Yeah, I know, "yet another post about Bid Bots and Steemit;" do we HAVE to?
I get it that a lot of people are really upset about Bid Bots and "the state of the Trending feed" and stuff like that — and I'll be the first to admit that I also have a bias against bid bots.
But WHY?
If you look at the greater publishing industry — or even just social media, on a broader scale — people basically fall all over themselves promoting their content.
Red salvia
Simple fact of life: If you want to be SEEN, you have to make a lot of NOISE.
This is a simple truth, whenever you create something; anything. If you go and pretend to take some "moral high road" and declare that it is "wrong" to self-promote and it constitutes some form of artistic "selling out," that's certainly your right... but it doesn't necessarily make a lot of functional sense.
Let's just assume it's a book you have, not a Steemit post.
Most likely, you want people to know about your book, and buy your book, and read your book. And that isn't going to come about simply by sitting on your duff, "knowing" that you wrote a great book.
A Matter of Semantics?
So what are we really upset about, here on Steemit?
Our Princess Tree is blooming
One school of thinking argues that our "Trending" feed gets polluted by so-called "shitposts" because people can use bidbots to literally buy their way into the trending feed.
Whereas I can't argue with that, I might point out that some very mediocre books (and music) can end up on best-seller lists thanks to massive promotional efforts and budgets and Public Relations Managers who are really good at their jobs.
So that argument is on the weak side.
Perhaps what people are really upset about isn't those who "buy popularity" but the fact that what essentially amounts to "promoted content" gets circulated as "normal" posts.
After all, if you're on Facebook or Twitter and "buy" yourself a high ranking spot in people's feeds, your post shows up as either "Promoted Content" or "Advertisement." That doesn't happen, here on Steemit.
So maybe what we REALLY have here is a "Truth in Labeling" problem.
But It's About the Money!?!
Red leaves in evening sun
Another school of thought is that Bid Bots are "bad" because of the money... some "lousy post" is getting $500 in rewards, and that upsets people who spend five hours compiling photos and text to make a beautifully crafted and informative post.
But let's examine that lousy post that's "getting" $500.00.
Odds are its owner is at least "in" for at least $300.00 worth of Bid Bot votes. Then curators are going to nab 25% so that means the actual payout will be in the range of $375.00. Then there's the inevitable "shrinkage" as the rewards pool adjusts over 7 days... and by payout time, they'll actually end up with somewhere between $275.00 and $325.00 on their $300.00 "investment."
Sure, it looks like "big numbers" but mostly we're just looking at money "churning;" that is... spending $300 to "make" $300.
The Moral/Philosophical Argument
Which leads us down to the moral and philosophical objections to bid bots and vote buying, namely that it seems like bid bots are a way for people who already have a lot of assets and influence to get richer... at the expense of those who are desperately struggling to make a name for themselves.
Lilacs in bloom
In a sense, I find myself sympathetic to that particular school of thought; I was never a big fan of exploitation.
On the other hand, isn't this really a case of "greed exploiting greed?" Think about it... if some relative newcomer who "hasn't done the work" believes they deserve to have their mediocre content featured in Trending and is exploited by some (possibly equally greedy?) bid bot owner, aren't they actually more like a "match made in heaven?" Or what one might call "They DESERVE each other?"
But... we do still have the issue of the rich getting ever richer "at the expense of."
Apologists for free market Capitalism shrug and say "that's market forces at work!" and sometimes seems almost proud of that.
That attitude works, as long as you are willing to be completely oblivious to your indirect surroundings and your impact on them.
What do I mean by that?
Think of it with this "farming" analogy:
Heart of a white iris
If you're a happy organic farmer minding your own business growing marvelous peas and strawberries... and Monsanto buys the land upwind from you and puts a corporate farm there... and sprays the shit out of their soybean crop... are you affected?
Hell yeah! In fact, you might be totally fucked!
Were you doing anything wrong? Were you complaining? Were you making moralistic judgments? Nope. You were just there. Did Monsanto do anything "wrong?" Legally, no. But they were oblivious to the possibility that their actions might have a greater impact, outside their own self-interest.
And so, that's ultimately the "loose end" I have with Bid Bot operators.... "Are you aware of the greater potential fallout and ramifications of your actions, as they relate to the greater Steemit Ecosystem?"
How about YOU? Where do YOU stand on this "hot potato" issue? Where are the "pluses" and "minuses" on this? Knowing that this is a "decentralized" structure and no "they" will step in to change the situation, what is the best course of action for the Steemit community? Do you even CARE? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
Animated banner created by @zord189
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180529 13:12 PDT
I'm not in support of bidbots, as you likely know ;)
I'd add that it's like cheating the game everyone else is playing. Not for advertising, that could be done properly as regular advertising is done and label things properly, not to be confusing it with non-purchased votes.
I said this in a recent post about working to earn your way:
What can we do? Withdraw support for people who use them as I recently mentioned in a post.
Don't much care for them either, as you have probably gleaned.
