Introduction
I've been on Steemit.com since May 2016. I have been here through the highs and the lows. I've seen what changed in the front-end and the back-end. Lots of things changed since then...mostly for the better.
The latest change is HF19. No other HF has had such a profound impact on my behavior. In this short post, I will outline how it transformed my voting pattern and what I want to do with my new found power.
I've chose the above image because I found myself debating the side of me that wants to game the system and the side of me that want the system to thrive...more on that below.
HF19 - You Would Be Insane To Not Power-Up...
Thanks to my followers and people who vote for me, I've accumulated a significant stake. In the past, even though I wanted to power-up, the increased benefit of adding an extra 1000 STEEM in STEEMPOWER was marginal. Basically, acquiring more power was like climbing a rock wall at 90 degree.
Maybe I would add a $0.01 in rewards on my vote by adding a 1000STEEM if at all. Basically, there were more incentives for me to cash out and put money in the bank than locking my STEEM for 3 months in SP.
Now, there is a linear progression when it comes to power differential between users. Now I'm no longer rock climbing my way to increased influence...I'm taking a walk on a 45 degree slope!
Of course, as it stands today with, I would suggest everyone to keep their post reward to 50% SP / 50% SBD since SBD are at a premium for now.
The value of STEEMPOWER has increased tremendously and it has become a very powerful tool. You would be insane not to get as much SP as humanly possible while the price of STEEM is around the $2 mark.
HF19 - Is Changing My Voting Habits
Now, once my voting power is back up at 100%, if I swing my vote at full throttle, I estimate that I can send $100 to any post that I choose to. That's just hard to process to be honest...
I was in front of my computer for the last 2 days wondering what I should be doing with this kind of information. The less noble part of me said that I should be upvoting myself all the time and suck as much steem that I can towards myself.
HF19 Turned Me Into A Patron
The more noble part of me said that I can actually do some good in the world. For example, I have my nephew who's on Steemit. He is a talented musician and he has been uploading his improv. You can check him out, his handle is @dampfire
With this power, I can help him fund his summer so that he can focus entirely on his music.
There is also a very big youtuber with who I had an email correspondence yesterday. His work was instrumental in me becoming Christian and accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He will now be posting on Steemit and he will have my patronage.
My fiancee has a music teaching ministry for underprivileged kids in partnership with "Youth Unlimited". With my vote, I can empower this organization to reach out to more kids. I see these kids and they need a strong role model that care about them outside of what is often a very difficult situation at home.
All this to say that the STEEM blockchain is agnostic about HOW we use our votes. Some people say we have to reward good content...but I am finding that it can also be used to fund charities that I care about. Who knows, maybe one day there will be an interface entirely dedicated to vote for charities.
Finally - The Moral Hazard
Just like I said above, there was a less noble part of me that considered finding way to vote for my own interest. Setup 5 bogus account that are my own and vote for my own stuff. If I thought about it, you bet someone is working on doing just that.
Those bad actors are here for sure and they don't care about the future of the "blogchain". It's short-term, narcissistic thinking. I don't think there is anything we can do to prevent this, the previous algorithm was set to prevent that yet people complained of the different of power between whales and minnows.
I am curious to see the voting statistics that will come out after 7 days.
Back To You
So how did the change affected the way you go about voting? Please comment below.
So basically what you're saying is...
HEY STEEMIT users, SAVE your money and power now while STEEM is $2 because 5 years from now when it hits $20 you're going to be FILTHY rich. Or something like that?
@chuckypita you are so right my friend steem will be in top 5 cryptos eventually can't wait myself
Hold on tight and buckle up this ride may get rough.haha count me in
Totally agree mate! Just powered up and loving it. Cheers and Steem on!
While it hasn't necessarily changed my habits (im brand new here so i dont carry any weight) it has changed my mindset. I plan to power up as much as humanily possible in an effort to grow the value of my upvote. I really wish to give back to this amazing community!
At first there was an idea to vote for my comments, but then I decided - it's better for someone else's :)
Nice! Then I decided to upvote you! :)
I Powered up yesterday.... Whats the worst that can happen? It's only a 3 month waiting period, if i choose to power down.
Nice move! 👍
If I am not wrong if you decide to power down you will be getting close to 8% of your Steem every week, so it's not a bad deal. But I am not sure of this, maybe a Steemit expert could tell me if I am right.
