Whaleshares and Randowhale are two projects started recently to help minnows get some recognition and support. Today I am declaring my support for both projects for a few reason I will outline for you below, but before doing that let me give you a brief introduction to each as described by the founders:
Why WhaleShares?
WhaleShares was designed by @officialfuzzy and built by @elmato to enable him (and in the future all other whales) to give minnows the ability to summon whales who trust them enough to give tokens to use on their future content and content they believe deserves rewards! When you use WhaleShares, you not only gain Steem and Steem Backed Dollars (SBD), but you also stick out from the crowd when others are voting! Think of it as an Advertisement Bonus!
One vote from WhaleShares can get you into the Hot and Trending tabs on Steemit and Substantially increase your chances of receiving upvotes from other steemians from all strata of the Steem Ecosystem!
Here's how it works:
- Review current voting power at https://steemdb.com/@randowhale
- Copy the URL of the post you want @randowhale to vote on
- Navigate to your Wallet
- Select Transfer under Steem or Steem Dollars
- Populate To field with "randowhale"
- Populate Amount field with "2" (Steem or SBD)
- Paste URL into Memo field
- Submit
@randowhale will now place a vote with a random vote power of 1-50% on your post!
Now why are these projects good for Steemit?
Since the early days of Steemit, multiple programs started to help minnows bring attention to themselves so they can build their following. Those programs did a lot of authors good. However, the overhead to run and time needed to curate was and still is a barrier for these programs to scale. Automating this process and creating free enterprise businesses that will run these programs is the way to make it scale. Think of it as an AD agency that charges you a fee to promote yourself. The AD agency can not grantee your success, but as a minnow, this process is the closest they will get to self Promotion.
"Making SP attractive again"
I know this is out of Donald Trump's playbook, but in this case we should consider the benefits vs the negatives. These programs will help with reward pool distribution, give a chance to minnows to get their content seen, but will not create a drain on the reward pool more than any other program did in the past, they are somewhat automated, and require much less overhead to run.
The negatives?
Not all content will meet your taste. it's a form of abuse. it can be abused. But if you analyse these statements carefully, does all content right now meet your taste? Can't that SP be abused without a benefit to these minnows?
Weighing in on the good vs the bad, these programs offer more positive than negative. If that SP is used to benefit more people then it's put to good use. And with the less overhead, it offers less cost, which means even if half the content is not good, it will still perform better per cost than fully curated content.
The content will still meet the same anti plagiarism, anti ID theft, or any measures we use now to identify bad actors, so there can be no extra harm done that we do not face on regular basis.
If you are new to Steemit and want to promote your content I encourage you to use these programs, to help yourself with that extra push you need. This will not work for you on the long run if you try to abuse it, but will surly give you a chance to improve your following. I consider this approach much better than spamming posts and begging for upvotes, something that can get you on the bad actor list.
The Second Chance Free trip to Lisbon giveaway still running, winner will be declared Saturday. Submit your entry:
Paying someone to upvote just seems wrong.
If whales want STEEMIT to become more successful so their investment will pay big then they need to become more active in upvoting content they actually like. This will then also encourage higher quality content and make STEEMIT a site worth visiting.
Yes, there is no point of blindly voting random posts. Quality post that offers value to its reader should be voted. As a reader when we open a post, we expect to learn something new, something valuable.
I can't agree more. We need high content so we don't waste time when we read posts.
Totally agree. Quid pro quo in action here, and it just does not seem right that content that is not worth attention could stand to be the forefront of what people associate as "trending" by simply paying for the added attention versus earning it. On the flip-side, the influence these whales garner is disproportionate and too dependent upon their individual tastes, whereas, I see success with STEEMIT being dependent upon a diverse set of contributors that attracts new users to the platform. Keep plugging away, and eventually you will earn enough recognition to be called a whale yourself...or at least that is the hope.
Interesting, I am not sure whether Whaleshares is a good thing for the community or not. I guess time will tell.
