Finally
After all this time.
So, for the past two years or more, I've often wondered why this concept:
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Popularity is a thing.
There is not one content producer here who expects to succeed by becoming unpopular.
It takes a long time to work your way up, anywhere.
Around here, curators call the shots and content producers roll with the punches. That is, until, a content producer decides to call the shots, negating the efforts of thousands of curators with the push of a few buttons and content even the producer knew nobody would care about unless they took some kind of a shortcut.
You're watching a live performance.
Picture it.
The band on stage started out as just a few guys and gals jamming together in a basement. They were doing it for fun. Eventually, after practicing for years, they were invited to play at a house party. Not long after, they got a few gigs playing at local small venues. A few tracks were released online as well in this time. Years later, they're playing a stadium and you're there, enjoying the show.
The band is popular. They worked for it. They earned their success. Other bands look up to them and hope to be at that level someday.
Someone who's been playing the tuba for two years decides to jump on stage uninvited, pushes the lead singer aside, and begins blowing notes. Is the crowd cheering or do the bouncers and security professionals jump on stage to 'downvote' the performance nobody came to see?
If every stage, big or small, was to be treated like an open mic, and all potential performers were allowed to shove everyone out of the way any time they feel like it, would there be a live entertainment industry? Would anyone ever get to work up and become successful?
If there's no venue, there's no band.
Do you like it when you're standing in line at the grocery store, waiting to pay, and some asshole cuts in line?
No.
Years of unpopular acts shoving the talent aside on this platform was dismantling my patience.
I watched many leave. They didn't have a venue.
I've always felt we're on the same playing field, as content producers, playing by the same set of rules. If I do a good job, for three years, and gain traction, then someone starting today should be able to follow a similar path and be at, near, or on a higher level, in three years. If the opportunity was there for me three years ago, the same opportunity should exist for anyone. It's then up to that individual to decide if they want to put in the time, grind away, and get somewhere.
Thank you.
For the opportunity.
Content producers were being shoved off the stage, their work labelled unpopular by default, for over two years. I'm shocked this place lasted as long as it has with all of that bullshit happening on the trending page. For over two years, the truly unpopular content was forced upon us, making it impossible to ever achieve that gone viral success story.
Recently, a couple of my recent posts were able to hit the top 50, organically. What changed? The venue. I had already been doing everything I could to reach those top slots organically, for nearly three years. Plenty of content producers here know they work their asses off and weren't able to achieve a higher level not because of lack of effort, but due to the fact the platform and those selling votes were making it impossible to get anywhere.
Are the top slots as valuable as they used to be,
before the chaotic vote buying/selling fiasco?
Unfortunately, years of pollution has lowered the quality of life when living in those top slot neighborhoods.
For years, we'd hear people say, "I don't even look at the trending page anymore."
The posts on trending were fake, unpopular. Many of them were advertisements and nobody turns on the television to watch the commercials. We skip the ads when watching Youtube. We're annoyed when we're baited into viewing an ad while browsing the web.
The trending page has a bad reputation and that won't wear off overnight. Combine that with the fact people are still attempting to push actual popular content aside with their paid votes, as I write this. The problem hasn't been solved, the situation has only improved, and there's still a lot that needs to be done in order to gain the consumer's trust in that trending page. If that trust is lost forever, then there's no such thing as success here.
If the band is playing at the venue that has the reputation of being poorly constructed — the roof collapsed, people were killed, but nothing was done to repair the damage — will that band play in front of a packed house?
No.
If the venue is broken, the band can be the best band in the world, yet be incredibly unsuccessful, all at the same time. All of these little pieces of the puzzle need to fit together. You can't even be successful at making fries at Burger King if the fryer is broken. Life.
You'll now see this line:
"All content within this blog is 100% organic ACTUAL CONTENT and contains no paid vote additives!"
...at the end of all my posts.
It's half humor, half serious. I don't buy votes. I post and hope for the best. Did that for nearly three years.
Early on when the trending page was being overrun with promotions/advertisements (by definition, the moment you purchase a vote, you've converted your content into paid programming/advertising, regardless of the content within), I wrote a post explaining the importance of labeling those ads, as ads — so the consumer can see the difference, isn't misled into thinking the message is there because it is popular, gets duped, then loses trust in the content being presented to the world and the content producers publishing it.
Since no steps were ever taken to improve the situation and since an honest approach was frowned upon for however long, the reputation of all content reaching that trending page has been tarnished, so I have no problem indicating to the consumer that if they see my work there, it's genuinely receiving high ratings, and it's safe to enjoy without feeling as if something fishy is going on. I worked for that spot, I'm trying my best, I earned it.
"Promotion costs money. It's normal in this industry."
We've all heard that argument before.
Yes! I agree!
