I came into Steemit just a bit ago, like most of us- wide eyed and extremely impressed that such a system could even exist.
However, as time has passed I've come to have some hesitations about my investing in the platform.
I usually don't like to speak bad about anything or anyone, since you should be able to create your own opinions, and negativity never leads us forward much. However, as much GOOD as I have to say about Steemit, there is also another side that can't be ignored.
BELOW is a list of concerns I have about the platform, which you may share with me. Perhaps in the comments below you can help assuage some of these with counteracting merits and oppositions. Debate is healthy!
- It is becoming increasingly harder to get noticed when creating posts, as new users swamp Steemit with content, in an effort to make some money. Many users came aboard because they've heard of the "gold rush" opportunity- they had someone that they knew inform them of money that they'd made by simply up-voting or creating a blog post about make-up, or whatever. They come on board, nowadays, and are lucky to make a penny for a well crafted post. Steemit has become crowded with bots who immediately comment/up-vote (even if those up-votes are worthless), and it makes determining quality posts more difficult. Steemit is NOT for in-depth articles, just yet. Everyone is looking for the next "Hot" post, to like, so they don't really take the time to digest whatever blog post they are considering to vote for, often times.
- Whales and Dolphins are the only true curators. If you don't get their attention VERY soon after posting, then it's highly unlikely that even if you put a finely-tuned makeup tutorial up that you will make anything. Seriously. Take a look at how many likes some posts have in certain categories- some have upwards of 40 likes, but they've only made ONE dollar. However, if you get lucky and manage to attract Ned, Dan, or Cryptoctopus, then you just won a small lottery. And it "steem"rolls from there :)
- Powering Down is a joke. When you choose to power down you will receive about 1% of your held Steem Power, in Steem, per week for two years. However, every day I make almost DOUBLE the amount of Steem that I'll be paid weekly, just in interest due to inflation. This means that in a week, I'll have WAY more Steem Power than I'll have lost via my Power Down reward. Not powering down is really just a silly move at this current time, as it'll never really drain your Steem Power, yet continue to reward you indefinitely. Also, if you cancel your Power Down after your first payout, and then restart it, then you will get an even BIGGER payout from the "new" Power Down reward the next week. Score.
- This is NOT a decentralized platform by any means. The power is VERY centralized. Check out www.steemwhales.com for more info :) Also, you really get not much say in what direction the developers take this site. Maybe they'll listen to your advice, and maybe they won't. It's hard to run a Steemit node all by yourself.
- The site goes down constantly. This one scared the bejeezus out of me. However, I've become more and more accustomed/tolerant to the "Error 500", "We are Upgrading Steemit", and "Content Offline" pages that come up when I try to access Steemit. It's really a gamble to know whether a post you spent hours putting up will even be available for users to up vote, since they can't access the site. And you ALL know by now that "Error 500" could also very realistically mean that the site was just hacked. Last time everyone got their accounts back, but that may not always be the case. Exchanges even shutdown Steem wallets when the site shuts down, as their exchange holdings appear to be tied to accounts on the Steemit website (poloniex/bittrex accounts, with memos for your specific account).
- The site can't keep up with demand. And with only about 12,000 users, it has to stop accepting new applications. If this site can't grow and scale quick enough, then it might easily be overtaken by surely evolving competitors, or ignored by frustrated want-to-be members. When they finally join, they give up, as their first few posts (which oftentimes take considerate effort and time on the users creative behalf) go largely ignored. If you don't create an epic "introduceyourself", then you better try again next week and hope that this time someone finds it. This is probably the only category they'll find it, anyway.
- The follow button is there. Yet, it does nothing. And this is part of what makes building any sort of real reputation and fan base that will up vote your content nearly an impossible feat. Either they've bookmarked your Steemit account (and let's face it, who does THAT?), they actually search for your latest posts on a daily basis, OR they happen to find it under "New", by coincidence. If only they could actually see posts from those they followed on a separate category...then this button would be pretty damn cool.
