(I'm including an apology at the top of this article about my reputation and the article that got me flagged. You can find the article HERE.)
I can write. It's that rush when you come into steemit and see people blatantly copying and pasting, making a cent that it becomes appealing. I took a step into it there, copied a title to an article, with the impression that it'd just be seen as 'passing the news'. I didn't try beautify the post or try be 'colourful' about it. I made the remark, "Share whatever you want, have fun with Steemit, but give credit to the creators of the content when you can. 🙂 Check this article out for more information on the sweet headline - URL "Article from Justin OConnell, founder of GoldSilverBitcoin"
I wanted to delete the post after @klye had mentioned that it was confusing and misleading but it was too late. A whale had hit me so hard I didn't know I'd been ship-R3kt until the 'The Day Of The Reckoning' or
'Rep-oning' (Over 2 weeks later from when I'd posted that cursed title and URL link.)
KO'ed. Am I dead?
I am sorry. A truly noob mistake. I've learnt my lesson, have spoke to several dolphins and whales about it whom are trying to help me get my reputation back up and running at the moment. I won't do it again. Most of my stuff is original content. I record songs on guitar and even have some guitar lessons posted up. I'd appreciate help with getting my reputation up from any of you as well. I'm currently sitting on minus six which basically means my content is filtered and almost invisible. That makes it even harder for me to get back into the good books. You can check out my blog HERE
I figured I'd write up an article to show people that I can write when I put my mind to it anyway, so here's something interesting that I thought would be sweet to bring to the table.
ANTS
I've been fascinated with ants for a long time. They're everywhere, which can often lead to people taking them for granted, but they truly are one of the most complex and interesting 'superorganisms' on the planet. I've often thought that if there was ever to be an absolutely massive extinction like something that took out the dinosaurs, ants would have the best chance of survival. And cockroaches, maybe. Ants are everywhere after all and that's because they are organised. They are so organised in fact that they've earned the name 'superorganism' because all individuals of the colonies act as a whole. This is similar to when we kick our toe and a message is transferred all the way up through our nervous system to tell our brains, 'OUCH'. Our whole body reacts. Just in the same way all ants react to one another. If a worker is attacked, other workers withdraw and instantly soldiers are sent forward into a defensive and offensive line to fight off the predator.
Ants are organised into 5 classes
1) Princesses - A princess is an unfertilized virgin queen, she has wings and is a flying ant. Princesses take to the skies on a warm, humid summers day also known as the 'nuptial flight.' Once mated, they scurry along the ground to find a suitable nesting place to lay their eggs. They are now becoming a Queen. They clip their own wings and use them to feed their new family.
2) Queen ants are tough. They've shed their wings in order to feed the new colony. From there, they can live for a range of 1 to 30 years (Ant queens are estimated to live 100 times as long as solitary insects of a similar size) and produce millions of offspring for years. She even chooses the gender and role of the babies.
3) Workers - Ants born as workers, spend their first days of adult life caring for the queen and young. They then participate in digging and general nest work, later to become hunter-gatherers and defenders of the nest. Workers cannot mate; however, because of the Haplodiploid sex-determination in ants, workers of a number of species can lay unfertilised eggs that become fully fertile, haploid males. Haplodiploidy is a sex-determination system where males develop from unfertilized eggs and are haploid, and females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid.
4) Soldier - Soldiers are sterile female ants and are the military unit of the ant colony. They're bigger and have larger mandibles than worker ants. It defends the nest and the colony on foraging trips and can assist the workers by cutting and carrying larger, heavier objects.
5) Drones - Drones have wings and are the only males in ant colonies. They're born from unfertilised eggs and chase down the princesses on the 'nuptial flight.' Once they've had their fun, they die. Drones only survive a few months during the mating period. Such is life.
Interesting things about ants:
1) Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. Imagine if you could lift 20 times your own body weight. A child could pick up a car.
2) They'll find the food, eventually. Don't worry about a vacuum ;)
3) When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so they know where they’ve been. Other ants will tag onto this path and follow. If an ant finds something valuable it lets off a particular type of pheromone that's basically a way of calling out to other ants, "I've struck gold lads, come get it!"
4) The way they live together is like clockwork. The new-borns are raised as 'slaves' and all have particular jobs set out for them through their DNA. They live this way until the day they die, never rebelling, always committed and loyal to expansion, the colony and the queen. Very organised!