My work generates rewards. The curators are promoters. I'm giving them HALF of what my work generates, to pay for promotion, in the form of curation rewards. And I'm fine with that, because it's normal.
All curators have been given a raise. Now, it's more important than ever, their efforts actually do something. Why are we paying them more if someone can still wipe those efforts off the face of the platform with a few paid votes?
Please think really long and hard about that one.
The last thing I want to be doing these days,
is revisiting these age old debates, and writing about the platform.
I want to get back to work, producing the things that got me this far, whatever those things are, however far I am.
Of course, I care about the place, I'm just as much a part of this community as anyone else, and I see what's happening out there. This is where my mind has been. It's difficult to create when your head isn't in the game.
My tradition.
On with the show.
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address allows me, no more than once per month, to talk about current events, and then show all of the recent artwork I've produced. These posts double as my own personal image catalog and make finding something you liked from a long time ago much easier.
Please, do enjoy the show.
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: The Art of Self-Sabotage
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: Finding that Groove Again
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: 25 More Days of Being The Only Me You Have
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: Another Month Worth of Sights To See
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: Staring at This Box, Wondering What to Write
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: Still Willing to Work for Your Support
The State of the @NoNamesLeftToUse Address: What Two Months of Hard Work Looks Like
To Conclude
It never ends.
Have a nice day.
The change has been nothing short of amazing. I have actually found myself clicking an article on the trending pages and not just to downvote it!! ;0D
I did notice the difference and certainly didn't expect it to happen so fast. Now to continue on this path and get the consumer trust back. That will come in handy when one of these content producers wants to step up to the plate consistently and kick ass. Imagine being new, working for a few months, finally getting noticed, hitting that big organic pay day, and nobody is there to see it. Remember, back in the day, if you managed to earn a top slot somewhere, you'd see new followers trickling in, and see a few new faces leaving a comment? I do. I also remember a lot more people giving it their all, so maybe they could receive those benefits, someday. This place needs that again, to go along with these new changes.
I tennents those days well and in fact it was a big boost getting there, always something to be proud of. You are right in that it's tarnished by it's past. Let's hope we can keep its past in its past and get it back to something good!
Seeing you folks excited again makes me hard! Oops... I mean, yes. Let's hope the past goes to hell instead of the future!
Yeah!! Let's get hard all the way to the top!!
I mean, the past or something!!!
I learned a lot from your perspective on trending, thanks. I have been thinking of what can be done with trending and people that want to promote using bots. The downvotes have been doing their work. I know there is common ground in there somewhere if we strike a nice balance. Amazing art btw, really liked "Reginald"
These systems can all work together instead of against each other. I like how the tribes do it. Promoted content mixed in with actual content, and the ads are clearly marked. I'd prefer to see the ads inside posts though, and actual content posts hitting top slots to bring in the eyes. Then the one promoting would be in several slots at once instead of in one slot on a page with a ruined reputation. Advertising is done to get eyes but each ad on the trending page pushes eyes away. The more they do it, the fewer eyes they'll get. If this place was booming, that paid vote business model becomes useless the exact moment it became as successful as it possibly can. If 1000 advertisers all wanted that slot at the same time, they'd buy two seconds worth of "visibility" and then blend in with the rest of the crowd nobody wants to see. It can't even scale and pushes the product that actually brings in their market away. Drives me nuts, man.
I like Reginald as well. These characters I produce are becoming my favorite thing to work on, and before I came here, I didn't work on characters at all.
It is a simple fix sort of, if it has a bot vote it is Promoted, and should be under the Promoted Tab, not the trending Tab. There are four "Steemit Feed" tabs:
Trending
New
Hot
Promoted
I am not sure what the other front ends have for tabs.
Currently at the top of the Trending Tab when I look is:
I still very rarely look at the trending, more so this past week since the down vote trend to see if it is getting better to see actual Trending content, but nope still mostly advertisements. The next four on the list:
All of them Advertising even the Curangel is an advertisement. So not any better at all for actual Trending content other than trending advertisement content. No Stories, no Art, no Travel, no entertaining type content at all, just advertisements.
I believe that too... I didn't believe it before the fork.
been on here 2 1/2 years feels like an epoch... the popular ones cycle in and out like little popstars, a few stick around , a few branch out, a few just dip in to see how things could have been actually are... there is no glory in much of it and yet there are little things and shards you find that remind you that you were and are a pioneer
Time does strange things when it's spent here. It's difficult to describe. Three years both feels like a long time but flew by, all at once.
It's difficult to stay on top of your game here. I've taken a few breaks over the years due to life and burnout. These people have been nothing but awesome to me, for years. They've been right there, waiting for me to return, every time. Some others take time away and come back to nothing. That's the big fear as well. Starting over.
We're pioneers. Lived through the wild west days. Now I hope this place can get organized and we can advance into that industrial age stuff, without all the smoke.
