Last night after posting my parable, I still couldn't sleep. I had a lot on my mind and much of it Steem related. I normally have a quiet confidence in Steem. Not because we are perfect, but because many are so focused on our weaknesses instead of our strengths. As I have stated, I know we have short comings, plenty of them. All young projects do and crypto is loaded with projects that so far are nothing more than ideas. We have a product, as imperfect as it is. We have a core community of engaged users. We have developers creating all kinds of projects. Our blockchain moves forward every 3 seconds. We have hundreds of Witnesses fighting for those top 20 positions. Goodness how they whine, moan and complain to make things better for 130ish people who are running witnesses instead of focusing on the community.
In the restless hours, breathing the smoke from wildfires, my mind went full on "FUD". It was the stuff that some of you spew every day. I started to wonder if I have put too much time and energy into Steem, or maybe even into Crypto, I mean can this group really take anything and make it grow? Many of our investors are immature and focused on personal gains instead of building Steem. While I stand by their right to do that, I roll my eyes every time I hear one of the idiots say, "I can't earn cleaning up the site so I don't". Investors from my world get involved in a project and they put money, connections and time IN during the first couple of years to establish a long term revenue stream. They don't line their own pockets as hard as they can.
While I still say Steem will flow with the markets, while the price is down and activity is down, we have our active core community engaged we might want to try to turn this around. I will spare you the details of all the complaints my restless brain brought to my attention and skip right to my conclusion.
This is what I've decided to do:
Double down on my efforts to rally the Team. I'm going to work harder for the next six months. I am going to flag harder, post more often, engage more, encourage more, point out our strengths. I might flag those who complain without action. Mock Investors who whine about their personal gains. Mute and ignore witnesses and community leaders who complain about Steem and SteemIt Inc. without offering specific steps for improvements. By the way, platitudes about how you wish things worked... (Reward Curves, and Curation improvements) doesn't equal action it equals talk. How will you get it done? Who will code it? What can you do to influence it?
Here is what I think we need to do:
- Plug the holes
Using our votes AND flags reduce the amount of Steem that goes out to those who are low effort players and who aren't building the community.
- Identify the strong players who are ACTUALLY investing time or money in growing the platform
Who is still here regularly, powering up or at least HODLING? If they are creating content, and building products and project for the future of Steem and we need to engage and reward them.
- We need to build a middle class and work on Distribution.
It's going too slow and nearly all the problems we have can be traced back to too few hands holding all the Steem.
What will you do to add to the community? What will you do to grow your investment? Will you step up your game?
Beware when they stop fighting... Rage quits mean passion, people wandering away, equals a lack of caring.
Better not to flag complainers who are yelling against STEEM and STEEMINC! Coz you might get hits by all his bots :D
@whatsup,
Anyway, crypto means virtual, so we imagine everything like all projects on these blockchains! But atleast STEEM got few real projects which are still at newbie level, but have potential to compete with market top leaders!
Cheers~
Yeah, I'd leave that one alone. Peeps has their way of dealing with frustration, and complaining is one of them. Just keep being positive for the rest of us, and we'll follow you. That's all you need to do. Frankly, it's nice to see you get frustrated once in awhile. You're actually not impervious - which is important to know!
Wow you sound very motivated. I think I have learned to focus more on making money and buying Steem. I definitely put too much time and energy into it but I am still very bullish in the long term future of the platform. I think eventually buyers will arrive.
Time to put my little money where my big mouth is. Come hell or high water, I’m going to buy 500+ Steem before August ends and power up.
Now that is some action, if a couple of thousand of us would do that, we would be changing slowly but surely! Good for you, wombat!
I was going to buy another 500 this week, but I decided to wait until next week. I'm not sure if we are done going down yet.
I was waiting to buy 300 as well, I get feeling it will go a little lower. I wish I had more time to post right now :/ I think its a great time to gather more while there isn't so much competition. Guess my little commitment will be to post today :) I try to stay active during the low times because imo it really does let you know who the long term community thinkers are.
I bought 100 in last week. Unfortunately i dont have more money now :(
Trying to catch a falling knife is hard. I have to just admit that I will not be able to time the market perfectly. Buy what Steem I can when I can. I’ve got some extra fiat coming my way soon. Going to buy Steem with it at whatever price the market dictates.
yay! thats my pwombat!
Here is the mindset everyone should have. I too will be buying more Steem (my first in over a year since I've been here), as there will always be upside to being involved in crypto it just comes down to how patient you are. 2 years in and have haven't sold one Steem/SBD for Bitcoin yet. Maybe, that is crazy, but I believe in Steem/SteemIt as you should too!