Yes, this is correct, about 8% of what SP you had at the time you set a powerdown to start. I intend to pile on the SP as quickly as I can get my hands on money to do so. I have about 500€/month coming through my mining, paid out every week, that's going ALL IN to SP, and I figure once I reach 2000 steem I will start a new power down. It's like a giant capacitor for my financial circuits. It is a very useful tool for helping maintain and disburse a big surplus so that you keep accumulating it.
Thanks for sharing your plan. I'm starting to understand this process more and more. Cheers.
As a fellow Christian I was less inclined to try to "game" the system than to overload the system with bogus posts! I've been seeing people shooting out absolute garbage at a rate of 15-20 posts a day (or more)... I even wrote about it today.
I am more circumspect with my votes... I decreased my power to 25% so I can continue to spread the wealth. I enjoyed being able to give the 100% thumbs up, but I'm sure everybody has the same dilemma! Good post (You got my 25%)lol!
I never used the slider before. Well, 2 month back I was happy to be able to finally vote for 1 cent! THe the price jumped and it was 6 cent!
Then HF19 and it was above 1$. OMG!
And of course since I votes more then 10 times a day I now certainly have a reason to use the slider - besides being able to give based on the worth I think the post has.
That's my problem... I want to give everybody 100%... Now I can't!
A newbie's strength can not be divided into four parts. Therefore, I can only 10 times vote
That will change soon... it doesn't take that long!
Having the ability to fund the projects we believe in is fantastic. Bravo to you brother.
One of my dreams on Steemit is to find folks who are posting in third-world countries and upvote their articles to give them a day's wage - I can do that now.
I agree with you. Now is the time to be purchasing Steem Power. The $2 dollar range for Steem will not be around much longer.
This is such a cool thought to ponder. We can help give others a chance who before never had the platform to share their amazing stories and dreams. Here's to a collective future better for all!
Amen!
Well spoken I feel the same angel demon.
I imagine a lot of people will power up till they get the slider at 1mv.
I guess the rewards will decline for 5 more days then pick up slowly as reward pool refills.
After that, when everyone starts receiving their new higher rewards I think there will be a lot of buying pressure.
HF19 changed the perception of voting and voting power. Still, it's full potential will be seen after couple of weeks beause it seems that party is still going on with unbalanced quality=vote. I don't believe there will ever be fair vote but it might boost up minnows in time. Thanks for this article.
So like, now it's become honest?
What do you mean, honest?
Just
"The less noble part of me said that I should be upvoting myself..."
Yes... yes... come to the dark side
I always find it weird when people brag about steemit but they never power up...If you believe in steemit long term then power up family.
I always power up!!
You're gonna get 100% of my vote and solely because I "feel" your words so much. Scale the money you can reward down about 10x and that's about where I'm at now. Though the emotions you are experiencing should be relatively the same. It's like the old adage, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Therefore, I say this. The blockchain doesn't care less about morality or fairness. It will keep on paying out according to the rules it is bound by. Hence, the responsibility comes down to us and how we choose to wield it.
You've done phenomenally well and proud of yourself, you should be. Let's just hope that most of the "big " players of Steemit hold the same set of upstanding values as you do, sir.
Bless, my brother...
I vote way less now. And I take more time to determine what percentage to give on the post. By the way, just found out about 0 - 30 min curation reward rule... so shocker :D I had to change all my voting patterns. @cryptoctopus when do you upvote posts, do you consider 0 - 30 min curation rule?
I vote between 12 to 20 min. :-)
Hmm... intresting, I am currently trying 22 - 25 mins, will se how that rolls out :D
I joined last August and traded a couple bitcoins for Steem when both were at a much lower value. I also powered up everything back then to help give this Steemit platform a fighting chance. Now I'm so damn happy I did that, even though I knew hardly anything about crypto at the time. Since then I have schooled myself, and become a firm believer in these new world economies. It's happening right here, right now, worldwide. Power up ! Power to the People !
Awesome awesome post. I bought 0.1 BTC (All I could afford from my paycheck this last month) into steem power today. :D
Power Up That Steem Power! :)
My voting patterns have changed, since I am now paying very close attention to who I upvote and the quality of content. I am pleasently surprised to see the amount of care and sharing that is being discussed on Steemit after these changes. I was worried that the number of votes for others would decrease dramatically as people try to hourd their voting power. Bit, the community has come through as usual and I know that the changes in HF19 and others will continue to be a positive for Steemit.
