Dear Steemians, I was writing this all down in my morning blog and by the end, I decided it needs its own post.
So I saw this new project here on Steemit where a bot is going to downvote self-votes on comments (if I'm getting this right). Now I know this might make me a target for disapproval, but I'm going to admit to you guys that I self-vote on my comments sometimes. Not the simple 'Thank you' comments, but the longer ones. You know why? Because I'm getting more and more frustrated with this place and many times, I am basically the only way I can still earn something.
This is what happens when I leave things alone and simply promote my posts in the appropriate chat channels. Would you like to compare those payouts to the payouts some newbies are getting recently, which regularly manage to climb up into the hundreds? I saw some gaming posts earning over $200.00 yesterday and compared to mine, they really weren't any better. I'm not saying mine are great, they are just not worse than those.
I know not all of my posts are worth much, but I have shared some nice quality things. Often though, the only way I can even get to ten is by using @booster and @randowhale, and honestly, that's just throwing money down the drain and pretending I'm getting upvotes. However, it seems like using them is the only way to attract another upvote or two. I tested. I don't want to use those anymore though.
So yes, I self-upvote a comment once in a while, because that feels like the only way I can still earn anywhere near to what I used to earn from upvotes, which are now being re-directed to newbies, simply for being new.
Guess what, I'm still a minnow too, because I didn't get a big break, simply for being new.
I don't really want to self-upvote my comments and I always do make sure I have enough power left to support the people I follow, but in the next few months, I actually might need the money I earn here. I'd love to earn for quality, but I feel that's not what's happening at the moment. So when people stop voting crazy high on simplistic posts because they come from newbies, and start giving the loyal members the light of day again, I will stop self-voting on some of my comments.
I try to be fair here, I've helped out a lot of newbies in the past by giving them some extra attention through my blog and by answering their questions and worries. I still do sometimes. Those actions go by unnoticed and I don't really mind that much, but I do mind that I am now getting passed by for not being new.
I have struggled to get to where I was. I have worked my butt off to get meaningful followers and slowly grow my earnings. And they did grow! Lately, however, I can hardly get any upvotes anymore. I am not happy that I now have to work my butt off for a $2.00 payout, because I'm not new, while the newbies get a break for being new and don't have to do much at all for big payouts left and right.
Can you not see you're hurting the community like this?
I would not be writing about this if it was just me. I am lucky enough to still get a small break now and then. I would simply write off the rest as frustration and people not liking me or my writing. I was always mostly invisible out there in the real world, so why wouldn't I be online? However, I hear this same story from many long-time members. Those of us who weren't lucky enough to be here in the first few months and who don't have the cash to buy our way to more Steem Power. We feel neglected and passed by on every side. I think all of our newbie supporters need to stop to think for a second and start worrying about the long time members who worked hard for this platform.
Isn't it important that the older members stay on? The loyal members who have worked their butts off? The people who still have big dreams for this place? The people who want to improve their quality of writing? The people who are here for more than just a quick buck?
Earnings aren't everything, but can you try to understand how frustrating it is to see your regular payouts drop from $15.00 (and the occassional $30.00) to $2.00 or $3.00 (and the occassional $10.00), while newbies earn hundreds? I don't think I have ever, in my entire Steemit life, went into the hundreds.
Do you really feel people deserve that much, simply for being new? I do not believe those posts are worth so much and if you start to think about the long term implications and stop thinking short term, you are just setting them up for disappointment. Because one day, these newbies won't be new and they will be the ones writing these kind of posts.
Only they will not be sad about losing $15.00 payouts. They will be sad about losing $100.00 payouts.
I know it's crazy for me to still think upvotes are based on quality at all, because we all know that's not the case for many people. I will still use my votes that way though. And you know what? I will keep supporting newbies, but I will not set them up to fail. There is plenty of that going around already.
I support the people I value on this platform (long standing minnows) with votes ranging from 10-20%. Either for being stand-up people, or for writing good posts. I support new people with votes ranging from 1-5% and a hearty welcome (which is much more important). I support great posts with ~50%, no matter who they come from.
I refuse to give newbies crazy payouts on posts that aren't worth it. The occassional great intro gets over 5%, but besides that, I welcome them and give them a small upvote, which is generous enough in my eyes. If they share my interests, I follow them and when they write good posts, I will reward them accordingly, but they will not get a 100% upvote on crap, simply because they are new.
I would like to say to all the newbie supporters: There are simply too many of you and you are setting them all up for disappointment. I know it's hard, but stop thinking short-term. Spead your love. There are more than just newbies here (and you're even missing some of those in your upvotes aswell).
Stop ignoring the long-time members!
| Photo shop | Foodblog | Photo gallery | Twitter |
Want to satisfy your creative needs?Join the Marvelous Tales Contest!
As always, these pictures are made and owned by me and are not to be used without my permission. If you would like to use them in any way, please contact me or visit my Deviantart or Photography shop for a purchase.
Great points! I am with you. If it wasn't for one certain voter all of my posts would be a dollar or two.., and I have been here over a year.
Then again I post about Cigars, and there aren't many cigar smokers here, yet.
Yeah, some people are lucky enough to have a constant whale backer and I'm happy for you on that front. I guess I haven't been lucky enough to find one yet! It's probably because I hardly connect with them, because we don't generally share the same interests. Atleast any post I find in trending just doesn't attract me :-)
Yeah, it is a very niche topic! I can't say I'm very interested in cigars either ;-)
I am grateful for the $15-20 vote it provides...., but of course I see so much more people are making for something that takes no time. I am ok with that, life is not fair and Steemit isn't suppose to be either.
