SILVER LINING #3
<< #2
It seems that I've greeted my luck too early in the last installment of this series. After giving shout-outs to curation trails because of the success of the previous chapter, that post and the next chapter received such dismal earnings that won't even be enough to buy a tablet of medicine. Haha! $2 is roughly what it made, and I don't know if that's enough to support a session of speech therapy.
Really though, I'm amazed at the apathy here. Posts directly lifted off the internet gain more than an original work poured over for days and weeks. Seriously? I hate when people profit from other people's work. There, I said it. Based on the readership numbers I get, those people I'm calling out wouldn't even read this. I've always tried to keep a neutral stand regarding translations or the like, but come on! When translations or some random fact earn more than an original piece, there's just something rotten with the process. Don't get me wrong, I love doing translations. Not on here, but elsewhere on the internet. I send whatever profit that I make to the original author, and if I get a cut, that's his or her prerogative. I don't lift carefully thought-out work without permission and then profit from it. Interesting things found elsewhere in the internet is alright to share, but at least put your own thoughts in it for like 90% of the post instead of just paraphrasing things for profit. That's just some heartless bullshit right there.
I know I don't have the right to dictate anyone's actions, I'm just airing my frustration. I've said it before, and I continually believe it, that trend would be the downfall of this platform. Call me old-fashioned but I still believe in earning and getting recognition based off on your own hardwork and effort. It's not all bad though, there have been successful charities here like fundraising for someone's move or someone needing quick cash, and I'm happy for the success they achieved. Far be it for me to say that one need is more important than another. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just wish that the love was spread out more. I mean, I'm not even taking any earning from this series. Granted, it was my choice, but I was relying on the goodness of other people, which was the wrong thing to do. Everything this post earns is for the benefit of a child that is silently suffering from a disability that he was born into. I'm fully aware that my expectations were misaligned with this one, so I'm course-correcting it slowly. I've already wasted this much time ranting, so I won't say much more. It's come to my attention that the length of my posts are the problem why people aren't reading. There's some merit to that, but looking at the read count, people wouldn't even know it was unusually long since they didn't bother to open it.
Whew! Now that I've got that out of my chest, I promise to whoever remained reading up to this point that it would be my very last rant in this series. I hate that it would taint the series, but I just had to let it out and I didn't want to make a separate post for it. I'll keep the remaining discussion short.
This was one of my favorite chapters to write. I hope that whoever bothers to read it feels the same way :P Seriously though, this is my attempt at dramaticizing why children hate bath time. This is also the shortest chapter of the book besides the first chapter, so expect longer chapters from here on in. I won't blame you if you tune out, I promise.
Profile Progress
My cousin and her husband have already created an account despite their busy schedule. It's @zeppelin, in case anyone wants to donate. I've already sent all the past earnings from A Day in the Clouds and Silver Lining their way, and I will be sending it every after payout from now on. Here's proof:
In this case even $1 goes a long way! So, if you have some change to spare, I would really appreciate it if you donated to a worthy cause.
Thanks for reading! Don't bother following me if you prefer reading stuff you can find elsewhere on the internet or if you don't value passion put into creating original work
There is nothing but truth in the noxious feeling that arises when scrolling through the feed, seeing a title that catches your eye and their decent reward, opening it up just to find they've plagiarized wikipedia. I flag every time I come across them, but it seems like a waste since it only adds to the number of votes.
Ahh yes, my ranty phase haha! There's quite a few of these in the earlier chapters, so I apologize. I promise you, it gets cheerier, near the middle to the end. I guess it illustrates the kind of year I've had here on Steemit haha!
I get it though. Especially when considering the point of your work wasn't/isn't to line your pocket, but to help with medical expenses of your nephew.
Haha yeah, I really do wish I could've given more though. It's just hard to stomach that effort is wasted on this platform. Just having a whale endorse your cause would automatically net you thousands, but something like this where I poured months of my life is just ignored because it isn't the hip thing.
