RE: Steem Experience Hangout: Let's Talk about Paid Voting Bots...
Thank you for sending the link earlier and was able to listen while at work (helped me not sleep at work! :D ). It was nice to hear @RichardCrill and your perspective on this. I can see that both of you are concerned for the long term good of Steemit. :)
There were a lot of insights that I got and I would like to comment on how new users or outsiders may perceive Steemit when they see the trending page. It's true, they wouldn't know most are because of bots. When I was new and saw them I thought they were organic and then I learned about bots (had to correct my expectations on rewards when I realized this). I guess they're okay if something has to be promoted like Steem Experience discord or for an important announcement. But that's not what's happening not just in the trending, I have seen more people who seem reliant on bots and more whales who delegate to paid bots. I hope to see more whales who manually curate. I had this discussion with @tanishqyeverma before and he has a good point when he said that whales should support more curation groups more than paid bots.
I also wonder if you've decided to use bots to promote this post about paid bots :D It's a timely and relevant topic that concerns all of us so for me I think it's okay to promote this. I just wish whales support this post so you don't need to pay :)
I'm always hesitant to tell others how to spend their money...but personally I'm with you, rather seeing their SP put into supporting the curation groups...or to at least still get some payment, the paid delegation seemed like a good middle ground in my eyes. But even this can be tough to ask...I haven't crunched any numbers, but I suspect running the bots pays a lot better than any of the other options (bots still own the SP, get curation rewards and get paid for each vote they cast.)
I did decide last night that even if just for the sake of irony, I'd use the bots on this post. Personally I'd only done it once before...months ago...just to get a better idea of how they worked.
I also read that running bots are a good way to earn for them. And I agree, can't really tell people what to do with their money, it's their decision and investment. Whatever they do, I hope they think of the long term good of the platform, that will greatly benefit them as well.
Yes Bots pay far more than any project. Look at @thejohalfiles wallet, he get around 650 SBDs everyday delegating to Bots. Nothing is better than delegating your power to bots all in the name of advertisement.
I have stopped suggesting the minnows to comment, create great content etc etc. I think that doesn't work, you want to reach the trending page buy votes simple. Everyone is doing that, spammers are doing that, memes are trending with far more rewards than a good thoughtful post. If you still want to be visible invest in SBDs and buy votes. Whales/dolphin are delegating to bots and missing the big picture, but who cares and who is listening? Instead of empowering projects/communities they fulfilling their greeds. People would stop powering up, instead they would just keep all the money in SBDs and invest that in buying votes. I do the same and I suggest others to do the same. I mean people working hard on their post and earning pennies, I don't want to give them fake assurances, commenting doesn't help , it helps gaining followers but not rewards.
IMO Bots will affect the business model of steem as well, people needs to accumulate STEEM to push the prices up. Simple supply and demand.
I have stopped looking at my own rewards and just hopeful to get curated every once in a while. Still early for me to expect rewards anyway. Hopefully, I don't need to resort to paid upvotes if after some time of trying to grow organically, I still get pennies. We spend so much time and effort here and I hope that gets rewarded somehow. I still know a lot who consistently create quality content despite pennies so I'll just keep my eyes and support on those. :)
That's like saying: I live the politicians to make laws and i hope they will not make any laws that will be bad for the society or that will affect me in a bad way. Of course you can't tell them what to do with their money; but if their actions start affecting the society/community in a bad way, it's your job as well to get involved and do the right thing. I will exagerate a bit saying the following, in order so that you understand the real gravity of this whole situation: Is like someone, a person, would go in a house and rob it of its goods. What you are saying then is: I can't really tell people what to do with their time, is their decision. Whatever they do, i hope they think of the long term good of the neighbourhood. So the thing is, you can't really stay away just because your house wasn't robbed by them. If an negative action is instilled upon the community whether intended, meant, or any other reasons, then it's your duty as its ''citizen'' to take an action to reverse and prevent from happening again .
You have really exaggerated my comment there. Who are you to say that I do not care or I do not do anything for the comnunities I'm involved in? Who are you to say that I am not affected by all these? You can check my page to see the pennies and tell me I am not affected. Read this post that I have written a month ago Organic Growth in Steemit: Is this the right path for me?
You can see on that post how I have been so emotionally affected these and my health has been affected too. And now I have just decided not to stress myself too much on this issue. I have decided to focus more on what I CAN DO for the communities where I belong.