It's like they introduced some form of injectable crack cocaine into the community and combined it with social assistance handouts all while thinking it was a good idea.

I see the damage it's doing to the neighborhood.

^{Others just keep driving and refuse to look.}

We got one scurrying around in the shadows over here. Another one about to steal your bike over there. This one wants a cheeseburger. That one is offering you some new shoes on the cheap and out of the back of his fancy new Honda.

Now there are more coming in the back door.

They're everywhere!

The robots are coming!

^{The robots are coming!}

"What kind of robots?"

For a ten spot you can pick one up from the side of the road.

Vote Smoking Robots of the Night

^{and the Pimps who Keep Them}

The bots stand on the side of the road wearing their fancy clothes while acting like billboards as a way to promote hit posts and happy living.

Just try my vote. Come on, just once. You'll like it. Nobody ever died from their first hit. Don't worry, it's cool, everyone's doing it, and I'll throw in a free blowjob.

People see them and think hey, why not. No one will know.

All it takes is one though.

One vote and a nasty blowjob turn into a life of buying votes and nasty blowjobs. Everyone knows that.

Just one hit and you're headed straight to that dumpster where they throw out the three day old donuts because you think you left your lighter there.

Then your dealer pulls up in that fancy new Mercedes just in time for your next hit post so you quickly grab your donuts and it's the best day ever all over again.

What's going on here?

Simply take a drive down Trending Page Way and you'll see some of the vote dealers in action.

It's easy to see how some of those dealers have been dipping into their own supply. Just look at how high they are.

I won't mention any names because they'll just pout about it, go into denial mode, bring up the script about how it's all for a "good cause," bust off a couple caps in my ass, or worse; all four of those annoying reactions at once.

Hookers and dealers in the park, bragging up earning thousands of dollars per day selling their dope, sitting around injecting more rewards directly into their veins and for all to see.
What's up with that?

Isn't that park(reward pool) supposed to be for everyone?

A few won't even be courteous enough to warn viewers about how they are about to smoke some form of an article laced with advertising.

---

In Reality

^or
My Attempt at Addressing a Few Problems like a Normal Person
 

Many who don't see what's truly going on behind the scenes tend to applaud these pill pushers dressed as tax collectors and hand them a vote simply for doing an awesome job.

My hero! You do such a good job! I like this post! Please vote for my posts now too! I love you! Please marry my daughter! She made soup just for you!

Many who are out of the loop don't realize that member did not earn that slot high up on the trending page. The post isn't there simply because people enjoyed it.

The post isn't there because of high ratings.

The slot was purchased.

Some of those high powered votes were bought and to be used for advertising/promotional purposes only. The member who paid for them knows that in advance.

Eventually, people are lured and duped into voting for an infomercial instead of that newest minnow's introductory post or a meme about reward pool rape.

Whoever engineers the bot that promptly removes the advertisements from the trending tab and puts them under the promoted tab(where they belong) once the use of these so-called promotion bots is detected will be a goddamn genius in my books.

That would finally help solve the issue with the trending page being consistently full of promotions, infomercials, paid programming and other forms of advertising that stand little to no chance of attracting a new member from the world that exists outside of Steemit, cryptocurrency, and the culture.

It has been said: "Steemit does not have advertisements."

That simple claim in itself has the potential to attract many people but instead, the first thing many see are advertisements and paid programming due to the use of these so-called promotion bots.

If an infomercial was the first thing you saw on television after turning it on, there's a strong chance you will immediately change the channel.

The problem gets worse when the advertiser doesn't inform the viewer that they are watching or reading an advertisement. That falls under false advertising which is typically frowned upon in our society.

I suggest any and all promoted posts come equipped with an advertisement icon that sits nicely beside the headline much like how we'd see a 100% Powerup post after it's published. A bot can easily sort that out. Majority of advertisements on the internet are now clearly labelled as such. Steemit is not above standard advertising practices.

_{Since removing the ads from the trending page could potentially mean people can only see the same handful of accounts trending multiple times per day, everyday, that problem could be resolved by simply limiting the number of trending posts an author can produce in a day to one. Rewards should never be equally divided, people should always have to earn their keep, but the playing field must remain equal. That's how every good game works. Everyone deserves the same opportunity. It's what they do with it that's up to them. If they keep seeing how they don't stand chance at winning, ever, they won't want to play.}

---

Pay to play. Pay to say.