Yup, Steemit is like anything else, it's a lot about who you know :-)
Yeah, no question about it. I don't have whale followers (none that I'm aware of), but a few dolphins and orcas. The only time a post I resteem gets a big bump in awards is when a follower who has a whale following him or her upvotes it. But that doesn't happen often.
I do a mix of resteeming - newbies, minnows, and others. Sometimes it helps, sometimes not so much.
Anyhow...here is a resteem for YOU to 12,000+ followers. I hope it helps, @playfulfoodie. :)
What @playfulfoodie write resonates with me as I am in the same position as a veteran minnow. Is this how we can call ourselves. Just appreciating the fact that you are resteeming the post. A lot of veteran minnows are in the same position.
12,000+? Oh my gosh, that are so many followers! I don't think I've seen anyone with that many followers yet... Thanks a lot for the resteem :-)
I see you made resteeming your core business! It is a very noble cause and much appreciated, I'm sure, by those you resteem.
You're right that an upvote from one individual can make all the difference, due to the voting trail they have :-)
I upvoted you :D
And I followed you. Maybe one day it will be worth something ;)
Hahaha.. I'd have to thank @innuendo for that, my highest paying post would probably be $5 without him
"Yet" Bam! My entire thoughts summed up in one word. Who will the aficionados flock to when they arrive?
The guy who's already established here.
Don't be here for today. Be here for what'll be happening a year from now.
Yes indeed..., I run more than one cigar group on FB... I am waiting for communities and/or a better UI to get a bunch of them over, I know most are fed up with FB and worried about getting shut down for cigar selling, trading, etc. The cigar community is absolutely huge on FB and elsewhere online.
Paypal is the main payment trading method, imagine if it was Steem.. :-D
I can see your humidor filling up with free samples from boutique operators hoping for a kind mention.
Being there then requires being here now.
That would be nice... lol.
By then there will be pro writers on Steemit, and that is fine with me, that would mean Steem is huge.
Seems after hf19, people both old and new become very aggressive to make money. Stuff like randowhale, boosters, trails everywhere. And I am quite sure many people just browse, look at the author name, rep, upvote count, estimate payout, then how many minutes ago --> Vote, or not vote. Then, next post. Some people said steemit will grow and become well known like facebook. I was one of them, before. And now, I just think far to go. At least, I join almost the last month of hf18, and click upvote very happy without too much concern, both friends' post and post I like. And now, I feel pressure... especially I am still poor...
I think that's how people have worked with votes on Steemit for quite a while now. Chasing the posts that stand to make a lot more. I can understand it partly, but I hope these people find a good balance to also vote for posts they actually appreciate.
Very well said, i hope this post could reach out the steemit and eventually act on it. its hard being a minnow!! and mostly its very frustrating seeing someone with a very high amount of upvotes with just a non-sense post,
i am not a good writer, i actually hate writing even when i was studying, but this site gives me a room to improve myself.
THE REALITY HERE IS MONEY MAKES A MINNOW, NOT BY THE ARTICLE HE MADE!! DISREGARD ITS CONTENT OR VALUE,.
my upvote was just a fraction of a 1$ and doesn't have much weight but i give it to this post 100% agree on the content.
thanks for this wonderful post, i read it from start to bottom.
THIS POST SHOULD EARN THE 3 DIGIT TO 4 DIGIT..
HAVE A GOOD DAY!! :)
You have some very valid points. I think it is important that people who have committed time and energy to the platform are rewarded. People who will and do commit and are not just going to disappear if things get tough. I think votes overall are down after the forking. I hope things pick up for you :0)
Thank you @meesterboom! I've worked through good and bad times here and I will stick around, but I don't feel like we should just stay quiet and ignore every bad thing that's happening. Sometimes we just need to speak up. I don't think it'll be heard anyway, because most posts seem to fall through the cracks lately for many people.
Yes, voting overall seems down and I know it's been hard on people. Even more so when they see newbies (and the well established whales) breezing through.
It's a combination of many things, like cryptos, including Steem, dropping in value and the many new accounts and more posts to drown in. Today was when I felt like pointing out the other problem some have been noticing :-)
I feel its not just quality content that cuts it here, you need to have whale friends or many dolphin friends for better rewards
Yes, that's definitely a big part of it aswell. I've noticed quite a few getting 'sponsored' by whale friends I guess. Can't blame them too much, I would upvote my friends aswell. I just hope they balance things out by upvoting good quality from others aswell...
take it easy foodie san...I think the market is affecting the curations..Look at the big players...their curations has been dropped below half...The good thing you should do is wait till b4 august 1 then buy as much steem (or any altcoin that is profitable) as you can then wait till it bounces back in price.I am sure, your curations will go up again.I really do think that curations are parallel to the market...Steem is a volatile asset after all...
BTW Im almost done on my entry for this week..
Thanks @tediursa24! I have already been buying some Steem while it's on discount. Curation is down overall, I agree, but looking how hard older minnows are having it now and the ease with which some newbies get hundreds for mediocre posts, I do still stand behind my post. Though I know some newbies have it hard aswell.