That is truth or as we say in Louisiana, "True Dat!"
Unless the whale endorse happens, it all comes back to the long game. The crap posts, spam comments, copyright infringing and content thieving are short term thinking. Part of the "hit it and quit it" club.
True Dat! We say that here, too! Haha! It's funny how expressions are similar.
It's still a bit nerve racking though, seeing the uncertainty of STEEM. I do hope that all we are building towards become sustainably, or else we would've been wasting a lot of our precious time.
That's true, too! Since 2004 I've written on/for quite a few platforms. I habitually make copies of my posts now, because I've watched platform after platform get bought out and destroyed by competition. Because if one company can't beat another, it purchases it and then "consumes" it. That's the main reason why I continue to keep my website rolling. It's a place people can come back to that stays even if the sites I've written for disappear. Oh. Just thinking about the dead links.... work for another day.
Oh yeah, that's a good strategy. That's why I hope Steemit is for the long haul, but just in case it isn't I have kept copies of everything I wrote, ready to be posted elsewhere at any moment's notice. I do have a website, too, though, but I've been slacking off in renovating it haha!
My bro! Man, I know how it feels to get a terrible payout when we are literally pouring heart and soul into our work. I know for a fact I put hours of work into my posts, but for whatever reason, have been getting way less than before. Is that a reflection of my work? No, I don't believe so. But it is what it is and I believe us writers do cater for a niche audience (Steemit communities from the recently published roadmap may help out bigtime though). We don't have the fancy photos or imagery to go with our work, just reliance on the sheer imagination of the reader. That's no easy feat and takes serious effort.
But one thing I know for sure is that if we do decided to leave the platform, we shouldn't expect a letter requesting us to come back and give it another go. This is an experiment at the end of the day, and the payouts that don't go into our pocket will simply go into someone else's, simple as that. Though the issue of fair payouts is something everyone on Steemit is fully aware of.
I don't usually talk like this, but just wanted to say I do empathise with you as I'm sure many others will as well. But you're feedback has kept me grounded many a time and that in itself is priceless. You can't put a monetary figure to it and that is the other side of what Steemit is all about. Social interaction. And you're a master class when it comes to that art form. I pray that this model sorts all these problems out about plagurism and fair renumeration eventually and we all get out what we put in.
Bless, my bro and please don't give up...
Extremely well put, my brother. We just have to hang tough. It's quite easy when we have friends like you to give encouraging speeches like this. I mean, wow! All of these words tug on the heartstrings quite firmly. I'm so glad that there are people out there like you. With you as a backbone, I'm sure Steemit will thrive as a platform. Who could ever give up with a support system like this??
That's what I've been saying all this time. Social interaction is such an underutilized tool that people aren't taking advantage of. While they're busy promoting their own work, they could've just easily formed strong bonds by supporting others. For writers, critiquing and improving through feedback is possible through this, and I'm just surprised that not many writers have banded together to form a formidable group. I really do hope that we could set an example, and that the new features would help us achieve our goals.
Words alone cannot express my gratitude for you, my brother!
I doubt I could say it better than @ezzy. Especially since he's been here much longer than me and if his own great work is not getting as much as it once was than it's safe to say that it's not an issue of you being singled out in any way. Your story is incredible, and I hope you would feel as I do and want to continue just for those like me and ezzy who truly love reading what you write and look forward to it, as well as your awesome comments and presence in our lives!
Thanks, @dreemit! It's really nice having support around especially through turbulent times. In any case, I just hope that the community takes notice, not because of personal gain but rather so that the platform would be sustainable. The difference between Steemit and most other social media is that this platform allows us to showcase our original work, be it writing or music or art. If more and more people allow users to just post other people's work and profit from it, then they're just letting greed win. In my opinion, since bots and trails are prevalent, instead of trying to avoid voting on trash posts, we should be helping support original content. Really though, is that so hard to ask of other people? Haha! I'm just glad that there are people like you and @ezzy out there who are fighting the good fight :D