I don't try to stay on top of anything , or game and find it actually works better that way..... imho, same on the hopes but no clue
This is the best analogy I've come across. Someone else may have already said this in the comments, but I wouldn't know because all the pictures seem to keep crashing Partiko. I'll have to go view them all on another front end.
So far I'm liking how new steem is coming together. I hope it continues this way and doesn't end up going down the same path, as a new way is found to play the system.
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That's too bad Partiko can't handle this.
A lot of people are satisfied with these changes and cool thing is... it's still early. So much more can be improved yet and more folks have yet to catch on so once they get in on it, more content producers will have more curators, positive feedback loop, hopefully. Being realistic though, yes, I'm with you on that, I hope the charlatans don't screw it up.
Back to steemit to view the offerings. "Where to Now" reminds me of my time at Waldorf school, with the watercolour pictures they loved so much. Not bad memories.
Posted using Partiko Android
Odd thing about that one is the fact the green portion is actually an apple.
One day it may be fixed, for now though Trending is still broke. I need to learn to look at the hot tab I guess, you are number one in that tab.
If people assume I bought the top slot in the hot section, being there doesn't help me. Their first thought won't be, "Hmm, this must be popular or hmm, this producer must be interesting." It'll be, "Probably paid for that slot, not worth my time." Those paid votes take most of chances to be successful away, even when you don't use them.
I have no clue how anything gets in the Hot tab feed, but I do know that all of the top trending post are bought and paid for.
It can not be number of votes,
or post potential payout,
or comments,
because they are all varying levels in the Hot tab,
so it must be some secret formula for the Hot tab.
but any ways to late to look now you were supplanted by @acidyo
It's the value of the post. Posts on hot move faster than trending. If acidyo bumped it down it's most likely organic and that's life. If ten folks all go buy votes, the status I earned is gone in no time, even on the hot page.
Exactly! There is one hell of a job restoring confidence in this place.
In life, it's no often we're given second chances. Better get it right, this time.
Do or die for Steemit.
Hmm think i know that drunken clown dude :)
Spent a lot of time trying to make it up on stage, any stage when full of piss and bad manners in my youth.
Learnt to respect and admire the work of a lot of the local bouncers.
Dealing with the drunken riffraff is one of the hardest jobs around. Getting punched is part of the job description.
I love your music analogy and the points you make are well-written. I will resteem I appreciate what you say
I appreciate the resteem. Thanks for everything. I could turn that analogy into many different things and it'll make sense.
I stopped seeing the trending page long ago. Should I check it out again?
BTW. I liked the three legged octopus
The trending page is getting a little better. It's not just the same handful of members buying slots multiple times per day. There's some organic content making it's way up near the top but still plenty of ads so you might have to click a few times and leave disappointed until you find something you'll enjoy.
I made a three legged octopus? LOL!
Don't you think that the newcomers should be stimulated by some sort of reward? You have been very patient with steemit and you are seeing the results, however, you are part of the few endowed with the virtue of patience.
Eventually a newcomer should at some point begin to earn an invested following, provided they're trying and not writing the "This place is broken where's my money" post within the first couple weeks and already giving up. I posted everyday for a month before I could add up the total from every post and count a dollar. Some of these folks get noticed on their first day introduceyourself post!
Is it patience or am I just stubborn?
Patience and stubbornness are manifestations of the same thing
I really had to laugh when I read this:
It is shocking actually. I am schoked right now. I can only explain why am still here as a result of some really funny and nice people. I have been using this place as any other non-reward social media.
I have seen so many fine artists, entertainers, confessors of personal life, sports idiots and internet philosophers simply leave in the face of the impossible conditions.
I can't hold it against them for leaving. I totally get it. I hope they come back. I have seen a few show up. There's still hundreds I met over the years though and many of them won't even know things are finally changing.
I am sure most of them had enough and will be very hard to get back.
Ahh I like it when I recognise most of the pieces on these posts, means I didn't miss a lot just for a change ^_^;
No paid vote additives XD
Only fifteen this time! But I did take some time off to rest. Thanks a lot for always checking in. The art is nothing without eyes looking at it.
"Only" fifteen I wish I was that prolific XD
Abso-fricking-lutely. I've now been here for nearly the same period of time as you and although I haven't been as consistent in my content production (mainly due to time spent doing stuff behind the scenes as well as some "ragequit style" hiatuses), it is refreshing to see proper content doing pretty well all things considered. I think in terms of STEEM, my most recent post is the highest-earning I have had in all that time. Its's a real shame that the value in the token is not at the same level it was back in 2017.
