Don't Even Think About It!
This is a quick guide for STEEMIT NEWBIES. It was only a little while ago that I first opened an account on STEEMIT.COM and became a member of the community. I did read the white paper and understood most of it but even then still felt unsure of my way around Steemit and the community. It has been mostly by trial and error, or the occasional reprimand and even down vote that has taught me the do's and don'ts here on STEEMIT. Unfortunately, as far I know of, there is no "Newbie Guide", so with that I decided to at least post a few pointers for all the recent newbies that have joined.
The 3 Don'ts
The first 2 Don'ts will probably be familiar to most if not all of us. DON'T #1 is to not Plagiarize. Obviously do not copy an article word for word and claim it as your own, but also don't write a one sentence post for a news story and then follow it with "and Here is the Link to the Story."
This is not Reddit, so try to discuss or articulate a thought in regards to the story or News article. Try to create quality content with the link to the story to be used more as reference. The same applies for pictures you include in your posts. Do not use the works of others' as your own in your posts. Try to include references, even for your listing yourself on your own pictures.
DON'T #2 is another obvious one; Not to SPAM here on STEEMIT. I was accused of "spamming" once because I posted a link to my blog in a reply I made on someones article. It was not even the author who down voted me, but another Steemit member. They told me that my link was not relevant to the story posted nor the conversation, and that by linking my blog in the reply I was spamming. I felt upset because all I wanted was a little attention (and an Up vote). But I realized that they were right in considering it Spamming. So Don't SPAM. Remember to be polite and courteous, and if anything ask first.
And DON'T #3 for all the Newbies is DON'T UP VOTE. At this point, if you are a newbie, you are most likely a "Minnow" in the STEEMIT "OCEAN" and have very little STEEM POWER. Since Minnows have little STEEM POWER, their up votes have "no weight" or very little and therefore likely not receive a payout. Since there has been a recent surge in STEEMIT subscribers with newbies growing to about 60K accounts, for many it's like the blind leading the blind. I have been seeing many newbies up vote until they use up all their Voting power. That is a lot of work and most if not all the votes are for nothing unless you have some serious STEEM POWER.
The One
Instead of wasting your time and energy on fruitless ventures, focus on this ONE major DO, that if done right will begin to yield you some STEEM returns for your time. This will then allow you to increase your STEEM POWER so that eventually, all your Up Votes begin to count and have a payout. For now, focus on reading good content. Notice the word reading in bold. I emphasis reading because it is the next step that will help you rather than hinder you. After you read the article with "good content" you can now reply to the article with an intelligent comment or question in regards to the article, especially since you read it. You can make an observation or simply mention something meaningful or insightful about the post. From my experiences it seems that most of the time I will get either an up vote for my reply from the author and/ or a comment. Sometimes it will even lead to a few replies that all then get up voted, and occasionally by others too. I receive many rewards for commenting and replying, and that is where you too will begin to see STEEM and STEEM DOLLARS. NOT by up voting until your votes run out.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.
Full $TEEM Ahead!
08/18/16
@streetstyle
My Top Blogs
- Becoming a Dolphin
sources:
pics. = pixabay.com
Yes, intelligent and to the point commenting is the key.
Blind upvoting has no effect.
Ps: I did both - blindly upvoted and intelligently commented. Or was it the other way around... ? :)
I'm going to have to disagree with you on number 3. As a writer, each and every upvote, even if it's not "worth" anything, keeps me motivated to continue doing what I'm doing (creating original content I think the community will enjoy). I get your argument against minnow-voting, but I just can't agree with you. I think that for the benefit of the community, if someone likes a post, they should upvote it.
@freewill
@freewill Yes, I agree with you as well that as a writer, the up votes at least do inspire, and that in itself is very valuable. I will do a follow up to address your point, thanks @freewill
full $teem ahead!
@streetstyle
Thanks @streetstyle - nice to know I'm inspiring new posts! I'd love it if you gave me a credit in your follow-up piece (and would really appreciate it if you check out some of my blog posts too!) All the best, @freewill
Lots of work put into this, upvoted.
Thank you for very useful insights @streetstyle! I appreciate the short and straight to the point guide (I often find myself drowning in long articles here on Steemit, there is so much content already!). The reply tip was especially interesting, I didn´t realise replying was that impactful. Will test it out for myself from now on :-)
I am glad people are finding this useful. Please read the comments and replies here, there is a little more info. And, this is how it works, I up voted your comment. Later today, a small reward for you. You shall see.
That was informative. Thanks for sharing with us @streetstyle
The perfect post to read on my second day on steemit. Thank you for this.
@kobie83 There are a few others like this in My Blog if you are interested.
full $teem ahead!
@streetstyle
fantastic thank you @streetstyle
feeling a little less lost in the steem....thank you!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dolphin at your service @charlchristo . Check out My Blog for other good info. and interesting stuff too!.
full $teem Ahead!
@streetstyle
using your advice not to up vote yet ...otherwise would @streetstyle !
@charlchristo hehehe.....You are right. The IDEA is to be Selective with your votes. If you have little Steem Power, then your vote would be inspirational reward for both us but not financial. Let say this post does go viral, then Yes, an early Up Vote from a Minnow will receieve a payout... but the Post has to make some serious Cash. Eventually as you grow, your votes will receive more and more rewards. For now, AS A DOLPHIN, I will do what I can for " my minnows. "
full $teem Ahead!
@streetstyle
Dear Dolphin then lets see how popular this post can be. It is this Minnow's first day after all. @streetstyle has got my first up vote!
