An Interview with @TheRealWolf, Steemit Witness & Founder of SmartSteem, The Vote-Selling/Bid-Botting Service
So, I’ve been using this awesome service called “Smartsteem” lately - and they claim to be different than your ordinary bid bot/voting service/delegation rental (or selling) service.
I decided to reach out to one of their founders/lead devs and ask him a few questions - a few of them are from me personally, and a few are from others that were curious to learn more about the service - aka, @TheRealWolf.
I’ve run it for about 2-3 weeks now, and just got whitelisted - which means I can earn even more for my votes!
Using their voting service typically doubles the amount I put in: i.e., I input 2 SBD, and it typically will upvote my post for about $3.80-$4+. Which is a great return, if you think about it (pre-curation, that is).
If you’d like to check out and sign up for @SmartSteem, please use my referral link here, as it costs you nothing, and helps me grow a little more, which will help me grow @GamersUnited (our gaming curation community) even more!
Their website promises upwards of 180%-210% returns on any votes purchased, which sounds extremely enticing.
Let’s begin!
@GetSlothyy: So, Smartsteem - what made you decide to create this service? Where did you draw the inspiration from/why did you make this project one that was something you HAD to do?
@therealwolf - @Smartsteem:
I actually started working on the base concept of Smartsteem around September 2017. After the first launch, it was called Wolf’s Voting Bot - without a website and a lot fewer options. In October 2017 - I relaunched a much-reworked version of my voting bot including a website as Smartsteem.
@GetSlothyy: What separates you from the rest of the “bid-bots” out there? A lot of people frown upon the idea of simply chucking money at bots and doubling it. How do you see your service as being different, or even, more ethical?
Well, if you buy votes from Smartsteem.com - which is connected to @smartmarket - then you’ll receive votes from real users instead of just one account.
Our bid-bot is very similar to the rest in the way it works - but the biggest difference is our approach to abuse. We don’t want to be the judge of what content should look like, but def. what it shouldn’t look like - e.g. copied videos from youtube with nothing else added.
@GetSlothyy: Your website states that you’ve upped your return rate to 180%-210% - this is a massive ROI if it’s real. Why such a high return rate and how do you remain profitable?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
180% - 210% is not the ROI - but the vote-value you receive. Right now - the ROI you make is around 20%, calculated on the USD price.
@GetSlothyy: You have a referral program in place - so far, I’ve personally referred 8 people, and it promises me .5% from each person I refer for each vote they “sell” - also stating that it comes out of Smartsteem’s profit, and now theirs. This is a generous referral program - is there a cap on the number of referrals one can do?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
No cap ;) You can refer as many people as you’d like!
@GetSlothyy: Your site doesn’t easily explain or display how others can set up their account to sell their votes - I mean, I know how to, it’s not hard to navigate to, but for the complete beginner, are there some basic steps you could outline so that they know how to do so, and recommendations on the level of voting % they should set it to?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
While I do think that everything is pretty much self-explanatory - there is a post, which is not completely up-to-date but explains how to become a vote-seller:
Understanding SmartSteem: How to Use SmartSteem
@GetSlothyy: I see that your service uses SteemConnect, which many trust, but others are (reasonably so) wary of using - does your service only require the posting key? This is obviously the safest method for using a service as if it’s phished/hacked, the hacker cannot drain the account or change the owner password. Thoughts/comments?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
SteemConnect is as secure as it gets - since it’s officially developed by SteemitInc and Busy. For the login on Smartsteem.com, we only require the posting or memo-key and nothing is saved afterward. For the vote-selling: we recently switched the authorization system, which means you authorize Smartsteem now directly with your posting-authority.
@GetSlothyy: My final personal question is this: your service promises 85% profit goes back to the vote-seller, while they also receive all curation rewards for voting, and the other 15% goes to SmartSteem - are there plans in the future to change this, or will it remain at this level forever? Will you offer a higher percentage for those that sell votes often/are WhiteListed at higher levels?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
It will remain at this rate forever (99% guarantee). But you can choose a lower value yourself in the settings to support us even more.
You might not imagine it, but it’s a very stressful job maintaining and developing Smartsteem. Just yesterday after I woke up in the morning, I realized that Smartsteem had a technical outage and in the next 2 hours, I did nothing else but to take care of the situation - no toast, no tee - just pure work… :P
But don’t get me wrong - I love my job and what I’ve built with Smartsteem!
Q: This question comes from the Steemit user @Carn: How do bid-bots help Steemit as a social media site?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
They help users - especially new ones - who don’t have a lot of followers and without a large stake of Steem - to get visibility, followers, readers, and curators.
Q: 1 more question from user @Carn: Is it a good thing that bid-bots are required to get into trending? What are your thoughts on this personally?
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
It’s not a good thing - but otherwise only people with a large stake of Steem would reach trending. The system has to change so that bid-bots aren’t needed anymore.
Thanks so much for your time, @TheRealWolf - it’s truly appreciated, and by doing this interview, I’m sure it will bring your service more business and users, as it will provide a lot more transparency as to what you’re all about.
@therealwolf - @smartsteem:
Thanks for having me @GetSlothyy and I’m glad that you’re on Steem and Smartsteem as well!
Joining SmartSteem is easy, and you can do so by signing up here!
Please consider delegating SP to our cause:
25SP,50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP
Want to delegate more? Contact @GetSlothyy if you have or need help!
If in fact Smarteen is the best, because completing your example if you invest 2 SBD Receive as a vote 4.20 to that we took 25% of the serious cure equal 3.15 and that we divide 50% will be received in SBD 1,575 and Steem would get 1,575 , if to that we convert it into dollars at the price of today would amount SBD equal to $3.06 and Steem $3,009 giving an equal sum $6.07
So you're winning $2.18 can vary if it goes up or down SBD, but in conclusion if it is gain
Is my analysis okay?
You’ve also miscalculated the steem it’s calculated in a different way which I don’t remember right now but thanks for making it more clear. It’s basically help with exposure while you keep the money. If someone believe his content is worthy and flag-free sure it’s a good investing.
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Thanks for misguiding at the intro, by not calculating curating rewards, median price, liquid return etc.
Wow I didn't know something like Smartsteem existed. I'll definitely check it out with your referral link since it sounds awesome! @therealwolf looks like a pretty nice guy too!
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by slothyy from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
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BEWARE OF SMARTSTEEM!!! It has downvoted many users. Smartsteem gang attacked me too.....Noticed the warning of @savemax about smartsteem bot. Savemax is telling the truth, smartsteem attacked me too. The reason is very funny. Savemax had transferred some SBD to me, selling his SBD and buying INR from me. So smartsteem thought that my account also belongs to @savemax, and started attacking me too. All the accounts associated with smartsteem like @clvr , @therealwolf , @smartmarket @mac-bot , @spaminator , @prowler , @kuminga, @blacklist-a , and @steemcleaners which are mentioned in the post of @savemax, down-voted all my posts and wiped out all the earnings I made. This is very un-ethical. Tomorrow, if @savemax transfers some SBD to some other reputed account, smartsteem and his gangs will attack that account too. @savemax is telling the truth, Do not use smartsteem, otherwise you may sometimes lose all the transferred money without getting an up-vote. You cannot even ask the money back, then they will start attacking you too, like they did with @savemax. I am conveying this message to maximum people who are posting links using steembottracker.