Its time to call out the trolls
There has been a lot of drama on steemit the last couple of months, around pretty much anything on the trending page.
If it wasn't @steamsports it was @steemvoter, later @curie came under fire and then a whole lot of drama concerning Steem Guild. That devolved into a whole bunch of attacks on first Steem Guild associate authors and later any frequently trending author or even pretty much any author in general could be flagged.
Always these attacks are instigated and supported by the same people, months ago it was the same names spearheading the charge. Now they are a little more subtle and prefer too just instigate and fuel "debates" and have others do their dirty work.
This time they have managed to garner some disgruntled whale support to act as their "enforcers".
I don't have the inclination to regurgitate everything but here is an example of the ridiculousness that the masters of mayhem are instigating. Its a pity that @smooth and @berniesanders have been dragged into this, but this is how ridiculous its become.
The steemit chat troll box used to be the steemitabuse channel... that was where the trolls wallowed and brewed their venom and hate.....
These days it has migrated to the price channel on steemit chat. The channel can be quite entertaining if that is your thing.... but its very insightful into the personalities of the members who frequent there. Some are not very desirable.
They vaunt themselves as the righteous defenders of the rewards pool, the knights in shining armor of the downtrodden author.
But actually their motives and intentions are quite the opposite and clearly on display to anybody willing to take a trip back in time in the price channel.
Those that featured authors back in the day were attacked and its very interesting that this was spearheaded by those attempting to put together the failed robinhoodwhale.
These attacks were framed as protecting innocent authors that were "duped" by those that featured them.
I personally paid out over $50 000 in SBD to authors that otherwise would not have seen a dime of rewards and I thank @smooth for making that possible. The effort would have reached more and helped out many more than just the 50 or so authors I featured had it not been for the witch-hunting of the @robinhoodwhale trolls and their crew that used to frequent steemitabuse.
Many of those robinhoodwhale and steempolice trolls have since sold out and left, a few remain and they are far more subtle now. They still have competitive projects that they are attempting to launch but now they are more subtle about removing the perceived competition. They have refined their methods.
Steemsports was not so subtle but it was highly successful. Its not surprising to see that it was hounded out of its position only to be replaced by the competitive sports initiatives.
Once again the narrative for getting rid of @steemsports was defending the rewards pool.
But, for the new competitive sports initiatives, that were prepared and ready to fill the "newly created" sport vacuum, that was not enough... They want it all... They had to remove anybody from the trending page and eventually remove all those voting for other authors (guilds) and spreading the rewards far and wide.
The intent is to get back to the "good ol' days" where a few won the lottery and the rest got beans....
And this lottery would be rigged as a few already had some big whales in their pockets.... now if they could just stop the other whales from voting and spreading out those rewards everywhere.
Of course the guilds would have to be taken out.
Curie was first, but that didn't do to well... and then they turned on Steem Guild, righteously defending the rewards pool again. True some SG were upvoting themselves will 100% whale votes, but that was only an issue because all the other well earning posts on trending had been systematically removed and some additional whale power had been added the consequences of which were still under testing.
SG made adjustments, but that was not enough. They have to be drummed out of business because they are still spreading the reward pool out to too many authors.
As a member of SG, that was not as active and putting in as many hours, I had never had a 100% upvote from SG. So some of us decided to test a few additional funding options and lay out some troll bait...
The results are enlightening...
The narrative is that the trolls are defending the trending page, later once percentages were dropped and shuffled a little it became defending the rewards pool.... and their noble motive's continue to evolve (posts are not good enough, too long, too short, too intellectual, too lowbrow, too many whale votes, disagreement of payouts etc. etc.)
Then it suddenly became a slug fest to bring any popular author off trending....
....and to totally eliminate Steem Guilds work and prevent the 400+ that they are distributing rewards too from earning anything.
Do yourself a favor and take a trip back in time through the price channel on steemit.chat
SG dropping percentages or switching to fewer posts that went on trending was not enough.
Changing to voting after payout to eliminate trending is also not enough.
So Trolls... defending the trending page was just and excuse as demonstrated by my troll bait
Defending the rewards pool also doesn't wash either... because you sports initiatives are earning more than ever....
- Your "mates" are now regularly on trending
- Your desire to have lesser authors eliminated is palpable and clearly spelled out in the price channel.
- Your desire to have other popular authors eliminated is evidenced by the new flagging rituals enacted daily on the trending page, while your and your mates remain untouched.
Your hunting through past posts to find late votes(my troll bait) is evidence of the extent to which you are prepared to go to attempt to discredit and hound SG to the extent that it is impossible to function.