Normally, I try to tone down my posts a bit more, but sometimes I feel a point needs to come across strong. A bit too strong perhaps, but this will mostly be ignored anyway, like most posts :-)
Great to hear you're almost done! I can't wait to see your entry :-)
LOL...it's still too early...But prices are really good right now(you can make profit even by buying right now)...I think steem will go below 1 dollar a week before the fork .Just a hunch.
Yeah, I still have some bitcoin left to spend (not whole bitcoins though, the value of my wallet isn't even 1 whole bitcoin anymore) and will be buying in over the next few weeks. I've put every buy/sale on hold for now though, so I can go all manual. Mainly because I really have no clue what will happen the 1st of august and it's all a bit over my head to be honest :-)
Lots of crappy content gets upvoted while the hidden gems remain hidden. Very old, persisting problem. And if you say anything, they'll just reply with "that's what the market wants". No, you're just greedy for the curation rewards, you don't even read the post !
Pretending " the market wants "the same thing you upvote for better curation rewards is delusional at best.
Leads to low content quality, which will slow the progress (or even kill) of steemit
Edit : Steemit on phone is laggy and almost unusable, any typo is because of that
I couldn't agree more with this! The curation rewards are a big problem in this, but I wonder how to fix it. If they were to go, no one would have incentive to upvote anymore, so that would also pretty much kill Steemit.
Courageous post. I personally feel that quality isnt really a metric of upvotes anymore. So much content that is clearly poor quality gets attention and nurturing while in depth, intellectual and well considered posts languish.
Oh oh, can we call it the languish barrier?
Please?
Please, yes.
I couldn't agree more.
Honestly, I was very curious to see the reactions on this post, but so far, I haven't heard anyone speak negatively about it yet. It's an issue everyone agrees with so far. It's just sad to see that it's still happening, even though many seem to agree it's there.
It's true. However we should be careful with who does this.
I can't agree more on the fact that minnows should upvote themselves. We are still in a place where we don't think our posts earn what they deserve, so we keep trying and hoarding for some upvotes. Any upvote is a good one.
When you look at whales upvoting their comments, I am like;
It's not like they need more to stand out from the crowd and are scavenging to get what they think they deserve.
There is a giant gap between whales and minnows and we need someone or something to make that gap smaller. Like you mentioned, there are bots out there trying to, but I am not sure if bots are the answer.
Personally, I try to involve and drag people along in my posts. For example I created a content and would love to encourage people to create their own post to enter (so they can earn some from that aswell along with the potential prize money). Aswell as my Steemit Collaborations where I try to shine some light on minnows who are barely getting anything for their cool posts.
I guess this is my contribution to the community and I hope to be able to do that for long. I hope to grow on Steemit and get to a place where my contribution starts counting in bigger numbers to help more Steemians.
I like your way of doing things for the community! I also started a contest. I don't have many participants yet, but I'm sure it'll grow eventually.
I'm just a bit worried about bots though, because they don't actually vote for quality, they just vote for whatever reasons their creators tell them to. Buying votes is something that is open to everyone, so I'm still not sure how to feel about that. At the very least they are free to be used by everyone.
I've been here awhile, and know what you mean.
I just keep on writing, and hoping at least some of my posts get a big cha-ching. Poetry, philosophy, science, technology, and short stories are my thing, so I'd like to think more people are interested in my content.
But eh, I'll let the market decide.
Yeah, I just keep on going aswell. Sadly it's not all about the topics and quality anymore and a lot is about who you know (well, who knows you), aswell. I hope you get some big breaks!
These are some points i certainly agree to - see this with a lot old steemians since HF19 - the vibes are also getting towards some not funny directions at the moment. Resteemed this
Thank you @uwelang. It's nice to hear a long standing member like yourself noticing this too. I was really curious about the responses I would get on this one to be honest :-)
I am not giving up but maybe the price decline is cleaning this platform a bit up for the good
Yeah you've got a good point there. People only here for the money might get discouraged these next few weeks :-)
Great post, and I appreciate the frustration as well. Nothing sucks more than spending a lot of time writing a great post, thinking it's going to do well, only to see languishing in the pennies an hour later, while some simple meme or junky scrap of poetry garners $100 or more.
Great content doesn't cut it anymore when it has to stand above the ocean of garbage, and it seems luck and timing and who you know plays a very large, very unbalanced role in getting good content seen.
I couldn't agree more! Thank you so much for your input. It really is frustrating at times. I know me whining about it won't make a big difference either though, as hardly anyone notices my posts anymore, but hey, can't always keep quiet :-)
You are raising some very valid points, @playfullfoodie. As a 9-months old minnows, I definitely can share your frustration, seeing as some newly arrived Steemians can grab a thousand followers in just a month or two, while it took me several months over the last fall and winter to get to one hundred.
That is why I made it my commitment to include both ‘old’ and ‘new’ minnows equally in my ‘Feed Your Minnows’ contest/giveaway. Everyone is equally welcome here and the whole point is to spread out the wealth (at to spread love, as you put it) evenly among the participating followers.
Yes, I've noticed that too. Very frustrating.
I love that you don't forget to include the older minnows aswell. We could use more of you please :D
yes 1k, 2k 3k followers, but believe me they are not all even looking at the posts, I know I have that many so called followers....doesn't mean a thing really in fact it is more annoying because there is so much cr4p out there and unfortunately in my feed now. I yhimk your 100 are probaby more valuable to you than my 3k plus. Slowly does it.
I will check out you contest.