5) The activity of ants aerates the soil, making it easier for water and oxygen to get through. They also contribute organic matter.
Some Pictures & Descriptions of Ants
This is an image of fire ants forming a bridge. They're not great swimmers but they can float, and they use this to their advantage by holding onto each other and forming these long rafts & bridges to get across water and keep from washing away in the current.
These are workers from a Leaf-cutter Ant colony carrying leaves back to the nest. This isn't for feeding purposes, but is for growing purposes. They use the leaves to grow a special type of fungus which they use to feed their offspring. Miniature agriculture.
Several ant species herd aphids in much the same way that humans herd animals. Chemicals on the ants' feet tranquillise and subdue colonies of aphids, keeping them close-by as a food source. Aphids excrete a waste product called 'honey dew' which contains glucose, fructose and sometimes trisaccharides.
Camponotus saundersi is an ant species that commits 'suicide-bombing' in act of defense for the colony. When attacked, it ruptures its insides and spews forth a defensive and poisonous sticky secretion towards the predator.
Cyphomyrmex Ants are another type of farming ant. In order to grow yeast, they lay down a graveyard of dismembered insect parts and spread spores over it. They harvest the yeast when it's grown and use it to feed their larvae. The ants are extremely colourful with their graveyards as well, usually forming a bright red, blue or green patch depending on the food source they bring back. They particularly prefer beetle carcasses.
Thanks for reading, hope you like the article :)
Gave you an upvote to repair the rep. I left some other comments here which may be of interest.
upvoted...always room to change.
Upvoted as well.
Thanks for making the effort to come back from that rep, your article was was good and your admission sincere. Gluck!
Jeez, thanks everyone. It's looking fixed. Back in black! ;)
wooohoooo! Now, you know how to repair a negative rep......
I SMELL A BIG FAT POST, CASH REGISTER WAITING AROUND THE CORNER:
Sample post title: " HOW I WENT FROM A -6 REPUTATION TO A POSITIVE 6"
LOL! You're one of a kind (:
That right there is why monetizing social media may have turned it into a very unwieldy double edged sword... LOL.
'Maturity is being able to apologize and admit when you’re wrong because you know that your mistakes don’t define you.'
Several years ago I did some field research on Leaf Cutters in Costa Rica. Actually we did several research projects on ants but the one we presented was the Leaf Cutters. I did a write up you can check out in my posts. We looked at army ants which were everywhere, and this species of acacia ant that lived inside the hollowed limbs of various acacia tree species and would attack literally anything that touched it. Insects, mammals, People, US! There bites hurt like a SOB. They would also excrete a chemical that killed vegetation off in a very visible ring around the plant itself. They would trim vegetation that crowded or clung to (vines) there home tree. Really cool stuff. Great article.
Been bit by those little buggers. Have a sympathy upvote!
I actually saw the post from @kyle in one of my comments talking about how upset you were about your tarnished reputation @shredlord. I wondered if you might simply quit the site or go on a rampage against steemit and go out with guns blazing like Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid leaving everyone with a bitter taste in their mouth.
I'm glad you decided to instead prove that you are a great writer who is deserving of a second chance. You owned up to your mistake and have learned from it. Hopefully others that have negative reputation can follow your example. Glad to have you back in the +! Welcome back to non-grayed out posts!!
I hope you can recover from the -6 reputation. That is like Wang status. Great post about ants.
Whales can really abuse the system like this? Such corruption. Wow.
Much wow, I wouldn't say they abuse it, more like give flags too quickly and without warning.
You guys are so (add offensive language) damn right.
There are scammers with +5 and there are earnest people with - 6
They should remove this feature altogether, it's like a bad judge
I'd say not remove it, but make everyone start with a rep of 0 and the same rep power
I'd say remove it, but something is better than nothing
It's crazy! I called the platform out for being a ponzi, called the whales psychopaths, denounced money and civilization, demanded that my posts be removed, and even blunt truthed a vapid bikini chick into removing a vapid bikini post and I still have a 6 rep. I should be well into the negatives by now!
Well, I can't blame you for calling the whales psychopaths.
Anyways, power is too unbalanced here, for instance, it would be ok for me if the whales counted more for the money part, but for reputation all votes should be considered equal, or at least more similar
Because the whales don't have time to read all the crap that's being posted. They've got their bots doing that work and the algoritmn sucks.