Thanks for playing...
Anybody that wants to see the true motives of the righteous defenders of the rewards pool may now see the extent to which the trolls are willing to go to eliminate any perceived opposition to their plans for steemit domination.
One simply need to look at the powerdown status of the most vocal of the "Righteous Defenders" to understand just how much commitment they have to STEEM.
EDIT: it's amazing I called and look at the large number that turned out, deflecting and accusing, but few getting into the merits of the post... This post must have struck a nerve.
just as a side note, i don't think powering down says anything about a committment or lack of committment to steem. Its not a cult.
Money is money. I don't think steem is even close to a hold right now as an investment. I don't even hold bitcoin, though i think you could make a better arguement for doing so than you could for steem.
Asking users to act against their own financial interests to prove their loyalty to steem isnt what this platform needs.
As we say in my country, if you are not invited to the holidays, you do not have to worry about wakes.
What I try to say is that I am insignificant but I still perceive the hostile climate and that is a pity, not being able to work quietly.
If there is something that makes this platform good is the working climate and its people, if that is lost there is nothing left, at least in my case I do not make much money as you can check in my account, however I am more than 14 Hs here working, that's why I feel comfortable, not for what I win, but if it is lost is good working climate and hostility reigns, that is left of me.
I apologize if my answer has nothing to do with the subject, but I want to make it known that a bad climate is perceived and that is not good
So, in other words, after your visible self-votes were called out, you tried cheating the reward pool with hidden self-votes, got caught and now have to make up excuses about "troll bait".
Got it, thanks for clearing that up.
I will be downvoting the post if it gets significant rewards since I don't believe your whiny complaints about either a) not earning enough money, and b) attempting to earn more money by with hidden self-votes and it not working out are deserving of additional reward.
As you pointed out, I've supported many initiatives including yours, but Steem/it and its user base and evolves, as do voting practices. The same people won't always be earning all the time, in the same ways, nor will the percentages of the reward pool allocated to the highest earners always be the same. Times change. Evolve.
@smooth, you know I respect you, but some of the current guys you are hanging with are just toxic.
If there was an attempt to cheat the reward pool, would it not be more widespread than 2 very old and two very new post 1st payout posts?
I have tens of posts this could have been applied to if abuse was the intent...
I have no whiny complaints about a) or b)
But the guys you are "enforcing" for are not doing steemit any favors...
I'm very happy with the fact that voting practices evolve, but being manipulated for hidden agendas is a different story...
Funny, i was thinking the same thing
Despite what your attempts to justify your actions or delusional paranoia might suggest, there is no such thing. The idea of using downvotes on excessively high paying posts to spread out the reward pool a bit in a decentralized and unmanaged way is mine and mine alone (though I'm happy to the extent that other might join me). I'm curious to see how things work out with more rewards freed up from being under the control of a few guilds, distributed daily a relatively few posts and/or hoarded by a relatively few favored authors. You do understand, I assume, that the mathematically-inevitable consequence of that process is that rewards are distributed by and to a larger slice of the user base, in a more organic and actual preference-driven manner.
How you could twist that into "enforcing" and "toxic" is beyond be, but I don't particularly care. I'm going to do what I do, and continue trying to make Steemit better.
Many of us can't wait for the day when guilds will no longer be necessary and I am hoping vote delegation will do it.
It looks like "enforcing" when it is selectively and arbitrarily applied.
Personally I like the occasional downvotes, it means I am testing boundaries, but when reasons are given that aren't applied universally, the reason them seems weak or canceled out.
The reasons given are applied as universally as practical, especially considering that this isn't anything close to a full time job. I look around time permitting and when I see something that looks excessive, I vote accordingly. IMO it is better to act sometimes to correct an observed problem than to submit to some made up and self-serving standard of absolutely universality and fail to act at all. I am also entitled, as we are all, to have and act upon my own personal opinions as to what degree of reward is excessive for what content and under which conditions. We all do the best we can with the resources we have available, and balancing between many complex considerations.
I can't argue with that...
But in this case, the police are looking out for their own self-interest. That's what governments do.
What a load of unrepentant horseshit from someone who's taken in massive amounts of money in various redistribution/guild/curation schemes.
I knew youd make me break out curation cat sooner or later.
Interesting... I've paid out more than my entire account is worth currently, so calculate again
Gotta love curation cat!!!
@gavvet - You haven't "given out" more than you have taken in, unless you count clicking that upvote button as "Giving Out".
It's called rolling with the punches.. every creator should be prepared for that
Please.. Let him earn from it, and let it gain all the visibility possible. If it was from anyone else, I would have resteemed it. However, I am sure it will get plenty votes.
