We're All Stars and Galaxies Make Up the Universe
Not Once,
in the two years I've been here, have I ever made an agreement with anyone, when it comes to who I support and who supports me.
Yet, by default, and probably because the term "Circle Jerk" is catchy and sounds like something someone who enjoys bitching about things would love to add to their daily vocabulary, that's what you become if you support someone who supports you.
Circle Jerker!
They spread their gospel and before you know it, everyone is guilty by default of some kind of crime that doesn't even exist.
If you have 'x' amount of SP, been here since a certain day, and made a few friends along the way...
It must be foul play!
Always and Forever
Since day one.
Labelled and lumped into a pile. The dark side of doing something people seemed to be enjoying for two years. If you're down there at the bottom like I was, struggling, wanting to get somewhere...
Expect to be treated like shit once you get there.
Maybe it won't come directly to your face but you'll be out there, mingling, lurking, reading, doing whatever; you'll see how people talk.
Whales, orcas, dolphins. All working together. Don't care about anyone else. Selfish bastards. Yadda yadda yadda blah blah fucking blah.
Then you get some loudmouth whiners buying votes and spreading their gospel all over the trending page; pointing fingers, breaking spirits, being messengers of doom, acting like saviors. Then the comment section fills up with entitlement issues and more blaming of everyone else but themselves.
Now,
I'm no fool.
I know some shady shit goes on.
I also know that majority of people are good. They mean well and they do not get the credit they deserve.
So why don't you vote for me, @NoNamesLeftToUse
with your massive pile of 23000 SP?
You're supposed to support people! Why are you not voting for me! I'm a minnow! You're a dolphin! I deserve it!
Well, I don't know you, whoever you are, but this doesn't mean I don't vote for you because we're not friends.
I literally DO NOT know you!
I don't know you exist.
If a post falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
I have my feed. I scroll through my feed, I see things that exist, I drop votes.
Yes, I'll vote for a lot of people, and more than once. I might even vote for them every day of the week. Why? Because I am a fan of their work, and I want to see them succeed. I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do.
I follow over 500 people but nobody here on this platform has the ability to drop five hundred 100% votes in a day. One cannot even drop that many 100% power votes in a week. Sure, they could push the button as many times as they want but eventually that vote will be worth zilch no matter how much SP one has in their wallet and nobody gets anywhere.
So, since we have a limited amount of voting power, we can only help a limited number of people succeed. That's life.
Why not drop people and vote for new people?
We do, all the time, but how does it feel when you get dropped?
People come, people go; a window opens, a window closes. Nobody wants to hurt anyone.
Why do they vote for your work?
I don't know? Maybe they like it? I never asked, but I do thank them. What else can I do? Tell everyone to stop? Is that what you would do?
Should I, or others, stop voting for people, just because they voted for me?
Hi there. I see you voted for me. Fuck you. I'll never speak to you again.
Does that sound reasonable?
The feeling is mutual.
I am a fan of people who are fans of me.
I read their stuff, I smile; they read my stuff, they smile.
It's not some big crime ring. More like one big clusterfuck of like-minded people who just so happened to stumble into one another at some point in time.
This happens everywhere, all over the platform. I know for a fact there are thousands of people out there who share the same experience. People get together, they find out they like each other, they support each other. No agreement behind the scenes was ever made, things just went the way they did.
Something so natural
is not a problem.
People don't see the months and months it took to build the bonds and pave the roads; they only see the end result and simply assume the worst.
That is so annoying.
What really set me off though and got me on this tangent was reading the excuses made by the DLive team for first using us, then ditching out.
Another goddamn trending post painting everyone with a broad brush.
Because it's this way and ONLY this way, we have to leave and you all should be ashamed of yourselves. Enjoy your implosion!
And one big happy fuck you to you too, buddy!
Yup, I'm paraphrasing.
That doesn't matter. Here's a direct quote:
...the current economic model of Steem incentivizes large Steem holders to continuously upvote their own content and other creators who specifically support their content. This creates an ecosystem where a content’s true value can't be recognized or be fairly rewarded. Community members who are not "privileged" enough to be a part of these groups with large voting power are therefore penalized financially.