^{That wasn't in the Steemit brochure.}

---

Fifty equals one?

^{Since when?}

STEEM and SBD are some of the first cryptocurrencies people can earn simply by working and doing a good job. If investors lose interest, the content producers can still create value and invest time in the form of rewards back into the platform. There are far more writers, bloggers, vloggers, entertainers, artists, photographers and many other ers than there are crypto enthusiasts in this world. STEEM knows no bounds.

A slippery slope.

Would you prefer it if $50 worth of our tokens was actually meaningless and worth nearly nothing? How would your Steemit wallet look today if that were the case?

If you were paid minimum wage and they suddenly came along to tell you what you're earning every hour isn't worth anything, would you be happy?

If your song, meme, science paper about how to cure cancer, joke, artwork, essay about ducks, or extremely well written novel chapter was finally enough to earn your first $50, would you be impressed with your work if that only meant you finally got out of the negative?

If someone then came along to tell you it would be in your best interest to purchase their insurance policy just so you can live, would you be impressed with your new master?

If everyone was forced to purchase $50 worth of rewards from these new tax collectors just to be able to remain competitive, that would make $50 worth of rewards the new $1.

Steemit has the potential to pull many people from around the world out of the state of poverty.

But how can they succeed if all they're doing is stepping out of a poverty state and into a welfare state where in order to play they must pay to have a say?

Who let the crooked politicians and televangelist types from our dark history inside the building? Do they really deserve another chance to mess things up for everyone?

Think about it.

---

---

_{Did you know, one of the easiest ways to make money as a Snake Oil Salesman is to simply enter a community, create a problem, then offer a solution for a fee? Tried, tested and true. That's been going on for centuries. We call those people advertisers now though. That's what changed.}

_{Problem: Tell people it's hard to get noticed on Steemit.}
^{Solution: Buy the vote from the person who told you how hard it is to get noticed on Steemit.}

Sound familiar?

---

---

Moving Along

Many who buy votes do so at the last minute.

They need a tank of gas so they write a shit post that nobody sees and then three days later they pay themselves just for living another day.

That tells me one thing and one thing only. Those members simply don't care about views or exposure. They just want money beside their work, so they buy the money, which in that case holds no value and becomes a simple statistic. Just a number. Totally useless.

Due to Steemit's notoriously short attention span, it's too late for views and any sort of "promoting" when the post is already three days old. If promoting was the real reason they purchased those votes, they've wasted their money.

Those late purchased votes will not contribute towards any future success as a blogger.

Those bought and paid for votes will not help anyone earn a solid following who's willing to offer a vote or two for free.

When they stop buying votes, they see the end result of spending all that money.

Instead of working hard to attract the high powered free votes, they become complacent, focusing only on posting whatever they thought was important that day, every few hours, didn't value their work, and bought their participation award.

The need and desire to perform better is lost in a sea of thanks for showing up, here's your prize.

They will have to either continue purchasing votes forever, step up their game while learning how to cope with life when not everything goes their way, or quit.

Doing a good job is free.

^{And so are the Good Job Rewards.}

I conclude.

Is it time to pull our heads out of our asses and wise up to this dangerous new drug taking Steemit by storm or should we just sit on our hands and let the place turn into Votejunkytown, USA?

I've pointed out where the place is headed if nothing changes or gets worse. Property values do not rise in neighborhoods overrun by dope dealers.

Those crooked politician types are only good at smiling for cameras and finding new ways to control people all while forcing the people to pay to be controlled. Property values do not rise when we put slumlords in charge.

How much money do you have invested in this place?

I have enough to say a lot and I know there are quite a few out there with more and even less who also care.

I'm pretty damn sure the one thing we all have in common is seeing this place thrive and the property value rise.

Lastly:

• I was fine with the cocaine. I don't see any reason to start cutting it up and turning it into crack.

I can't be the only one.

Have a nice day.

Credits: _{All art and images seen here were produced digitally, by me. "This article was more meaningful than the last one!" [email protected]}

^{© 2018 Two Insanity Productions.}Follow @NoNamesLeftToUse^{(Click the link for previous posts!)}