I agree with you @g-no as great content will make steemit become a stronger community with quality content for consumption. Kindly follow me @bewajijohnson
Thank you for a detailed explination of both of these programs. I have not used Waleshares before, but will definitely be looking in to it more. I will take into great consideration the idea of spending a little less than 10% on advertising and marketing. I had not previously thought of it that way. I guess, I had not thought of my Steemit account as a business even though I am trying to make money on here. Really appreciate the thought provoking idea. Treat Steemit like a business!
Both are definitely interesting services; whether they are "good" for the community is hard to say-- as a newcomer, it's certainly nice to be "seen" by someone with major voting power; on the other hand it also sounds a bit like "buying favors."
I realize advertising is everywhere in a free-market economy, but this kind of thing also seems rather open to abuse... someone can post utter garbage and then pay the equivalent of 2SBD to get an 8SBD boost. Sure they only get a little more, but in a system with a fixed rewards pool, that also means money OUT of perhaps more worthy pockets.
Although there would be not serious way to verify it, it might be a little more equitable if you couldn't buy yourself such an upvote... it could only be someone else who gives it to you as a reward for excellence.
Of course, that brings up the whole ball of wax of whether we're purely here "to make money" or we're here to "create worthy content."
Can you, please, explain, why are you supporting randowhale?
It seems like a lottery to me. Nothing to encourage content, voting, interaction, community, ... What am I missing?
I think it is a way to get someone that posts good content, but doesn't have the backing to let anyone see it. This happens with a lot of people starting out.
It almost seems like a pyramid scheme.
For $2 you can make $6!
Seems a bit fishy.
Seems interesting.. will give it a test shot. Worse case scenario, it's only 2 :P Would love to hear more about how it actually works though.. is it effective long term? Probably not
Make a test and make a post out of it. You will get more back :)
Yes, that's why I am asking.
it's a concentration of power, a kind of feedback loop. It siphons earnings away from those who don't use it as a service.
Fishy. No pun intended ... :-)
I agree, this post lacks any explanation why these are actually good for the network
I think the same... And a very expensive lottery, now for 2 sbd you only have the chance of getting a max 5% vote...
I am also trying an initiative, called POWERVoice! Search for it.
But I have not yet tried @randowhale. Always a good time to explore more...
How can I contribute to the "to Lisbon thing"... I was living in Lisbon before coming to NZ. =)
Will look up for your POWERVoice project ! Until then, you also have my full support haha ! Keep it up, thanks!
So, what's POWERVoice @forykw?
good cause... thanks for these...
You know about the Minnow Support Project and the ~1000 people that we support through it? Sad we didn't make the list :(
Cool joseph! Glad to have you on board!
If you guys want to learn more about WhaleShares, join our discord https://discord.gg/zsdWYQX.
We have contests that everybody can join for a couple of WhaleShares. In my previous post I was talking about how WhaleShares are strong now (and they really are). 10 WhaleShares tokens can increase your post payout by more than 20$. Go and get them!
On @randowhale's own most recent post, it says 1-5% voting power. I hope your figures are the correct ones.
until now i dont understand how randomwhale works. :/
@joseph well whaleshares looks more powerfull too me rather then randowhale i know how to use randowhale but tell us more about whaleshares
#upvote
We discussed it on our recent podcast here : https://steemit.com/votu/@sirlunchthehost/votu-rare-vaults-interview-w-officialfuzzy-a-must-hear-for-the-new-steemian-don-t-miss-out
Visit the Whaleshares discord here https://discord.gg/4wdGTq to talk to the group @officialfuzzy might be there to explain it
I'm afraid I don't quite understand how whaleshares works.. I see there's a link to a mumble chat, but what do people do there? I guess I just don't see how to use it.
Great post.. upped following and resteeming this post :) thank you for sharing. See you around. :)
@joseph Thank You for Your detailed analysis, I still have much to learn.
UpVoted & Following... Thanks Again !!
What I found is sending money to @randowhale is useless. I sent some SBD to @randowhale and found that nothing has actually happened, so be cautious.
