Where have the steemit anarchism/voluntaryism celebrities gone?
Do you fellow steemians who were here during the summer when payouts were insane remember when we had some pretty well known Anarchists, Voluntaryists, etc posting regularly on steemit? When the prices went into the low end they seem to have went silent. Sadly they came back up and they have not returned to activity.
It makes me wonder if perhaps the money mattered more to them than it does some people like me. I care about the message. I also care about supporting a censorship free platform through the good times and the bad.
If any of you are still in contact with any of these people that used to be very active here and had great posts, see if you can get them to start posting again.
A big one for me was Larken Rose. @larkenrose. He hasn't posted here for a good 2 months. His last three posts did not pay very well though. Yet that was also during the time we had changed a lot of things and most of us were getting paid very poorly. In fact those payouts may have been high for that particular time. Yet, they have not been engaging when things have been really good for several weeks now.
These people all have a good number of followers. I wish they had remained active through the hard times and hope they don't miss the boat with the good times. Yet, if it is only about the money then I am not as concerned.
Dragon Anarchist @dragonanarchist who also collaborates on projects sometimes with Larken has not posted for 3 months. The last two posts she made did not do as good as earlier. Yet, I for one miss her posts.
Then we had the Psychologic Anarchist Sterling Luxan @sterlinluxan
He at one time was very active on here and had some very cool and interesting posts. He hasn't posted in 4 months. In my opinion he was doing pretty well. He didn't really have any low paying posts recently. If payment amount was the reason they left.
There are some other things that could have driven them away as well. Perhaps they didn't like how @dollarvigilante was vilified by some and pretty much flag followed by some powerful people here. DV at least stuck it out and just reposted his email news letters here. It was pretty much fire and forget with no comment engagement, and that was what some people complained about. Yet he kept posting... that is something.
Then as things picked up he noticed. He even went so far as to do a 2 hour live stream that was attended by a lot of people. He has readded info to his email newsletters about steemit, so he is advertising and it is clear he is not done here.
Did they run due to the obvious disproportionate power? If so, they should have stayed and fought with words, and been civil and earned respect from others. This is what I try to do, yet I am no celebrity in this field like they are.
We have new people join sharing videos made by these people or referencing articles fairly frequently and they have no idea that at one time these people tread these same hallowed halls of steemit with us.
It would be very nice if we could get them to do so again.
It should be noted we do have some others like Luke of WeArechange.Org at @lukewearechange that still posts here every so often. I think they all need to engage more here and we can blow this place and their message up.
They're pretty much all still actively posting on Facebook all the time, so it appears to be related to money. When the price was low a lot of users left. When the price recovered recently, so many older users who made a lot of money last summer and fall magically found time in their schedules to post content again.
The sad part is - they're being rewarded again for obviously not giving a shit about their followers or the platform in general. I'm not saying that money isn't an obvious motivator, but what they're doing is pretty clear. I have chosen not to upvote most of these people, if not all of them, as far as I know.
It's certainly not exclusive to the anarchists. And it's somewhat entertaining to see everyone saying the same thing:
"I've been soooo busy since last fall, but now I have more time to post, so I'm back!"
It just so happened that all of these people found time again the same week...when the STEEM price made its way near and above $1.00. What a coincidence!
Exactly. Their anarchism was a front, not something they really cared about. I did call them out various times and it was the main reason I gained bad rep at the beginning. My early posts were all about calling out bullshitters like TDV and Sterlinluxan.
-1- Why I Respect The DAO hacker and not The Dollar Vigilante
-2- A little Something for the Delussional Anarchists of Steemit
-3- Reclaiming Anarchy from Bullshiters - A response to the lies of sterlinluxan
I admit I haven't been active much but I always managed to post something every week or the longest 2 weeks even if it was for pennies. My only main support was Dan and that only from time to time. Most of my posts I spend hours upon hours, even creating graphics of my own. I knew that the payment was never gonna be grandiose since almost all whales were against my attitude and that small voting tribes where going on from which I wasn't a part.
I criticized anarchy as much as supported it. I called bullshitters and scammers out as soon as my radar picked them up. Once you have been around for some time the anarchic and crypto scene you can tell who is the real deal and who is just pushing an agenda to make money. Anarchy became a crypto-sector if you like just like every other niche politicians use. Same shit, different packaging.
