@lukestokes, I know that you will not care what I say. But you should. Not because I am anybody important, but because I am one of the few that have joined lately and stayed.
I have read your response to this article by @donkeypong and also read @abh12345's reply. From what I can deduce, you are probably a well-intentioned guy and a nice guy too. But your arguments here as to why you should keep your witness vote, completely highlight what is wrong with the platform.
In your litany of reasons why @donkeypong should keep his vote for you, the most glaring response was you wanted to keep your feet in the EOS camp to keep the pulse on the cryptospace. This is exactly what the problem is with Steemit.
You (and frankly too many of the witnesses) are looking at one thing (the tech issues), and you have completely ignored the fact that people that sign up... leave. And I am not talking about 1 in 10 leaving, or even 5 in 10 leaving... I am talking about an attrition rate that is so bad the number of active users is going DOWN (fyi, that means that more users leave than signup, which is particularly bad since you have lots of signups). Did you even know this?
If you didn't, then maybe that is the problem. Here is the post from @paulag which she did last month in an attempt to bring this issue up so it can be dealt with. (Click Here) This 3 month snapshot shows this simple stunning fact:
We ended January of 2018 "active users" of 154,000
We added 240,000 new signups over the next 3 months
We ended with April of 2018 "active users" of 127,000
Does this look like a healthy platform? Where we have 240,000 new signups and end up losing them ALL plus another 27,000?
What are you doing about this? Where is the focus on this issue? Instead of spending your time learning about EOS as a secret double agent spy, why don't you spend time talking to the people that sign up and try to use this platform? Why don't you see why many see this place as nothing more than a schoolyard filled with bullies throwing their weight around? Why don't you see why many people have given up on making good posts, and now do the bare minimum so they can recycle the whales SP at a small profit (ie known as bot farming)?
As a witness, instead of your answer being that you need to learn about EOS, ask yourself are you really only there to "learn" how to make Steemit better? It seems like a weak response to me and one that isn't very believable.
Having said that, Asher says that you are a heavily involved witness on this platform (compared to other witnesses on this platform). If that is true then great (even with that pretty big caveat). I hope you are. I hope to see you involved with finding solutions to the absolutely terrible retention problem that exists here. I hope to see you give these issues more of your time, and the EOS platform much less. I hope you can see why someone like me (a nobody here), thinks this is a ridiculous discussion that you are having about why you are supporting another platform when the one you have supposed "loyalty" to is burning around you.
As I said, you seem like a decent guy. I hope that you take these words constructively and get out in the community and find out what is going wrong. It is there for anyone that wants to ask good questions. I have many friends that can help you too if you just ask.
Its not really that hard if you want to make Steemit better and maintain your witness... Start focusing on Steemit users (especially the new ones) and the issues that are important to them, and stop pretending to be using EOS as a learning tool to make Steemit better. I'm not buying it, and I hope you stop trying to sell it.
Thank you for this post. Many artist that I know just stopped posting here and just stopping by once a month to see what is going on around steemit. It is sad to loose so valuable assets to the platform but most people here interested in crypto and tech .
I agree with you completely @marinaart! I have seen so many talented artists come and go. Its really a shame too as this could've been so so different. The people at the top are tone deaf and don't listen to anyone. I hope you stick around though, even though we only talk every so often, one day I think things will change and the tables will be turned! Then we can make a difference and bring all those people back!
Only time will tell. I think steemit will change bloging format in future. May be it would looks like YouNow.
@marinaart thanks for your thoughts, do you use YouNow? And is it any good?
I have an account on YouNow and collecting data at this stage. This platform targeting people from 13 to 28( mostly teens and young adults) and mobile and android devices.+ only Live Broadcasting . PROPS project got seeded on this platform few month back and it is very interesting to see what it do. Every time you loggin on you account they given you daily coins/bonus for coming back to platform. broadcasters receive money in the form of gold bars( Upvotes ) that audience buying with they $$$. So no upvoting abuse there and earning are real. I think that they will replace gold bars with PROPS -crypto currency- and create big market for this coin.
great @marinaart! I will check it out this week... Lets stay in touch and figure out what will work the best in the future :)
Sounds good to me :)
Thank goodness..
Thank for you to sir..
I like your upvote
Instead of leaving a huge reply, I turned it into a root post here.
I replied in your root post... I will respect this blog and not repost the full reply here, but I did post my full answer in both your blog post and my blog post.
As I said in my answer, I am not happy with the actual answer you gave me (but recognize you are the messenger and not the architect of the plan), but I definitely appreciate you having the courage to tell me like it is. I appreciate that you didn't sugar coat it. It is maybe the most meaningful interaction I've had here is 6 months.
Thank you again (for telling me the bad news), you have done me a favor and really opened my eyes!
ps... I hope you're somehow wrong, but frankly judging by the actions of the other 19 "top 20" witnesses and the lack of ever seeing @ned I have a suspicion you are very much right!
Wow, thank you.
I hope you read my follow up reply as well. Your first reaction to my post may be more pessimistic than needed. Thanks for the constructive dialogue.
I meant that... I appreciate honesty. And that was a big one! :)
Even if I disagree with you, I really appreciate the truth as you (or anyone) see it. People disagree for many reasons, but if we can discuss things truthfully then many times those disagreements can eventually find ways to bridge the gap.