DUH! No (starts with an "s" ends with a "t") Sherlock.
@shredlord to my me happened the same, exactly the same now am - 6 Please help me
Thank you for your post, it was a great read; good luck in the future!!
Not THIS is a good post!
I gave you my vote not only because you made a great post but also because you deserve to be seen!
Every one deserves to be seen on a platform that proclaimed it was an open, free speech forum. Rep, money all that aside, censorship over disagreements of opinion would defeat the whole point of Steemit. If the new rep system made everyone fearful to speak their mind we may as well have Fahrenheit 451'd the whole platform.
I agree 100% with you!
yay i helped :D
I LOVE ANTS. At one point in my twenties, when i lived in the desert and was studying ants very seriously, I considered becoming a myrmecologist. I read a big fat book about ants, and they are so fascinating. The honeypot ant has to be my favorite though:
Damn, this is a good redemption post...
Keep up the good work @shredlord
UPVOTES away for you 🚀🚀🚀
Supported for good cause 👍👍👍
That's s mini jackpot!!!
Happy for you @shredlord 🙂
Sweet 👍👍👍
Ants are to work-guys :)
If people be like ants we can reach more :)
Good luck getting your reputation back up there, interesting post!
Nice sincere apology. And now on to the ants...very cool! I always say its not a good day unless I learn something new. You've made this a good day :)
I love the way you took the ants topic by the storm. Love it. I strongly believe if people will read this article they will be on the way to be ants lovers now. They are fascinating creatures indeed!!! Thank you for sharing @shredlord. I think it is important everywhere to be accountable for your action and mostly take responsibility for the action. As a student university has very strict automatic plagiarism policy so it is great that people here have a chance to come back.
Quote from https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/dont-care-someone-stole-article-made-400-steemit/
If true, exactly who is in charge of taking away payments from plagiarized posts. I thought payments were paid on the blockchain automatically? Bitcoin payments are irreversible. Is this not the case with STEEM, SBD, etc? Can somebody change things on the blockchain if they feel it's not kosher for whatever reason and is there a written rule for what is not acceptable or is this a subjectable moving target?
Not just an article about rep, but about ants too! Random but I love it!
OK, now you have 3000$, happy ?
I think he is haha. Don't worry, we'll get there too
Actually he gets half of that but i get your point.
that's nice except that your reputation is 6 and not -6, so to me it is just like some attempt to grab attention by saying you were -6 while you're definitely not.
And use the occasion to use the steemabuse, steem hashtag on totally unrelated matter so again to get attention.
Sure you can play cry baby in every post, but even if you were -6 at some point: please take it like a man
Yea, I was in the negatives until this post and was told that it would help redeem my reputation by posting an apology.
@djm34 Little harsh there don't you think? At a -6 rep any posts would be auto buried and muted. Redemption by getting back rep from upvotes is currently the only way to reclaim your ability to participate on Steemit since the rep change took effect. FYI, the rep being 6 now is from the upvotes and is dynamically changing with every vote. Just because it's +6 now doesn't mean that it wasn't -6 at the time of the original post...
I saw the post something like 5hours after being issued, so unless it is an instantaneous auto-redemption I don't buy it... and as you said, post at -6 you can't even see them.
(and if it is the case, this is a little too god-like cure power to me tbh, I mean, at some point will be asked to pray lol)
Prayer works, it all depends on the deity and your relationship with them. In this case @smooth upvoted him and it insta-cured his ailment. This makes smooth the steemit jesus. I can vouch for his prior status though cuz I spent half of yesterday upvoting him and a dozen others like him in a separate thread.
Also remember if your post is buried there is steemit.chat where you can pop in and ask for people to look at it.
👍amazing post, very interesting @sherdlord
Good example that the reputation system works.
B.S.
Nice post.. upvote !! Yeah~
Interestingly enough i thought this blog post would have some correlation with steemit but it was just about ants. Still good though.
Hey @shredlord my man,
good to see you got up as well. And you got up in style !! This post is HUGE !
Congratulations ! Guess we ain't #outlaws anymore (don't miss it tho :D )
Nice ants !
@lorddominik007 @shredlord There are still others in @blueorgy 's thread who need upvotes and rep fixes. Make sure to return there and help the war wounded.