STEEM should have been a top 20 coin on utilisation alone but it appears that the whole of the blockchain world isn't interested in utilisation. Whether that will change or not.... well I guess that's where we are hedging our bets right? Even $1 steem looks a long way off right now with such low investment in "altcoins". I can't yet bring myself to re-invest any of the crypto I have here and lock it up for 13 weeks after I took it all out and put it in BTC when it went down to 3k. It's still sat in BTC waiting for my confidence to re-emerge, which it has somewhat with the new Tribes stuff, especially CreativeCoin, but that is all so new and the sell pressure on those tokens at the moment just seems to consistently drive the price down. Maybe we just need to wait for tribes to bed in more and see how they go.
That recent post of yours did do pretty good. Wow! And I think I got my vote in early on that one. I'll earn a tiny bit over one STEEM from that post... which leads me to some kind of point I should probably make. I think the world outside of the cryptosphere would be interested in this concept of 'getting paid to be entertained.' I've been throwing that line around a lot lately. It's an easier sell than 'getting paid to create content' because you and I both know our content and skills can earn in a lot of places, including just regular jobs. Digital artist and photographers, not hard to find a gig. Crypto world might not be interested but there's no other place one can consume content, then use a portion of those rewards to treat themselves at some point. More consumers purchasing the tokens then creates that demand required to support far more creators and yadda yadda yadda, you get it.
About CreativeCoin. That tag is moving up the ranks when you look to the left in the list on Steemit. That's a damn good sign. Almost 2000 staked accounts now. The arts and entertainment was big in the early days, before the creators here got pushed away. I think it'll bounce back stronger than before and that tribe makes it a lot easier to get eyes, since its organized. Eventually that sell pressure should subside. Folks just need to be careful with what and who they vote for. Need to focus on the community builders first and build a foundation.
We should not use the trending page as a promotion. What the community likes best should appear!
Exactly. When I go to vote, that's me contributing to their rank increasing and making it easy for the next one to see, and maybe they'll support it. Rinse and repeat until the work goes as high as it can go, because the people said so.
Been good to see your account trend some! You have put a lot of work in with unique content so was happy to see your account get some love.
There's a few others as well getting pushed up higher than before. This hasn't happened for years and hopefully opens the door for plenty more. And with 50/50, getting there organically gives back to the community. Some of those folks on trending before were removing hundreds hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars from the pool, on their own, just so people could be annoyed. The most selfish were at the top shoving everyone around.
Heh
'Come promote on our platform where we pay you to advertise. In fact, the more you bid, the more money you actually make promoting your post once it pays out! Oh and on the other end, sellers you can expect returns comparable to fully self voting, but unlike self voting, delegating to us actually adds value because you're providing much needed utility to the ecosystem. And we only take a small liaison fee.'
You mean these brilliant entrepreneurs and developers who've ascended into top leadership positions over the past year or two almost as fast as Steem price has dropped weren't doing us a favor? That there was a price to be paid all along? That it took a little long to take the first sensible attempt at reforming the broken economy that enabled this? How dare you!
And people thought I was crazy when I had said, "If you buy $10 and place it next to every post, that $10 becomes the new $0.00 and the value of the token will reflect that." That $10 wasn't advertising, all of those folks would just blend in with the rest. Meanwhile, you add up all those fake "promoted" posts, thousands of posts — majority of those people earned pennies to the dollar while a small handful of accounts laughed their way to the bank. And in reality, it was far more than $10 per post. I bet as write this, some shit posting spammer handed another $20 over to their masters hoping to get famous playing a rigged slot machine that never pays out.
It took far too long to correct mistakes, indeed. Some of us knew within the first month it would be a disaster.
Your content has always grasped my attention better than most. Your well thought input helped me to understand things happening even better. Thank you.
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This isn't the first time I had tried to offer this perspective. The other times would get buried by the problems I had mentioned...
That's unfortunate, but that's why there are discord set up for closer communication between the users and witnesses. A lot of good content gets buried in garbage even without the system abuse.
Posted using Partiko Android
Oh boy, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I just got on Trending, too. Was briefly in the top 10 actually. It's nuts. The irony is that it is thanks to haejin – I'd thrown some flags at him, and today he hammered all my pending posts. But there was synchronicity at play since I was just experimenting with first time self-portraits to up my content game. Made a post with those portraits with my thoughts on pondering this whole haejin deal, and I received massive support from people countering the flags and way beyond. I'm speechless. Never thought something like this would happen, but it did. It's amazing what has happened during these couple of weeks alone.
I just put that post over the $50 mark for you. Totally deserve it, all of it.
I'm shocked at the improvements but not really. I had a feeling they'd come, just not so fast. When people are paid to look instead of being paid to look away, they will pay attention, and see what's happening. Can't sweep the mess under the rug anymore.
Thanks, btw, go give some love to an artist who got also got flagged by haejin, misspelled his username initially, so he went without attention:
https://steempeak.com/original/@cwcost/into-the-clouds-original
Hit it with a 50% and invited him to use the 'creativecoin' tag as well. Thanks for the heads up.
Great!