This post is probably going to upset some people. I'll probably get flagged by some asshole if I'm lucky. But that's only because butthurt people use flags to disagree and punish people, not because they've done anything wrong or broken any rules.
I've been on Steemit for a couple months now and gave it a good shot. I've figured out the economics of it all and this is just a 'first impressions', an impartial review of how I find the platform as a newb.
I know virtually no-one is going to read it because most people suffer from internet disease. I'm only ranked at '44' so that must mean I'm an idiot. It doesn't matter I may have a 7 figure trading account or be very successful in other areas, the law of the internets says if you start anything new then you're automatically an idiot. The converse is also true, have a high enough 'number' and it's assumed you know what you're talking about. They do say in business though, that people always rise to the level of their incompetence...
I get this a lot in gaming. You start a new game playing alongside seasoned players, and everyone treats you like a child. It doesn't matter if you've been a gamer for over 35 years, and playing since before most of them were born, if you have an initial low score then you're opinion is worth nothing.
I haven't been writing recently because I've been so disheartened by Steemit. I can see people post single line posts and receive 1000 upvotes and $800, while other people write decent informative posts and don't get a single cent for their efforts. I include myself in the second category of course, it's hard to find incentive to write a post for 3 hours when the reward is non-existent (a couple upvotes, and perhaps a comment or two, if that).
The same is true for I guess 99% of Steemit users, the system is so absolutely corrupted and biased against quality content it's a bit of a joke even trying. But as I've said since day one, I don't need the money and that's not why I post, I wouldn't know what to spend my $0.01 on anyway.
There's no engagement on the platform at all. I thought I would find at least a dozen or so other people with similar interests that I could chat to, which is my whole point of being here. Whenever I get a new follower I get all excited and go check them out - only to find it's yet another spammer following 300k+ accounts and zero interest in mine. I follow people all the time, try to talk to them and engage them in conversation. Most don't reply which is when I know they're just blagging it for the money, afraid to be caught out if they actually had to discuss it with a peer. Unfollowed.
Everywhere I see desperation in peoples posts, everyone wants to make a killing and become rich just by stringing a couple posts together about what they ate for lunch or a funny thing that happened at work that day. It's just not going to happen.
The rest of the users are wannabe crypto 'gurus', thinking they'll make it rich trading currencies. Well I've got bad news, trading currencies is one of the hardest disciplines there is, and the chances are you're just not going to make it. Meanwhile the people that are feeding you all the horseshit are making out like bandits thanks to your upvotes, you're just too dumb to realise it.
I can see Steemit for what it is now, a ponzi scheme where only the people at the very top are ever going to make anything of it, no-one else has a chance. For any wannabe authors out there, forget it, it's not going to happen. Write because you enjoy writing for sure, but if you want to make money there are far better ways to get rewarded for your skills. Steemit reminds me of a Hollywood diner, full of wannabe actresses just waiting for that moment to be 'discovered' and make the big time. I don't have the facts and figures, but it's probably easier to become an Astronaut than the chance of that actually happening to anyone.
If you weren't a first adopter or you aren't in the top 5% by now, you've missed your chance. Unless you've got some serious capital with which to buy votes and bots, you'll never see a return on your investment. Some clever people have already worked out how to game the system, and they're the ones making the money that you're not receiving for your posts.
As an economic systems it's a failure. Whether it was by incompetence or naivety on the behalf of the developers, they never figured human greed into the equation. I know some people even suspect it was intentional, the devs made their money and ran for the hills, hence no more updates on the platform. The only thing that could save Steemit from this ponzi scheme is a hard fork, where bots and self upvoting are banned.
It's like all the gullible idiots who think the increase in crypto from 5 years ago is going to happen again and everyone is going to make it rich. It was a new tech, it bubbled then burst. If you weren't on that train when it left the station then too bad, you missed it. Sure, some crypto will increase in the future, most will fail. Long steady growth is the future if you pick the right coin. Most won't. Regular moonshots where you're expecting 10x profits in a month ? lol
To that end, I've decided I'm going to keep writing on here, but no more Mrs Nice Girl. From now on I'm just going to tell the truth about trading and start calling people out on their horseshit. Sure, I'll get flagged all the way down to zero by people abusing the flag system for their own profit, but so be it. If I can save a handful of people from wasting their capital on bad advice and help a few people to make some actual money, then that's all I'm interested in.
