Your Infighting is Now Hurting People, Enough is Enough.
Since the beginning of 2017 when the verbal war / social media war began between big block and and small block Bitcoin supporters I have been hesitant to say anything negative. I think it is time that I voiced how I feel as someone who has put the vast majority of their wealth into crypto. Bitcoin and other Crypto Currencies are my money, my savings and families future.
This is What You Look Like But it is Not Harmless!
A small bunch of egomaniacs has gone and expressed their need to push their personal agenda on the mass of users who just want a form of money outside of the fiat system. Seriously, it looks like greed and ego have over taken rational thought.
All of You are Starting to Look Like the Emperor and His Quest for Domination of the Galaxy.
Do users of Bitcoin and Crypto Currency a favor and do a little soul searching. Is your behavior constructive? Does it add anything positive to the conversation? When I look at your Tweets all I see is a bunch of whining, infighting and a need to be right.
This behavior that is being exhibited across social media is leaving a trail of victims. This violates a core principle that many of us live by, the Non-Aggression Principle. When you harm others whether it is mentally, physically or financially it makes you look like totalitarians rather than people we thought were chosen to lead us out of the financial slavery we have been in since we were born.
Don't you see that this is exactly what the Bankers want to happen to the Crypto Currency movement? Divide and conquer is the easiest way to destroy a group based on ideologies. I understand that many of the recent users that have come to Bitcoin and Crypto Currencies are purely here for the financial speculation. They could care less about the handful of users who are here with the vision to see beyond the financial benefits.
Are We Going to Change the World or Be Co-opted By the Old System?
I for one am going to continue to educate people about Crypto Currency and its capability to change the world. I am no longer sure Bitcoin or any of its iterations is the answer. I have already begun to look at alternatives in the market place that have consensus capabilities built in. I wonder what the Crypto landscape would like if we had this from the beginning?
Where do we go from here? Many have burned their bridges and are losing respect faster than a Stormtrooper trying to hit a target.
I Want to Rally Those of You Who Truly Care About the Future of This Space.
If we stop giving these people our attention, money and hashpower they will have to change. The quickest way to initiate change is to take away the fuel that powers the egomaniacs. Put your money where you feel the biggest possibilities of true change lie.
Those of us who ideologically believe in Crypto seem like only a handful now. My hope is that through positive reinforcement and education our ranks will once again grow. I am on a mission to leave this planet better than it was when I arrived and I believe Crypto Currency is one of the things that can do it.
No one said decentralization will be easy. The fact that there is no leader in bitcoin, as compared to the cryptos which are led by their respective development teams is a strenght, not a weakness, even though it leads to people thinking they can control bitcoin. Just look at ethereum; do you really believe it is decentralized? the project will die if Vitalik just decides to leave; BTC is the only mainstream blockchain to be decentralized, and yes, people will try to hijack it, that doesn't mean they will succeed: the UASF allowed the implementation of segwit, and segwit2x was a massive failure. Twice in a row, the community has won over people trying to hijack bitcoin. To me that is proof enough that BTC is rock solid and favors consensus above all else.
I am trying to grasp to all the news that circulate in the crypto world.
Bitcoincash is growing. Any ideas ?
B2X is coming back ?
Like you mention we the users should dictate what coins should prevail.
We all know money talks.
Any ideas about steem declining so and so ?
Keep on steemit
I am putting my money in crypto projects that I feel will change things. I personally like projects like Guld which is a DAG. I don't have much to say about Steem, my confidence has been shaken concerning this platform. My article was pretty clear how I felt about the Bitcoin madness.
Thanks for commenting.
You said enough and I get your point.
Hard to have confidence in STEEM these days. Well stated.
My confidence in this platform has also been shaken. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts why? From my point of view it seems more about bots and vote selling than about actual curation of quality posts. The vast majority of stuff posted is rubbish posted merely for the sake of getting something up on the site. There is some really good quality pieces being written and posted , but they are lost in all of the other trash. Short term I'm sure people are making money but it doesn't really bode well for the future of the site. Its certainly not what I was expecting when I initially joined.
Agreed. Any insights on why bots are allowed/tolerated? It seems that many of the rules were designed by people who did not want these spam articles...