The "purchased winning ticket" analogy is spot on... people are basically paying to be in the winner's circle, regardless of whether they belong there, or not. It's buying your way out of uncertainty... which, of course, people have been doing for a long time.
In some sense, we're battling history here. Whenever a "reward" is in the offing, we immediately attract a horde of "money for nothing seekers" who will basically "do whatever" to extract benefit for themselves.
My opinion of Bid Bots is that they are a field leveler.
People might argue against that...... but the money you put in is the money that you get back. Rarely do you come out ahead. This money is actually being invested back into the pool instead of just being pulled straight out.
Now what do I mean when I say that it's a field leveler? Well there is one thing that people never talk about even though they talk about Bid Bots all the time.
Nepotism.
Most of the people that are rated in the 70s have been here since the beginning. They tend to have a lot of followers that auto vote them. Also, the other people in the 70s and the whales that remember associating with these people in the beginning tend to always vote them no matter what and not spread their votes around.
How can a minnow compete with this kind of nepotism?
Bid Bots are leveling the playing field even though most people are against them. I'm not saying they are the perfect solution either but I do believe that these Auto voters that are hitting up the same high rated 70s people so that they always get a large portion of the reward pool just because they were here early on should be removed or altered.
What if the auto voters were set to scatter your votes among random people instead of always voting the same high rated people? That way you could still get curation but the system would be much more viable.
So just to clarify my opinion is that the Bid Bots are not great for our platform, but they are much better than the nepotism that is currently in place which is completely screwing all of the minnows.... and I believe installing some kind of randomizer into the auto voters would absolutely fix this problem and potentially get rid of the need for Bid Bots completely.
How does it level the playing field when the majority of delegated power is coming from the whales?
The vote buyer breaks even, if they are lucky: +/- 5%
The bidbot maker takes their cut: +10%
The delegated whale gets his share of the vote power: +20%
So, unless the newbie gets a huge following from his bought votes in a quick enough time frame and sticks around, he will never be able to catch the whales that are feeding the bidbot system.
No it doesn't completely level the playing field, but at the very least it makes the minnows able to hit the ball once in awhile instead of simply sitting on the bleachers forever.
It does allow the minnows to be able to increase their reputation at the very least.
Yea, there are definitely non-payout benefits:
In regards to payout, it may allow them to hit the ball, but at the same time, it keeps pushing first base farther and farther away.
I think a bigger problem is that not enough people are buying Steem. Lately it seems the big bid bots are very competitive and often lose money so it seems like more people should be buying Steem and less people using the bots.
Agree. too many people buying bots. Currently is very hard to get benefit with a popular bot
@dustsweeper is a good one though. You might want to sign up for that.
what we REALLY have here is a "Truth in Labeling" problem
Exactly right.
An honesty problem..
Yup.
Just call it what it is:
"Promoted Content"
Those who don't care would continue to buy it; those trying to be sneaky would think twice.
I have not been a month on Steemit yet and I will admit that I used them a few times to have a sense of how they worked. The last time I used them, I decided I would not do it anymore. I feel that those using the bots, their content should only appear on the "Promoted" tab and not on the Trending and Hot Tab. If they did, I would have no issue with them.
and whales auto vote??? is the same...
Call it what it is.
A long time ago, I suggested "Trending" be a feed of organically upvoted posts, and that we also have a "Richlist" feed that simply listed ALL posts by estimated payout.
I completely agree with your suggestion.
I don't think its market forces at all. Bidbots damage the economic engine of Steemit. They create an environment of rent-seeking behavior that borders more on ponzi scheme than it does blogging platform.
And only one of those systems is sustainable long-term.
I'm inclined to agree with you... we end up in a pattern that's not sustainable.
Yep. I hear you dude! I really hear you there.
Amazing photography and very nice article.
Fabulous one!!!
Great Words to live by!!
Yes,
Your post is a very useful post for me. After reading your post, I learned about some new topics. I would like to know more about this because I am new here. I want to spend some good time with Steemit. And for that I have to do more work.
Anyway Thanks for giving you this beautiful post.
believe it or not i can not say in my world how much i like it.
so cute, cool and relaxing pics..
That's good to know about this thing had no idea about that will try by the way the shot looks really amazing.
OMG those shots were just brilliant just epic
This platform has changed the life of so many individuals including myself. Now I want to help people with the money I have made , when I go back home in a couple of weeks , it’s time to give back o those in need . I put my trust in God
That's pretty cool to know thanks for the tips by the way :)
Honestly Steemit, is just like any other social media platform, people who came in early reap the rewards because at that time there weren't a lot of people, just a few. People who came in later work a lot harder because they are competing with everyone around them to produce better content.
Interesting post! It gives a lot to think about. It seems that the bidbot operators are the ones making the money feeding off the authors who are at best breaking even.
Interesting post! It gives a lot to think about. It seems that the bidbot operators are the ones making the money feeding off the authors who are at best breaking even.