P.S
I'll be posting my strategy for the next few months shortly.
woot!
Well, this isn't a very strongly laid out opinion at all...is it??? Ha! It's about time I hear you get a little huffy! It sounds to me like you'll essentially be doing the same thing you always do, but with a kick to it. So you're stepping up your game and basically driving home the point that you think complaining is a waste of time (cuz it is...unless you have something to back it up and offer a solution). And you don't like greedy bastards who hog and power down. Cuz they kill the platform. And you think some investors are weenies and if they had some maturity and experience, they'd see the value in a good spring cleaning. Am I hearing you right?
I absolutely believe that if even half of the people on this platform were half the person you were, there would be no need for this conversation. I wish we could have more @whatsups. :D
Yeah, I'm a little huffy! lol. I know we are moving with the markets, but some are sleeping, some are crying and it leaves a handful of us to try and grow this thing. :) Oh looky me, almost on a pity party.
Thank you for the kind words, it means a lot coming from you.
Well, you were the first to turn my heart from being a complainer, to a doer. You were swift to point out that maybe my expectations were a little misaligned. I remember you saying "maybe it's not steemit inc's job to...." fill in the blank. And I guess that made a lot of sense to me.
Ever since then, I've been scoping out developers who are doing cool stuff for the platform that I thought "should have" been done by core dev, and wouldn't you know it, but I have found all the things that I thought were missing. I am now constantly do promo vids for the ones I catch doing awesome stuff that benefits the platform like a boss. @jarvie, @asgarth, @upheaver, @reggaemuffin, @timcliff, and @yabapmatt to name a few. They are my favs right now. But there are plenty more! And they are doing some really amazing stuff that gives an incredible influx of energy and vibrancy to this blockchain that simply wasn't getting done anywhere else.
These are innovators who deeply care about the success of this place in mature and responsible ways. IMHO. These are people I will support because of their product, and more importantly, what it does for the longevity of this space. And that's what I'm doing to put my little solution toward making it great again. Not huge, but it's what I can do with what I have.
yay!! whatsup is simply awesome :)
here, here! totally agree 100!!
Hi @whatsup! We are @steem-ua, a new Steem dApp, computing UserAuthority for all accounts on Steem. We are currently in test modus upvoting quality contributions with a high UA value! Nice work!
Thanks!
Cool
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Cool plan.
But i dont want to flag. Its expensive, and use my vp same, as when im support others.
So no, im not flagging AGAINST something.
I voting FOR something.
Yep, that is the attitude I was referencing in my post. This is why we have so many low effort rewards pouring out of the economy.
One a day... :) Sorry, I find your attitude ... Different than mine. It's like a restaurant saying... We don't make money on cleaning, only on food. So, we aren't going to pay to keep it clean. It's immature.
Flags are our only defense against abuse.
My english is sh.t, i cant write it well, what im think about this.
Im voting FOR support others. Im a little, very, very little. My flag worth nothing, but my vote worth something for my followed people. Maybe nothing but just a little attention, and good intent, but sometimes its enough for the community, for the friendship.
I understand, what you say, and i see it every day on trending page, or promoting page. How many redfish need to clean just one orca's sh.t? And how can we do it, and support each other SAME time?
I dont see the right solution, but if you know, and share with me, i follow the advice.
I want to stay here for years or decades. And yes, i want to stay in a clean place too. But right now, i just dont see, what can i do with my weak sp, and my little investment.
Don't look to change the orcas. Help shape the other minnows. Flag spam comments and drop some advice.
1 flag a day. It's just a suggestion. Be polite and kind and drop 1 flag a day.
I don't expect you to take my advice, just consider it.
Ok, i consider it, and maybe i try it.
And...
If its going to same sh.t feeling, like the selfvote (minnowsupport advice: make 1 selfvote each day), i'll be back here, and put some stupid spam comment below :D
Ha ha
I mean no disrespect whatsoever to you @whatsup; but, you've been on the Steemit platform long enough to know that no one seems to care about what anyone 'thinks'.
You pretty much made the case for the truth. While reading I couldn't help but think about the person in a going nowhere relationship, intent on amping up the 'giving all they've got' to make things work.
May I suggest you not lose an ounce of sleep, EVER, about something that you don't own?(In essence, we own nothing. It all belongs to God.) May I suggest that you limit your use of the STEEM economy to the degree of which it fulfills your inherent goal for being on the platform, and how it legitimately benefits your bottom line?
