awww... thanks for encouraging bot-cuddling.
but more generally... wise words all over - building community.
steem has given us the magnificent power to show our appreciation towards another with something as mundane as crypto money... an appreciation currency.
What's not to appreciate when someone takes their time to read your content, and they will appreciate your appreciation... that's how it goes and that's how it grows, we reap what we sow.
P.S.: unknown kitten facts: they check the self-voting behaviour and vote diversity of their cuddle buddies and adjust their sympathy accordingly ;)
@victoria-kelly made an interesting observation on a different post of mine, namely that Steemit seems to operate within two "circles," one of which is content creators and community builders, and the other is money seekers.
It's not that we have different objectives-- because who doesn't like getting a reward? -- but our motivating factors are different: Either "the content leads" or "the money leads."
Steemit, for me, picks up where I "lost" something back around 2005-ish when I was very involved in "social blogging," which was basically a more "human story intensive" type of social media. Then came Facebook and MySpace and pretty much removed the "needing to put thought and effort into it" part; loads of people flocked to this format of just collecting "thumbs up" and "number of friends." Actual content became an afterthought.
But it was actually a huge niche market; Xanga hosted 33 million bloggers in 2005-06. If Steemit could come even close to snagging all those (mostly) displaced users, this could become one of the greatest repositories of human stories ever built... the blockchain is ideal for that, to boot.
I love the kitten bots, by the way. Not only are they cute as hell, but they are excellent "training wheels;" if you upvote the kitten, you "get" something-- an endearing little graphic. Which beats the snot out of generic "Upaid4itbot upvoted you by 0.17%. Have a nice life!" message.
Those two "circles" are certainly a reality but neither is exclusive to the other really. I think the much more divisive factor is the attitude towards "entitlement". I think I'd personally make a threefold division in that respect, builders, takers and fakers... but again, neither is exclusive to the other.
The socio-economics of this platform sure make for a really intense cultural experiment.
And the kittens fall right into that experiment, I guess they sort of do exactly that community building type of reciprocal voting you describe in the OP (I guess we could also call it clique-voting to highlight the negative aspect of it?!) albeit they are bots.
Yes, that's another valid perspective... without doubt, this is a fascinating social experiment.
I'm taking a break here from writing a piece about the nature of social media... because sometimes it feels like people forget that (a) Steemit IS "social media" and (b) all other social media platforms have everything from garbage to genius, as well. Why would we be exempt here?
The kittens remind me a little of a current-day variation of the old "tit-for-tat" algorithm (sometimes known as the "Prisoner's Dilemma."), in that you support the kittens, the kittens support you.
Clique voting? Well, yes... but isn't social media inherently cliqueish? If you're into chess, you trail around behind your favorite chess people and pretty much ignore "Spanish cooking." We become cliqueish and tribal around our hobbies and interests... and our support of them can even be seen as "self-serving" in that if I encourage (let's say) the kittens, YOU are more likely to keep running something I experience as valuable. It becomes a win-win, in a self-interest sort of way.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that that was more or less what @dan (and his dad, I'm sure) originally were counting on, in creating Steemit as a viable concept.
Well, social media certainly is as cliquish in nature as humans are tribal... 100%
Seeing the kittens as a sort of inverse prisoner's dilemma is actually an interesting point of view... I should explore that more deeply.
Hahaha, I thought I was the only one secretly surveying the steeming style of Steemians. I don't feel quite so sneaky now.
haha, nah... i find other peoples dirty laundry quite intriguing some times :P
P.S.: here's my favourite evaluation tool: http://steemreports.com/outgoing-votes-diversity/gini-simpson/?account=deirdyweirdy&days=30
P.P.S.: Grade A steemian... I should try to be more like you :D
Such a great tool; use it frequently. Hadn't checked myself recently; I'm evidently quite supportive of your kitten projects...
hahaha... wow... well I knew from the frequent brain scans cuddlekitten has to undergo that you are her top supporter... what I didn't know until just now... is that she's actually your top "supportee".
I guess her cuteness does the trick after all :D
Rest assured, aside of the fair share to the artist, all rewards are used exclusively to make her even cuddlier over time. Though in all honesty, you might want to tune it down a little, hehe... I guess the likes of @steemkitten and @cuddlekitten are the least terrible rise of the machines... but let's put humans first for the time being ;)
The kittens should have fond memories about you for a while anyway.
OK, I'll confess that the kittens are benefiting inadvertently from my own OCD-ishness, meaning I try to curate my comment section by quality and merit.
When they post to my comment section, I often use them as "markers."
In many cases, I'll upvote a kitten and after that, comments I vote to "above the kitten" are what I treat as more serious and conversational, and comments "below the kitten" tend to be one-time, quick reply things, or outright spam/vote begging that gets no vote at all.
Doesn't always work out that way... and it's not a hard and fast rule, I accidentally discovered it was kind of handy when wading 40-50 or more comments.
Probably more than you wanted to know... ;-)
so you're using the kitten as a "marker"?!?
I don't know, does that qualify as animal-abuse?
krkrkr
Cheers. I already use steemreports to separate the needy from the greedy.