Some will say I am mad to refuse votes, but the fact is that what I make on Steem is not essential to me. I have a day job and am not desperate for money. Of course it is nice to have something extra and it has paid for two trips to Steemfest as well as a nice guitar. In 2.5 years I have accumulated almost 17,000 Steem that is almost entirely earned from rewards and I would have a few thousand more if I had not spent it. I do not aspire to be super rich, just to have enough to keep my family comfortable. Money does not necessarily make you happy.
I do appreciate that the situation is very different for many people who use Steem. Some in places like Venezuela and around Africa struggle to make ends meet and some extra income can make a serious difference. They are the ones who really stand to benefit from this platform, but I think it can help people all around the world. We have artists and musicians who want to dedicate their lives to their craft, but it may not be paying the bills. Steem could help with that.
Steem does have some serious issues. There is a big imbalance in who holds it and the freedom it offers encourages people to exploit it to profit with no real benefit to the platform. That can all be discouraging for new users who struggle to earn anything much. Many will give up at a time where we need the community to be growing. We will not big names signing up if there is no audience. I feel it needs to get to millions of active users and there is little sign of that happening any time soon.
I started the #TenKMinnows project recently as it seemed the number of minnows (500SP) was just not growing. We had a big push last month that managed to add over 300, but that is still not a lot really. Getting from around 9,200 to 10,000 was just picked as a realistic target. We also have under 2,000 dolphins (5,000SP) and that number is hardly changing. Having more accounts with substantial SP should lead to a better distribution of rewards. I was following the numbers on the daily post by @pennsif who gets the numbers from @arcange.
I am plotting the stats for myself. You can see the changes are not really visible over the last month and a half.
So I am asking that the dolphins and above give a bigger share of their votes to small accounts who make cents on a post. Okay, so you will earn less in curation, but do you really need it? Also, reduce your self votes (if you do) to allow more voting power for others. A slight reduction in income for the rest of the year may delay reaching your targets, but it could do a lot of good for the community in general.
I will continue to support those trying to become minnows. I delegate to some of them to increase their votes and am buying @SteemBasicIncome shares for them too. Of course I benefit from that, but it is not a huge amount. It is a long term investment as I will not get a return for a while.
I really believe in the potential of Steem to change lives and I fear that greed to wreck that.
I am not going to decline rewards on this post, but what I get will be pure SP with no immediate plans to power down. I may as well take some share of the pool as we know a lot is going to people who just take. I have tried dealing with them through work with @SteemFlagRewards, but I can barely dent some of them. My personal impact is low, but I will do what I can and for now as this positive work is inspiring me.
Go out and find some small accounts to follow who do something you enjoy. Give them some big votes to inspire them to keep on doing it.
As for any redfish and minnows reading this, you can also support others at your level. Please target your votes where they make a difference. It is best to add to posts that already have at least a couple of cents so they do not fall below the 'dust' threshold.
I am sure I will get a few votes despite the title as I know a lot of people give me automatic votes. I am grateful for that support, but I really do not mind if you switch it to some smaller accounts. I will continue supporting some dolphins who I have followed for a long time, but orcas and whales should not expect votes from me.
Let us make some minnows!
The geeky guitarist and facilitator of the 10K Minnows Project.
- I'll buy guitar picks for Steem
- Get a Wirex Debit Card to spend your crypto.
- Get some passive income with Mannabase
- Get paid to search at Presearch
- Battle for cards on Steem Monsters or drugs in Drug Wars
- I have Steem accounts to give away to worthy people!
True words and a very, very good posts.
With a good/better distribution steem will attract more people using it and the community base can grow.
Furthermore to get some votes - also without getting much money - is encouraging
This is so heartwarming
The reasons I continue to run up that hill
I am a nobody here in terms of SP
But just to let you know I do try and upvote the small guys and really cannot remember the last time I upvoted myself
I remember when I started and I had nothing
If it wasn’t for the generous, kind and far sighted ......
We all start somewhere. Keep working at it, but have fun along the way
We all start somewhere.
