Is SteemFollower KILLING its Own Platform? Maybe...
Hey again, fellow Steemians. Last week I wrote an article cataloging my experiences on SteemFollower, a website that allows Steemit users to trade upvotes and follows with other users. It's still a new service, having just over 4,000 users as of today, but it showed great promise; while my review wasn't entirely positive, I thought the service had more pros than cons. I'd found quite a few valuable posts and followed some stellar accounts that I wouldn't have come across otherwise.
That is, until this past weekend.
SteemFollower went down for a couple days, only to return with some "interesting" new design features. Previously, the upvote limit on SteemFollower was 30 votes/day - this has since been lowered to 10. This change, I think, is a positive one. It limits spam voting, causing users to carefully select what content they want to curate. It also keeps users from tanking their voting power, ensuring quality votes on the platform all the way around.
But that's not the change that could kill SteemFollower. This is:
"You must upvote at least 5 posts/day."
Mandatory voting maximums make sense. But mandatory daily voting MINIMUMS?!? What on EARTH is SteemFollower thinking? Requiring people to visit their site, every single day, to punch the upvote button like a rat in a Skinner Box? This is nothing more than a cheap ploy for traffic, plain and simple. Furthermore, what happens if I don't make those 5 upvotes/day? Is my account suspended? Are my posts removed from SteemFollower? There is zero indication given as to what the consequences are.
SteemFollower started off as a unique service - it had its faults, but it was a fascinating project nonetheless, especially in a world of nameless, faceless Steemit bots. Unfortunately, this could be the DEATH of SteemFollower. Strangled in its infancy by its own developers.
If you're a SteemFollower user, I'd implore you to contact @mahdiyari (SteemFollower's founder and developer) to insist this "feature" be removed, or at the very least, a logical explanation offered. I understand he's hard at work improving the platform, but I fear SteemFollower has taken a turn for the worse.
If you liked this post, please remember to upvote, resteem, and follow us! Also check out our website, CryptoHero.info for more fresh crypto commentary. Until next time!
@cryptohero.info got you a $8.63 (4.0%) @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
Want a boost? Click here to read more about @minnowbooster!
I can't even login right now as it appears the link is broken. I agree the minimum upvotes is a cheap ploy for traffic, but that's the way most free sytems are now days, in that they reward daily traffic through some system.
If I can login and poke around I'll definitely send @mahdiyari a message if it seems to be too much of a pain.
Thanks for the response, @gniksivart. Sorry about your login issues! Hopefully your account hasn't been pruned thanks to these new "features" >__< You make a good point about most free systems forcing daily traffic; perhaps there's a compromise to be reached here, like minimum weekly upvotes as opposed to daily?
I would almost prefer that SteemFollower went to a small pay model - either a minimal SBD donation to use the platform or delegating Steem Power to @steemfollower to keep the servers running. I do sympathize and understand that servers cost money to run and would hate to see SteemFollower go by the wayside. I just think this is a terrible way to go about getting more traction, glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.
I was really surprised to see the changes, too. Not sure exactly what the minimum means. We will see!
@sallykwitt I didn't upvote any posts for a few days just to see what happened. It appears the 5 upvote daily minimum isn't enforced and is just an empty threat. Hopefully it stays that way, as I really like using SteemFollower!
!originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @cryptohero.info to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
To enter this post into the daily RESTEEM contest, upvote this comment! The user with the most upvotes on their @OriginalWorks comment will win!
For more information, Click Here!
Special thanks to @reggaemuffin for being a supporter! Vote him as a witness to help make Steemit a better place!
@reported has voted on behalf of @minnowpond. If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowpond on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond. To be Resteemed to 4k+ followers and upvoted heavier send 0.25SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo
I started going on steemfollower the day it came back up. I have had a good response since joining and I was in the discord when the developer talked about doing the mandatory 5 upvotes a day in order to receive upvotes for that day. I think his response to that was that missing a day would not affect the upvotes you receive the day of. I'm not sure how it all works. I would like to see the site grow into the power house it is. Go to its discord chat to make suggestions of how steemfollower can be more user friendly.