After the HF19 has been launched, I don't vote easily due to limited voting power. I read the blog seriously and to decide my vote (although my vote still make freaking low influence, probably worths like $0.x lol). Thank you for your sharing btw! That's a good one ! Steem on!
I find that I'm having to rethink my voting here on Steemit. Under the previous regimen, a penny was insignificant. In the U.S. people do not stoop down to pick up a penny anymore. It just isn't worth the effort. Why bother?
Now, I can wield dollars within a matter of minutes...
I prefer to power up/power down using my mining profits as a circular asset. That way I'm always in the game and cash flowing for monthly expenses.
Yes, steem power is a powerful tool for managing cash flow and disciplined saving. I am also putting all my mining profits into SP as well. When I hit 2k SP I will restart the power down so I am getting more income. It's a great combination. I am still adjusting to the fact that I in fact do not have to work now, apart from monitoring and maintaining my miners, and Steem I am making about equal to 2x RX 580s, it all adds up...
Loving that homer image :)
True that!!!
Thank you for sharing. I just powered up and I appreciate hearing your perspective. I feel that Steem has some very exciting times ahead. Stoked to have found your channel. Let me know if I can offer any gardening advice. :) Onward and upward!
Steem Power is the way to go! That's where most of my future investments will go. Awesome post. Well enjoyed.
I like it!
Even more with that fantastic voting adjusting tab on chainbb. However what I am missing on chainbb is finding posts like this. There is no "home". I am writing this post on Steemit as this is probably the only way, or I don't know about any other. After I post this I can finally vote your post up! :p
Good luck cryptoctopus.
And
I keep a list of Steemit people in my favorites that support & follow me and I then return the favor. I found relying on my feed does not work as it is hit or miss. I consistently go to their blogs and read their most recent posts and use my votes that way.
Yep, powered up another 350 yesterday and I am going to be sticking a lot more into it! It is just you get so much power buy buying more! Good luck to all of us!
I purchased a bunch of Steem on poloniex and am in the process of sending it over to be powered up... the power up dynamic is interesting because could constrain supply and lift the price of Steem.
I have 1233 steem stuck in poloniex at the moment, and a nearly 4 day old customer service ticket raised, and absolutely no response from them. Not happy. Not that I wanted to spend it, a little while afterwards, I decided I want it powered up again.
Ouch :(
Guess I have been lucky to be more of a Bittrex guy (not that I have much Steem mind you...)
Yeah, I would like to slap the management, one by one, in a neat line.
I'm never using poloniex again, i swear to God!
I've never considered doing anything else but powering up.
I power up every cent I get man, its like a piggy bank that makes my earnings bigger each time xD
I'm a little obsessed trying to get the thing higher, so hard to get noticed :P
Since I joined steemit I have been using my voting power judiciously so it really doesn't made any difference to me...I vote based on the merit of the content...My voting power increased from 0$ to 0.04$ but still I enjoyed how everyone reacted after HF19...
Thank you so much for the info!
I will power up asap! Keep it pure
With the price of STEEM doing great right now I'm with you. Power Up, but does that not take like months to actually get it? Thanks
you can buy it or acquire by posting content. If you have cash, you can make the process much faster. You can cash out in 13 equal weekly payments.
Thank you. I shall think about it.
i'm working on getting a lot of content out there and seeing who will follow me for it
Agreed! :)
good info and thank you for it
I am a minnow and I plan to use all this fruits from HF19 to power up, every cent of it
I'm too new here to understand half of what you said about SP. However, I do love your honesty and applaud your conscious decision to do good with your influence. Usually that's the hardest thing to do. Followed!
Best post I ever read on steemit - besides my own ones ;)
Wow you must feel like you have power to change the world for the better in your hands with being able to throw so much cash around! It has not changed much for me yet cause I am only starting to develop my account but I sure hope it improves post visibility cause now I plan to post a bunch of my best work and i sure hope it reaches more than like 7 people lol. Thanks for your content!
More power that we can hold now , the more powerful we will become in the coming months ! Investment worth taking
As a former tsu.co user I want to see steemit survive and establish itself as a platform. I am collecting SP with 100% posts and hope steemit is the future. Right now just enjoying the platform
I would suggest you not to do that. Take 50/50 and then sell your SBD at 1.50 premium on the internal market: https://steemit.com/market
Reason? Would I not make more in the long term since steem is worth more than sbd?
the cost per steem on the internal market is $1.476323. Which mean that you can in the end get much more steem if you get 50/50 and then buy the STEEM on the internal market.