Bots are allowed because they are not specifically disallowed. Presumably bots are like guns. Nothing is good or bad about a bot per se. It is an inanimate object, cold and perfectly calculating with computer like precision. Bots are only good or bad based on the programming logic used by the person that pulls the trigger - to write the code
Guns aren't bad. But guns are mostly used for harming people, so countries have banned them.
Bots aren't bad. But bots on this platform are mostly used for harming the ecosystem, so the useless 'pay you when you pay me' bots should be banned.
I don't know what the solution is. Bots aren't the problem in themselves, just as you say. The outcome though is that my feed is filled with crap and its hard to find anything worth reading. I know there is quality content on here, I just cant find it. ATM Steemit is essentially just one large proof of stake platform. You stake your coins to a bot and then watch the rewards roll in. Even the whales are in on the game. They make more money staking their steam power than manually curating. In some ways you cant blame them. They are simply responding to the incentives the platform is providing. It's really up to the Steemit team to refine the algorithms, so that the incentives are aligned with the objective of promoting quality content. That is assuming that @prof-pieters is right and the objective remains to encourage quality content and not spam.
That's my read on the situation as well: somehow the incentives are not aligning with the spirit of the platform.
There are lots of us trying to produce good content. Pick a category and go to the new tab each day and keep an eye out for good articles and authors and upvote them. That keeps them writing and posting more. Dont give up on steemit yet. I have high hopes for this site yet.
One of my "Dead Posts" from the past :) humm curation here really isn't thought through. A weekly basis is not a worthy lifespan of articles or any blog piece ..
https://busy.org/story/@j3dy/having-fun-on-steemit-c30-d3-week-recap-work
this is what I believe steemit is for :)
https://busy.org/introduceyourself/@mojojo/hello-my-name-is-jo-ann-and-i-am-a-new-member-of-steemit
well steem in this case.. Busy looks good
I’m not giving up yet. I make a point of going to the newly posted section when I log on. Im an economist by training and a very famous theme in economics is that “people respond to incentives” When the incentives are stacked against us, it makes it that much harder to find the truly engaging and original material.
I’m just going to focus on writing good articles and trying to curate well. If enough people do that we’ll get there!
just vote somewhere else since votes will just drain your power past payout :|
keep it up man, I like the attitude :) you are also welcome to my post from the past for some inspiration if you wish :)
It would be nice to be able to see my voting power...I keep forgetting that is a thing.
Does this help?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@brothermic/how-to-check-your-voting-power-for-newbies
There are so many reasons but the bots are not one of my issues. I would like Steemit.com be the focus of the team. That is my main gripe.
I have been writing loads of excellent content for half a year on Steemit and I can't get any decent upvote headway on my articles without using MinnowBooster. The platform is so overloaded with crappy posts and poor segregation of the posts that I don't think people ever find the good content. This is a significant challenge with the platform. Steemit also does not provide a way to differentiate the accounts I follow and make sure my real favorites get identified for valuation to a much greater degree. Some people that I follow are awesome and always do great content that I want to have a special category for. These people are the ones that should get major support. Then there are those that just post BS everyday with no effort put into it whatsoever. This should be flag-able and cause these people to lose value over time.
Without some real incentive changes, the platform is going to get taken over by BS and then it will just be replaced with a new platform at some point. I hope that's not the case, but this is the direction it appears to be going. Proper incentivation rules and capabilities on Steemit is the core of what will make or break this platform since this is how the Proof of Work / Stake is applied to those using it. If this is wrong, the platform will fill up with crap. You'll end up with a Steemit neo-feudalism model instead - basically just big whales and plankton. Sure, this is a bit off topic from the above article, but if you want Steem to be a big boy crypto and the Steemit to blow the doors off Facebook and others, this is what it will take.
From what I read on the intro-FAQ, you can flag posts/comments, and that is equivalent to a downvote.
However, I do think you're onto the problem with your organization comment though. As a brand new user I went through all the tags on the trending/new/hot/promoted and found a few things but nothing overwhelming. (I'm sure it exists---I just couldn't easily find those posts & users).
I wonder if each tag should highlight some high reputation accounts that frequently post to it? Though then you funnel power and attention to a few individuals so that's not so great. Maybe a "classics" category in addition to the trending/new/hot/promoted that highlight "top x of all time"?