I dont really see what makes them trolls. Though i personally like krnel's content, most of the content getting downvoted is really really bad. Yours is some of the worst...
You're one of the loudest champions for steem to have no standards whatsoever, and you and people like you area big part of the reason price and retention is where its at.
Getting rid of (or at least limiting the damage done by) the many parasitic, entitled self-upvoters sponsored by steem guild and unwisely supported by steemit, inc is the best thing these whales and others could be doing for steemit.
Amazing, one doesn't even need to go to the price channel... They are all here voting for one of their champions...
someone upvoted a post critical of me. it must be a conspiracy.
Gimme a break
No not someone, the usual crew.... just wondering how long before the 2000 sock puppet sybil attack arrives.
its not a sybil attack unless i derive some benefit from having the SP in many accounts. Which i don't.
And "the usual crew"? Seriously. The biggest vote in that "usual crew" sent probably low six figures worth of upvotes your way this summer.... youre seriously going to talk trash on a 12 cent comment upvote.
WHat about the usual crew that upvote your posts? Do they just not count? The only difference, at least as far as i can see, is that there's a good chance that most of the people upvoting me actually read what i wrote.
Nope, the names of the votes is what is important... called out and showing themselves...
Edit: smooth excluded... didn't see that one with the first check of the vote list
yes. Showing themselves as people who are critical of you. How dare they. one can only hope they start showing themselves with downvotes as well as upvotes.
You like to frame it as though people who object to your unabashed greed are "trolls" and they ought to be ashamed of acting against your dishonesty. But just the opposite is true.
If you are trying to intimidate me: It won't work.
I'll comment and vote as I please.
You laid it out in plain sight and gave them the rope to hang themselves. My, are they taking the bait.
Thanks for this... Illustrates my point exactly...
I should be clear. I wasn't looking to call you a worthless parasite to be mean or to be a troll. I just happen to think its true. And i happen to think that the negative effect that you and people like you have on steemit is something that the community needs to address.
One face on the block chain... another in chat, very interesting
No, its pretty much the same face, espousing the same opinion. I don't censor myself and i don't hide my opinion.
I said on the blockchain i think you're a parasite. I said in chat i think you're a parasite. Theres really not a hell of a lot of ambiguity there.
Mmmm... whatever, I've read more, other users can too and decide for themselves if what they see on the 'chain is what they see in the chat.
But it is amazing how you all come running...
You were looking for a reason to slam Gavvet? Ha. That should be somewhere in the dictionary near the definition of troll. Let's see you try something positive on this site for once, rather than tearing others down, which seems to be your only pursuit.
Venom. That's your only contribution to this site so far.
I wouldn't say "slam" i would say "honestly identify".
My contribution to this site has been honesty and candor. It these things are poison to people like you and gavvet, i would posit that its time for a long look in the mirror.
Just yesterday you snuck in another @ned vote on your own content. This time right before the 30 day payout.
You have a very twisted sense of justice.
And there is another one too for you to go and find... thanks for demonstrating my point...
If your point was to demonstrate, that you can use ned's votes how you want to: Well done.
If you're trying to troll me into calling you names, so you can cry abuse: Sorry bro.
??
Well done it was found.... although it did take quite a number of days... I'm a little disappointed there.
I that was "troll bait" only done to see whether trolls were watching right before the 30 day payout.
Right.
I guess that makes me a troll.
Fun fact: I showed my face at Steemfest and several Meetups.
It was actually there for a couple of days... check out the vote time, I'm a little disappointed it wasn't found sooner.
I don't know who is who, and I really don't care. I just know I will never see certain names the same way again - including yours. Watching your daily trend. Your conversations with the other people who were trending. I watched some smaller players who hoped for your votes make comments after the battle started. Oh, and I saw every one of your articles.
I have never been in the price channel and I have never been in the abuse channels either. So, you set the bait... Knowing not just those whales were watching, but the entire community, current investors, potential investors, etc. All the while the articles and whale pod votes never quit coming. Nice bait. I guess you caught ... me and probably many others.
I watched the silly whale flags with bad reasons, I was accused of taking sides through both battles.
Here is what your bait has done to my thoughts on Steem. It has made me feel that there is a huge amount of scammy and untrustworthy people. It has made me feel like it is broken and the people involved are broken. Including those behind SG and Steemvoter, steemsports, etc.
If anyone asked me if they should participate in SteemIt, I would say yes. If they asked if I thought they should buy steem. At this time, I would say no. I hope others keep their wallets in their pockets as well.