I've been on Steemit for about a month now and I put a lot of work in to my posts. I want my blog to be high quality :)
It's discouraging to see your hard work getting little return....
Thanks playfulfoodie for raising the voice!
I'll continue to build my blog to gain better reputation and more followers.
It really can be discouraging, even after half a year. Building your following never ends and with the growing amount of members, even a big following is no guarantee.
It is no problem, I like raising my voice here sometimes. It might not be seen by many, but it's good to write down my frustration from time to time :-)
I really like your posts and they are good quality. I hope your following will grow very big! You're on my mind for if I need a food post to fill in my slacking in that department! I've got a few of my own lined up for now though, but my slacking days shall return eventually ;-)
This is a really interesting read! You have a great writing style, and wonderful photos too, so following you now. As a newbie, I'm not holding any expectations of earning, so at least I won't ever be disappointed. I also haven't ever earned $100 just for being new either hehe. Interested in seeing more of your posts :)
Thank you @jennypottuh! I'm so happy to hear you like my writing and photos :-)
Yeah, I did kind of put all newbies into one big box, didn't I? I know not all of you get these big breaks, which makes it even more unfair, but what can you do...
I don't have a lot of time to go through your posts right now, but from what I see, you actually write good stuff! I'll follow you to see your next posts :-)
Congrats on soon becoming an aunt by the way! And what a lovely name Malachi is!
Thanks, I really appreciate that! I havent really done much writing since I left college, which was about 5 years ago...I cringe sometimes at how basic writing can come off sounding sometimes, but I like to think (or hope at least haha) that I'm just rusty! I love how detailed and thoughtful your writing is. You'll be a good inspiration for me here :)
Oh trust me, just writing a lot on Steemit will improve your skills (or remove your rustyness) in no time!
Well I noticed that some users only upvote their comments and I agree that's frustrating. I guess there shouldbe some moderation on the number of self upvotes.
True, someone who does not contribute to the community at all takes it a bit far! I don't really want to upvote mine either, but I sometimes just do it out of frustration due to how things are going around here lately...
I guess if upvotes would be forbiden everyone would start to upvote each other, cause there wouldn't be any other way to earn money.
Yeah I guess so. Atleast curation rewards are a reason to upvote aswell.
Totally understand your frustration. Been writing on and off on Steemit for a couple of months by now, to see whether or not my writing could be appreciated by others, and what content I could focus on to later on perhaps freelance for a writing-ish job. I still don't really have a clue what influences the amount of votes posts get (timing, title, tags, etc); but to be fair I never really gave it any thought either until yesterday, reading a post about @randowhale. And WAUW I didn't realize there were so many tools to get more disclosure / votes!
I've got to know Steemit last Summer and was excited about a community that could evaluate quality content to motivate good writers to share their stuff. And I can totally relate when you say it's a pitty some abuse the platform as a means for a quick-fix for cash.
Keep up the good work though, would be a shame to see Steemit becoming another Myspace filled with spam!
(Btw, I wanted to save your post as I couldn't reply earlier; Pocket provides recommendations related to keywords in the content you save: wanted to share with you as I really started laughing out loud haha 😅 )
Same here, it seems completely random sometimes! Posts I share that I feel don't deserve much, sometimes make a pretty good amount, while posts I worked hard on hardly gain anything.
Haha, oh my gosh, that's awesome! I love how these recommendations are self-help things to try and calm you down. How considerate! :D
(A little zooming in necessary I'm afraid ;) )
Wow, you said a lot of what I have been thinking @playfulfoodie There seems to be intense concentration of upvoteing for brand new members, why do they deserve so much just for being new.
Many are I think just too impatient to wait their turn to rise and want instant success, and unfortunately there are bots out there that promote to buy yourself an upvote.
Every day It seems there is a new bot to auto upvote content by buying an upvote. these are hugely popular with accounts buying upvotes left right and centre. As you go through the commets on some posts you see various upvote bots have been used (paid for) to get upvotes sometimes of very large amounts, this in turn makes us think the post is truely popular (when in fact it may not be at all).
It's just gaming the system I suppose, but it wont last if there are no REAL upvotes on content....it will eventually destroy Steemit.
I see there is some anger at the upvotes too, not getting enough to cover the cost...haha buyer beware, the bot owners continue to laugh all the way to the bank.
You got an upvote (not a bot, so really really small) & resteem too.
Thanks for your input @pqlenator. It helps to show I'm not the only one who has noticed these things.
Yes, many new people want quick success and who can blame them? It's human nature. I want $1.000 rewards too! But it's not realistic. It can't last. That's why I think all of these people supporting newbies in such big ways are only harming the platform in the long run. They won't keep upvoting them once they've been around for a while and then the newbies will get disappointed and leave.
If you've worked for your success and it is a lasting success, you'll stay! You'll stick through the ups and downs of the value, because you'll understand we all go through this. These new people who get upvoted to the moon won't understand it when their rewards start dropping.
I used upvote bots for a while. First of all: they are a complete gamble and with Steem prices where they are now, you're not getting a good return on your investment at all. You are basically throwing away money. However, I wanted to see if people would follow the value and it does seem like posts with higher upvotes in the beginning get a lot more later on aswell. Now that I've stopped using the bots, it's hard to even get above 2/3, while my rewards minus the bot votes previously amounted to more.
Anyway, I won't use them a lot anymore. Maybe on my contest post, so people win bigger prices. I will continue to upvote my posts though, because it's the only thing that draws in anyone at all, or so it seems.