I never cared about the flags or what other people cared about my opinion in here. All I know is that after 1 year, every single thing I said about those two (and many, many others) came about right. If only I played stupid and passive, whoring myself with sensationalism and empty rhetorics, my steem power, rewards and reputation would be much higher. Don't regret it though. Time is the best ally one can have in these kind of things. The sad part is that these short-term sensationalist guys have the same kind of people following them. Easy come, easy go.
I will have to check out those posts. There are too many scam artists and fascists in the supposedly "libertarian" crowd. Ultimately these will have to be rooted out or there is no movement or remote posibility of building one. Thankfully there is cooperative agorism to fall back on, but even there we greatly benefit from having people around us that share a common vision.
More or less it takes common sense and be able to see beyond the demons of "state". That is only the facade. The easy target. The problem is much deeper.
Right, the state is not the only ethical issue. A lot of people use it as an excuse not to bother with other areas of thought, which is quite tragic.
exactly. This is what I was trying to say to those guys. You can see more on my posts.
Yeah, ultimately it is sad. Yet I'd rather have them here posting than not. It ends up being beneficial for the platform, and when they don't stick it out those of use that are celebrities tend to benefit from their stranded followers they left dangling behind. They find out they too are part of our community and this place gets stronger.
I'm still here though ;) and pretty much nowhere else
Yeah, same for me. I can do my anarchist thing without advertising it all day, every day. And I'll stick with it, even during bad economic times for this platform...or even for myself as an individual.
Hah! I just mentioned this on Facebook yesterday. I just added a link to this post. Let's get them back and posting to earn some crypto!
Yeah, they need to dig in and fight like we do... fight and thrive. :) I guess it is not really fight, it is too enjoyable to be called that.
It kinda looks like most of them are doing it just for the money. It would be kinda sad if thats the case i think, just like you said these people have influence and could do a lot for Steemit.
For what its worth, im happy you are still here posting ;) have a great day!
I'm trying to wrap myself around the idea that a group of fairly intelligent people with idealistic tendencies (I would characterize anarchism as fairly "idealistic" in the context of the current world) would abandon a place that voluntarily compensates them for their efforts (let's remember, Steemit is not a "job") to head back to a "big corporate" structure that gives them nothing.
Something in there "between the lines" speaks volumes. It's not really mine to judge, but the term "fairweather activist" keeps sitting at the tip of my tongue...
I've heard that Larken at least has been pretty wrapped up in his "Candles in the Dark" seminars. @mattclarke mentioned this. He wasn't too happy with my post here. Someone else mentioned these people are active on their facebook pages, I don't do facebook so I did not verify that.
Although I still have my account, I kind of got cooked with Farcebook after the election... the pervasive whining and petty bickering of Trump/Hillary supporters reminded me of a bunch of grade school kids having an eternal hissy fit. I kept scratching my head, thinking "I thought these were reasonable ADULTS." Everyone's so freakin' shrill and petulant...
Point being that even thought perspectives may be different, there's a level of intelligence and civility on Steemit I have not often seen elsewhere. I still don't get why these people are pouring energy into those platforms... other than (maybe) FOMO?
I agree and understood everything but FOMO. I didn't go google it. What does that mean?
FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out.
Normally used with new issues on the stock market and new technologies of dubious merit... but they sell anyway because of people's fear of missing out.
I even encounter it when encouraging people to join Steemit... they are somehow afraid they are going to "miss out" on something if they are not glued to Farcebook,
They likely are not missing much on facebook. They are missing out by not being here though. :)
Most likely not. But I'm guilty, too... even though I spend very little time there these days, I can't quite bring myself to abandon a couple of groups with 8000+ people and a page with 16000+ "likes." But I mostly keep them for Steemit "prospect mining" purposes...
Hahah.... wow... my dad used to warn me of "Fairweather friends" when I was younger, and that phrase did go through my head as I wrote this article. Strange how you ended up on a similar place.
Don't worry ! I'm here now. Steem will finally do well. hahahahaha :D
It's hard to know what is going on in a person's mind. I do think Steem had some bugs in its platform that seem to have been fixed?