Keep working at it, but have
Fun along the way
- steevc
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
True that :)
I do like it here... I have met many decent folks, and some I now call friends :)
Excellent post sir, and hit the nail on the head.
I'm powering down after 2 years, because this place is fundamentally flawed.
When you look at all the interesting people that have come and gone, it saddens me.
Greed was built into code, and it was not by accident.
I'm powering down some ( I only have small amount), and I'll keep some - because while I think there is no future for steem(it) as a platform for social media earnings - as advertised - I do think the technology offers something of great value and - from a purely selfish perspective - I want to get a return for all the hours I've put into this place.
I thank the platform for giving me the confidence to write off platform.(something I've never really done, or thought too much about, before).
The positive message you offer is commendable, but,( in my opinion) is pissing into the wind.
The very best of luck with it, though!
No system will be perfect. They gave us freedom here and some are bound to abuse that. Steem is still paying me something and I think it still has potential. We each have to decide if it is worth our time as there are other priorities.
First of all, I've just recently added you to my auto-list. I did this because I want to reward your content, even in case I miss it. I still love manual curation, but auto-votes makes things a little bit easier.
That being said, I have started to think about certain aspects of greed/selfishness and peoples true beliefs and intentions with STEEM in general.
Let me explain some of it. You said this:
So, what I've started to think about, is why so many people are stacking STEEM like crazy people...? I obviously understand that more SP equals more money, especially if and when the price of STEEM goes up.
However, whales and orcas, usually the people who're talking about how much they care and believe in STEEM... They continue to rake in STEEM with investments and whatever, because they believe in STEEM. They believe that STEEM will go to the moon and that we will see prices of $10, $50 and even $100 per STEEM...
But, if you have 200K+ STEEM and/or 1 or 2 million... Do you really need more, if you truly believe that the price will go up?
If you have 200,000 STEEM and the price goes up to $10. You'll have $2 million USD. $100 per STEEM and you'll have $20 million USD...
Honestly speaking, I shouldn't say that I've started to doubt these users real intentions and beliefs, but it sure has made me somewhat skeptical.
200,000 STEEM is just an example though. Say 500K instead. It doesn't really matter... I personally, believe in STEEM, but I cannot afford to invest thousands of dollars. I am in a position where I will need to cash out in the coming months... But people who never cash out and only power up... Do they really need to make as much as possible from their 200K+ STEEM stake they have today, if they truly believe that STEEM will moon?
Sounds like greed to me, and I will never allow greed to control me or my actions. I find it disgusting.
How about an update that makes anyone above 250K SP (or whatever) lose 10% of their stake monthly if they don't spread their wealth? -Should give us a tremendous growth in general. :D
I know some people invested many thousands when the Steem price was much higher and so they are operating at a loss for now. The acquisition of wealth is an end in itself for some, but it does not particularly interest me. My Steem was worth almost $100k at one point, but as it fell I was not that upset as I made it all here and so did not actually lose anything.
I think there are some crypto coins where the value does fall if you hang onto them.
I am not against people making money, but we need to give back a bit if we want to see Steem succeed. For now it is touch and go.
That's a good point. An even better point, to me personally, is the fact that some people are trying to recover their losses so to speak. I totally understand that and didn't think about it when I wrote the comment.
I was basically just thinking that having 1 or 1.1 million STEEM wouldn't be such a big difference to me, if the price reached $100 USD. lol
I totally agree with you though, that we need to give back more. Did you see/watch @theycallmedan's post yesterday? About 50/50 rewards? I find it interesting. The comments brings a ton of value too.
I'm not entirely sold on the idea of 50/50 rewards, despite all the comments about how awesome it would be... But it sure sounds both interesting and promising. What do you think about it?
Obviously 50/50 is good for those with a lot of SP to curate with. I'm not convinced it is the answer.
I think 50/50 would be horrible and benefit the rich even more then the current systems. They will not stop selling votes, instead they will earn 50% curation on the votes they sell. It doesn't solve anything other then locking in more profits for those with massive amounts of SP.