Thank you very much for the upvote and resteem, I'm glad you liked my post :-)
Wow, that was the longest comment I read today. Thank you for a very full response, it's that sort of interaction that makes Steemit great.
More on the upvote bots...sorry but I noticed 2 more new ones today, is this getting out of hand maybe yes, is it opportunistic maybe yes, is it good value maybe sometimes but buyers should definitely beware and remember the rewards are shared with the post curators too.
If using an upvote bot be prepared for a possible negative ROI (return on investment) is all I can say.
I gave you an upvote for your comment, sorry it is so small, but I'm only small too.
Two new ones? Wow, I only know of two... honestly, it is a waste of money with Steem prices being so low. I just did a randowhale upvote on my contest post, to increase the price pool a little bit, but I get nowhere near the 2 SBD back that I spend on the upvote.
Thank you very much for your upvote, I think good conversations are worth a lot more here, but any upvote is ofcourse also welcome. I am giving you one back :-)
I am a newbie and if you see my posts I'm only making pennies. So I don't know what it is like to have posts making big money. I only have one post with a big amount only because a whale voted on it. Other than that one post the rest suck. I'm still trying to figure out what to post that is considered "quality content". In short I'm a struggling minnow in a mud puddle. I know as time goes by I will at least get a little better (I can hope) but until then I'll just keep supporting my friends old and new. Thank you for this information and your point of view. It's necessary to hear what others think and say to help us all grow.
Thank you for your input @guarddog! You know, I think the complete randomness of Steemit upvotes should not be forgotten and I think that's a part of the platform that might be hard for newbies to understand or recognize at first. People sometimes greet newbies by upvoting their posts to very high payouts, but that's mostly a one time thing, after which the newbie gets many low paying posts. It's not necessarily about quality, but simply lucky timing (that still goes for my posts aswell!). The longer you're around, the more meaningful followers you get who generally upvote your posts, because they care about your content, so you basically managed to slowly grow your baseline payout.
The randomness stays, but the way to increase your chances of being seen is mainly to gather more followers. Meaningful followers, not the ones who follow you, only so you'll follow them back. Think about the topics you like to talk about or write about and then go on the hunt for others with topics like those. If you strike up a conversation with those people, they might follow you and care about the content you post. Those are the ones who are most likely to upvote you or even resteem you. It's something you will probably understand already (proof is basically in the fact that you write a meaningful comment on this post), but not all newbies do.
So true. I'm finding so many posts that I really like but still have to be mindful of which ones get a VOTE.
Oh yes! I completely understand. It's really harder for you, because you can't adjust your voting weight yet, so you'll burn through your voting power quite quickly.
First, I realized by your post that I am a newbie, not a minnow (I didn't know there was a difference, duh). And as a newbie, I haven't gotten any big break. I mean, I am really, really far from the hundreds. Maybe I am doing something wrong, or I haven't posted the "correct stuff". I realized there are many things I still don't understand very well. For instance, what do you mean by "meaningful followers"? Do you refer to someone with high voting power, or a conscious follower who would read and interest in your content?
"I support the people I value on this platform (long standing minnows) with votes ranging from 10-20%. Either for being stand-up people, or for writing good posts. I support new people with votes ranging from 1-5% and a hearty welcome (which is much more important). I support great posts with ~50%, no matter who they come from."
Maybe it's too soon for me to be asking this, but how do you manage to regulate the percentage of your upvote?
Thanks for your post. It has made me wonder about the ways of Steemit.
Hi @n4t4h, there's not really any difference, but I'm using the word to make the difference between old and new minnows. I know not all the new members get these breaks. There are honestly way too many, so many will be lost in the big influx of posts. I was simplifying the facts for the point I was trying to get across.
You're not doing anything wrong, you're noticing the same problems many do, which is basically that it's hard to be seen in the big amount of new posts coming out every minute. If you're new, your best bet is to comment a lot on other people's posts while maintaining a couple of your own aswell.
With "meaningful followers", I basically mean the second one. Followers who care about the topics you write about and therefor are more likely to upvote your posts or comment on them. They could also simply be nice people you have nice conversations with. I like both kinds of those followers :-)
I see how the percentages bit can be confusing for a new member! It's because you don't have the option yet. Neither did I at the beginning. When you upvote, you click the icon once and that's it. You upvoted the content. At a certain point though, when your Steem Power is high enough, you'll get a voting percentage slider. You click the upvote icon, which is when you get the slider. You can then adjust it to lower the weight of your vote, before you click the item again to cast your vote.
This slider is very much needed lately, because your voting power drains a lot faster. That's why it's hard for new members to keep up their voting power, because they aren't able to lower their weight and therefor aren't able to have much sway over their voting power drainage.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Even though I haven't earned much upvotes and rewards yet, I am enjoying just sharing and posting.
It's not a problem. As long as you're enjoying spending your time here, you'll be fine. The people who do it only for the rewards will get sick of this quite quickly, because normally you need to spend a lot of time to build up your following. Some don't seem to lately though, but yeah. I already got into that :D
I agree 100% with your post, congrats for the words.
Thank you very much, I'm glad to hear you agree :-)
Wow, I just finished a reply to Kyriacos (hope I spelled that correctly) who also wrote about the culture that is developing here that I believe will ultimately hurt the platform.
