What happened to the dolphins from last year? When I joined Steemit, I befriended many dolphins and whales. Checking my feed recently, I realized many of them aren't dolphins anymore, have become less active or completely disappeared from the scene. It's easy to follow the activities of whales, because we often give them more attention than others, especially when they're powering down. I knew a few whales that completely powered down and left, others have become less active but their stake is still intact.
However, the dolphins who constitute a bigger population than whales are decreasing! Honestly, my stake has become bigger than my ex-dolphin friends (witnesses and regular users)! What happened to their stake? Have they lost interest? Have they stopped believing in this platform? I wonder why my good old dolphin friends are swimming away. Perhaps they are under threat from an invisible power menacing their existence?
We need more dolphins than whales. Please save the dolphins. Make them great again.
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
once.
🐬 I was a Dolphin, but when I got laid off last year I had to power down a lot of what i had which was over 11,000.00 SP! Im now around only 600.00 because the posts pay out crap! And it takes all my money that does come in now and what little bit I power down each week just to try and trend my post by using bots which usually doesn't work anyways , so I end up loosing money instead! And if I don't use bots my posts pay out usually less then 1.00 !
🐳🐬its really sad to see that the veterans like me that started here over 2 years ago get no support at all from the Whales and even less support from Dolphins because they are all leaving for the same reasons I mentioned! Both my sons have pretty much left too. Making only pennies a post gives zero incentive to stay or try to make better posts. I have tried so many different ways and nothing works, its hopeless really, and nobody seems to care enough to do anything about it, Especially the whales, they should be upvoting the veterans and showing support for their commitment to this platform and all the help we have given to the minnows goes unrecognized !
End Of Rant! I am tired just home from working the night shift, and going to sleep, good night!😴😴😴
Glad to see your getting this out! upped and resteemed for more to see!
This is really disheartening!
Unfortunate, but true. People get discouraged when they produce high quality content and the results are paltry. So they spend their time on other endeavors.
I start to feel it myself... and I've been barely half a year around and am nothing but a small minnow. Breathing and still trying my best.
Yes it is , thank you @drakos for your support! its the first opportunity I have had to really say whats going on here on Steemit, and I thank you for that 💕😀 Change is needed for sure!
@drakos & @karenmckersie,
I am in the process of publishing a Series of Articles explaining why Steemit is broken and how to fix it. Steemit's problems are systemic and entirely predictable. The solutions to such problems are relatively simple and easy to implement.
Winston Churchill once said that, "People get the government they deserve." By extension, I would argue that Steemians get the Steeemit they deserve.
There's an awful lot of complaining on this blockchain, exceeded only by the ubiquitous presence of empty platitudes. All-but-absent, however, is the will to fix what is self-evidently wrong. But ah ... we marinate in the Utopian dream of anarchists: No Rulers, No Rules ... just glorious chaos.
I look forward to your comments on said articles. And, given your respective number of Followers, your ReSteeming them would be helpful as well.
Here's the first two in the Series (I published them ahead of schedule given that the subject-matter became relevant given the Banfield incident. Be sure to read through the comments, especially on the 2nd post). The next articles will deal with the systemic problems/solutions effecting post-payouts :
https://steemit.com/steemit/@quillfire/jerry-banfield-down-voting-and-freedom-of-speech
https://steemit.com/steemit/@quillfire/down-voting-as-censorship-a-series-about-fixing-steemit-part-2
Quill
Great comment! thanks for the links I will check them out soon, I just got back from out of town for 2 days and just checking here quick on steemit. need to shower etc, but will be back soon! 😀
@karenmckersie,
"The Canadians Are Coming!"
I say, "Let Steemit tremble."
Quill :-)
Agreed!👍👍👍✌😀💕
You're making a wrong assumption here, pal. This is called circlejerk AND it is still flourishing in this pathetic place.
Yes! theres that too!😀👍👍👍
The problem ist hat Steemit.inc doesn't delegate to projects like @curie or any others that try to bring upgreat content and reward valuable Steemians!
Yes that too! there seems to be a lot of problems that nothing gets done about, and we just stop trying too hard to put out quality stuff unless we have a lot of steem to send bots to it .😀
I feel for ya sis!
