RE: I Don't Want to be a Sellout and a Few Other Things I Find Somewhat Humorous About This Place
A really interesting post @nonameslefttouse and it mirrors a lot of my views on what is holding steemit back and driving quality content creators away.
I've been on here just shy of a year now, I'm guessing this is a second account of yours based on what you said in the article about being on here for 2 years.
My experience here has been somewhat of a mixed bag for sure. I come from a creative writing background, having done my degree at university in that subject and while I don't consider myself to be the best writer in the world 😉, I am justifiably proud of work I have had published outside of steemit as well as the work I put up here. A big problem I see with bidbots, is that various new users who have a high level of writing/blogging/vlogging skill often don't stick around long enough to get that first encouraging curie vote. I'm a curie curator and I see this all the time. Someone I'm watching, waiting to submit something of theirs when the time is right, disappears never to return. I nearly did the same myself at the beginning when I saw how stacked the system was to facilitate circle-jerking for the high SP users. Luckily I got that first curie vote on my 7th post just as I was thinking of jacking it all in and going back to producing only on WordPress. So what is my point? Bidbots need to be positioned out of the market. The only way this will happen is if they're somehow made to be less useful to the decent content creators. I think you have got it absolutely spot on when you posit a solution:
The Solution
Simply remove the posts from trending status the moment the use of a bidbot or other promotional tool is detected.
I mentioned that, way back when.
Slide those posts over to the promoted tab (or create a new tab), and allow the real content, produced by those who put their hearts and soul into this platform, rise to the top.
Ned and the dev team are so fixated on 'steemit businesses' - 'lets get a a hundred thousand entrepreneurs on steemit' yada yada yada, that I can only assume they fail to recognize that not all business is good business. Your analogy of bidbots being basically advertising is a good one, I have friends who are amazing content creators using bidbots in the hopes of being seen or just for a moral boost when their posts don't do too well. This is tragic as these are people whose content speaks for itself and they're having to pay for a chance at the higher SP users to even see it. Obvs, discord communities are redressing the balance somewhat. I haven't used bidbots in 6 months now and I stick by my decision as it was a fake sense of achievement and often it was returning a negative ROI. This has driven me to do the needful things to start to thrive on steemit, such as getting involved with projects like as the charity I'm now involved with or the discord communities I curate in.
To wrap up this rant, all in all, I guess it just depresses me a little that steemit isn't what I think it should be! A blogging platform that rewards people based on the quality of their content.
I have one account: this one.
What is a business without happy clientele? Destined for failure.
The content producers needs aren't being met using bots. All that does is put a sign in the window that says, "$50!" People still need to come in and look around before the content producer can make money, if you think about the blog as a business.
I can't use the bots because I'm not in the business of misleading my patrons. The struggles I face now include being an artist, so I need eyes first in order to see success. Robots can't see. What these bots do is put posters and advertisements on my windows, covering up the art or whatever I have set up behind those windows. The moment a few people buy votes and use the art tag, my work gets buried. I didn't come here to work for a middleman. Those bot owners didn't hire me, and if I had a job somewhere, I certainly wouldn't be paying just to have a chance to work there.
I worked pretty damn hard to build this blog up to where it stands today. You talk about curie and all that. My first 18 posts earned 10 cents, but I understood I needed to work and climb the ladder. That's what I signed up for. Now people just butt in line, push me aside, and they don't even earn, so the damage is done, they don't get anywhere, they quit, after kicking us creative types who take pride in our work to the curb while they were here. It's a tough pill to swallow. I've wanted to quit many times since I came back in December, but I calm myself and just keep on going. I still have fun, though some days can be quite depressing when it feels like I'm only going backwards now.
Also, I follow over 500 people. Many of them quit. In some cases, my vote was was the largest vote they'd ever see. So many folks with the SP get paid to look away now because of automation and delegation. Kevinwong has been writing about a few changes as well, offering more incentives to curate, and for the most part I agree with his proposals.
I don't always agree with rewarding "quality of content." I tend to lean more to the quality of the blogger. I rarely vote for an amazing post, then never visit that blog again. I'll usually support people, even on their bad days, because I'm a fan of their work. Much like how I enjoy motovlogs on youtube. I only subscribe to the interesting people who produce motovlogs though. I think a motovlog is quality content, but it's the person who gets my support. They have to be entertaining somehow. Many are dull and ramble on about things I don't care about. So technically, I can't say I like motovlogs, just interesting people. That's how this business works. That's why I tell artists to add their personality to their art posts. There are billions of images to view on the internet, but each artist brings something different to the table.
Sorry about that comment about a second account, I miss-read the 'joined' section on your homepage as 2017 when it is in fact 2016. I have tired eyes today.
I guess the reason why I was talking about curie in relation to the subject of bidbots is that for the vast majority of people who arrive on steemit now with a decent level of content creation skill, the only vote of any quantity they will see in the first 6 months at least will be from curie or OCD. I feel that bidbots are massively to blame for this, along with autovoting mechanisms, as if these mechanisms didn't exist everyone would have to go out and manually curate to earn from curation and that would mean everyone genuinely finding new content creators who they like, share common interests with etc.
Couldn't agree more with what you're saying here. It is a false economy for sure and the frustration you talk about is something I completely understand as well. I have hope for the future that these things may be tackled with changes to steemit client at a base level. I don't have a massive understanding but have read a little about hivemind and SMT's which gives me some hope that things may improve.
I wrote and explained in the crack cocaine post how placing $50 beside a post that's actually worth $0, as in it's not a reward, makes $50 worth nothing. An earned $50 holds true value. These folks are pushing the value down with this behavior, yet want to earn money. It doesn't make sense but unfortunately, most don't get it or they're forced to defend it to save face and social status.
As for those SMT's and whatnot: I'll believe it when I see it. My main concern is how it'll attract the scammy types who boost a post to trending advertising false money making promises and due to the misleading nature of these bots function, naive new members will assume the post is there simply because it's popular, then invest in a shit coin, make a scammer wealthy, while they lose all of their money. That'll only make the place look worse. I know it'll happen, which is why I insist marking these promoted posts as the advertisements they are is important. For now they are ads disguised as popular information, and that's terrible for business.
On the bright side, if those bot owners apply their stamp of approval on a scam, they can be held liable for promoting the scam. That makes them just as responsible for the scam as the creator of the scam. Maybe that's the wake up call they'll need in order to get organized and start promoting honestly? I don't know. I hope not.