RE: Turning Rage Into The Soothing STEEM Now Blowing Out My BUTT as I Mince My Words for You, The Reader of This
Hey, @nonamelefttouse.
I have been moving closer and closer to the idea that there's not really any convincing others that what they're doing is detrimental or that another way is more beneficial. It seems like they have to arrive at the conclusion themselves.
Which is fine. If they see it for themselves, then they're more likely to change and become an advocate of the new way. In the meantime, though, it's darn frustrating.
I have not ventured to use a bot mainly because I thought the whole idea behind curation was for others to determine what my post is worth, not me. The issue of visibility is real, but as you've noted, the bots aren't really helping that. So, we have rewards on a post that do not adequately reflect what's truly being earned, or netted.
I had not heard the argument that those who have a following are somehow taking away from others, particularly the ones who feel forced to use bots in order to be seen. Talk about flipping things around.
I have a small group of folks that autovote my posts. It actually used to be larger, but many have fallen off. Not sure if it was me or just them, but anyway, it took several months to build that up and only about two months for the numbers to whittle down.
I can't call it a circle vote or ring, either, simply because I don't have any obligation to vote for any of them. For the most part, though, I do end up voting for what they put out because I like the posts. I understood that's how I'm supposed to do it.
I'd prefer we come up with a way to overcome the issue of visibility—which eventually means more people involved in curation—but I'm afraid people would rather use workarounds that take them supposedly to the head of the line even if they have to pay for these workarounds. I can't imagine this system working for the masses, but we don't have those yet, either.
First off, my intention is to only point this out. I'm not trying to force anything on anyone. One downside is an idea is good, some might not like it simply because they did not think of it. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The bots have made visibility turn invisible for everyone except for maybe a few on the top 20. Doesn't help and my run in with that member sheds light on that. Bought votes, nobody looked; and that's how it usually goes. The more people are paid to look away, the less we have around to look. Common sense.
If you see a name in a the list of those who've voted for you, it's only natural to become curious, see what they're up to, and yeah; if you like what you see, why not vote? That's not foul play.
More curation is necessary but most are unwillingly now that they can get paid to look away. If people buying votes truly knew what they were purchasing, then stopped, more would have incentive to come back and look.
This system won't work for the masses. If everyone bought $50 worth of votes and called that "visibility", $50 becomes the new $0 and everyone goes right back where they started. Plus the value of being rewarded $50 only means you break even, which in turn drives the actual value of the reward down... and eventually the value of the token itself.
Well, thank you for pointing it out. I'm in agreement with what you said, and thought I would share my own experience so far. Thus my response.
I've witnessed bot owners pound anyone who wanted more clarity about what was going on with bots, mostly because they disagreed with any idea that might hurt business, although they would blame the method being used or call into question the integrity or intentions of the person trying to shed light on the matter.
A simple PAID by the reward amount on posts would be sufficient to signal that the rewards were paid for. I'd even take a net amount rather than the whole amount. It doesn't have to be anything big, but as is, it's deceptive, and most people are going to be squeezed out of the market anyway, as you said, because how many users have hundreds of STEEM or SBD to ensure they're even seen?
If people want advertising or promotion, there are definitely better means. I for one, would rather just have my posts get in front of followers and whoever else might be looking for that kind of content and cut out the middleman completely. I find that to be one of the biggest allures of the STEEM social media platform.
One of the main reasons why I signed up the moment I heard about this place was because of the fact there's no middleman. People like me, digital artists; if I was produce an image, then sell it as a poster in a retail environment, I'd get the smallest cut per unit, and it would be tiny. I explored other avenues, they all sucked, came here, got noticed, proved there's a demand, used simply being friendly and funny as my marketing... boom. I blew up. Enter the middleman, everything goes to shit.
Yeah, so I played middleman as an owner of two small weekly newspapers for roughly 15 years. In our case, our markets were so small and businesses so few that the ones that actually did advertise looked on it as a form of goodwill, rather than anything they might get from it. I'm afraid they were right, given our demographics: small bedroom communities with people working, and thus largely shopping, elsewhere.
I also got a degree a couple of years go in Social Media Marketing. If companies are smart, they'll do that in house and use social media to drive all aspects of their business, from customer service to product development crowdsourcing. But they don't. At any rate, people are less inclined to look at a static ad and go, "Dude, I've got to have that!" than they are to watch an influencer on YouTube unbox and test drive/review whatever it is.
If Amazon, not that they need to blow up any further, truly wanted to blow up further, to the point of domination of the entire galaxy, all they really need to do is add a social component to their site (not just one way reviews and testimonials), and it would become virtually unstoppable. They've got the consumers. They've got the authors and other creators/companies selling their wares. Let them talk to one another.
On STEEM. :)
Now just imagine how that business model would fall apart if they were buying positive reviews and votes out in the open like they do here. BOOM! Kiss those billions goodbye.
If it helps any, after a few months away, ive come back with a complete aversion to bots. I started using them heavily when i first started steemit, only to discover that most the time i ended up about even, or sometimes way behind. About the only good it did or does is it brings up your reputation score quicker.
If it only took me a few months to figure it out, then i figure there 's got to be morelike me on steemit.
My guess is thousands left after feeling duped. The ones who stick around are the ones who actually get to experience that rewarding feeling once rewarded. It's satisfying and that's human nature, so they want it again. I'm still trying to get that damn organic trending post... which is stupid because bots took away that opportunity but hey! I never said I was smart.
The reputation things doesn't mean much. It's much like a trophy. If you buy your Best Bowler in the World trophy at a pawn shop, scratch off the name and write your own on there; it's not quite the same as actually being the best bowler in the world. Plus, someday someone might want to see you bowl... so you better be good.