- The price for Steem is nearly impossible to get to a big number, and this will definitely hurt your profit margins/capital gains. And we're seeing that now- Steem's price is at around $3.60 and that is EXPENSIVE if you plan on moving it into Steem Power. If the price drops back, now that speculation is dwindling, to the REAL market price (based on what's truly locked in Steempower/balancing inflation), then it'll likely hit and settle closer to 1-2$ per Steem. Inflation truly is CRAZY, because the price is MEANT to be low, so that others invest in Steem Power more easily and lock it up. If they lock it up, then it'll mean much sexier payouts for those at the top who Power Down :)
Now, Steemit has one BILLION great things going for it as well. Steemit is the FIRST social media platform to actually integrate cryptocurrency, it's a GREAT on-ramp for the mainstream to jump aboard, it's providing MONEY to places that usually have difficulty reaching anything of the sort, it's developers are very TRANSPARENT when they actually give us updates, and it's GROWING insanely quick. Steemit's potentials are vast, but in order to reach for greatness it needs to come to terms with what is holding it back.
"Let's look for solutions, not excuses"
Let your voice be heard and shout far and wide the pros and cons of this gorgeous new system. Only by caring can we really make this thing great for all. -Crypt0
P.S. Check Out This Video if You Wanna See The Train of Thought That Led to This Post: https://steemit.com/ethereum/@crypt0/let-s-take-a-step-back-concerns-about-steemit
Great post!
I feel like with the bad stuff aside, Steemit does have a lot of potential. I feel lik we will see a lot of changes pretty soon that will affect our ability to make money on the platform.
Did you hear about the new rule thats supposed to go into affect soon? That will switch out the Trending a bit quicker? Every 12 hours
I feel like this will impact the way Steemit works, Also I'm noticing fairly newbies making it up there. Which Is good!
I think Steemit needs some time too! So many people are plagiarizing and posting garbage. This isn't a get rich quick scheme. I'm not saying everyone who writes high value content will make a ton of money, Because there is a chance, Like you said They'll never be noticed by dolphins or Whales.
I feel like marketing is also the key to being successful on Steemit, Using great headlines and photos, Then you need to promote your article on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
Not all my articles do very well either, But I notice the articles I more heavily market tend to do much better than the ones that I "post and leave".
I'm hoping that the junk creators will go elsewhere and more quality content will be posted. I feel like Whales will be a bit more generous with their voting, It seems as though they are scared and they can't possibly sift through all the trash being posted everyday.
Also I would love to see Steemit make an ability to easily find subjects you are more interested in, So you can focus on curating content that most represents what you enjoy in life.
-Kaylin Art
Your post needs max visibility, so UP-V0TE! :)
I did hear about the new rule, and that's awesome! I hope that works out for the better, so we see less people discouraged by not being able to hit $22,000 in their posts . Also, I hear that there will be a rule that diminishes rewards after posting more than 4, or so, times a day. That should help with a lot of the drudgery that indeed the whales must sift through.
Also, marketing is a MUST. Even if we are the new Reddit, it's still also a wonderful marketing venue to consider, as we look at the ones you already suggested.
I'm excited to see how we move forwards, as I'm still definitely invested quite a bit, as are you. This has very very huge potential, and I hope that it lives to see it. Thanks for the very thoughtful comment and support, as always, Kaylin Art. Cheers!
-Crypt0
I think your post is very good because it addresses the main concerns but yet still talks about how Steemit is really cool and has a lot of potential. I feel like the issues will get ironed out and hopefully even know the follow button doesn't work people are still getting noticed. You, Craig Grant, and Trevon James and Andrarcy are 4 of the main people I recognize on here after being here for a week. Keep getting noticed and then when everything is fixed you will have a big surge because people are following and seeing your post as they come out. Great post!
Thanks, man! Craig Grant, and Trevon have been quite active on YouTube as well as I for some time, so it's pretty interesting that we've managed to have a scene here as well. Your support definitely means alot, as I'm coming across your name quite a bit myself- and that's gonna help you much in the long run as well, since you are coming up and being noticed more and more by peepz, in these early days.