My opinion is that the rep system was like dropping bombs on a city so the opposition would have no more factory workers. Then finding out you dropped it on your own capital instead.
We'll see how this plays out, but so far the rep system does not have my upvote.
Meanwhile someone is minting bots by the thousands in newly hidden threads.
The bot makes a post and then uses a high rep account to upvote them, followed quickly by it's siblings.
Thread has gotten so long it won't load fully here.
https://steemit.com/test/@quin/test-do-not-upvote-please
That's gonna be a fun battle when it happens.
I will check @blueorgy s post, even though my upvotes don't have enough power to really help. I like your analogy with the bombs :)
Good to see you back Dom
☀️☀️☀️🙂🙂🙂😋
Thanks bro :) a great feeling
I'm absolutely speechless haha. This helps beyond what I could've imagined... Thankyou everyone! It was a sharp learning curve and I was angry at the rep system at first, but I realised that it really helps me and all of us out in the end. The honest content on Steemit shows me a more human side rather than the typical shallow attitude I'd normally see on other social media sites. The Steemers dig deep here. I learnt a fair bit about ants to write this article for example, but it was an awesome experience because I'm passionate about them. I'm amazed at the results, and it's given me confidence in just letting myself flow more freely with my articles from now on instead of being worried by things such as spending a few hours on something only to see it get a few votes and make a cent. I'm really happy, thankyou again everyone, thankyou Steemit! :)
Good to see us back haha
No more #renegades lol
Wow I learned a lot about ants from your article - then @stellabelle 's video was the icing on the cake. You are a talented writer and you deserve this reversal in reputation. Welcome back above the 0 line.
This posts have attracted more than a few whales here
Good catch 💯🐳🐬🐋🐋🐋🐋🐳🐳🐳
I LOVE ANTS!!!!
Great post and come back! Cheers!
Only regret is that you didn't use the word, formicary my favorite word that involves ants.
Thanks for sharing! Now that I read this, Ants are more interesting to me :)
This article about ants is very informational and a great comeback from the past!
Humility is such a powerful character trait. Well done @shredlord. What a turnaround!
Well, good for you. I but I'm still at -5 after a week here without basically doing anything wrong.
Orwellian reputation system. Guitly until proven innocent. Thrown into Guantanamo Bay without the right og a fair trail.
I propose that when a Whale (or anybody else for that matter) downvotes other user, that they move their (add word that you think of ending with -ing) fingers and actually write the reason for the downvote and not some damn bot. And give at least 24 hours to the accused to defend himself.
But my lament is in vain, because nobody will probably read this me being at -5 and practically invisible. So I guess I'll just smoke a cigar here on the shores of Guantanamo Bay.
Apologize for what? You didn't know you were doing wrong. Why didn't someone come along and just say, "hey man, you shouldn't do that here". Did someone explain the rules? No I bet.
Actually I would like to apologize to you on behalf of the community. At least you know I'm human, not some damn bot that passes judgement, no court no jury.
P.S. I don't give a (add smelly word) about ants. Actually I got them in the kitchen and would like to get rid of them.
One problem with the Internet in general is the immutability of everything. People should be able to change and grow, and Steemit should make it possible to repair a reputation. I'm not sure I like that a single whale can trash a repuation... that looks a lot like elitism and I'm assuming the system will evolve into something very worthwhile.
Anyway, upvoted and thanks for the effort.
Looks like you are back in the black. Cool!
In general the Internet has a problem with immutability and I'm glad that it's possible to repair a reputation, even after being hammered by a whale (which is another topic altogether).
Oh, and one last thing before I go to bed. What the hell does an apology have to do with ants? They should have been 2 different posts.
Is there a subliminal message that if we behave like ants ( queens drones soldiers etc.) we get rewarded. Think about it, queens = whales, soldiers = dolphines etc..
Orwell is turning in his grave.
Hey @shredlord, just saw my curation reward for this, and when I clicked to your post ... BOOM! My mind was blown. Congratulations on the success of this post and for the restoration of your reputation. I had hoped my help made a difference even if it's just tiny. But, I couldn't have imagined the success of this post. I'm sincerely happy for you man, and for your continuing journey to whale-dom. I hope you won't forget us minnows when you're gigantic.
this is a great help to many people post