Awe thank you @kid4life ! 👍💕✌
I’ll be honest, my hopes of becoming a dolphin have pretty much vanished. There was a tiny glimmer of hope when I was able to post every day, but even then, growth was happening veeeery slowly for me. I’m really hoping to get back to a regular schedule eventually, but I’m also beginning to look at other options to diversify my “online portfolio.”
Truth be told, I really like dolphins (at least the handful I’ve interacted with). They have a lot of the pull and experience of whales, but they haven’t grown so big that they fail to see the little guys coming up behind them.
I try to be optimistic about Steemit’s future, but with the widening gap between minnows and whales (not too dissimilar to America’s pay gap), me hope fades a little each day. I like to the Dolphins represent the middle class, and a dying middle class is never a good sign.
That being said, I have no plans of abandoning ship. I may not know a lot about the finer workings of crypto, but I know bailing when things are rough is bad for everyone.
I have posted 300 days in a row which results in 600 posts in total. I have 2000 Steem Power, for a content creator, Steem is absolutely depressing.
(still better than blogging tho which by the way became way more lucrative thanks to Neds delegation to Steempress).
Fact is, I haven't seen 1 person here on Steem that became a Dolphin by creating content, and that will drive many Minnows away.
Dolphins leave because they do not make profits here it is really that simple.
If I would have had invested 10K USD into this platform I would still have to post another 300 days in a row if the price of Steem and SBD stays the same, that is a shitton of hard work which I haven't seen anyone else besides me put in.
You can also go the passive money making route, but that only degenerates Steem (Votebuying, Bitbods, etc.) and I don't think that leads to big cash because many dolphins, orcas and whales have left.
Add to that the Spread on all the exchanges & scams and you have people quitting Crypto entirely.
Most people simply don't have what it takes to make a large amount of money. And most people come here for the money, when they realize it ain't easy to make they quit.
That is due to people overhyping steem.
Meet me :) bought 1k earned 5k in a bit more than a year here.
People expect too much when they first come here and get discouraged when they dont get hundreds of dollars on their posts. My advice to those kinds of users is to get back to Facebook and other platforms who were paying them so much to post there.....
Get your shit straight people and stop feeling so entitled to getting rewards.
Impressive!
This should be a notification for every user for a year in the bottom right corner : )
Do you have Discord Runicar? I would be happy if you join my server and chat with me!
https://discord.gg/VRSaB9y
Steam gets most of em'...noting worth having in life comes by easily
Nail on the head. A lot of lazy damn speculators
Totally agree!😀
My feed dies a little every week. It is my own fault for not going out and adding new people in. This place does tend to chew and spit people out. They hit the wall of trying post x amount of times per day or week and its game over.
While there is a need for a bigger middleclass right now we just need people not so depressed. Many seem to have given up and taking their few cents with them.
I don’t even want think how many people you have grown up with here that are no longer around. Just a little minnow like myself I’ve lost so many in just over the year I been here.
I use to have such fun times laughing the night away and helping people. Almost all long gone. No more having a friend dropping into a few month old blog of mine and just leaving me some friendly comments to say high as we have a conversion about what ever. No more chatting to the point we don’t notice we are not even in one of each other’s blogs and some poor guy now has 10-20 comments that are 100% not related or even towards that person.
Just lots of busy people left trying and hoping to make it past this storm.
I still have a few places where I try and have a laugh and a good time. They just seem to be harder to find. Many places I use to stalk for leaving comments on are now just cobwebs.
I just think its a great time to try and build something right now. When the masses return because of price and not passion they will see what they have missed out on. Blame the system for not loving them anymore for leaving and leave again.
I just blame summer for it.
I was expecting spring and summer to be lower points than the rest of the year. I could just tell people could not wait to get outside of their homes and go on an adventure. I even took the opportunity to do a little bit of rebranding of myself and further focused on more of one kind of content over another.
This week, in particular, many are on vacation it seems. Even then they still are logging in to make quick updates. Share a photo or two and even more. When it comes to something like this people tend not go cold turkey for 2 weeks or months. They just reduce the number of hours they spend on the site. A lot less commenting and other stuff and just shorter life posts.