After all, that seems to be the protocol. There's a who--------le lot of 'work' going on behind the scenes, including hefty Power Downs, severely impacting the STEEM 'value'; even promises of the much-touted 2018 SMTs arriving in 2019.
I suggest you live your life. Leave the 'major' changes to the people getting paid big dollars to do so, and in the meantime, keep doing you. After all, life is tooooooooooooooo short for conversations about how to make something better, without affect. I assure you; those 'saavy' enough to develop this platform, are certainly two, maybe 100 steps ahead of any suggestions you rack your precious time trying to resolve...for free, I might add.
Lastly, I remain a fan of Steemit because nothing's come along better which allows the blog, and tosses a few coins in the tip jar for investing.
Best regards.
Peace.
Dude.... Seriously, @whatsup is too nice to say it. So I'll just do it for her. Know who you're talking to. Take a look at her earnings, her wallet, her comments, and her followers. Go watch what she does all day long, every day, for over 2 years. See who she supports, what she writes about, and how she crafts her content.
KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO.
When you are earning $10 - $30 per post when STEEM is worth ONE DOLLAR and voting is at an all time low, and you have 5,500 followers during the worst time of the year, and you've got relationships with all of the top witnesses on the platform, and know almost everyone on here by name, THEN you can tell @whatsup what you think she should do with her time.
When you've talked at length with top developers on and off this blockchain, and seen what they're doing to make this place so great, and how much time they are putting into their products, and how much money they earn doing so, and what growth THEY see behind the stats, then you can share your opinion on what you think the problem is.
Until then, I think it might be best to absorb and listen. Not that I have any strong opinions on the matter. I'm sure you have good ideas. I just think...well, I think it might be best to just listen sometimes.
;+)!...Got it...
However, as noted to @whatsup, I offered my concerns about her 'losing sleep'. Clearly, she is a change agent, which is why I followed her the first time I read her work a while ago, learning that she built her rank to 70 organically.
That said, I know who I'm talking to...a human being just like you and me. Satan would love nothing more than to rob her of her health worrying about something that is what it is. If the CEO doesn't solicit his concerns about the platform's condition, then I don't think we should either. After all, he knows what he's doing... right?
Btw, @whatsup's 'being too nice' really equates to knowing which battles to fight. I sense that she gleaned my concerns for her personal regard more than imposing on her 'energy' for making the platform the best it can be. Sometimes, in the spirit of genuine regard, friends 'hold up the mirror' so the other can see things more clearly.
Peace.
I think you are right on many things, but I also think I do feel some ownership.
Never underestimate our ability to influence.
However, you make some great points, but nobody is going to build this thing if we don't.
is this a whale’s second acct? LOL the only time ive seen a fatty dolphin respondg like this is to Bernie or someone on the same plain. either way ive heard the same argument that newbs are what make things happen yet ive also seen that those who stick it out do make gains. ive seen a few marketers, programmers, and professional bloggers not do too bad .... so is it time to leave steemit ?
I've been here a while @whatsup; and, not to be negative; but, (hold 5 seconds), I've observed more than a few things that make it clear that Steemit is about newcomers. Realistically, the goal doesn't appear at this time, to grow anything. It's just a meeting spot for the community. The only thing I observe growing is the number of newbs showing up, long enough to know it's not really a get-rich-quick plan.
That said, there are a few organic success stories; but, if we had to stare the numbers squarely in the eye most of the wealth is out-of-pocket investing. I could go on; but, I think you know where I'm going ;+).
Peace.
if you are bernie “say no to flags,” if youre haijin thank you for first supporting me when i got in this platform. LOL if you are a diff whale, maybe spread the “love coin” to those showing the effort ... just an idea. :)
just an idea. :)
Respectfully, @eaglespirit, you may have noticed that no one 'at the top' is asking for ideas; and, at this point, the thought of offering free ideas seems nonsensical...lol!!!
Best regards.
Peace.
ok, just checking. lol
some do make suggestions like bernie and others by example. most often i see them all helping each other if theyre not flagging each other LOL
either way, they came in together and seem to support one another, which is understandable. they earned their place. i dont “hate” that aspect of it all and if it means us lil minnows have to work a little harder then so be it. better to stay positive and productive are my thoughts on all this. focus on own acct moving up and helping others. its what appears to work. new blogger, minnow talking here. best wishes to you, eagle spirit
Yep, kind of the whale formula; but, totally not my concern...lol.