Privileged? I do not feel "privileged"! Goddammit I feel like someone who worked his goddamn ass off to near death multiple times and came back for more! I look at these folks I support and I see them working every fucking day! Sure! I'd like to earn more! So would they! So would you! So would everyone! Is that a crime?
Calm down, @NoNamesLeftToUse.
I'm trying!
Again, and I've said this before. I could have easily wrote ten comments yesterday, voted each one of those ten comments up 100%, and earned more than I received for writing up my awesome I've been here for two years anniversary post, then voting for as many posts as my power would allow.
This place has it's problems but that doesn't mean I'm required to take part in that behavior. I'm not alone.
They say this circle jerking mentality will bring certain doom but that is not the case...
Because we're not all going behind closed doors and making deals! There is a tiny minority of people who take that road. Majority of people on this planet are good. This is why we can travel down the road and not have to worry about someone aiming their vehicle at us to take us out! The same thing applies here. We're a group of people, some are bad, majority are good. The majority want success and I am speaking from a lot of experience.
The Kicker
Let me tell you something about shady people.
Shady people work with other shady people. They end up doing shady things to each other, eventually, because that's in their nature.
Their little world will come crashing down! The rest of us will be fine!
We're all stars. Together we form galaxies. Galaxies make up the universe and from there we become one again. It's only natural.
Fun fact:
(Pay close attention.)
The universe is expanding.
Get it? Got it? Good!
Have a nice day!
I have no idea how or what to comment, I'm unable to put the right words together right now but hell to the fookin' yeah, you said it!
Supporting people you want to support shouldn't be viewed as a group masturbating while holding eye contact with one another. It should be viewed as just a friendly confession of "I think about you when I masturbate" and taken as a fucking compliment: "Thank you, I really appreciate it!"
I spread your piece & hope more people see this. \m/
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
That's not so hard!
I see people struggling to get somewhere, I know they're reading those posts and comments demonizing getting to know one another and supporting each other, so then what? They develop an irrational fear of building roads that might lead to their success? So they struggle more because of this shitty attitude some flaunt around because they'd sooner post and collect a participation award? I don't know. I just felt like it's probably a good time to explain the reality of what's truly going on.
It's good to see some folks can actually see what I mean here, but I'm tired, and I think it's time to go so for you and anyone else reading this, by the time you see this message I'll probably be sleeping somewhere and dreaming about my post hitting the trending page because people actually saw it and liked it. I know that sounds crazy, along with with rambling, but a man can dream.
Hey, a man can dream! And the post definitely is trending-worthy. I wish you a mighty great nap / sleep! Hope you feel fresh and dandy once you wake up!
Ok, I don't know why, but for some reason I seriously love that metaphor. I think it's just the fact that you got way too into it (no pun intended, but now that I see it...)
Thank you! I wish my mind would spark in ways like these when it comes to writing posts...
Eh. Your writing seems fairly solid, nice and original (Not actually nice. Because that would be boring. But you know what I mean.) and quite creative when you do post. It just doesn't seem to be that often...
Which I suppose is better than posting too often, I can't follow the people who toss out 5 posts a day, especially since most of these are immensely low quality.
O....k then. I haven't been checking out the trending/top posts recently, I just wasn't interested and I didn't have time for the things I wanted to do/look at alone (I did them anyway. And then failed to get anywhere IRL. Oops)
But seriously? This is their mentality? I think it's annoying and very frustrating that a new user has to run around looking for good material, then dropping interesting comments to like-minded people to get anywhere, but it's the way the system is set up. You want to get somewhere, you make those connections. You befriend people who enjoy similar content, and slowly build up your own blog.
And people are hating on this? People are questioning the rewards which come to those who do that work, people who make those connections? Well, I suppose latecomers always try to take down those who have already paved the road.
But seriously people - do the work yourself! Write good posts, find people with similar interests and comment on their posts. If your posts are good enough you may get noticed by curie, or the MSP, or the pifc, or some such group. Enter some contests, try to do something yourself for once in your life.
