...and has soured me on the whole experiment.
Agree or don't, but I'm at least honest and refuse to drink the kool-aid or put on the purple jumpsuit.
I'll use masteryoda and the photography section to prove my point.
My biggest issue is that nearly every post with any substantial rewards are nothing more than a whale circle jerk. The same whales upvoting the same content creators, regardless of the quality of the content while other original quality content does not, and in all fairness the quality of the posts in contrast are undeserving of the value. The value is only derived by the same whales each time upvoting each other, and in doing so keeping their posts more visible/trending.
And please don't tell me there's not quality photography, just take a look at the photo contest put on by @jamtaylor and @berniesanders for starters.
I could post a bunch of threads right now that deserve more than the numerous 1k+ posts I see on here, but it will never happen cause they don't have whale friends.
We call out fraudsters and scammers, why not the same when @itsascam @steemed @steemroller as an example of 3 who are guilty of this, upvote their whale friends over and over again in place of all of your good content which should be accurately curated ; resulting in a stream of shit posts over quality content.
This does not benefit the community and only serves to segment it's members and drive down engagement on the platform.
Just browse the upvote history of numerous posts by whales and you'll find the same thing too. Don't believ me, just go through each post in this blog https://steemit.com/@masteryoda or really any other one your suspicious of.
This platform has potential, the abuse though is nothing more than a reward form of nepotism for the 1% of Whales and will slowly discourage quality content from being shared here.
My advice to you is to stop posting to make money, and instead use the ecosystem to boost your income in other ways.
Good luck.
EDIT: I upvoted you because your writing has potential, I just think you're going about it the wrong way. I hope that helps.
Thanks, and totally agree.
It's not even about my posts. I'm far from a photographer. But I really enjoy spending my time there, and when I'm continually seeing the kind of low quality imagery dominating that sub because of the content creator and not the content itself, I have to kick and scream a little.
I think the point is, even if you don't view upvotes as money, we still have poor quality submissions rising to the top due to an imbalance of power.
This platform was designed to curate content. Which it is currently not doing very well.
I'm sorry you're not having very good luck here. I wish everyone the best.
I will say, however, you certainly won't garner any upvotes from them with posts like this one. :-/
Has nothing to do with luck, and I'm fine with what I've been posting. Its not about me, it's about the actions of those abusing it to treat Steemit like their personal piggy bank between whale friends that will ruin this platform. Which I'm rather quite fond of.
Gotcha, and understood. I've just taken it upon myself not to concern myself with the whales. They're going to do whatever they're going to do, and based on their voting behavior, they're not really rewarding people who complain, but who have something meaningful to offer the community. I haven't made very much with my content at all, but the replies I've been offering to peoples' posts have been very rewarding. They seem to recognize when someone is genuinely trying to keep the place positive, and not just with their content. If they like it - awesome. If not, oh well. I'm not here for them. I'm here to be social. :)
Meaningful to offer the community? go to photography and repeat that. There's a 3k post of a grade C iphone photo trending for 3k, with quality content below for pennies, go for a browse and you tell me that's good content curated accurately or abusing the system to provide friends with $$$
I don't really have anything to debate about stuff like that, honestly. I've been a photographer for 18 years and I know that meaning projected onto a photo is subjective. And really, even if it was one of their friends, so what? I support my friends, too. If I could give a friend of mine $50 by upvoting a picture of his, I would do it. Wouldn't you? Isn't that what this system is made to do? And if you get in there and try to build rapport (I don't mean kissing ass, I mean showing that you're there to be a useful entity to the system and be a pleasant person over all) with some of the people who have influence, maybe they'll help you out. It's not up to anyone but them who they upvote.
I dunno, grain of salt and all that. And instead of wishing you good luck, I'll wish you good fortune. I want everyone to succeed, but it would also be good if people just do what they can to better the environment they choose to be in. It tends to pay you back when you do, yunno?
I agree, went over the same thing the other day in my post https://steemit.com/steemit/@d3nv3r/is-that-a-whale-in-your-pocket-or-are-you-just-happy-to-see-me
Great original content is skipped over cuz the creator doesn't have a whale in their pocket
Here's a much more current example of this https://steemit.com/photography/@clayop/mongsanpo-2-korea
Nothing to do with luck, it's what's plaguing the platform and should be dubbed whale nepotism.
The photo is meh at best, not great framing or subject matter and likely a snap shot with a point and shoot. Bring on the circle jerk of one whale and their friends. Should a non whale post this, maybe $0.39 if we're judging this post on content instead of the content creator.
This is what's wrong with the platform.
The same thing I am saying to everybody else :
Guys , The whole Whale problem is a bit to dramatic , don't you think... ?
As steem will grow the Steem Power "allocation" will be way better distributed because it will be distributed by far more users then now , ergo , whales will not have so much influence...
Just give it time , don't do it for the money and we are all gonna be ok .
My Two Cents.
I don't think that's how economics works. While I'd love a mass re-distribution of wealth, likely not going to happen and it will continue to be dominated by a small minority (1%) With that being said it's content that drives engagement. Shitty photos of someones front porch/banana make up that earn 1k plus just drives down the legitimacy of the platform.
Without the money, I don't think most people would be over any other platform though, is the thing.
It's sorta like the current US economic model, selling hopes and dreams while the 1% powder each others asses.