Grazia Plena for the comment! =D Upvoted!
I am enjoying myself watching your journey on steemit, as you make the hard transition from Ethereum to steem blockchain. There are two beasts at battle in your world, the first is the ether miners that you run mining ether and the second is the steem power you have on steemit. I know which one will win, cause ethereum mining wont last longer or grow like your steem power will... so I smile as I watch you go thru the emotions... it's FUN :)
Hahaha, it's much less of a headache to watch my Steem Power grow- everytime the power flickers, or someone turns on the microwave AND TV at the same time as my rigs are mining, leading them to die, it leads to some frustration. Plus, $450 power bills are pretty amusing, but Steemit will never send you one of those :) I just hope this is sustainable and we're not just throwing away our money. Time will tell. Thanks for staying active with my posts, as I'll be sure to do the same with yours. I owe you some Steem, and BIG-TIME, like many YouTubers, if jumping aboard this ship continues to pay out :) Cheers, man. You're doing good things.
I know @crypt0 is a diehard ETH fan... and so was I. Right now tho I'm pullin for ETC to make it... as I watch the STEEM Rise!!!
Hahaha, definitely a diehard Eth fan, but not without reason! There's a lot more excitement happening in Ethereum, and crypto in general, than in my 401k and Roth IRA :) I hope that if you've invested in ETC it all works out, as I don't want to see any honest people get burned. If enough like yourself have jumped aboard ETC, then I seriously hope that both chains can thrive from here forward. Cheers, Mr. Billy.
Steem Power is not compounded interest as you say in this post, to get a much better comprehension of how/why steem power grows, please read this blog post @ https://steemit.com/interest/@bacchist/steem-power-interest-is-not-compound-interest
Thank you for sharing! It's definitely different than I was thinking and is leading me to reconsider powering down. You cancelled your own power down, no? You were the original one to inspire me to do so, so I'd like your thoughts. Or hell- make a new video :)
Based on how VESTs work, me not powering down puts me to benefit from those who are powering down. I realy have no use for the money right now, the only reason I was powering down was I lost confidence after the hack and web site problems, but now that the site is working much better and I know how to generate steem by trading steem, so I have the ability to keep powering up every week without investing money.
Scroll down that article and you'll find input from the infamous jl777. If I remember rightly, he's worked on NXT and other notable projects (maybe Waves?) and like him or not, he knows his stuff. Worth the click and scroll
Thank you! I'll look into that cat- didn't realize his importance!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@minion/youtube-vs-steemit-enemies-or-siblings
[IMPORTANT] This post covers the Similarity between YouTube and Steemit as well on How to use Steemit and It's OFFICIAL CONTENT RULES.
The sooner the devs can get this platform stable, the quicker they can turn their attention to bitshares.org which is every bit as exciting as steemit
Agreed, resetting the power down is a MUST for everyone. Also remember, as soon as you power up, you'll never be able to fully withdraw your funds due to the interest, EVER :)
As much as that last sentence of yours rings true, and it sparks strange urges in my animalistic mind, the greed might be the demise of such a system. What a strange thing.
Cheers, ghostyeti. I look forward to more of your thoughts.
I think, as an contributer to Steemit, I'm done. I caught the pump at the right time and all my SP is pretty much at bargain basement price. I'm not a good content writer and although I would love to see Steem succeed, my interests now lay elsewhere. Namely:
bitshares.org
akasha.world
Grid Singularity
Genosis.
If I can now leave this account to keep spitting out my returns each any every week for the next few years (and assuming that the price can remain stable at this point or above) then it's a small passive income stream for me to add to the portfolio.
Keep in touch and all the best for the future.
GY
Watched your video earlier today - it was one of your most sombre videos!
You are absolutely right in being concerned. I bet the fix some of the balance issues, missing features, instability etc. in short order. Thus far they have been pretty quick and proactive about fixes the flaws. So I'm not worried about #5, #6, or #7.