Notice how all these people making 'predictions' all the time never actually tell you how much money it made them ? It's because it's all bullshit, they don't even trade, they just make money out of peddling bunk to gullible fools. The other category are the circlejerkers, people who made bad choices because of their ineptitude, and so have to constantly spam 'it's about to moon !' to somehow justify to themselves they're not a failure. Haven't you noticed how profitable those kinds of posts are ? What does that tell you about the people reading and upvoting them...
I think I've only seen one other user on the entire platform who tells the hard truth, @yallapapi. If you want to learn the reality of life on Steemit and your potential future, go read his stuff. I'm saying the same as him, but he's a lot funnier than me :-)
My posts are aimed at new traders, people trying to find their feet in what is accepted as being one of the toughest jobs in the world. If you know it all already and already making a killing at crypto then don't feel bad about unfollowing me, I don't mind. If you just want the hard truth about trading in the real world and making real money, away from all the 'prediction economy' pretenders then please keep tuned, I promise I'll start writing more soon, warts and all.
Sorry for the negative post, but a few realisations have hit home recently. I believe telling the truth is the most important thing, regardless of the potential fallout.
I'm currently trying to build up Steem Power so that I can actually reward people for writing interesting posts, instead of the mere $0.00 that my vote is worth now. Other than that, any money I make from Steemit will go to a Steemit charity or worthy cause and I'll post proof of it if required. I know this post just sounds like I'm being salty, like all the other posts complaining about Steemit, but I'm genuinely not in this for the fame or money :-)
Header image credit : teachersandwritersmagazine.org via Google image search, no affiliation.
About me -
I'm a full time financial trader, mostly in Forex and Commodities. I write for fun and try to help beginner traders get started, avoiding all the mistakes that I made. I'm always happy to chat or discuss ideas so please just give me a shout in the comments !
Aaaaand... within a mere 13 minutes of me posting this, I got another 4 spam followers, woo hoo ! lol
Annnd... you've earned at least $0.75 on this post.
Very good. I appreciate your honesty. Some original artists are doing very well here on Steemit... I joined in June 2017 and invested zero dollars and posted my original oil paintings, pencil sketches and digital work and went from zero to $12,000 .... I have figured out how to trade my SBD for Steem and have also moved sone to Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS and some other alt coins when they dipped... Steemit is a great place to post original creative content ... and exchange for Bitcoin and more. I am here for the long haul.
Thanks, I'll check out some of your stuff ! I'm not really into contemporary art much, pretty much just pinup and vintage. I do like Escher and Giger though, even if some Giger stuff freaks me out !
I am doing a lot of Escher type drawings of robots, aliens and monsters....
Nice ! I've given you a follow, will check it out. I like your name btw, it's my eventual plan to live off grid, that's what I'm working towards :-)
Me too. I am still designing my offgrid place, like my investing I am doing it slowly.... waiting for better battery technology
Same. I'm actually invested in battery technology, that's where most of my money is. Or more specifically, I'm invested in the mining companies that dig the precious metals that are used in batteries. The demand for better batteries in the future is going to be extremely high and hopefully I'll not only get a good return on the investment, but also take advantage of the new tech...
I was hoping for salt water batteries.... we have lots of that here on earth.
I hear you Gurl!
No one I know IRL has even heard of it, much less want to spend time trying to understand the point of steem, steem power, and steem dollars, so I have no incentive to even try to get my friends on it.
I also tried to engage with different people across steemit, even going as far as to translate Korean posts and my comments just to get 'some' sort of interactions going on. Nada.
Eventually, I just started treating steemit like its own kind of game....hunt down posts with high payouts and low votes.
It seems fitting the 'jargon' on steemit centers around "minnows" and other 'fishing' terms.... just like fishing, if you know where to go, have the right equipment and bait, and actually catch stuff, fishing is pretty fun. But if you just 'go fishing' someplace with a simple rod&reel and some worms, you are probably going to have a bad time after spending hours not catching anything.
But then again, if you are taking some beers and some joints and you are just doing it for the mere enjoyment of the act "fishing" and don't care what you catch, then it can be what it is... a big waste of time. ;)
I actually find the 'fish' references quite annoying on here. It implies that someone who is a 'minnow' for example has less of an opinion or worth less than someone who is a 'whale'.
I do like your fishing analogy though, seems quite apt ! I'll go for the beer and a joint option :-)
To be fair, @steemnova has been the best thing about steem so far. ;)
Same ! I earn more playing Nova than I do writing articles. And Nova is more fun :-)
Hi gurl, long time no chat :).
I think you are now where I was some time ago. I believe my last comment to you was that I'd be spending less time around here and focusing more on my trading again. Well I've been true to my word :), I think I have only posted one chart update. I just popped in this evening for the first time in a few weeks to read a few posts and see how SteemitLand is holding up.
