on Steemit.
Now we only have about $4000 left, and no expectations of ever making $ again. So a big change is that I'm not going to keep buttoning my lip about all the fake shit that I know is going on around here.
And yes, if fun is my number one aim, I may be a bit different :)
Do you like how any post that I do with no bot vote, at exactly the point I can no longer bot vote, bloop bot flags it? And we know who bloop bot belongs to...
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Let's hope we can all get this place to work great.
Posted using Partiko Android
To my government I wrote a letter the other day about freedom online. It goes like this:
A
Are you sure about the first part?
I've auto censored all the rest. I didn't want to hurt any feelings at the oligarchy temple.
Great that people still have a positive attitude and do not inflate the chain with rants :)
Yes! - that's what I was trying to say...
Shit doesn't just happen - it takes effort...
Why are people putting in so much effort, I wonder....?
How about a post "Why rich fuckers are putting so much effort into totally fucking up a social media platform - what is their real agenda?"
The title might need to be shorter...
After 15 mins my posts usually get about 30 worthlesss upvotes from bot accounts that follow me - what on earth are they up to? Developing bots I guess...