Yes I Have To Say It!
....I was hoping to avoid the issue and just happily continue plugging away here but I'm a believer in steemit over the long run, so here goes:
Whales are Turning This Place Into a Circle Jerk That Rewards Pure Mediocrity and if it's not addressed it will destroy the long term viability of this platform!
As the saying goes:
"Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely"
...and right now whales have all the power here on steemit and THEY ARE ABUSING THAT POWER!
Steemit is supposed to be about curating and rewarding quality content and although it has been amusing and fun to watch as people hit the whale lottery, it will cease to be amusing as time goes on.
I'm not posting this out of bitterness because my posts have not been successful, I will continue to post and strive to improve the quality of my content because I believe in steemit and the revolutionary, disruptive nature of it. That being said I have to engage in a little negativity here and I'll risk ostracism to do so.
WHALES YOU ARE ABUSING THE POWER OF YOUR INFLUENCE!
There, I said it again and it is true. If steemit is supposed to reward curation and content, a meritocracy where quality rises to the top, then either there are a lot of whales with bad taste and no discernment or we are seeing a lot of crypto-crony capitalism at play here- obviously mediocre content at best being upvoted by whales and then the rest pile on hoping to catch some of those curation rewards.
What To Do?
Well, I'm suggessting that people start downvoting these posts to their true value. If you see these ridiculous renumerations for crap posts... DOWNVOTE! It's not popular, I know, but it needs to be done. If you see dollar signs disregard the impulse to just jump on the bandwagon and evaluate the post on its merits. If it deserves to be downvoted, do it!
...and whales that means you too!
Search your conscience, do you want steemit to survive in it's mission of finding and rewarding quality content? Or are you satisfied with pumping a scheme, taking your profit and engaging in the absurd circle jerks that are so evident here.
If you are, so be it, but the stink will become unbearable for many here.
I would up vote this until you recommended DOWN VOTING. That down vote is more like a flag and shouldn't be used by down vote brigades.
I won't be up voting posts recommending down votes for reasons like that. Let's pull out a gun and start spraying it around at random people because you are unhappy. (yes that is an exaggeration to the extreme but you get my point)
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/flagging-and-down-voting-some-questions-for-the-community-here-and-some-ideas
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/not-a-ponzi-scheme-seems-like-a-new-paradigm-up-votes-regardless-of-topic-help-us-all
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/that-person-is-not-worthy-neither-are-you-neither-am-i-but-who-is-do-things-my-way-or-else
I think I covered everything I could think of in those three posts. I actually would have up voted your post (I'm worth an measly $0.01, $0.02) at the moment but I will not support down vote brigades. I consider it a petty and misaimed attack that hurts us all. It certainly won't fix what you hope it will.
Agreed. I would upvote this also except for the downvote advice. I don't think that is fair.
The thing is that steemit will never hit it's true stride and potential unless this is addressed, lackadaisical or crony upvoting will be the demise here, there is a majority of great content that gets what it deserves but if casual users, people just looking for good content have to wade through what amounts to lame facebook posts from people you don't know or care about then that is extremely damaging to the long term prospects here. Again I'm not talking about trolling or randomly downvoting things you don't like, but the downvote is there for a reason and I believe addressing abusive upvoting is a legitimate, albeit distasteful one.
Thanks for the reply @thecryptofiend
I think it will. The power needs to spread around. It is currently consolidated into the very early adopters, and developers. As they vote on stuff it will up lift others, and as they vote it will further up lift more.
It is in beta and you are early adopter so this stuff has to happen. The only way I see it not eventually working out is for big winners to not vote. If they get the power to uplift people and don't use it, then that becomes a problem.
I'm not talking about randomly or abusively downvoting, I'm not a hater or a troll or unhappy in general, I just see a lot of upvote abuse and it WILL undermine the long term viability of steemit.
Thanks for your input @dwinblood, always appreciate dialogue.
I would stand behind you on encouraging people to NOT VOTE for such things. I personally though will only ever use the FLAG for obvious plagiarism, or abusive/offensive posts that do not give people fair warning before exposing them to it. If they give people a choice such as NSFW then I won't even flag those. I'm not a fan of censorship. I am not happy on the things people vote on, but I'm kind of used to it. I've never been much of one to follow a crowd.