Amazing post , im happy i "WASTED" my time by reading it, you wrote here about a thing im talking for over a year now, im happy to see im not alone!!
There are various people and groups trying to improve matters. I'm just one guy, but I have had great support on this so far and I'm trying to keep it going.
That's one immense truth, I wish I had more time to reactivate @cyclefeed to go back into distributing rewards to smaller users. Unfortunatelly during the 'crazy' most of them disappeared.
I have resteem this post, I implore everyone to do so till it gets to the right audience. I know despite the truth being dish out many will refuse to help and the like, it's your steem power do it how you like but if you can't be part of someone success story never been a reason why they cry.
I could feel the sincerity and passion put in creating this post. How i wish my dreams on steemit could come to reality so I can join forces together and make here a better place.
I have seen many retire from their works to give steemit their 100% attention because they want to earn she after the bear market everything becomes devastating for them due to the fact that post payout could not cover for their bills. The mindset of many is to become super rich through this platform forgetting that many also depends on it to earn a little.
I have seen over time that those who need the earning most earn little while those who need less earn more because of their sp they hold.
Am happy, I have benefited from you in the 250 minnows league by @paulag project, it has been a great privileged. Many life depends on this platform to earn daily substances. Thanks
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I wish I could help more people, but I'm still a fairly small fish really. As I have said I am not relying on what I make here and I don't want a 'Lambo'. I want to see Steem achieve what it was intended for and I don't believe that was just to enrich a few as some people think.
That's what I was saying. Those who wanted to help and make the platform achieve it aim are restraint with lots of challenges beyond their capacity but those who have other plans as for selfish purpose have more than enough at their disposal. I call it irony of life and bone of contention
Posted using Partiko Android
I am not going to reset my autovote on you. You are doing really a good job here, instead I would ask you which redfish I should support now 😉
Posted using Partiko iOS
There are some listed on this post who need a last push to minnowhood. I've also been including some in my #FollowFriday posts. I'm sure some of the Running Project community could do with this sort of support too. Let me know of any you have noticed.
What you do here @steevc, is important because you are setting a very visible example for others to follow... and you do so from a perspective of not just focusing "on the money."
I left you a token upvote simply as appreciation and because I believe in the idea of reciprocity... something for something. For the most part, though, my votes tend to go to small accounts that are actively engaging.
=^..^=
Thanks. Some people think it's all about greed here, but responses like this give me hope
I am a plankton, @steevc , even in my present status, I do believe that supporting the "poor" or those redfish and minnows are very important to in strengthening the blockchain itself, remember our economic class during college years.
And as for me, I am supporting a small community of steemians in my province, tru automatic upvote and a few steempower delegation.
I truly believe that, tru communities, the steem blockchain can have the strongest foundation for future developments.
Its the poor who will always support the foundational development of the country.
Giving sustenance to this lower class of people, give them more hope and inspiration to persevere more, and tru their later development will end up minnows or dolphins/orcas in the future.
A model of a true economy.
If I can get more support for my community through steempower deleagation, my upvote power will increase more, they will be more motivated to post and interact to the blockchain everyday.
You are on your way to being a minnow and I hope you get there soon. Communities are a key part of growing Steem. Why not have them here instead of Facebook?
It is also through the help of several people and their community thats why I slowly progress. And to give back the kindness they entrusted on me, i will do the same for my infantile community.
Thanks @steevc
Posted using Partiko iOS
Still upvoted, in recognition that I fully read your post.
And in full agreement.
Posted using Partiko Android
Thanks. It's clear a lot of people are happy to support me. That is a good feeling, but I would still like to see some of that love go to the 'smallfry'
I'm a smallfry myself but upvoted some on your list provided to eddie
Posted using Partiko Android
Upvote from Redfish Group
Great perspectives
Posted using Partiko iOS
At what point does one go from plankton to redfish?
Posted using Partiko Android
I'm not actually sure, but keep powering up.
I usually power up a couple of times per day.
I think that happens at the 15 SP mark.