Honestly, took a look a while back and was turned off by the whale downvote power, and at that time I had no idea if the admins would be responsive to changes. I think we just need to give it time. They'll be back.
A bit of my story: I had a bad attitude about it at first and my thinking has since changed: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@trevorlyman/my-steemit-journey-so-far-from-a-negative-attitude-to-all-in
Yeah this is one of the things I hinted at as a possibility in my post. This still is an issue by the way. I'll be interested to see how the linear curve works out.
Great post. I didn't know luke posted here but I'm a fan of some of the things he does. I'm glad I came across this post. I have a little anarchy/voluntarism in me and i'm new, trying to find the best way to help steemit and write about something im interested in. Maybe I can swoop up some of the followers they all left behind haha! If it is all about the money, maybe we don't need them back though. Following you know. Keep teaching and I will keep soaking it all in!
Welcome to steemit. Yes, perhaps you'll in time become a new celebrity here if they are not that active here. They are all celebrity enough that they are engaged in many platforms, and on many projects. So they are not as focused here as some of us.
Tell you the truth I didn't enjoy much of their posts and I criticized their ethos since day one. I did it for a lot of people in here. I know this might sound biased or ill mannered but I can smell foul people from a mile away. At some point they all ended up repeating themselves, making sensationalist claims and going overboard just for the sake of theatrics. This is not what anarchism is. This is not what volunteerism is. I stopped calling myself an-cap libertarian as soon as I came across these 'celebrities'. I can understand perfectly why most people consider an-caps and libertarians nutcases. Is because of the extreme ideas and unfounded claims these celebrities were making from time to time in order to keep their clock-bait hoard together. I know, business as usual but please, let's not us play dump and not see what is really going on.
All I saw was people who found a niche and sheeple to follow them. They offered their audience little room to grow. Fanaticism against the state without even realizing how it works was their only weapon (and still is). They became marketed politics with no self criticism.
Well there is a bit of that for sure. That partially inspired some of my posts I posted after this one yesterday.
Some of them can use the bludgeoning approach to convincing people. Though they can be good at occasionally getting through to people who do not know any of this.
I did find a lot of it repetitive over time. Yet I don't see it any longer as really doing anything for me, but more about reaching more people that don't know.
It works for some people. So I am fine if they keep at it. I simply choose to approach it differently, and so do you. This too is good. More approaches in my mind means more chances at success.
Yes, which was what inspired my circle jerk related post. Though if they stay on steemit and post they might encounter people who do criticize and if it can remain civil that is when the MAGIC happens.
I am not saying I was an angel but tell you the truth it shocked me to see what was going on in Murica with these ideas. The sheer absurdity was beyond my wildest pessimisms about the movement. Watching comments below TDV posts made me lose all hope about how people pictured libertarianism. No wonder we are portrayed as nutcases in the media.
They are is a saying that there is no such thing as bad fame. I tend to agree with this but you have to admit that when people see TDV content trending in the front page with tinfoiled comments everywhere then we have a problem.
Anws, its all ancient history now. A new page is turning. Let's hope we get it right this time.
Kind of ironic how Anarchist celebrities have anarchist fans and followers
They are no anarchists. They are reactionaries
Yeah I was wondering about @sterlinluxan earlier this week myself. Would be nice to see some of his posts again. I went dark as well mostly because the novelty wore off and the payouts were dwindling.
Let's face it, the major difference for most bloggers between other platforms and Steemit is the payouts. If the payouts aren't there, why would they spend extra time here when they can hit much bigger audiences elsewhere?
Which brings me to another point. I still begrudgingly use Facebook because nearly everyone I know is on there. I personally know like two people on Steemit and neither are active here. It's still a baby, but I'm sure it will be the place to be soon. Give it some time for people to realize it's not too good to be true.
Steemit attract users who want money, if you stop paying then well they go away because it's not worth the time. For example my posts don't make money so I avoid posting quality content, it's just not worth it for me, I can make more somewhere else with my time.
Some people this is true. It is not true for them all. Also, quality content is subjective. You and I don't need to convince ourselves that our piece is quality. Our challenge is to convince other people that it is quality and hopefully they will decide to follow us and support our work.
