@redhens, I really have no issue with people upvoting their own original blog posts, especially if they are creating quality content. Besides, the default setting on the posting page is "upvote."
My concern is mostly those who'll apply 80+% of their daily voting to upvoting their own comments... which are often just "nice post." The sad thing is that they are really "scamming" themselves as much as they are "beating the system." If you're not out there curating and interacting with others... don't expect to get a long-term following.
I completely agree. It's frustrating to see people reap huge rewards for little effort when others, such as yourself, strive to create excellent content and build community -- the two things that will ultimately determine whether Steemit is a success or not.
This was a great post. I really appreciate your thoughts on this subject. It seems like the Steemians whose work I like best all seem to be on the same page when it comes to these things, which is a positive sign.
Thanks! There's certainly a "selfish" part of me that knows (a) that it's a pain in the butt to have to "evacuate" 100s of articles when a site is about to shut down, (b) I hate having a lot of good content associated with a "crap" venue and (c) I understand and appreciate the VALUE of having a body of work published in ONE place for a LONG time. If you have to hop from one site to another, you lose a BUNCH of subscribers every time.
Hence, I want to see Steemit do well, in the long run. Blogging here is a long term investment in my writing. As such, I am fairly protective of the venue... and if I see things that threaten those long term aspirations, I am going to shine the light on them and do my part to make people pause and think about their actions.
Yes. The people that do this will not have many followers. I would think they would eventually get bored really. Because to make a "quick buck" on steemit by using scammy comments, you would have to invest a lot to begin with. I do like your analogy of the termites. It is not something people will turn a blind eye to though. I have seen some almost battle initiatives against major abusers. People will work together that just enjoy being here in this community of communities.
And there's part of the irony @egregorian-- sometimes the time and effort to figure out how to "game the system" is actually more than simply using the platform legitimately, as it was originally created.