SorryNot actually sorry for that rant. I've worked hard enough myself (though not for nearly as long or as hard as those who've already found success, which is why they've found success and I haven't) and I don't like the fact that people are trying to rip down a system which rewards those who put in work because they don't want to do it.On a completely different note,
Speak for yourself. I have several deals going behind the scenes, mostly about the important things in life, like peanut butter and world domination.
Things just get weird around here from time to time and maybe all of this complaining about who votes for what and when is why those with a lot of stake refuse to use it for curating. Maybe, after all this time, those complaining about how things should be only shot themselves in the foot. Hmmm....
kudos to that. tends to happen IRL, so I'd expect the same is happening in steemit, though I don't know the minds of the whales, so I can't tell you for certain. Unfortunately, despite all of my incredible powers, the ability to read minds of anonymous people at a distance has evaded me.
That, however, is among the least of my problems. Still, it manages to bother me from time to time.
Yes, those agreements must be kept... ;0)
Ooh. I didn't think you would check this out, or comment for that matter. But yeah, you were one of the people I had in mind. Others include Paul, that penderis fellow I told you about, and a few others. The peanut butter/world domination thing is mainly reserved for steemit, though many of my IRL friends know that I have a strange fixation on both.
But back to out plans. I think we should go for omega 37 Y, Triple Boom, nail polish. And then it will be time to release the peanut butter
Well said! At this point I have stopped looking at my feed all together. I just follow the people I like wiith a bit help of Gina. As for supporting new fish, I discover them from my comment section primarily and the comments of the people I follow. So people, stop whining and instead socialize more. And for the love of God, be yourself, don't suck dicks for a couple of pennies.
Yeah! Quit sucking dicks and you don't have to take it up ass either!
Pretty much everyone I know visited me at some point or I said some weird shit on their blog. Most folks I know here are some of the best people I've ever met and I enjoy your company. It takes a lot to put up with me, so I know damn well you're all good people.
Sorry for delay in response. Technical difficulties.
Only suck dicks if there is enough zeros behind the first number. Sorry, had to get that out there.
Me to myself: "there is a familiar looking @saywha monster, this must be a friend!"
I asked him to make me one and he agreed right away like a year ago. If he had said no I would have offered to suck his dick
You are funny. I like you.
Vote 4 vote sir?
Yes Ma'am!
^_^
When the shady folk are also the richest, the wealth concentrates, and it concentrates away from people like you, and that irks me no end.
Accusing the whole congregation of circle jerking because people tend to vote for friends and out of mutual admiration is indeed nonsense, but it does bother me to see the real people putting out the good stuff making sweet fuck all partly because of the skulduggery going on, and because they aren't, and don't want to be, party to that.
I too think Steemit is currently set up for making money with money rather than making money with content, but that doesn't mean that everybody who does well is a shady abuser of the system. There are some rather glorious exceptions, and my personal pet peeve is that they don't do much better at the moment.
I know there are problems and these issues can trickle all the way over here, and it bothers me as well. It's annoying though if one bad apple is ruining the whole bunch, giving everyone a bad name. I'd like to be doing better but if those with high value votes aren't interested combined with those with low value votes thinking I'm part of the problem, things just get worse. What is there to work up to if getting somewhere is frowned upon? Damned if you do, damned if you don't. People push themselves up to the top of the front page to complain and there's no mention of those trying to do something good. People complain about how nobody can get anywhere and there's no mention of those trying. No one to look up to, no leads to follow, it's all completely ignored and since there's no mention of the good it must be all bad.
I get your point. Those who think you are part of the problem should look closer and better. I do sometimes think, however, there are more bad apples than glorious exceptions at the moment, so I'm not so sure about that one bad apple.
Anyway, had I thought you were part of the problem, I would have let you know. Your doing fairly well does in no way automatically make you part of the problem; thinking that way is just stoopeed.
Let me guess who you're referring to - Boomdawg and the nameless fellow? Just because I see you on both of their blogs all the time, and I've noticed that despite the fact that they're providing top quality content in their niche, and it's a popular niche at that, they're making relatively little.