Yes, two very key qualities to a peaceful life!
Looking at your rank, your formula seems to be quite effective! Great job!
Best regards.
Peace.
I’m with you 100%! I just need a leader to show me where to go. I pick you. A fine example of strength, wisdom and what you say I feel too. The intuitive thing at work. If there is a direction I can take, please let me know. If there is a project you’re working on I can support I’m available.
If I may ask?
Cheers,
PeterWhoow Eagle you are doing great! How much SP did you have when you were blessed with the support of @whatsup?
thank you FCB! i have no idea but the dele was for 30 days so most of my sp i earned by posting every day 2-4 times a day for 9 months straight and having a few mentors. every little bit helps as you may find. i will hopefully be starting a show soon to help planks and minnows in theor growth as mentioned in a recent post of mine. anyhoo, good luck man!
PS. as a hint you would have to upvote your own posts, which since you started hitting the top of abh list (i went back to u/v my own posts btw so fell lower by doing this) you would have to make some changes ... @fullcoverbetting. Also, didn't you get a dele from some folks and mentorship?
I do have indeed some delegation. And I am trying to use it as good as possible! And about the mentorship, the answer is Yes and No. I did get adopter by a dolphin who will give 1 post each day a 100% upvote until I do reach 1000SP. But there are some rules, which are that I am not allowed to power down and that I do need to stick posting. No problem with both!
I am upvoting my posts with full force. Decided to do this a month or 2 ago. The idea behind it was, the stronger my account will become, the more support I can give to others!
Cheers,
Peter
yes i went and checked your wallet after i posted the question, i recalled you have the same mentor i had. that said, you have wuite a bit more dele than i did so you are well on your way.
I did loose a 500 SP delegation today but a friend stepped in a did delegate 1000 SP to me!
well there ya go, seems like you already know what to do.
A very good leader to follow. This is the kind of person who can show you how to beat the odds of the blockchain rat race by just plugging away at quality content and making great connections with those around you.
ive pretty much done just so, which is why my paths crossed with like minded people. thank you for the confirmation and kindness.thank you @littlescribe, the post above caught me off guard and then your response 😂😂😂
I think you're doing awesome, and you're on the right track! Align with like-minded people and you'll never regret it. Or rather, align with people who are going somewhere, and you'll go somewhere too.
sage advice 🤗
You are doing it! Did you see how people talked about you when I was looking for a future Dolphin? I didn't know who you were, so I hesitated to select you. I have never regretted the decision, in fact getting to know you was the best part of that experiment.
yay! you touch my heart with your beautiful comment, thank you. im so happy to have met a strong female that soeaks her mind with sense and independence. thank you for being a true insoiration. i mean it! another woman such as yourself that i highly admire is @enchantedspirit who is a no nonsense curator. love you both. xo
You have always been a good leader and example to follow ever since I can remember paying attention.
*Sticking with the discipline of posting one main post a day to engage, build my stake little by little, and not lay dormant in the down times.
*resteeming worthy causes like https://steemit.com/crowdfunding/@jameszenartist/crowdfunding-experiment-for-artist-s-materials-jameszenartist-day-8
Open to ideas to do more and I really appreciate your support.
@zekepickleman Thank you so much for the mention! I really appreciate it :)
engage, engage, engage.
create content, read more posts and drop comments-- basically keeping steemit active.
power up. I have been on steemit for 24 days, all my earnings are converted to steem power. As I receive from the pool I put it back. the goal is having 500sp in the next 6-12 months.
Even a redfish can contribute to the growth and stability of the ecosystem.
Absolutely. We actually need Redfish who will engage with each other.
57 whales, 200ish Orcas, 1100 Dolphins, 8800 minnows, and the rest of the active accounts are Redfish. We can't support you guys, you are going to have to support each other! Engage, engage engage.
Yes Yes Yes!! I agree whole heartedly with all of that!! I have done 3 posts in the past couple of weeks trying to put out more positive vibes on steemit and combat some of the negativity. There are many things to improve on but I have faith in the community because many of usnlove it here and we are slowly making our way up the ranks.😎
Steem is the only thing I don't care about going up or down since it's useful regardless of its price. But I agree we gotta pull our weight if we want steem so find success in the long run. We are a social media after all, so that should be used to our advantage!
In my opinion I think that obvious reasons vote sellers should start work together and find a common way for that "market" so it cannot get abused by the people . Target the sellers, not the buyers! I think that would greatly against one part of the abuse we see on steemit:)
It's their stake, they do not have a moral obligation to help build the site. Initially, I was impressed with the innovative thought of selling unused voting power. Many of them have no regard for quality. Which is their right, but it makes everyone else's job harder.