I have noticed a trend for a while now and it started before even spring. Someone would go missing for weeks or months on end. They would come back. I’d try and welcome them back (I understand life gets in the way and you got to do what you must.) They will make a post or two. Then a rant amount things not going as they imagined it would be. They disappear again and maybe come back a few more times. After a while, for some, I stop opening my arms wide to give them a welcome back hug.
Many times when someone goes missing for a while almost no one even notices. I try and somewhat be a caring person and leave them a comment. Sometimes someone is just struggling and really just needed that little push to get back into the swing of things. With many after posting for a year sometimes a few times a day they just ran out of ideas finally. That never too hard to fix I just have to point to some trend or content and they now have something to write about again. Other times I’ll just tell them to go out and comment for a few days. That best way to break any writer's block.
I tend to be the last comment on a few peoples old blogs. Many were like a friend to me after all. If I went missing I would hope someone would do the same. Having those kinds of people in your life here makes a big difference. Far too many try and go it alone.
Even in the few months I’ve been here I’ve seen a decrease. Hoping it’s just “summer”
hi @enjar
let's be friends...like 4 like ?
Dolphins are legally protected in Australian waters, but in Japan, Peru, the Solomon Islands and the Faroe Islands, dolphins and other small whales (such as porpoises and pilot whales) are hunted and killed inhumanely to supply aquariums and for their meat. Over a million have been killed in hunts in the past 70 years in Japan alone.
Taiji
International bodies such as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) provide some protection for large whales (such as humpbacks), but do not regulate "small type" whaling (dolphins are in fact small whales). This means that there is no international policeman to prevent countries killing an unlimited number of small whales.
In Japan, where the largest hunts occur, thousands are slaughtered each year. Many of these - up to 16,000 annually in recent years - are porpoises killed at sea by harpoons along Japan's northern coast.
The largest hunts currently taking place, on which AFD's campaigns are initially focussed, are in the coastal town of Taiji, where around 1,500 dolphins and pilot whales are killed annually. Although they are not as well known, the Taiji hunts actually kill many more whales (including dolphins) than Japan's Antarctic whaling programme.
Very off-topic, but good information.
Wow, it's a new level of a retarded, low-effort stolen post. I'm actually impressed!
@drakos i have to thank you a lot because you helped me to become a red fish- minnow and i know something for sure! i will never quit steemit and i will not power down, with these upvotes we can help the people !!
You've read my mind with this one! After checking some of my old posts to see who voted and stuff ( being curious since its more than a year now ) and pretty much everyone who supported me back then are
something in that fashion. Weird...
In my opinion, these bid-bots screwed everything over, people who hold a bunch of sp sell their vote and make money that way, no need to curate around ...
No comment.
Enjoy your day @drakos!
Why are they leaving? Simple. Crap posts get rewarded and good content get crap rewards. Do you really wanna stay here knowing 1 pic-posts or 1 sentence-posts get hundreds of dollars in rewards?
It's interesting to hear that, from the perspective of someone who's been here a while. I just thought the platform, in general, had been losing countless once-engaged users. Figured it must have something to do with the down-turn in crypto-markets.
Let's hope retention, overall, improves. Lest we find ourselves swimming in an increasingly sparsely populated ocean.
...
I thought so too, most dolphins who helped me in my earlier days here are no longer active.
I guess people don't believe in steem as much as they used to.
On a brighter note: a huge shoutout the the most dedicated dolphin I know, @overkillcoin!! :D
Also I understand if anyone leaves Steemit, BUT if you make them feel that they are welcome, there is always a chance that they might come back ^^
He's another one that's been powering down. I've had a couple of conversations with him about it.
He's one of the rare Steemians that did 100% powerup for a longgg time and he still posts regularly. I support him pulling out what he needs. I'll be sad if he quits totally, but we all have to eat and pay the bills :/
Oh, I'm not dissing him at all. I did exactly the same thing. 100% powered up for over a year, but have now powered down most of my SP, for all the reasons that have been mentioned in these comments.
Ohh! :) Yeah, I think being positive is good, but never delusional.