Congratulations you sure showed us.
No intent to show you, but the trolls are showing their hand for those who would like to educate themselves.
So, those who see bad behavior on all sides, and don't appreciate the drama are uneducated? You have the floor, educate us with some details. Otherwise, it is just one more rant. Coming from one of the best paid people on the platform.
Education (or perhaps informing yourself is a better phrase) is a process... I have pointed out the right direction, everyone is welcome to form their own opinions.
Seems pretty cryptic, am I supposed to run to the abuse and price channel now and comb through all the conversations. No thank you. Have a nice night. I don't know for sure, but it sure sounds like you got called out for voting on old posts or something.
Wow, what an eye opener this whole story. This makes me feel like I'm a fool.
At this point, I don't even advise people to try steemit. The place is too stressful at the moment to invite people I care about, why would I want to show them this toxic environment...
I know that it's mostly down to a bear market, but that bear market is due to people who can't see the problems with their own actions or passivity. Knowing that the people who are gaining the most power on the platform are currently extorting that power at the expense of the community makes me wonder how long before we will see actual decentralisation... Because sending all the power to certain users so they can trend every day while users like karenmckersie who have put in day after day since July have been there just once... What reasons have I to not lose faith?
Tensions are building. I don't know, maybe a giant melt down will bring sanity.
I'm a defender not a righteous one.. but a reasonable one. I was powering down Cuz i needed the spare change.. not everyone is on the same level and i agree, some are just jealous trolls.. this is a problem that is slowly coming undone
Don't really get into the details, but what I know for sure the drama does make us down here and slowly get sick. Since I joint, this kind of issue is never stop. This March it's Steemit first year and I think it's more than enough time for such debate (troll, hate, flagging, plagiarism,etc). It's better to encourage each other on making good quality content as we need to invite more people on Steemit to enrich more colors in our posts.
Agreed
So you've made a bunch of sweeping insinuations.
Developed intrigue, to paint a picture with words and phrasing like 'crusade' , 'enforcers', 'rituals' and 'take a trip back through time' ...
Labelled anyone that's questioned the self voting of SG a troll..
Self voted on your own posts with multiple whale votes entrusted to you - right before the 30 day window... Bringing a $10 post to a $70+ post..
https://steemit.com/insects/@gavvet/the-guardian-at-the-security-gate
Reframed this as 'troll bait'... When in actual fact it's pretty sneaky.
Anyone that has a 'debate' is a troll now, anyone that questions your self voting is on a 'righteous crusade to save trending'.
Well done @gavvet - a very Machiavellian move. I'm impressed.
And another emerges.... Thanks This has actually been the best bait ever...
I think more than anything you've just called yourself out for taking advantage of whatever power or influence you've gained.
Not really, but you are entitled to your opinion... taking advantage would have looked a lot worse.
'Secretly' paying yourself and then getting called out for it to respond with..
...It was all planned to capture trolls..! It was bait...anyone who disagrees with me is a troll...
...Kinda feels like taking advantage.
I put up this post and look at how many rapidly appeared, in numbers... few arguing the merits of the post but attacking and deflecting, kinda makes one think I must have struck a nerve.
Nesting 2
I see the price channel as a place where people hash out ideas and discuss them at length. There have been many serious discussions involving many perspectives, I believe you even jumped in at the tail end of one regarding reward curve linearity.
At times a critical opinion may be voiced and others will agree in price and at other times those opinions will be argued against. It isn't fair to label the entire chat.
Is anyone who has a critical opinion a troll?
People these days often use Troll to label people who disagree with them, yet they are far from the same thing.
Troll bait does not apply here. A troll wouldn't give a shit about this they'd simply say anything to get a rise. They wouldn't focus on a specific issue. That is just called disagreement and is normal.
A troll won't care about the issue, they'll just want to get a rise.
Nesting
Sounds more like you're 'attacking' the price channel and labeling people who disagree with you as evidence they are trolls. Also attacking whales that flag you and calling them 'enforcers'.
I also see you 'deflecting' your questionable funding practices with this entire post.
The speed at which people commented on this post was directly related to the fact that it was posted in the price channel and you essentially labelled users of the channel as being part of a 'troll box'.
Not cool and very mean.
:(
So would you agree or disagree that if you have disgruntled feelings/highly critical opinions/wish to bash other users etc. those feelings or opinions won't get a warm welcome, a cup of coffee and a biscuit when aired in the price channel?
Not everyone in #price is a troll, but pretty much every troll is in #price...
Jezus, please @ned take your keys away from this little turd while you and SteemIt still have some level of creditability.
don't have keys... never have