One thing I need to say first is that all pay-outs are now suffering due to the lower value of steem.
As for your posts of 2 or 3 dollars, all I can say is that I would be happy to get that! Mine are getting around 20 cents. I understand you have been around a lot longer than I have, but the point I'm trying to make is that new members are suffering even greater unless they have made friends in high places or use methods to 'work' the system. When a Redfish spends 3 to 4 days on a single post that is 'for sure going to impress someone' and then gets 3 views and 2 cents reward, it is very disheartening. Who can afford that kind of effort to reward ratio? Where is the incentive to stick around? Some leave, while others resort to 'tactics' that will get them some quick cash.
I'm very glad to hear that you no longer want to use randowhale and other bots that boost rewards for payment. I refuse to use such 'tactics' because although they do (or can) produce greater rewards, the end result is that everyone and their dog will see the benefit of selling their votes (and I have seen some pretty inventive methods)!
Vote-buying bots do not add a social component to this social media platform. They vote based on a script and don't even open the post. There is no SOCIAL in bot voting and I think it hurts the platform in the long run.
As a redfish, I totally understand your predicament and I feel for you. I agree that HF19 may have caused more problems than it solved. I understand the predicament those in charge are facing. I can see the issues that Bitcoin is having and that they could collapse if they don't do something to fix what is wrong. Steem is no different. It is faced with complex choices. Making the wrong ones will hurt them. Making the right ones could allow them to flourish and rise to the top of the crypto-currency market. I have read of some excellent suggestions about how to fix the situation. What will actually be done about it will remain to be seen.
Thank you so much for your input @happyme! I know this post of mine did a lot of generalisation by using the word 'newbies'. I know many of them are struggling aswell and I hope you'll forgive me for throwing everyone on one pile. For me it was needed to get a certain point across.
It's been hard on many people, new and old. It is just frustrating for older minnows to not only see lesser payouts (which is partly caused by Steem value going down), but also see lesser upvotes, while some newbies make huge strides forward with mediocre content at best. It just feels wrong to see someone surpass you with content like that in a matter of weeks, while you've been at it over half a year now.
You're completely right about the decreasing value overall and yes, it could also be worse, I could also earn nothing. Even after half a year, ofcourse I'm not entitled to anything, but I'm comparing to past results. They show a downward trend in not only value, but also amount of votes. It has been like that for a lot of older minnows, which was why I wrote this, because I know I'm not the only one frustrated over this.
I'd rather see voting bots go than stay. The only 'upside' of them is that everyone has an equal shot at them. Everyone can use them, so it's not like you have to brown nose your way into the good graces of a whale. I don't like using them though and quite frankly, anyone using them now, with the Steem price where it is, is throwing away their money.
I now only make an exception for my contest post. I upvote it with a bot to increase the reward payouts for participants.
Honestly, I have been thinking, but I can't understand why HF19 would be the reason for these things, other than the fact that newer minnows have less voting power to go around, because they miss the slider. That explains it a bit, but I wouldn't have expected it to have so much effect. And you're right, Steemit Inc. is facing big choices on how to run this platform and I certainly don't envy them. I think there are no changes that would please everyone, so they just have to do what they think is best and we'll have to understand the tough spot they're in.
From the things I have read, a lot of the whales are saving their votes for themselves and friends due to the lesser number of votes they can now make at full SP. This in turn leaves less votes for others and that is what seems to be the reason for less votes all around. The minnows don't vote on each other and chase the whales, looking to make a bit more on curating, so again, less votes to go around. This effect was actually predicted by aggroed.
That makes no sense to me though. Those whales (and dolphins and many older minnows) have a voting power slider. They can adjust the weight of their votes, so they will be able to vote on the same amount of people they used to, without draining their VP more than they used to. They all know how it works, so that's a bit of a lame excuse if they are using it.
Yes, they CAN use their slider to make more votes, but as they deplete their vote power, they make less on the votes they want to earn money on.
Look at it from a numbers point of view:
If a whale has 40 votes at full power per day and uses 5 to self-upvote the 5 posts they made that day, they still have 35 votes left to self-upvote their own comments and other content. They may use another 10 for their own comments. That leaves 25 full-power votes that they can then use to upvote content from others.
Now lets do that again with only 10 votes per day:
5 for their own posts, 5 for their own comments.... OH OHHHH.... ran out of votes! Sorry everyone else.
Now does it make sense?
That makes complete sense. I guess I need to stop thinking of people as though they are fair.
They say nothing is fair about love and war, but when it comes to money, things can get ugly real fast.
Don't get me wrong; there are many kind and generous people here on this platform. It takes but a few to ruin it for everyone though. What is that saying? A few rotten apples can spoil the whole bunch.
I think this is a wonderful post and agree with you.. I upvoted resteemed and followed you.. thanks for writing this. )
Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you agree :-)
I completely agree with you on this, Up voted, resteemed, promoted and followed you. Thank you for making such a valid post!
Thank you so much @michellereneekid! I'm glad to hear you agree with me.
I am also surprise how some newbies gets to higher reputation so fast. It took me forever to get to +60. I don't think I manage to get over $60 despite all the votes and comments.
Yes exactly, I've noticed the same. I just don't understand how that happens.
I agree with you. In steemit, very talented bloggers and artists could earn a lot but as an ordinary person, I do not have much to share with the community. What I can do it share my ordinary life to people even though not many people are interested. I vote to reward my friend and self-vote to reward myself to be more motivated in this plaform.