I'm aware no one owes anyone upvotes , but at the same time no one should expect people to keep posting quality for cents. Everyone has to make the best choice for themselves as they will live with the consequences
plenty has powered down
many of those dolphins were helped by papa pong and company's list
when they were still using Ned's votes
unfortunately, it all stopped in the end
and many of those dolphins continued posting considerably good posts
but in the end their posting styles have changed because - you know what trends
and even if we buy upvotes to make our post finally get noticed
it just won't do if we only use one or two bidbots
aafter the HF 19 plenty of dolphins seem to have gone through - The Grind sort of ...
when i become a dolphin i will not disappear:D
I also miss dolphins and killer whales. Previously, dolphins ipvoted posts and gave an incentive, now only the bots and old friends supported the posts. There are fewer competitions, a few support them. It's sad.
The same as the real world dolphins. Parasites came and destroyed our habitat. Forced to move on to less hostile pastures. Will move back if said parasites are eliminated.
Im doing my best to become a dolphin. Im not too far away from the title now. I guess you gonna need to befriend new dolphins, for nature is a cruel bitch and even dolphins happen to die from time to time:)
It's not only dolphins that I see swimming away from the Steem waters. I am relatively new( about 5 months) and there were some names that I made friends with at the beginning of my experience, but haven't seen them posting for a while. I guess low payouts for their posts "ate" their appetite for being active around here. I am still holding on to Steem. I actually don't have Facebook and Instagram so here's my playground. My one and only.
Dolphin here, not going anywhere unless I need money, and I probably won't for a while. :D
I heard from one such guy (dolphin) this week saying he no longer feels the same about the "Steem economy". However, he still plans to remain active here and use the blogging platform. He's now powering down but that's the only difference.
Some people change directions, find a new platform (or blockchain) that excites them, etc. Honestly, I think the whole concept of cryptocurrencies and blockchain is so new, that there's no such thing (yet) as a true hodler. But with that said, I'm here for the long-term and know that you are too @drakos. So let's cheers to that!! :)
Cheerio :)
we so need more dolphins, a massive school of awesome dolphins that are actively engaged on the platform. And not just tiny dolphins like me. This is something that needs to be tackled, however growing awesome dolphins (with long term vision) is not that easy. We have load of help and support for redfish from the minnows, and minnows are supporting smaller minnows, but there are feck all people/programs available to new dolphins. Its like when you reach that status, support gets cut. Its something I am very conscious of, and it actually ties in with retention. Hopefully I will be publishing a few ideas around this topic soon.
I think the dolphins left because they don't like the some whales unnecessarily bully others and so they left. At least this is what one dolphin told me.
They made their money and they left , I wish I cashed out some too.. but I’m keeping hope for the future
Yeah that's true many of them powered down (hope u aren't planing on joining them :-D)
It's a shame, they'll miss the party when STEEM is $10.
Exactly , we are in for the long run
We still have months before Steem reaches 10$ anyways this is planting season when Steem reaches 10$ we would be harvesting
It's really sad they are leaving tho
That assumes we don't shift our investment into something that appreciates more than steem, in which case staying in steem is not the smarter choice.
I believe some of them are down with the price is Steem and are focusing more on airdrops now (we seriously need them back)
Hello Champ, Don't know if you remember me, we have chatted on a few occasions and played Poker as well. Definitely I'm not that "Dolphin" still Doplphin though. After one year on Steemit have had my ups and downs but here I am still standing. Hope the other Dolphins get together as well. There's been a lack of motivation lately. Cheers Brotha!
Of course I remember you. I never forget people.
You're a friendly chap aren't you? Voted for you as a witness on the suggestion of @valorforfreedom.
Thanks.
Many have lost hope on Steemit @drakos, they put the money primarily as the focal point of being here, I hope prospective dolphins can can arise very soon, I'll hope to be one as well.
I want to be a Dolphin! 🐬 click whistle click
I'll get their eventually. Just gotta keep swimming.
lol. now you just need to create you a dory-bot "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" (that's Finding Nemo just in case you don't have kids...)
lol yea I'm familiar with the movie.
Don't worry @drakos! My goal is to be a dolphin by the end of 2018 and I'm a head of schedule :D
:rofl:
yea...I have been here almost an year
things change rapidly here
O dont know why they left, I mean I can understand a minnow that gets frustrated but a dolphin? why?
