The trending page for most tags is overtaken by the use of voting bots, and I've decided to stop feeding the system
I've used voting bots in the past and my returns have been negligible in terms of ROI, usually because the price of Steem falls in the time that I've paid for the upvote. But beyond that, any actual payout feels somewhat cheap because I've paid for the visibility.
For the most part, my involvement with voting bots has been to lease my SP to bot services like @minnowbooster or make fulfill loans on its marketplace. The payouts from making loans is easy passive income, and it's a very alluring tool to make additional Steem without any effort required.
But I've been ruminating on something that @kennyskitchen discussed at the Steemfest Q&A portion of Anarchaforko. Kenny's issue with utilizing these bot services is that they centralize power into the hands of the operators by giving them a large portion of payouts just for renting out their SP. And as a result, they also corrupt the trending page.
Voting bots have turned the trending page into a bidding war
Powerful voting bots were an inevitable development within the platform. Steemit allows users to turn their SP into a income-generating asset, so it's no surprise that people are taking advantage of this fact.
However, as a result, it has made the trending page a total joke much of the time. Reflecting on how things were just a year ago has made me realize how this aspect of Steemit has brought down the visibility of quality content.
Instead of making passive income through leasing my SP, I'll be utilizing it to support projects and authors I believe in. I wrote a post about the value of utilizing auto-voting services to consistently support authors and earn passive SP in the process, and that will be the extent of how I utilize bots for the foreseeable future.
I don't want to sound self-righteous or mean to shame anyone else who still making Steem from these services. Obviously, we're all here to make money one way or another, but if the content continues to delve into a bidding war it is not going to help the longevity of the site.
And for that reason I'm discontinuing the use of upvoting services for the foreseeable future.
If you received value from this post, I would gratefully appreciate your upvote
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I'm torn on this one. I agree bots are rotting Steem at its core, but if people putting out good content opt out of using them then it seems like the rot will set in faster.
What are your thoughts on initiatives like GrumpyCat?
It's a difficult situation with no easy answers. Vote buying was an inevitability, though I don't think most people foresaw it taking place on this scale.
You're right in that quality content creators are in a difficult position if they want their content to reach the trending page, but I'm hoping that updates to the platform reduce the need for people to reach those pages. Perhaps updates to the site itself, such as the communities feature, will reduce vote-buying or at the very least make it easier for people to find actual valuable content.
I am not familiar with GrumpyCat, care to enlighten me on their initiative? Does it involve flagging bidbot abusers?
GrumpyCat heavily downvotes and comments on any post voted on by a bidbot which allows itself to vote on posts older than 3 days. It basically shuts those bots down because bidders will not want to use them again.
I think something similar but more strict and with more Steem Power behind it could make a difference.
What upcoming platform changes do you foresee making a difference here?
Brother, I completely refuse to use those Bots. I have never been I contact Creator, on any social media, or anything like this. I didn't know anything when I got here. And I feel like I've only learned a little bit. However, I agree with you 100%. To me, it's extremely inpersonal, and that's the main reason I never use them. I had never thought about the possible consequences on a grand scale of using these things until now. However, I'm here to make friends and relationships, and now that I'm here to stay, improve the community. Making money is nice, but I have a world outside of here that I can make money in. I can only reach out so far in my community with my physical body. With it being 2018 however we have the technology to reach across the world in a millionth of a second. So I come here, as a way to extend my hands and my words. To offer love and inspiration the best way that I can with what I have and what I know. I have faith in this platform. And I believe it has huge potential. Not just here, as a blog site, but in our world. On a social, political, economical, religious level. Along with so many others. With as many good people as I have met here, I have to believe there is a way. The world of steemit, is extremely deep. From just starting and learning how to up vote to learning author and curation Rewards to witness voting. So I can't say I know anywhere near anything for real. All I know are the interactions and fellowship that I have enjoyed here. The willingness to help others. And also the largest amounts of love. All of these things, in one place. We will succeed. I could ramble on longer but I have very little time tonight. I do hope you have a lovely day. All of my love to you and yours. And may our creator bless yous.
You said everything I want to say. I do not believe in bots either. I read through as many posts as I can on a given day, comment profusely, share my votes with everyone that has written something that has made me think... this is how you build community. And I firmly believe that if we build community generously, the community will generate rewards for the active participants within it.
If people are writing good content--measureable by the amount of votes they get per read--and they are not reaching greater audiences because the content is not discoverable, that is to be addressed at the UI level, not with bots. The Steemit UI that needs a full redesign to encourage the discoverablity of good, original content with all the correct rights, citations, and references, and a system for discovering a brilliant newbie's first post.
@colinhoward That is thoughtful of you, and although I haven't been around here for long, the trending page should be for quality content. Not, content boosted by bots, else what is the difference between Facebook, and a decentralized platform like Steemit? That requires you to pay for visibility.
There should be a clear separation between the trending page, and the promoted content, all content with less or no engagement where bots were used, should show in the promoted tab, and trending should be where people are engaging with the content, organically I suppose.
It is funny how you go to trending page to find some quality content, and what you get it is a spammy post, with some product pitch, or hardly any content.
But I do believe one day, the trending page will show content that deserves that place.
Thank you. Cheers!
The bots are only part of the problem on here. I don’t see to many new users staying either.
I suspect that's because they're not getting upvoted even when they submit good original content. Perhaps solving the bot problem will encourage people with SP to get back to manual curation, thus lifting up and encouraging the new folks.
I would agree. I think the overall accessibility of the site could be vastly improved. I really hope the developers realize this...
Bidbots are seriously undermining the value of the platform for most casual users, however.
Followed and resteemed.
It may seem small, but that's a superhero move.