If we hang in there. I believe over time those of us that gain power will help balance that out. I know they are trying to attract a larger audience, and all I have to do is read what is popular in the world to know I am no judge for what the masses consider POPULAR. Most of the stuff that is popular I find incredibly stupid. So if they want to grow the audience should they aim at me, and people like me that are already here, or should they vote on stuff that might grow the people here? We are investors that is what steem power is... so IF they grow the audience ultimately we all benefit. I simply think it will take time to get there. Yes, I'd love to have a $10K+ post but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that is not likely to ever happen. I like a lot of things, but the things I like don't fall into the exactly popular category. I also don't really like to copy other people, so when I see a pattern it is hard for me to MIMIC a winning strategy. I can't bring myself to do it. So I just play the STEADY AND SLOW game and write about things that are important to me. I think you do too... I think the important mental picture that helps me when I see stuff doing really well that seems the same as other things or stupid is to remember EVERY person up voted here can uplift the rest of us if they turn around and vote on other people. About the only thing that can truly kill steem is people who do really well NEVER using their vote.
@dwinblood I couldn't have said it better. I'm not a follower either and I'm more than willing to take an unpopular stance, maybe too much so, sometimes, but I'm not a hater and I like all sorts of content. I appreciate the high and low culture. I go to the symphony and the dirt track, but the circle jerk upvote abuse is obviously a real problem as I see it. Maybe I was a little rash and to quick to pull the trigger on calling for downvotes, so be it. But I see it as the only answer to what to me is just another form of cronyism at work here, a small club abusing their power and influence. Steemit has been likened to a new kind of economic system and with that in mind it is susceptible to corruption and abuse and right now it's an insider game here and the rest follow along. I see it as a huge problem and not just out of self interest, but like I said, because I believe the potential here is so much greater .
If you've seen reddit then you've likely see that down voting can be just as bad. In fact it can be worse. If you get people starting to down vote anything they don't agree with or dislike, or that they are angry because someone else voted for that person's post then where does it stop?
In addition, you are not hurting the person that voted for that post at all. You are hurting the person that received the vote. This is no solution. You'll get blowback and it'll just spin out of control and people retaliating against perceived injustice.
When in reality there are some simple questions:
When someone else receives a vote, how does that hurt you or me? It's not like I had taxes taken against my will, I didn't pay anything. It actually has ZERO impact on you and I other than making the trending page pretty useless. Since you don't get curator rewards for stuff on the trending page it is better to hang out in NEW and HOT anyway.
No anyone receiving a vote truly hurts no one. They are not taking from you and redistributing it to someone else. That doesn't exist here.
In the world of taxation and taking your money without your consent and then redistributing it to people you'd be spot on. That isn't possible in this environment.
In fact even any perceived cronyism is NO big deal as it has ZERO impact on you or I. (again unlike taxation and regular money)
It does however have the potential of gradually elevating people who might like some of the stuff you and I post and their vote will suddenly be worth more than the $0.01 my vote is currently worth. As you and I gain power our vote will be worth more and I'll only be voting for things I like. If you do as well, and so do other people then it will work out. It is just WAY WAY early in the life of this and it hasn't had a chance to spread out yet. That doesn't mean it doesn't have problems. I just don't see ANY cases where down voting will be a solution with the exception of addressing spam, plagiarism, and abusive/offensive posts with no warning.
No reason to attack people's post because someone else voted for them.
Also I didn't consider you a hater or troll. I could tell by the rest of your post, and that's why I would have up voted it except for the down vote part. It is a matter of perception. If I don't like something I don't vote for it. I don't consider the flag a down vote. I consider it an indication something should be censored. We don't censor things and it is still here, but that is an indicator that it should be censored. That is just IMO. It also helped me not get an concerned about what they up vote when I realized that anyone up voted can then later give you and I more by voting on us. So in theory it will even out. The people that score really well and never vote. Those are the only people I get a little frustrated with. We can't uplift each other without voting. So we need to be happy when we see other people being uplifted even if we have ZERO interest in their post. :) That is what I tell myself, and it has helped me not really care about the trending page. :)
Nice @dwinblood your up $10 on your reply!
That's pretty cool. It wasn't my goal. I just wanted to talk to you. :) I could sense where you were coming from. I think if people like you and I can see posts like yours and explain the silver lining that is not very obvious initially that this place could be pretty positive and turn into an amazing place for all of us.
Have you ever walked down Hollywood boulevard or really any major city downtown? Often times you find people handing out their albums for free trying to get anyone to listen to them.
Now imagine that you are wealthy and everyone around you knows it. EVERYONE is going to want you to listen to their stuff so of course it is really easy to go unnoticed. Just gotta keep trying.
I coded an app spending countless hours getting it to work just how I wanted it, then I posted it here and got <$3 for the effort. Sure it stung a little, but I am still here ;)
Like I said I'll continue to post and improve the quality of my posts. I didn't write this post because I'm butthurt that my posts aren't earning. Quality content curation is supposed to be the name of the game here and when I see garbage being upvoted for no obvious reason what other conclusion can I reach? If it looks like a duck...