I've come and gone myself (I have three different Steemit accounts), based on different things, especially many external to Steemit factors.
But according to an achievement bot I became a minnow today! After adding $1,000 usd to this profile that is... hope it pays off.
You got a 29.50% upvote from @upme thanks to @drakos! Send at least 3 SBD or 3 STEEM to get upvote for next round. Delegate STEEM POWER and start earning 100% daily payouts ( no commission ).
I have wondered the same and so many no longer even post.
...
Are you aware that you're declining payouts for your posts/comments??
...
Sneaky Ninja Attack! You have just been defended with a 20.00% upvote!
I was summoned by @drakos. I have done their bidding and now I will vanish...
woosh
A portion of the proceeds from your bid was used in support of youarehope and tarc.
Abuse Policy
Rules
How to use Sneaky Ninja
How it works
Victim of grumpycat?
Great opportunity, thanks for sharing!
I was looking at my very old posts a couple of days ago, looking who I was chatting to, and who was commenting etc..
IT REALLY STRUCK ME - THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE NOT ACTIVE ANYMORE!
What really struck me was the enthusiasm.
That seems to have gone, lately.
By looking back 10/11 months - a snapshot - and then comparing, it is a little depressing, it has to be said..
I became a dolphin fairly recently. Im still planning on continuing to power up.
Good question..... and this are the people that actualy make things happen .... I'm quote new here and from what i experienced till now is that uou can grow only with the support of the other platfor inside steemit ... not that easy just with creating content
It's a 2 year bear market...bears be feasting on dolphins...
Those are some funny looking dolphins...
But the bear is for real...
Nom nom nom...
Sadly speaking we lost some of our active friends who are happily posted something here. But the technology is what remains and most important. Happy to find out I grow up my Steem Power almost 800% from my day 1
I think it is the market overall. Many investors who jumped in with the hype back in december and january have lost their interest. Some of them were taking losses. Some of them are just waiting out without being active anymore. Once we start another bullrun, they either will return or new people will join us and become dolphins or whales. I'm just staying patient, keep being active and support steemit all the way I can.
Those dolphins are came down here for the money. Like hunting some food, perhaps they are full now and swim away.
I subscribed steemit, I'm blogging (ok, last month I was a bad absent blogger). I see people subscribing and reaching 60 of reputation in 1 month!
I lost my hopes and ambitions to become a dolphin. I just want to have a normal life at the moment :D
I'm a new comer here so I may lack experience. However, my very first impression (which I believe is at the bottom of Dolphins' extinction) is that Steeemit is very much concerned about itself. The platform seems to be working as a narcissistic guy always watching himself on the mirror and talking about himself.
I personally thought Steemit was about content .. let's create it then, money and balanced income distribution will follow!
(Thank you @drakos, useful article)
When the price starts going back, all the dolphins will start swimming back...with a whole other lot of fish too.
true now theirs just dem whales!
I hope that in the near future the number of dolphins will be more.
(Would be great if you take a look my latest drawing;)
For redfishes and minnows we just need to know which contests bring in the Steem and SBD. Other than that most don't have any goal of growing their SP. Or maybe we don't know the benefits.
Too bad if dolphins are leaving... 😔 They don't stay for the community maybe but more on the money.
Posted using Partiko Android
Thank you @drakos for your attentive post. I am glad to see that you brought this topic up and of course many will read your post and the comments bellow.
You are right many dolphins are less active, or stopped completely doing anything. Like you I knew few of them but I do not know how difficult it is to keep blog active and produce always good content and keep regular posting. Sometimes they spend hours and days for creating something and content but at the end you have not enough appreciation for all hard work. Except Steemit there is another life with its daily routine, like for example, me, my roof is leaking and I can't get a roofer to come and assess it. Unlucky we have rainy days just now. So what to do, just to put a bucket to collect water and patiently wait for roofer, finger crossed my roof will not fall apart from rotten wood.
Everyone is happy to hear nice words about his work and if there is no appreciation, then people just leave, if that happens then what is hte future of Steemit?
So we have to keep our followers happy this is only the solution, no matter how big their Steem power is :)