That does take some effort. I write here because I enjoy it and it is mind expanding. I've had to give myself some mental reconditioning. I had a brief period where I was worried about how much I was making, and I was looking at other people's posts and thinking things like "That post sucks compared to mine, why did it do so good?" and "That topic did amazingly well, I should write a piece about the same topic."
Fortunately for me that was a very short period. First that is not fun. Second it doesn't really matter unless I mentally choose to LET it matter. So I decided to write about whatever I wanted to write and whatever came to my mind and was nagging me to be brought into written form.
The more I do it. The easier it becomes, the faster I get at it, and the more my mind feels like it is being pushed and expanded. I really love this feeling.
Yet, YES it takes a realization to notice these things. Many people likely will not realize these things and they'll leave either due to frustration, anger, or some other emotion.
The best advice I can give to anyone.
Join the community, share your mind, and be civil.
The civility part is important. Lack of civility is noticed and can hinder your chances. I am NOT saying this is you. This is just my observations in general.
You can dislike someone here, the key is to do it with civility. That is not always easy. I fail at this sometimes too. I simply try to get better at it.
Those guys I listed above tended to make decent money most of the time because they have a lot of followers. Larken's more recent posts occurred during the time a lot of changes like adjusting to the new 7 day payout had all posts being paid low, and steem was also at an all time low. Otherwise, those posts would have paid him well too.
Your comment here is really quite a good realistic and accurate "sales pitch" for Steemit. This is NOT "easy money" or a place with $100 bills waiting to be plucked off a magic tree.
Larken's been occupied with his Candle in the Dark seminars.
I think it's a dangerous habit to claim authors are being opportunistic, and only posting when the price is right.
I'm an ancap author who hasn't posted for several months, mostly due to writer's block.
The price has jumped recently and I still haven't posted because I don't have content that's ready to be posted.
Should I factor public perception into my posting schedule?
How long after the price increase do I have to wait to avoid the scarlet letter?
I didn't actually make that claim. I said I hoped that wasn't what the situation was. As others have noted. We've had quite a few people coming back as the price increased, yet a lot of "it's not due the price". Which you know what? If it is due to the price that is okay too...
As to the Candle in the Dark seminars... yes I remember him talking about that in his last reply he gave to me in one of his articles.
It should only be DANGEROUS if we state something as fact.
It should not be dangerous at all to express concern.
Also, if you read my post I WANT THEM TO COME BACK, so there is no waiting for a scarlet letter from ME. From other people, I cannot speak for them. I'd suspect people would just be glad to have you back.
As my post indicated it was not just Larken that disappeared. Apparently some of these people are still active on their Facebook. Just not here. However, that is hearsay I am repeating from what someone replied to this with. I don't bother to login to facebook anymore and avoid it unless I absolutely must.
So as to your questions... if you still think what you are describing refers to me, please tell me in my post where I gave you that impression. That was my intent.
The concern that people interested in anarchism/voluntaryism might flee a platform that could potentially be a strong tool in that due to monetary concerns is something that is real though.
Larken I knew about the seminars. He was also working on an adventure game, I don't know how that went.
Sterling Luxan... any clue why he hasn't been around?
How about Dragon Anarchist? Those are two people I'd love to see come back and write here.
As to writes block... How do you get your inspiration? Do you primarily stay focused in ancap topics, or do you pretty much run free and write whatever you want?
I can tell you if I was focused on ancap all of the time I'd likely get writers block too. Though I do think I've read some of your works that had nothing to do with ancap.
As to writers block... anything I can do to help?
Thanks mate. I'll be okay. The ideas are swirling, it's just wording them well.
I think too many times I've sat on a piece for a month, then come up with a fantastic new analogy or turn of phrase.
This makes me glad I held off posting and contributes to my analysis paralysis.
Appreciate the offer :)
I looked... you write about a wide variety of things. If you think I can help you in any way with writers block give me a shout... could probably play tennis with some weird ideas and give you plenty to write about. :P
And yes I reread my piece and I can see how you would take it that way. I let a little too much of my imagined concerns bleed into the article. I cannot rule out money as a factor for all, and if it is SO WHAT. If it is money then they are missing out on the money as prices have risen. However, whether it is money or not I'd simply like to see them writing here again. Even if it is once a week. Though as much as they are willing.