However it is technically done, I think the real trick is to create a way to better track and value the people that are consistently good and flag those that are consistently crap. If you can then filter against this by categories that you are interested in, then even better.
Additionally, I find the current rating system insufficient because it is binary and doesn't really encourage downvoting except in case of something egregious. We need a way to identify crap spamming posts that doesn't necessarily take "votes" away but warns people that it has little to no content value.
Lastly, if there was non-binary voting that was a 1-5 vote, you could also set how much value you want to give or vote. This would allow more value provision. Currently you can just set vote percentage if you have enough Steem. Frankly this is just silly because the key thing is to rank value, not just count on numbers of people upvoting it.
I tend not to vote up accounts that don't use real names. That is just how I play.
I'm not sure what that has to do with my points relayed above other than you not upvoting me for retaining my privacy. Did you have other comments relevant to the above that you'd like to contribute?
Some advice; stop using minnow booster.
That goes for any other pay-for-vote services. Steemit used to work because the whales had incentive to vote to earn curation rewards. As long as people such as yourself continue to offer these whales a chance to sell their votes while they can still earn curation rewards, there won't be much of a reason for them to vote naturally.
If whales would vote for real content rather rather than some "I'm new to Steemit" selfie for $200, then sure. Otherwise, I waste all my time on Steemit for nothing. At least MinnowBooster allows me to magnify my SBD and add some Steem to my wallet. I'm honestly getting tired of producing excellent content to be ignored. I have a select few committed followers which is great, but most upvotes are very minimal. If this problem gets solved somehow, then sure, I'll absolutely stop using MinnowBooster.. why would I need it then? Unfortunately, Steemit is currently a neo-feudal estate that doesn't build its middle class. This can only end in tears for everyone if the incentives don't change.
well said - Blogging and earning by blogging means WORK and sometimes hard work
many people still dream from a quick rich, but forget to work for this.
Sounds Cool .
Absolutely spot on article. The comparison to the banksters is terrific. People who behave in such a manner, trying to assert their will on everyone else is exactly what the bankers have done for a century. I wonder how many see it that way.
I disagree with you on the bitcoin point only because Wall Street is coming and that is what they will gravitate towards. They could really care less about block size or hash rates. They simply know they can sell it to their clients.
I appreciate your posts. We all should strive to change the world via crypto. It is a game changer for all who suffered at the hands of the banksters and the institutions they control.
Surprisingly, it gives me a measure of comfort to see this post from you. I've been holding my tongue for a while... haven't been in the crypto world as long as you, but I keep looking at all this and thinking to myself that all this idealism put forth... looks to me more like old fashioned greed and is just like "the rest of the world."
I, too, would like to be part of something that creates a better world for ALL of us to live in, and I realize that change and pioneering (which IS what we're doing, in a sense) is often a frustrating uphill battle... but something has seemed a little off for a while.
I think everything will work out fine but there sure will be plenty of bumps on the road.
Good post man. Greed and ego are taking centre stage right now and a part of me almost feels like we need a good shakeout and a crash just to clear the decks and get back to sensible innovation with our libertarian roots. But maybe this is all just growing pains for crypto and we are all on a steep learning curve but just learning and evolving as fast as we can.
There are a lot better solutions than Bitcoin out there for governance and consensus as well as performance. In time the market will find them.
Thoroughly enjoyed your point of view and needless to say all the comments below @hilarski
As always research and support something that is going to make our world a better place, or dust off and move on.
Stay positive!
"Stay Blessed & Think Positive"
Amen to that
this is just becoming ridicolous
I think there is a big agenda behind....
I believe so also.
My absolute best 100% goes to you.
This is something i have been noticing for a long while now.
It seems since the jump in march 2017, a lot of infighting, skimishes , blood letting and general greed has taken over the crypto world.
The rise of bicoin has invariably lead to a group of people who know nothing about the potential of cryptos and just want to "cash out".
I came to cryptos looking for a way out of the fiat worlds greed,,only to find it here again.
O well, im a crypto pusher anyday, but i believe it isn't perfect yet.
We cant run though, crypto us suppose to be the future.
I believe in crypto and the good thing Steemit and Libertarianism has done for me is make me see the importance of getting away from fiat, although I do see how Steemit is going through a slump, but I haven't lost faith in this place yet :D
I do appreciate the fact that governments cannot control, so I am definitely for it.