It is an honor @charlchristo to be your first STEEMIT up vote. Thanks, it truly is appreciated.
Its been my absolute pleasure @streetstyle ! STEEMIT day one worth it!
Thanks @streetstyle, I'm new to this platform and the community as a whole. I understand that this is place to spread new ideas and collaborate to create genuinely intriguing conversations. I can only hope that I can contribute in such a way.
Keep posting articles like this so as to keep, what you veterans coin as "minnows" such as myself and many more alike can have our two-cents and not be drown out by a lot of noise created by the "whales". And I mean that in the most sincere way. Thank you for the useful tips and let's keep this community growing in the way that it was designed.
My only concern this far is that said whales appear to have a way of seriously driving attention in whichever way they wish. I can only hope that this power isn't abused, I hope I'm not the only one with this weighing on my mind as a potential problem. I hope @dan and @ned will listen to the little guys and put measures in place to combat this potential issue.
Or maybe that's censorship?
My worries could be misplaced but hey, for now, I'm enjoying the environment and the buzz around Steem/Steemit.
So let the prose flow and the ideas fly!!
thanks for this post. very informative! I am wondering where I can find more information on the rankings? How can you tell when you have progressed passed minnow.. to.. is it dolphin after that? then whale, is that right? what steem power is needed for each ranking do you know? ^_^
@doitvuluntarily If you check out steemd.com there on the left you will how STEEMIT ranks its users. Minnows, Dolphins and Whales are more nicknames given to accounts of certain STEEM POWER Wealth/Rank. I am not exactly sure but I think anyone with more than 10MV or somewhere near 2500 STEEM POWER or more is a Baby Dolphin and SuperHeros and Legends are the "Whales."
Anyone with better input please enlighten us.
full $teem ahead!
@streetstyle
Sorry, but "DON'T # 3" is quite a stupid advice.
There's absolutely NO harm in upvoting content. It's not that they are wasting 10 hours a day just for upvoting and not doint anything else...
Your voting power restores after a few hours/days. And as long as you don't have a lot of SP, it doesn't matter anyway if you vote with 100 or 0%.
Esp. in that early stage of newbies, it's the vote that counts, not the money behind it.
EVERY upvote counts for me as an author, even if I'm not rewared with SD. There's nothing more frustrating than putting hours of work into an article and then having the feeling of not reaching a single person and not getting any votes due to such thinking.
Don't forget the chance of getting more attention for a post by having a lot of votes, even if they are "just" from "minnows".
Your "Just focus on producing Steem"... That's exactly that type of thinking that might ruin this platfrom
@oululahti
My Reply to @charlchristo
Thank you, you've probably saved me some heartache and wasted time. Not spamming is obvious, but the use of upvotes is good to know. From a writers perspective I'm sure they want more upvotes, but from a new user's perspective, if their votes are somewhat wasted, then a balance obviously needs to be found. Good to see you include the value of reading, especially if it leads to intelligent commenting. I guess we all want to see Steemit reach it's true value, especially in terms of content.
What would you define as "if their votes are somewhat wasted"???
How is your vote wasted? Just because you might not get Dollars or immediate reward for it? There's absolutely no harm in upvoting stuff but in not upvoting, you start introducing a culture where writers get even more demotivated and no one upvotes any of your own stuff anymore too, because it's "wasted" anyway.
Great idea...
@oululahti I guess I should have been more specific, and stated to not run amok up voting anything and everything that gets posted, because that is what I see a lot of the new comers doing. And that probably just loads the blockchain, and doesn't pay anyone or if it does very little. But what I didn't state was the "inspirational reward" created by up votes for the Writer. I will address that in another post I promise @oululahit ok?
Based on what I read from the article, I would see "if their votes are somewhat wasted" to mean upvoting everything, because that's what you thought was required, without commenting, or contributing in some degree. Some of what I see going on is some users upvoting everything. If I understand this article correctly then eventually they have no more Steem Power left, and their votes become worthless. This is what I meant meant by that comment. It's not an all or nothing thing, but using your upvotes to reward truly good content (as you see it) becomes an extremely valuable thing to do. Who wouldn't want to reward good content?
Yes, but your Voting Power (that regenerates anyway over a few days) is basically only relevant if your vote is backed by enough Steem Power to actually make a difference financial wise. Else we're discussing your vote is either worth 0.001$ or 0.00001$. Who cares about that reward anyway?
In that stage, it's the upvote itself that's important, not the ridiculously small financial reward.
I'm not sure that I mentioned financial reward. My only point, based on my understanding of this article, was in the overuse of the upvote for no tangible benefit. If that's not the case then so be it. I'm new to Steemit, so please don't assume that I know more than what I can learn from others willing to teach. Such as this article, and others chiming in with corrections.
@naquoya Please see my replies to @charlchristo and @freewill Thank you.
I afraid am not agree with you, about minnows do not up vote. Personally, I (as minnow) upvoted to good posting which has originality, good content, and politely even only for introduce them self. Actually do not act upvote like clearance sale, pick good posting that's will give another minnows to write. This is the core of steemit, expose your opinion, your feeling, your knowledge and experience in better writing in steemit. by the way nice posting :)
@happyphoenix please read the thread here and you will see a little more of what I had to say, please. Thank you.
full $teem ahead!
@streetstyle
Now here's the kicker. I've read the article, I am a newbie and I really enjoyed this information ,should I upvote it or should I listen to what the article said and not upvote it. Hmmmm
@demeterz01
Read My Reply to this user and also read the thread here, you'll read a good discussion.