BTW the link which I gave was : https://steemit.com/education/@sid31031992/from-begging-on-the-roads-of-chennai-india-to-studying-at-cambridge-an-inspirational-story-of-jayavel
I don't think you sent the correct amount in your transfers it says ”Transfer 0.159 SBD to randowhale”
https://steemit.com/steem/@eltooni/changing-sbd-into-steem-smart-choice-for-the-upcoming-months
hi @joseph, @randowhale adjust his voting percentage to 1% to 5% because of HF19, thank you ;)
thank you great information!
your effort deserve my upvote and resteem...my friend
Overall I agree these are good things, but they're potential for abuse is way too high. Randowhale for instance does the opposite of add to content quality. Remember you're paying for a vote so this is the opposite of a uncorrupted democratic system. Randowhale upvotes anything the only barrier being 2 Steem and a bit of luck. It's good for beginners but it's also abused as a way to make shit content look better and make money for doing/posting nothing. Whaleshares are a bit more curated so those are better and more democratic.
Disclaimer: I've used both and will continue to do so.
Great explanation of both projects and the pros & cons. I've seen them both pass and I think they're great. Sharing is caring so to speak :)
Nice projects :)
really like them👍👍👍
Thank you for your post and involvement in the community @joseph ! I'm also starting to learn and join projects such as #minnowsupport and yesterday it was the first time I used @randowhale (1.2% vote but I've always been super unlucky) haha.
Keep it up man, you have my full support ! Thank you :)
I've never used whaleshare no randowhale before since I've never had the confidence in them and I don't entirely know what they do.
I'm glad that you are supporting us minnows :)
wholly agree, the two new 'whales' have been game changers in a way that they empower minnows to an extent. thanks for sharing!
But I don't have 2 SBD? Can I get a upvote anyway?
Thats hat I liked on this community.. very helpful individual.
hey @joseph I think the randowhale bonus was revised lately, thanks again for the reminder though, I've been tossing up whether to spend a couple bucks on randowhale or just power-up I might keep a couple aside from now on
@joseph, I love the programs but my main concern is the abuse you mentioned in your post.
It's so hard at the bottom and I remember being at the very bottom in august and September. Steem On!
Thank you for sharing such good post. Upvoted!
If you believe in superstitions and want to read more about it do visit my new series and give it a thumbs up.
https://steemit.com/superstition/@archerized/most-common-superstitions-walking-under-a-ladder-the-truth-and-logics-part-ii
thank you for sharing
Excellent post dear friend @joseph, thank you very much for sharing this information and congratulations for supporting these projects and everything you do for the community, I was very happy to know that one of the favors of the vije was my friend @barrydutton.
have a beautiful day.
I like this:
Awesome post. I love RandoWhale <3
Well, for the @randowhale project, i think it have gone to low in the reward, having a max of 5% (if you are lucky) its not attractive to me, at least not for 2 sbd... If they where going to lower the voting power that much, they could lower the fee, IMO...
I am a fanatic Randowhaler! I wouldn't stand a chance hadn't it been for that wonderful service! Thanks for sharing, upvoted and followed!
Very cool info and thanks for sharing!
Really good to know!
Always thanks for you guys.
I am newbie for Steemit.
I posted a lot of meaningless things before,but now I am going to write more meaningful posts. It's my introduction.
https://steemit.com/introducemyself/@zack813/hello-nice-to-meet-you-2017619t13221810z
Please support me. Thanks so much.
For people saying, "It feels wrong to pay to get upvotes..." Ever heard of advertising? Btw, if your content sucks it really won't matter anyways. I'm gonna try whaleshares or @randowhale
Thanks - very much the necessary information, I start studying. I still have not earned it yet - I must wait a few days for payments
@philip.willemse @the-housewife Hey, I will tag you in a few posts that might help you understand more.. @steeming and earning @steem ;-)
Hi @joseph,
please read this article of mine.
Hi @joseph, please update your post. Unfortunately Randowhale isn't giving a 1-50% vote anymore, he narrowed it down to a 0.5-2.5%. This is a huge difference :( Today I paid 2 SBD and got a vote of 0.6% which was around 3 USD of value, unfortunately it isn't what it's used to be, it's more like a gamble now.
Do you think you'll be coming out with your own token / vote selling program ?
I'm new here and don't have any steam to give! But I have given my 2 cents. Check out one of my posts if you have a minute: https://steemit.com/family/@savvychap/daddy-can-t-come-back
Congratulations @joseph
You took 25 place in my Top 100 of posts
You are my new favourite whale