I really enjoyed your rant, probably because you now see what I saw :). I don't usually like to agree with people as I see myself as somewhat of a contrarian, but unfortunately I can't find anything you wrote that I can disagree with!
As I said before, I enjoy the humor in your posts and now that you are going to add totally honesty (ie. not afraid to offend when needed) to your posts also, I'll have to come back more often :).
Hey dude, how's it going ? How's the trading, good I hope ?
Interesting how the comments above are very delineated by 'level'. Most of the lows agree and the highs don't. Reminds me of George Orwells Animal Farm. All animals are equal ! But some animals are more equal than others ! he he
I don't mind offending people, if they can't have a discussion based on the facts then they're not worth talking too. Not going to lose too much sleep about a stranger on the internet calling me names. I'm not trying to deliberately upset anyone, just trying to be honest.
Yeah trading all good thanks :). Forex and commodities only though, and some longer term stuff on a few cryptos I see potential in. Started powering down my Steem, but it's taking forever :). I don't like not being able to get out when I want, makes me feel claustrophobic :).
Still, I've achieved what I set out to learn from the Steemit experience and I can batter away on my own now. Much more time to enjoy away from the PC, now that Steemit isn't taking up my precious time. Chat soon.
Cool man, glad your doing well. When I get bored of Steemit I'll probably just walk away and leave whatever I've earned in here. Maybe if I'm still alive I'll come back in 20 years and it'll be worth enough to buy a cup of coffee with it :-)
Looks like you really hit it out of the park on this one. I stopped trying and just figured I would use this forum to write what I want to talk to people I like, like yourself. I do miss your content when you were producing it, I like learning about subjects I know very little about, and you had great content. Just wanted to let know that someone is reading. I wish my upvote had more punch to it.
All the thanks is to you ! If it wasn't for you re-steeming my first posts then I'd still be on 25 with no followers.
Yeah, the worthless upvote thing sucks, that's what I hate the most. Did you read any of the recent posts about the 'dust' threshold ? That saddened me even further ! grrrrrrr
I'm going to write a better post soon, about nice things on Steemit instead of all this doom and gloom, you're definately my first mention ! If it wasn't for you I probably would have left ages ago...
Hear! Hear!!
I'm glad you got that off of your chest.
Trust me, it's a big chest as well lolol :-)
Glad you wrote finally a new post. You do have my 100% support. I already knew how you were feeling about the steem blockchain and for parts of it you are correct!
I did read it on my phone, but had to switch on the laptop to write a decent reply. A genuine good reply which the article deserves!
So let's start:
Take a look at the contest @abh12345 is holding. That is all about engagement. I cannot vow that some of the participants are doing this because it is a contest but most of us aren't.
Maybe it is just the nice you love, where the most immoral people are. I don't know, because I switched from written about a nice to written about what gives me energy. The best thing that I even did on the blockchain.
While I do wan't to say that your viewpoint is incorrect, which it isn't, I just want to point out that the are maybe more genuine people on the blockchain than you maybe think!
Maybe I am wrong, could be, and was I just a lucky bastard, which could be too.
To conclude: I always appreciated your comments on my articles and I still do, even after this rant :) ! I can understand your rant but can't correlate to it completely!
I think that I am allowed to say that I have always supported you and will keep doing it. It is always good to read another perspective, which will make me think!
Thx for writing this down!
PS: really a 7 figure bank account?
Thanks, we've had some great chats already and I look forward to having more, even if it's only me shitting on crypto all the time lolol :-) Thanks also for taking the time to make a long reply, appreciated.
Do I have a 7 figure bank account ? You'll never know... lol. That's between me and (unless I can absolutely avoid it) the Taxman. Someone could probably work it out though, I've posted in the past how long I've been trading, and what my daily target is plus compound interest over that time...
I don't have a pension so whatever I make now has to sustain me through my retirement, which could last 40 years :-(
Your post is very good! Congratulations on it! It is good to hear valuable opinions so that those who have an impact on the behavior of the users in the platform can make right decisions.
My impressions on this platform are the same as yours. At the moment I am having fun on the platform to my interests. I also experiment with a variety of announcement variants. I do not think I'd like to spend money from Steemit, but I find it interesting if this platform will fulfill its goal.
When I get more impressed, I probably will also write down my own.
Thank you, I always look forward to your quotation posts, I find them quite inspirational ! You should write more about RC models, something else we have in common.
Well, let me show you how steemit works. After each rant, you gain some followers.
Followed.