I completely understand you! I share about my ordinary life aswell, but I have a few topics I enjoy writing about to add to that, so I've got some foodie lovers, gamers and photographers as a following aswell :-)
Bravo!! This needed to be said. Resteemed!
Aww thank you so much! I'm glad you appreciate the post :-)
Thank you for sharing this @playfulfoodie I am new to the community and I fully agree on your statements as lately I've been checking some trending posts that doesn't really seem to be fit for the term trending when it comes to contents. I hope the community can make a way for those kind of situations. I'll follow you to learn more from your posts so please still share these kind of posts in the future. Wishing you the best :) Have a great day
Sadly, it's a tough problem to shake :-(
Thank you very much for your input and I'm glad to hear you agree. Also, welcome to Steemit! I hope you'll enjoy yourself here and manage to build up a meaningful following :-)
Have a good day!
Thank you for this post. I am new here and it was great to get a different perspective on things. I am still learning a lot of how this works and I appreciate your honesty and information as It has given me another view on how to use steemit, so thank you :)
Thank you so much @thehippiechic, I'm glad you appreciate my post! I've just looked over your profile and decided to follow you. You seem like a very nice and interesting person, so I'm looking forward to seeing your future posts. Welcome to Steemit!
We can do this, we can stick together! Growing minnow here 😄
Aww yes we can! We just have to stick with it and write about whatever we enjoy writing about. More votes and followers will follow I hope :-)
Thank you for posting @playfulfoodie.
These are certainly thoughts on most Steemians minds these days....how to maneuver oneself in this different set of circumstances....indeed.
Lovely photograph and writing.
Cheers.
Wishing you and yours all the best.
Thanks a lot @bleujay. I was really curious to see the reactions on this, but so far most are confirming my ideas. It gets harder and harder to stay relevant and seeing some newbies breeze through as if it is nothing (and with very mediocre posts I might add), the combined frustration just gets too much sometimes.
I'm glad to hear you like my post and photography :-)
Have a good day!
I entirely agree with your frustration, although I just started a month and I get a decent upvotes from some of the people from here, but I swear, I work my ass up off for quality posts with quality photos. But I sometimes see the contents that are poor quality getting more views and upvote, it's discouraging really.But at the end of the day, we should upvote on the quality contents rather than being newbie or not. my upvote power isn't great, but i do anyway . Have a nice weekends.
It really can be very discouraging. If it weren't for the joys I found in writing my posts and talking to some people here, I would probably have left by now. Luckily, because I'm doing what I enjoy, it's not all about the money.
Yes, we should upvote for quality and it's what I'll keep on doing, even though most of Steemit doesn't seem to be about that anymore. I'm glad you do aswell!
Have a good day :D
Im a newbie here, done upvoted and resteemed..
Thank you very much, and welcome to Steemit!
You are not alone! And I think the points you've made also uncover why new users abuse the "introduceyourself"! I made two introduceyourself posts, and the second was just because my first wasn't that great. I left it thereafter, yet I there are multiple posts in the intro by the same author(s), and some are shameless snake-oil marketers that deserve downvotes, so they should be discouraged from cluttering this important section.
I see no wrong in upvoting your own comment, especially if it is buried in a sea of comments on a popular post! Some people leave "gold nugget" comments there, with good links even, but they get overlooked because "0.00" is beside them.
I completely agree with you about the abuse of the introduceyourself tag! Whenever I browse through it to welcome new users, there is so much crap there that's not about an introduction at all...
Yes, I think sometimes upvoting your comment is needed if it holds important information in a sea of other comments. People argue though that it's up to others to decide whether it's relevant or not, but on a very active post, you can very quickly sink to the bottom, without ever getting a chance to be seen. That is kind of frustrating and it has happened to me a few times aswell.
Money is tight at the moment. We have many more users now and less money to go around in rewards (because of a combination of falling price and a readjusting reward pool). It is the beginning of a recession that we'll have to stick through if we want to see this project succeed.
However if we all start hording the reward pool, we make that very same reward pool smaller by undermining the value of the network. The primary competitive value of the Steem Network is the ability for the network to fund its own growth and development via a consensus budget system.
You're right, payouts overall are down, not only due to the increase in members, but also due to the steem price being down. This is something we all have to go through and I'm sure better days will come again (once the 1st of august is behind us).
What annoys me sometimes though (and why I had to let my frustration out in this post) is that it seems as though newbies get a pass and manage to sometimes gain hunderds for a very simplistic post. This might be seen as 'supporting the new guy', but I feel it's a bit like a middle finger to the older minnows. That, and this new guy will not be new later on and won't get the same perks, so he'll just go down in rewards, get disappointed and leave.
Steemit has never felt completely fair, but sometimes, I feel it's a bit less fair than usual, like in this case. It's just very frustrating sometimes when you try to be fair in your support for others, but it feels like many others don't show the same consideration. And yes, that is why, like I said, I sometimes upvote my comments. Not so much as to drain my own VP, but simply to try and counteract all the lost votes that go to newbies for being new.
Besides that, I still try to support most people I follow. Old or new, minnow or whale. Atleast as much as my overly full Home feed lets me :-)
I completely agree. I haven't gotten over 30 votes on a post since the hard fork. No matter what I post, I get the same number of votes. I was just chalking it up to coincidence but it seems, since it's others as well, that is not. Even after tripling my followers I get the same 10-20 votes on every post. I wouldn't mind this. It's still better than making zero on payouts (remember that?), but there does seem to be a lot more junk content getting a good number of payouts because they are new.