When the price is down and most of the opportunistic people have ran away to the next source of "quick gains" is the best time to be utilizing the platform in my opinion. Last time we were dragging the bottom price wise, there weren't all these fucking bidbots and people were actually voting on content, which is a little discouraging, but I think overall this is the best shot anyone without liquid finances to invest is going to have to earn STEEM before SMTs pump the price. I'm very bullish on STEEM right now and even if this isn't the absolute bottom, the upside of moving in right now versus the risk of it dropping lower is so minuscule that I'm actually looking for ways outside of crypto to bring more money in.
So, not to commandeer, but I'm kind of hopeful about the SMT pump. Which is hypothetically, officially, less than 3 months away....
Like anything, I feel like the bidbots were a correction from where we were before. I agree though, they are getting out of control. Part of me wants to watch the price drop more to drive some of them out. I don't even think they realize their lack of commitment to any type of quality is demoralizing everyone. I am not against them, but if they will not fight abuse, we either have to leave or fight it ourselves.
Well, well. Just a little nudge more ... 8-P
:)
Yeah, it's a smidge better than it was before, but I think we're at a growing pain. And you know who's doing an awesome job combatting the bidbot urges? @fulltimeangel. He's got a ton of SP and is going around voting on quality users who are putting out great stuff regularly, and not using bidbots. He is basically rewarding people for not bidding. And at first I was like, Um good luck with that.
But now that I'm getting his votes, and I see his daily trending page, I'm like, "Oh, I better not use a bidbot cuz I won't get a vote from him!"
It's working in a small neck of the woods. So that's the kind of thing you may want to line up with...rewarding positive behavior.
Yeah , They have to work harder.
Good luck with that :)
From my perspective that problem is already solved in real world economies , apply a marginal tax on the top earners and help maintain a base level for active /engaged minnows.
I am sure no one will like this idea...but noone likes taxes in real world either.
@whatsup what is your view on the tax approach ?
"Goodness how they whine, moan and complain to make things better for 130ish people who are running witnesses instead of focusing on the community."
On point and funny lol! :)
A dark night of the soul is often the best thing for motivation, and damn you are fired up, and infectious about it.
I don't think I would worry about Bitcoin too much, though, as it's natural trajectory is generally 10 steps forward, 5 steps back, and the 5 steps back always look terrible at the time, but never are in the end.
Steem is more worrying, one of the ONLY cryptos with a brilliant use case and a massive head start, for the reason you said: "nearly all the problems we have can be traced back to too few hands holding all the Steem."
"Beware when they stop fighting"
Agreed. It's good to see you haven't. :)
I'm going to give it my best for one more run. All I can say is we better see SMTs. :)
It's kind of amazing and sad at the same time that what a decentralised social media platform needs the most right now is... Curation :)
Flag anybody who doesn't shave the STEEM logo in their head. Got it.
Loooool
Not exactly what I said. :)
Shit.... I guess I'll have to re-read it ;D
Whole thing is worrying to be honest, and I spend so much time here it also gets to me
We all need to double now, unfortunately not all of us can. I will keep doing what I do (building my SP and supporting fellow redfishes), but then, we get the feeling individual actions are like a drop in a very large ocean
I hear what you are saying, but you would be surprised the amount of influence a few strong people with specific goals can have.
I once worked in an office that was so full of negativity it was hard to show up. I thought about quitting. Instead I decided to see if I could change it. I don't know if I changed it or I changed myself, but from that day forward, I loved that job, because I decided I owned it. :)
Let's own this! Every drop in the Ocean helps, never doubt that.
I agree. I also ha e some solutions brewing. I think this is the time that we start the live talk shows which address the problems, create the solutions.
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"I'm going to work harder for the next six months."
I am with you there. I have been trying to get my posting frequnecy back up to 5 per week instead of the 3 I was doing. I have also been trying engage as much as I can, powering up most of what I earn and lately I have been trying buy sbi for some of the people I see trying but not doing well.
I am not sure what else I can do but I am on board with anyone who wants to see this place do well.
Let's do this!
Just face it, 99% of the posts are junk.
People should be paid not to post.
This is junk.
This is more junk.
Steem is on his way to the top 10. New release update on the platform and he worldwide adoption of the coin are going to boost Steem.
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This post has received a 21.24 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @whatsup.