@Thecryptodrive - Meet The Witnesses #16, Remastered
Thecryptodrive, or Ricardo Goncalves, boasts the first and longest-running Steemit Witness from the continent of Africa. Located in South Africa specifically, Ricardo touches an increasingly wide number of projects related to the Steem ecosystem. There is a good chance that he has had a hand in a service that you or a Steemian close to you has used.
Ricardo initially created the @Steemdrive campaign, a fundraising project to get the Steemit logo on large outdoor media. The initial announcement post garnered an incredible $27,037 in rewards and quickly funded billboards in Durban, South Africa.
He is also the creator or @Steemsports, an attempt to potentially disrupt the $3 trillion industry of sports betting by using vote power for bets and payouts instead of fiat money. @Steemsports remains one of the most active posters on the Steemit platform, with a reputation of 78!
Further, he is the CEO behind the unified build team for @MinnowBooster, an SP-leasing-for-profit service, and @Steemvoter, a voting bot service that allows you to set rules to auto-vote at the cost of up to 7 of your votes, per week.
Opinions on these initiatives are mixed at best. It would be a lie to say everyone agreed with these uses of Steem or the related service conglomerates. Ultimately, it’s up to each user to judge for themselves.
For example, the announcement post for the merger of SteemVoter and MinnowBooster garnered numerous flags and mostly negative commentary (note that most of the upvotes were likely cast by SteemVoter as their "fee"; using the service "costs" some of your votes):
You don’t reach a “positive” comment until the 6th-top level comment, and it’s a clear case of poorly camoflauged “i upvote resteem u, u vote me?”:
Thecryptodrive holds 80,000 SP, and is NOT powering down. In a "revelation" that will shock no one, he leases SP via @MinnowBooster.
Thecryptodrive’s Current Witness Update: https://steemit.com/steemit/@thecryptodrive/witness-update-two-killer-features-for-steem-comments-wanted
Thecryptodrive's Original Witness Thread: https://steemit.com/witness-category/@thecryptodrive/ricardo-goncalves-thecryptodrive-first-steem-witness-in-africa-a-witness-for-the-people
Steemdrive: https://steemit.com/@steemdrive
Steemdrive Billboard Thread: https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemdrive/steemdrive-first-proof-of-successful-crowdfunded-billboard-flight-in-durban-south-africa
Steemsports: https://steemit.com/@steemsports
Steemvoter / Minnow Booster “Controversial” Unification Thread: https://steemit.com/steemvoter/@steemvoter/steemvoter-and-minnowbooster-are-joining-forces
Please see the acknowledgement post here.
If you have any additions or errata for this post, please let me know! I will see that they are voted to the top of the comments, and will make the appropriate edits (if possible).
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 4800+ user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: @thecryptodrive, @steemdrive, @minnowbooster, @steemsports
Copyright: @thecryptodrive, @steemdrive, @minnowbooster, @steemsports
You forgot to mention that Ricardo's "businesses" are currently largely funded by Steemit, Inc. via a string of transfers and leasing of SP through Minnowbooster by a few accounts.
And...SteemSports earned thousands and thousands and more thousands of dollars for allegedly developing a sports betting site that was barely functional and does not now exist, as far as I can tell. I haven't checked recently to see if any attempt to bring it back online has been made.
And yes - the socializing costs of their "business" is a bit much, considering how they're receiving funding via paid services (a lot apparently coming from Steemit, Inc. coffers, as already mentioned). Furthermore, Ricardo is not above personal attacks and threats for mentioning/criticizing any of these things.
So, keep that in mind when deciding on witness votes.
Thank you, @ats-david . I hope you realize I am attempting to provide relatively unbiased and level-headed reporting, but I went out of my way to cover that which appears controversial. I was not aware of the financial relationship with Steemit Inc., having assumed they ran off of their own fees + vote funding. Can you direct me to citeable information on that, by any chance?
I did my best to thoroughly cover your and other complaints on those fronts in the attached images. IMO, the facts do not reflect particularly well on the services, but I felt I should leave that determination to the community as much as possible.
" earned thousands and thousands and more thousands of dollars for allegedly developing a sports betting site that was barely functional and does not now exist"
Sounds like a page out of u/theymos' book. If you can provide additional info or point me in the right direction, I will edit in an addendum on this or any other issues the community feels are worth mentioning.
Thank you again for stopping by.
Ps - For the curious: https://bitco.in/forum/threads/who-is-theymos-and-what-did-he-do.87/
i think uh andle it well but sometimes id rather just be told what to think
I'm sure I can do that, too.
Thanks for another great post.
Thank you for stopping by! Appreciate your behind-the-scenes efforts.
As with all of these witnesses' posts @lexiconical, you show your skills!
This is extremely well-ordered; and, from beginning to end shows how much of a minnow most Steemians really are. This isn’t to denigrate the lowly many by any stretch of the imagination; but instead, only to say how deep in the waters some Steemians are really invested.
Thanks for sharing this very detailed post on why @Thecryptodrive deserves Witness status.
Peace.
"As with all of these witnesses' posts @lexiconical, you show your skills!"
Thank you!
"Thanks for sharing this very detailed post on why @Thecryptodrive deserves Witness status."
Ah, well, I leave that determination to my audience. As it turns out, he's a bit more controversial than some of the others!
Aha! It seems that most who create lots of money-making ventures eventually find themselves in the 'fires' of controversy.
Thanks for sharing!
Peace.
" It seems that most who create lots of money-making ventures eventually find themselves in the 'fires' of controversy."
A very salient point. Thanks for the observation.
✌!
I learn a lot more about the people running the steem ecosystem from you than anyone else. Cheers!
Thank you, Chrone!
I love that you have started putting these together. It really brings the community together and I can see what a massive impact some of our witness have on the steemit community!
Thank you for keeping up with all the posts! I always see you here in the comments!
Thanks!
Welcome my dear