Randy, thanks for your post. You are one of the few rational crypto investors out there. I feel the same way.
There are so many options available.
Infighting happens in most groups. Sometimes it gets nasty and tiresome to deal with. Arguing amongst each other takes you away from what the group is about. Once the dicks are out swinging, it is usually an indication that the group is about to split.
@hilarski,
Don't fed up by this system! I am in few SL forums about Crypto discussion and every person needs to be a millionaire in a single night! But it's impossible to do :D As a result they are investing on trending currencies! When it drops they blame to the people who guided them! So, I stopped guiding them in unpredictable crypto world! Few days back I sold most of my ALTs investments and bought BTC! When price up I bought STEEM by it :D No matter what will happen! I hope to stay with this platform till SMT launch (Atleast)!
What I understood so far, people are greedy and selfish! They need to be millionaires in short time! That dream and behaviors makes them losers in a short time as well! Great article friend! I could understand how you feel about this crypto world!
Cheers~
someone try to spoilage cryptoworld, but we have to united and get together for sustaining this community,BTC foreever.
Hello @hilarski,
If we climb a peak, we must understand it can drop anytime. People who understand it always makes a profit & people who blindly follow others, always makes a loss. Good post about your viewpoint.
~@mywhale
be positive, nice post @hilarski
@resteemia
Wow. You really belief in crypto currencies for you to have most of your investment in them.
Your post inspired me to write one of my own about this. I wish you all the best and same for this crypto world!
Preach it brother! I'm glad to see you putting it out there a bit as I know you've mostly avoided controversial topics or bitter arguments. Eventually, we have to stand our ground and say enough is enough. If people are too blinded by their own greed or ego, then we will all be better off to ignore them and move on to better things.
With enough people focused on building a world we all want to live in, we'll eventually realIe that world through our positive action over time. The time for childish tribalism is past. A voluntary future is too important to jeopardize with bickering today.
It really saddens me seeing what is going on. I got involved when the profits were tiny and it was a an act against the establishment. I hope that we can find that path once again.
where the establishment sees “growth” of their own pockets this is what happens every time. Control and liberty are always at odds with each other.
Unfortunately, many investors will be caught blind sided b/c they did not do proper research nor listen to the people who have done tremendous research around crypto economics. 1MB blocks limit is like signing your death wish as a crypto. Its not just about Bitcoin but any coin that does this will be punished by the market. The economics do not make sense. Now Bitcoin fees are spiraling out of control and even a $30 transaction fee will not confirm the transaction in 24 hrs. Many crypto veterans who have voiced these concerns over and over again constantly got shot down as Bitcoin rose into a mania. The crowd was warned but did not listen.
You've understood that there are real issues
Yes, its a real problem not in computer science but economically. The root of this problem is consensus. If Bitcoin had a governance system built it could have self evolved, self funded and came to quick decision about blocksize. Bitcoin Cash although a better version of Bitcoin will face the same fate down the road. The problem is governance.
My money, literally, is on VIVA because they're building an entire economy from the ground up.
The crypto world is much into split. Yesterday people were dumping BTC and other alt into BCH. Star wars reference in this post is nice. We still trust in crypto currency.
@hilarski your ambition is knoble, and your ideals are freedom. However, when adversaries arise confrontation or control will occur. It’s just a natural reaction. 200 billion market cap is nothing to the “real” whales.
It is getting pretty ugly, I don't who's what or what's who anymore. I'm just using what ever cryptos actually have use for me and hope others see value in it as well
Great post though
All,
Has anyone been hearing that Lisk (LSK) is about to come out with SDK in December which could push this crypto higher. From what I have been reading this is one of few which could take on ETH? Like to hear what be people are thinking about LSK?
Great post Randy. I am going to follow you going forward.
Thanks
Lisk was my best investment ever. I love the project and still own plenty.
With great power comes great responsibility. There are many different power centers in the crypo world, who are working to leverage it for their position. This is the nature of things. Unfortunately it is a catalyst to divide movements. We need more focus.
'The lunatics have taken over the asylum' is the only phrase that comes to mind at the moment. It's time to go back to basics and figure out 'why' Satoshi's vision was/is a truly beautiful thing, and realise some 'real value' away from all this speculative madness. Just my ? cents :)
That’s why I️ HODL drama free coins. Bts. Eos. Steem. Big 3.