Exactly, I've noticed this aswell. And you're right, it is better than making zero on payouts, I remember those times very well. But it's like you say, some crappy content seems to earn way too much, which makes this all the more frustrating.
I hope things will start to go up again for us!
Excellent post @playfulfoodie! I've been sensing something is wrong lately and so hope for a change soon. Please don't get discouraged, we shall prevail! ;)
Thank you! Yes, let's hope so. We'll just have to keep on trying :-)
Great post.
Thank you :-)
Excellent post - you make great content and should be better rewarded.
I have upvoted and resteemed a number of your posts just now - i believe resteeming and networking is your best plan to get the recognition you deserve!
There are support groups like minnow support but i have yet to try them - probably should!
Thank you very much @icedrum :-)
dude I am a newbie...and I give free trading 'advice'..trading futures and CFDS....I am the best trader in the world...the best...to the precise point that is anyone followed my entry and exit calls they have made 130 000 usd in 9 days following me....go check my track record...and I am doing this trading bitcoin....i have not earned anything...nothing...not one cent....I dont need the money as you can see...but man I am a magician giving away free money and I dont get one cent...I wont be here long
Dude, I am not a dude.
hahaha, that's the kind of comment w/c seems like a bot was behind it!!! luckily we have bandwith limit now.
PURELY SPAMMING!! and a scam!!! imagine calling you dude.. hehehe.. does this account pay attention to the profile picture of to whom he commented with?? hmmmm
and lastly imagine that comment earned 100$ hahaha.. crazy...
i flag the content!!!! :)
Ooh! Now that bandwith limit seems quite handy! Did not think of that yet :D
Hi, Welcome to Steemit.
I can Follow You.
You can follow me.Thnx
@muhmmadjamshed
You did not read my post at all and you're just begging for a follow. I'm flagging your comment and suggest you don't do this again.
Today i am launch a scheme for you and for me . In this scheme anybudy can deposit me 1 sbd/steem doller this process continue every 7 days end of the day i give 80% share only one lucky person for example you give me 100 sbd/steem doller i will give 80 sbd/steem doller only one lucky person this process continue every sunday one by one you know that 1 sbd value nothing but 80 sbd velue for a person very hugh everything easy are you acept my proposel.
Today i am launch a scheme for you and for me . In this scheme anybudy can deposit me 1 sbd/steem doller this process continue every 7 days end of the day i give 80% share only one lucky person for example you give me 100 sbd/steem doller i will give 80 sbd/steem doller only one lucky person this process continue every sunday one by one you know that 1 sbd value nothing but 80 sbd velue for a person very hugh everything easy are you acept my proposel.
And you seriously thought that this would be the ideal post to write about this scam? Besides that, you have also copy/pasted this message to other posts, so I am considering this as spam aswell. That's enough reasons for me to flag you and I see I'm not the only one who's done this so far.
I suggest you find an honest and decent way of earning on Steemit.
Thank you for your elaborate comment @elfspice! Let me first start by saying I don't think you're a big meany at all! ;-)
I did not know all the ins and outs of the project (as I stated) and I mainly used it as an example, a stepping stone to my bigger issue. Thank you for explaining a bit more about the project to me. I agree that self-upvoting excessively should be punished somehow (maybe punish is a strong word, counteract might be good here). I understand why non-whales do it though. Heck, I even understand why big whales would do it, though I think with how much they have invested in the platform and the effect their votes have, they should know better.
I can completely get behind the idea of banning it on the blockchain level and I would not be sad to see it go at all. If no one can upvote themselves, things would feel a lot fairer. Though in that case, I'd be worried about whales with alt accounts, but yeah...
How do you think interface changes can work towards a fairer rewards outcome? One thing I read a while ago was hiding pending payouts. How do you feel about that? At first, I thought "No way, I want to see my pending payouts!", but then I figured it might be better, because it would make it harder for people to 'follow the money' on big upvotes. Though ofcourse you can always check out past payouts on people's blogs, so I wonder how much effect it would really have.
I think we have many minnows who are not happy with how things are going now. They themselves try to be fair in their upvotes (even if they upvote themselves aswell), but with the other part of new minnows simply going for a quick buck through 'follower for follower' ideas, we don't have a big group of people trying to be fair. I still don't know how to combat ideas like 'follower for follower', other than to try and educate. In my opinion, it's really harming the platform both with spam and upvotes on crap content.
I don't know about dolphins and whales though. I don't know many at all, because they mostly go indepth on crypto topics quite a bit and my knowledge is very limited there, so I skip over it or can't contribute to their conversations. I wonder how they feel about Steemit and I wonder how they vote. Do they vote minnows a lot, or is it like a 'rich people making other richies more rich' kinda thing? I have noticed a few trying to build up their friends by upvoting all of their posts, which I understand. I'm doing the same for my brother, though my votes don't do much.
I guess my main focus is the other minnows on the platform, just struggling to get seen, so my overall view is somewhat limited at times.
Anyway, thanks again for your comment and also for the compliment. I try to be as honest as I can, though sometimes I tone it down a bit to not piss people off :-)
Aah I see! Yes, it is very hard for smaller minnows to keep up their voting power. I've heard complaints about that before. I definitely understand you fighting to give them a slider aswell!