What is more disturbing is the completely free market system with no regulations. Wrote about it a few day back - https://steemit.com/@liberosist/steemit-s-achilles-heel-rampant-inequality
It's always going to be like that - all of the power to the top 0.5% or so. It will never be the democratic, decentralised system we have associated Crypto with.
It's just how it is. Steemit will simply not work any other way. The only reason they can reward posts is because a few whales are injecting massive amounts of long term financing in the form of Steem Power.
I just hope it doesn't get way out of hand. There needs to be regulations and controls. We don't want a situation where the just 1 of top 10 Steem Power holders outweigh the upvotes a million others. Because as the system is now, it's heading that way.
It's still early though, remember we are still in beta. There's still time to set it all right. It'll be interesting to see where Steemit is when they hit the 1 million user mark.
You hit too many truths and marks with this comment, so I've simply upvoted it and hope that others will do the same.
Your comments continue to come from a place of reason, hope, and intelligence, so you can bet that the minute a "follow" button actually works that I'll be reading your freshly minted posts.
Cheers, and you're right about this being beta- as this puppy grows, it's surely only going to learn more and more tricks.
Thanks cypt0! I've been following your YouTube channel for a while now so it mean a lot coming from you. Often I think I'm talking to myself with few upvotes, especially when I feel my content is good.
But I have been through this before. When I was new to Reddit, it felt the same. I do hope I can continue to have the same engaging conversations I have been at Reddit. Steemit has a long way to go for that to happen.
You made some good points crypt0. I hope they switch out trending more often, as @kaylinart and others said. Changing top posts every 2-3 hours would be better.
I think Steem developers will respond to feedback quickly. It takes time to implement new features. Articles like this will hopefully get noticed on Steem Developers Slack.
Whatever happens, crypto social-media is going to get huge within a few months. There'll be more than one crypto-media portal by the end of 2016. Healthy competition is good for everyone.
If there's a gap Steemit can't fill, a competitor will step up, as readers demand change . Every portal will stay on their toes, trying to provide the best service. If there's anything unfair about the Steem system, the developers will hopefully fix it. If they don't respond to the community, a fast moving rival will take advantage. I bet Reddit starts issuing their own currency. If they don't do something drastic, they might lose 90 percent of their readers within a year.
Who knows what will happen? Big positive changes are coming. Crypto media could easily be worth 10-20 billion USD in a relatively short time.
You are right, sometimes it takes days to create good content and write application but when you finally post it, due to dozen new users/posts visibility becomes issue. If post is not visible than all your work won't be noticed. But patience is virtue, with time your work will get noticed, again it is like you said if someone else gets lucky by posting your work, then what happens
Very true. And I've had posts I've done plagiarized, as have quite a few here on Steemit. Hopefully we come up with better systems to combat this, so that authors who DO spend time creating content that people who catch it will enjoy and love DO get the recognition they deserve for the hard work. Cheers!
Right, well said. Even I think, having moderator for each category would work and consensuses can be reached by votes for applicants or some other way.
The follow button now kind of works on steemstats.com!
Very true, however I can't wait until it gets integrated onto this main platform! Until then, websites like steemstats, steemwhales, and steemd are our best friends! Thanks for sharing, as I hadn't realized that steemstats existed!
👏👍👏👍
This echoes some of my thoughts as well, but I feel very positive about where we are headed here. :)
Spot on, I only hope that steemit developers can improve and fix all that is hurting this new idea, specially the centralised vs decentralize. For competitors, if any will follow then do it better much better and not just a clone. competition sometimes can improve things, however I don't want to see 10 steemit alike.
Wonderful post. Truly well written. I guess some of the issues you have brought up are being addressed in the up-coming hard fork. But you have raised certain issue's regarding inflation and such which has completely changed my perception. And I do hope your post is seen and a debate started on this topic.
Upcoming fork will be very interesting re price. I still think Steem is way overvalued although we're in the an interesting week.
Good post, I am now thinking about the way I post and ways to market my posts and also gonna go power down :)
So true.
Great post !
I was really wondering what the follow button does : nada :)
Thanks! Nope, nada still lol. Cheers, mate.