I'm not here to beg or to hit the lottery I believe in the long term viability of steemit and with that in mind abusive upvoting must be addressed
Thanks for the reply @discombobulated
gave you a minnow thumbs up which is worth nothing unfortunately
That's okay @johntims thanks anyway. Everybody wants to ignore this problem and not stick their head up for fear of pissing off the wrong people. I'm not one of those people, I might not be a whale but I have invested here and what we are seeing I'm convinced is rampant insider cronyism, it's obvious to me. We're human and susceptible to corruption however marginal it may be. Could easily be the downfall of steemit in time.
If it is cronyism... who is it hurting? You need to answer that first. How does your status or my status change by their actions? Short of how you may perceive it in your mind, I don't see it hurting anyone. So for it to be cronyism of the sorts that people typically throw that label around (me included) I'd need to see it blocking or hurting someone. Yet since votes create steem power and steem dollars without taking them out of some fund we provided I see no way it can be hurting you. It is potentially up lifting people that could later be more effective at up lifting you. Also that power starts somewhere because they were here before you. It has to spread out from them. Though there is a way you can defeat that. You could spend real $$$ on Eth or BTC and then buy steem power and accelerate faster and your votes would be more powerful. I don't have the $$$, and I haven't spent a dime here. Everything I've gotten here I've gotten without spending a thing. I see posts and may have moments of envy much as if I happened to see a person winning the lottery. Yet the person that received those votes, they did not control those votes. You can down vote and attack the people receiving the votes... yet that is like attacking the beggar because a rich person gave him money. It will do absolutely nothing to the rich people, though it very well might the beggar. You really need to stop looking at this thing from the perspective of how money, taxes, etc happen in the real world. Something like this has never existed. When someone is voted for it is not as if they are using taxes they stole from you to pay someone for that vote. So unless you can find a legit reason other than you don't like their choices, and the trending page sucks for how this hurts you then SERIOUSLY think about it, all that is left is envy. Yet once you realize that no harm was done, and potentially good things could come from it then hopefully the envy falls away and you'll be free from this cronyism, ponzi, crowd that is so busy trying to frame this thing in concepts that have existed before.
I do think you have it in you, and I think this post I am replying to is likely one that you wrote before some of my other replies to you. You may already have come to this conclusion. Just in case you didn't I felt the need to reply because without that HARM the actual down votes harm the beggar, not the person placing the vote. I KNOW they make money (a lot more than a beggar) but I believe you are smart enough to understand the analogy and why I am choosing it for comparison. Help me make this positive, help me lift people up. This place has problems, and I too think some stupid crap gets voted on. I just know the solutions people are proposing are not solutions and will actually harm people. And other than I think what the votes are on is often pretty dumb, they are not actually hurting anyone. What you propose as a solution could hurt people.
I'm really not indulging in envy here. What I'm talking about is different, I'm glad for those who are recieving, truly. However, if the goal here is meritorious curation and content creation , well then that is being abused. Voting your buddies money, this is a market here and in that sense there is a lot of questionable backscratching going on.
Well people do have bots that follow them. Someone has decided person X always writes cool things so I'm going to write a bot to always up vote X's posts.
That does kind of suck.
Yet complaining about it won't fix that. They did give us a free environment. There are exploits. They may prove to be a problem.
I don't see them fixing it on the blockchain, but since everything runs on top of that and steemit.com is just an interface for the blockchain I wouldn't be surprised to see people make different portals from steemit.com that show information in other ways. It won't stop the bots. You have to scrap the freedom to fix the exploits. Someone decides who's voice is important and who's is not, that is where the decline stops because you've now allowed a human to force their subjective views upon everyone. So it IS a good thing, but it is also new, and we have a lot to learn about how to deal with an environment like this.
They can't give away money. They can't take your money. They can't redistribute money. It is free.
At the moment the system is lopsided but I do think that is going to even out over time. It actually has begun if you look close enough, but it is a slow process for now. Actually, it is pretty damn fast, but it is slower than many people would like.
They are approaching this like it is a finished product, when it is still in beta. Some strange things can happen, but with the steemit.com code being open source I completely expect to see other portals to interface with the blockchain. Your money, and your posts reside on the blockchain so it doesn't really matter which website you view it from.
It is truly a paradigm shifting moment I believe. I am sure we'll encounter problems. They won't be solved by us attacking each other... you and others inspired me to write what is my personal favorite of my posts so far... check it out.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/let-those-shouting-cronyism-ponzi-and-corruption-be-the-first-to-cast-their-stone-upon-the-beggars
I have seen many of these posts on steemit and its getting old.
Me too. It inspired me to write a response. Feel free to check it out, and give me feedback or don't. :) Freedom is a grand thing.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/let-those-shouting-cronyism-ponzi-and-corruption-be-the-first-to-cast-their-stone-upon-the-beggars