Thanks dude ! I followed you back because you seem like an actual real person and not a bot... :-)
Really, it's because I'm interested in cybersecurity though, he he.
Thanks! It is great to have one more real person following me as well :)
Agreed. I'm in the process of powering down right now. Isn't it interesting how it takes 3 months to power down fully? Imagine if Steem's value plummeted and everyone was trying to get out
I believe that's the sole purpose of the 3 month limit, so there can't be a 'run on the bank' with everyone cashing out the same day. It's meant to provide stability... unless everyone started powering down on the same day in which case the site would still die, it would just take 3 months longer lolol.
Well, you are not wrong. I have noticed this for some time, and like a wrote in a discussion in another topic, its only a matter of time that a better platform arrive, and steem turn to dust.
Anyway, thank you not to stop writing here, because i like to read what you write. (unless you write somewhere else).
About calling bullshit around here, don't be afraid of flags. Because this is another problem here: It looks like a stoners party discussing how amazing everything looks, even though the house is falling apart.
Most of the post here is about steemit, and how it is an "amazing" platform. And most of the times you try to point things out, well... you are a downer...
Also, i will still be writing around here, until a better place arrive. But i wouldn't bet my money on steemit long term, unless something drasticaly change...
I think the 'positivity' is a purely a psychological method for making money. If you look at all the 'crypto is mooning !' posts compared to the people just telling the actual truth, there's a huge difference in the upvotes and payouts...
Personally, I'll pay for information if it's accurate, I don't care whether it's good or bad or even if it upsets me. But that's not how the world works, people get rewarded for making other people feel good, even if it's a lie.
I do post on other sites, about other topics. I build radio controlled aircraft for one, and I'm also a 3d artist (naughty pinup type stuff). On another website I debunk pseudo science articles like flat earth theory. I write a lot... lolol :-)
If you like pin-up stuff, check out @kommienezuspadt.
thanks ! Good pinup stuff is usually hard to come by (no pun intended !). Most people just post old Vargas and Elvgren reprints, not many people make it anymore, either paintings or modelling.
Stick it to the man, gurl.
I prefer when men stick it to me, he he :-)
I don't need to be a grammar nazi to see what you did there. :P
;-)
Hit the nail on the head. Well done, I applaud the honest cynic in you (good to see you writing again too).
I feel your pain and you are right. I also have a few decades of gaming experience (ever since I was tall enough to reach the controls of Pac Man at the corner cafe) and I know how 10 year olds who have been playing World of Whatever for two months longer than you have, believe that they are gods and that you know nothing. It's laughable. The same logic absolutely applies to Steemit and the "gurus" here.
I see you're still underestimating crypto, there are definitely still chances to go 10x in a month - but you've got to get really lucky. It does happen though this list will normally show you many coins that have done 2-5x in just a week (and better in a bull market, a bit worse in a bear market).
Challenge for you: why not take that Steem of yours and grow it? Power down, send it all to Binance and try to trade it into more. If you lose, you learn hard lessons about the crypto world (which is good in the long run), if you win, you have more that you can put back into Steemit.
The crypto train has left the station, but with God as my witness, it's only starting to build up steem now! (See what I did there?) No burst bubble - time will prove me right.
What Steem ? My account is worth about $20 or something, and only because of hike in price recently :-)
I don't need to learn any more about crypto to trade it, if there are people and money involved then I think I'd do ok. Look at that BTC example from the other day, nailed it perfectly ;-)
Something I was going to mention the other day but forgot. You know that diagram that everyone references about market cycles ? You've even used it yourself to good affect in a couple articles. Well I'm sorry to say that's not real !
The first part of the diagram cycle sure, that's what a new asset normally looks like and follows pretty much all those stages. But that's only the initial cycle, it doesn't keep repeating like that ! Everyone is waiting for the cycle to 'start over' with a huge spike up in price. It doesn't work like that, everyone is reading that diagram wrong.
Trust me, I've been staring at charts for more than 20 years and I've never once seen a stock repeat that pattern, ever. It's a one time deal and it only happens on new products, where it's very predictable for sure. Just don't get your hopes up like everyone else who misread that diagram and think it's a 'map' of whats to come.
Rather than reply to this now, I think I'll dedicate a post to you later ;)
oooh ! my first 'dedication' ! Good idea, we should stop having these lengthy chats and turn them into articles anyway :-)
True. Might as well monetise our many pearls of wisdom!
lol
Hey I’m also not here to make money posting stuff on here and would like to chat. I’m new here so is here some sort of privat chat?
And yeah I’d like to learn some things about investing and trading