This is awesome and something that I have wished Dolphins would do for quite some time now. The more of us that can get to that level quicker the more smaller accounts we can support. I hope to be a Dolphin by November of this year. We will see though...
I'm not in this to get rich either, but can understand the short sighted mentality of some that want to just accumulate as much as possible as quickly as possible. The issue is that without the masses getting hooked and taking ownership of their steem accounts there isn't anyone there to purchase the coins from the whales.
IMO 1 whale deciding to sell right now would drive our prices down to at least 20c again, most likely lower. Why? Well there aren't enough people who see a bright future on steem to want to purchase a ton more steem. So it needs to get low enough to make a few that already have a lot of steem to say F it, lets get more.
Personally I think that the minnow push is great. But honestly I think a push for more Dolphins would be much more beneficial to the long term success of Steem. The votes cast by a 500sp account don't really make any impact on an account. But is a 5k sp account stops by and drops a 100% vote you notice it. No it's not going to make your day like when theycallmedan stops by, but those dolphins can really make a difference over the course of a year.
Anyways very noble of you to put this out there. Wonder how many people will actually listen.
I would push for more dolphins too, but it takes a lot more to make those. If we can get people to minnow them they are more likely to stick around and may get to dolphin eventually. It seems a few have done that recently, but I cannot claim credit
For sure the resources needed for dolphin are massive compared to minnow. One day between @pifc, @minnowbuilder, and my personal account I hope to be able to make a real difference. For now we do what we can for smaller accounts and try to encourage real engagement. It's not easy, but think the curation contest with @pifc has done a pretty good job of this.
I still manually upvoted this post, because you still need to grow yourself to help support more people.
I do agree there needs to be a greater voting spread, specifically to encourage the smallest and newest accounts to stick around. But it’s always going to be a slow process unless they start investing in Steem themselves to kick start the whole process. And it’s a good time still with prices so low, the benefits to gain are not just in adding curation.
Right now I think there is still a lot being developed for Steem, how it grows and build value will be a range of sources including gaming which has huge potential based on the existing successes like @steemmonsters
Posted using Partiko iOS
It's interesting to hear how people are feeling about Steem. Some are giving up on it. We really need more to invest in it, but that's not viable for some. I cannot spare much from the family finances for such speculation, but I've done okay anyway.
Still voting this - do you have a list of recommended red fish people? I used to do that a lot but over 70% of them got lost very early - maybe we can create a pool of promising newbies that also commit to stay here for a while?
Thanks for the support. So many people are giving me votes despite what I said.
Here's a few to check out:
I need to seek out more as many I looked at have graduated to minnow already. I may launch another themed month to do this.
Thanks @Steevc. Great post, this, as many have said.
I'm chuffed that I've now earned as much as you delegated me 10 months ago.
Posted using Partiko Android
I'm happy you are still here. I hope it's still fun. I'm going to launch another campaign for boosting small
accounts soon. I'm also trying to get more people signed up, but there's still reluctance. I guess they are happy with what they have
Good selection - visited them and will re-visit again soon 😎
Because of people like you, I choose to remain here ,am new here.
Thanks for this..
I see you are fairly new here. I suggest you do more commenting to make connections and look for communities around your interests.
Yeah, am brand new, and i'm on the look out for how to grow. The issue is , this place is so huge i do not know which road to follow that would lead me to the right direction, if you could please point me to somewhere i would be glad.
I would say to look around for what is interesting. Tags may help with that. I would generally ignore the trending page, but Hot can be better as that is less dependent on what votes people buy.
I do #FollowFriday posts each week where I suggest people to check out.
I enjoy the conversations here. It's more about the people than the money for me.
Thanks for using eSteem!
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Gracias por un aporte tan sustancial para la comunidad, muy interesante en realidad.
Hi @steevc!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 5.918 which ranks you at #352 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 1 places in the last three days (old rank 353).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 219 contributions, your post is ranked at #10.
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Cheers. I see you do not have many followers yet, so you could add more value with a comment saying why you like it
Sorry. Just noticed you are fairly new here and I do get people fishing for votes