I've been working on a solution for this... stay tuned.
Got to follow you if you have a solution.
point blank.
I am a believer of cryptocurrency too but it has to be truly decentralized. Bitcoin is no longer decentralized.
I invite you to read my analysis of Bitcoin hardforks and their disastrous impact on future of cryptocurreny.
Please read: Bitcoin hardforks will hurt bitcoin and cryptocurrency
My point of view was labelled noob and shallow by one Steemian but I think my point has already been proven.
I totally agree with your take on infoghting between egomaniacs and the magintude of hurt bitcoin and crypto space is receiving.
so sad, sadness news
@hilarski - Sir every coin with it's top investors have their own agenda to follow...... Now BCH up, it will drop too Sir... So, if we understand the way they act, we won't suffer from it Sir.... Stay positive sir..... You know what you are doing..... that's enough for a success in this high fluctuation market place Sir....
To get more audience, I wish to ReSteem your post Sir.....
+W+ [UpVoted & ReSteemed]
The fighting is not good, but it's often that the minority with the loudest voice gets mistaken to be the majority.
The way I see it, BTC spiked too much the last few months at the cost of other coins because a group of people saw an opportunity of free money with the 2 announced forks.
If you look at the BTC price today compared to 3 months ago, it still went up. Compare with one year ago and BTC made a huge gain.
My feeling is that those who made a bet on BTC Gold and Segwit2X are now jumping ship to BCC.
The rest is staying faithful to BTC.
My personal opinion is to let Bitcoin be Bitcoin. If you want fast transactions at lower cost, use Litecoin or one of the others. BTC is meant to be a value container, not a coin to buy a coffee with.
One of the problems is that a lot of exchanges still only accept BTC deposits to trade to other coins. I try to use ETH or LTC as much as possible instead of BTC for trading to altcoins.
I accept you start to find at alternatives in the market place because cryptocurrency market cannot trust in this fact currently by you. Social media and other platforms try attack steemit blockchain. But my opinion steemit powerful and be safe this time. We will trust steem.
Don`t disappointed sir, we will find solution. Working hard.. its better @hilarski. Dont mind.
Resteemed.
couldn't have said it better myself, also I do agree with the top comment line here, the recent BCH spike also goes to show how money hungry people are..
Resteeming since i don't have an audience and I haven't seen a good comment feed in a while :)
Keep it up @hilarski you're always a spark for sore eyes :) also thanks for the SW themed post :D maybe go easy on the children, Darth Vader didn't take kindly ...
Well said. I agree that the crypto space is filled with way too many self-serving ego-maniacs who would tear things down rather than to see it go different than what they expect. I say ignore them and do not get drawn into their negativity. Stay positive because positive ALWAYS wins!
Thanks for the valuable information and your great cryptocurrency experience,@hilarski
100% like and resteem
Great updating @hilarki. You give important discussion & need to think more. No need to talk another bullish peoples. We
ll work together then can win. Youre genius man in steemit. Your job require here. Lot of difficulties will need to pass.When people understand nothing permanent in crypto world there is no risk of loss or pain~
Melancholy everywhere...
I am seeing crypto in general as an oligarchy now. The powerful few are free to enforce their will and be damned the minnows that get caught in the collateral damage along the way.
Congratulations @hilarski
Now you are in the MinnowsPower Loyalty Member List...!!!
Exceptional article about sudden price drop of BTC in investors eye...!!!
50% Upvoted by @MinnowsPower
MinnowsPower is not a bot, I am a Crowdfunding Hybrid
One small UpVote of Yours build MinnowsPower and MinnowsPower will Not Forget Your Support...!!!
One of these days, better people would usurp them. I'm sure of it. Clinging to the old ways is surely not the way to go, and I certainly hope that this isn't what humans are destined to do. Right now, they're either the people in power or people who are jealous of it and wants to get that power for themselves. Once coins with better management get traction, they'll realize the error of their ways but it would be too late to steer their course back. I just hope that we get to ride the winning wave when that time comes.
Think about who and which parties are getting into the Crypto markets recently, then you should know why things happened like that. What’s stake are in risk? And who would like Crypto to be a failure? Who has the resources to do all these?
That's great about cryptocurrency user....
And should stay positive