But doesn't steem seem that cheap because SBD costs 1,6$? If the sbd was lower, steem would be more expensive, wouldn't it?
when you get 100% in SP, it takes the total amount and calculate it with the price of STEEM on the market. Let's say $2. Now if you take 50/50, it will do the same but then you can buy the STEEM at 1.47 instead. ( you increase your acquisition by 16%)
This is super helpful. Thank you for the breakdown.
Ok, tell me what Im counting wrong
Hm well it's now a lot more reasonable a rate in the internal market, the differential was much larger at the beginning when SBD went moon-like... I'm still sticking to 100% power up posting anyway. It's enough for me.
you mean that you are okay having less than what you could if you did 50/50 and then bough the different because of the overvalued SBD?
No, I have done the math and I don't think the internal market will give you any more by this. Mainly because of people like you, who are pushing that margin. The Steem internal market is more influenced by internal steem business, and if there was profit in it, it's already probably been taken. At first when this was going on, the differential was huge. You would for sure lose money selling steem for SBD on the internal market. Now, maybe you lose 10%, but it's still not profitable. You should double check your sums.
I see a big reason to power up more than anything. I'm trying to but sometimes, real life situations take precedence even over a great opportunity. " Happy wife, happy life" gotta live by that motto :)
Power up is winning
Good post! Does not take much insight to see who is setting up accounts to vote for themselves.
But that's not any of my concern, I would rather just do my own thing, and not compare myself to other.
I still vote on all good content I can make a difference on. That means I am not voting as much on posts that are already "up there", focusing more on small accounts and the people i have come in contact with...
Peace!
Thanks for sharing this info @cryptoctopus, im a new user on steemit, i dony understand much about HF19, great post friend
Powering up is believing in the future of the platform. It is a long term commitment, no matter what happens here and now.
Cool, thanks for the insight!
I joined steem less than a week ago ,and i have already invested already :)while the price is low,and i have to say i wont be selling any,and just want to get as muchsteem power as possible,you can help many people in your position,really enjoyed the post :)
Just curious how much did you invest in Steem?
Everything that in my wallet, 5k at the min,and i may put a bit more in if the price dips again,i only have that as i have mined for a few years so i have a few coins,i think its a good long term investment,and seams to have a great community with a strong following, i love the thought of having the power to help people along.i am learning everyday on here.
If I had 100$ votes I would certainly vote one a day for me (I am doing good posts after all. Maybe not for 100$ but if in that way I can life from steemit that's great).
But then the rest I would spread. And certainly for "good cause" stuff if that is possible.
As minnow I think no immediate change will affect me since my influence for votes are within the minority circle. But of course whatever little resources I have here and within my disposal, I will use it to add value to this community. Wow I was glad when I read the part that you have a personal relation now with Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We are really victors in Christ. Thanks for sharing this post to us.-- Your brother in the Lord
Right now i am in the infancy period so my vote carries little power. But I am planning to Use all my Steem for Power up and use it to Upvote the steemians esp Minnows who desperately need one...coz thatz what i as Minnow need the most right now(desperation level at peak for upvotes). Your post cleared dust from certian questions which i had and at the same time delivered a Humane message to the Dolphins and whales out there, "To try to lift the Ones in Shambles(Minnows)." I can't wait to join the River with other Big Fishes and Upstream. I believe, One should not forget his Past days bcoz The present Him is possible only coz of the Past. Keep Upvoting and Steeming...Steem On!!! Hail Steemit!!! @cryptoctopus
"Setup 5 bogus account that are my own and vote for my own stuff", you don't even have to do that, you can just write 10 short articles regardless of quality and upvote each of them, and actually there is nothing morally wrong with that, but that is up to everyone's conscience, I believe you should think of yourself, your personal gain, but also note that many people really need and appreciate that upvote that you can give.
Wanting something for nothing and hurting the goose that lays the golden egg is morally wrong in my book. I could do what you say of course but it would also hurt both my reputation and people who follow me will stop voting.
That's why I say "but that is up to everyone's conscience" it's for you to decide, I'm not saying you should do it I'm saying you CAN do it, I don't have that problem because my vote is about $0.40 not bad but also not such a large amount that it could hurt the community, also I don't believe I could post more than 5 times in a day, I find it very difficult to find subjects for posts, also I do read many posts and I upvote the ones I want to, my problem right now is figuring a decent percentage to give to each post.