Can't help it if nobody can keep up with them shades
The last four people I resteemed on my blog are good examples, I think, but there are more who, I feel, deserve better.
Fair enough, I rather enjoyed all of them, though I will point out that @digitalis is working in one of the most competitive niches. Nature photography is all over the place. He's good, I'll give him that, but good enough to give him an edge over those who've been here so much longer, who've done so much more networking? I don't think so. You also have to consider the fact that he doesn't provide a description, something many, or rather most people enjoy - something which just improves the experience.
I will give plenty of credit to @Katharsisdrill for the well-written commentaries (especially considering the fact that she's not a native english speaker) as well as excellent drawings.
@ddschteinn is also a fairly good writer, although not exactly my style. Still, that's nothing against him, everybody has different preferences. His pictures aren't that great, but they don't need to be - they're clearly just there to add immersion, and I suppose dimension, to his writing, something they do quite well, making for some high quality posts.
And you already know I like the nameless fellow.
All in all some solid choices.
But yeah, I do have to agree with you. A lot of people deserve better, a lot of people don't get it. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be enough of a curation/content ratio to keep up with all the users, especially with all of the spam out there. Still, there are a couple of good groups/movements/people out there, which at least help people find their feet.
It is what it is. We can do our best and that's really it.
Or we could just murder everyone at the top. I prefer that plan.
And there's the fact that about a third of all SP is behind voting bots; adding, say, 15% of SP being tied up in content-agnostic voting circles, that would mean that only half of all SP is really curating, and also that the other half is diverting attention away from the real content providers and frustrating them at the same time.
I do nature photography as well, and even in that niche @digitalis is in the sub-niche of close-in macro. Maybe my doing the same thing makes me admire his technical prowess; he's very good at what he does, but not very talkative, I'll give you that.
And yes: ¡Viva la revolución!
Ok, seems like we're on about the same page about the problem, though I have yet to see a good solution...
And yes, I do agree that @digitalis is very good at what he does. Still, close-in macro is probably the most prevalent sub-niche in the nature photography niche, so that doesn't get you very far.
And yeah, I've also dabbled (here), and with a couple of other photos I haven't posted, because I'm in no way goo enough to make it into the niche.
I suppose much of the reason he doesn't impress me altogether too much is the fact that I have a close friend who's an obsessive hobbyist photographer. (Well, less obsessive now. But still going at it. I think buying a $900 dollar camera at age 15 is pretty obsessive, don't you?) And this fellow has dragged me through the whole process. Much to my chagrin I've had to look through many of his photos and hear step-by-step explanations of the process/camera technology (which I promptly forgot.)
And since he is a very good photographer (for an amateur at least), despite frustrating me so much, he's brought me to the point where a very well taken photo just doesn't cover it for me.
I vote for content that I like, I like the contents that I vote on. I keep things simple. I prefer squares to circles.
I don't vote for things I don't like. That being said, there some things I like that I can't vote for because of the limited power. How was I to know so and so was about to post something awesome the moment I drained all the juice.
Squares are cool unless you're speaking 50's slang. I wonder if the Illuminati are just a bunch triangle jerkers.
I suspect that may be the case. I don't know why people have such a problem with circles - i'm sure there are a few polygon jerks out there too.
Then there's those octagonal jerks always telling people to stop.
Eh. I'm more of an undecagon sort of person, mostly because it's way too much fun saying that and seeing people go a whatwhadagon?!
I take far too much enjoyment in other people's pain. It probably makes me a bad person, but since being a bad person can be so much fun... yeah, I think I'll stick with it.
That is weird, I have just this moment been talking about polygons on another post!
I'm a circle jerker, but that doesn't mean my circle won't expand to include more people. I just have found them Yet!... I'm still exploring my galaxy.
And what the hell does a guy have to do to get on the trending page around here? I'll resteem this to see if that helps. 👍
Trending page. I've nearly given up trying to get somewhere here. Maybe there's some kind of conspiracy and some folks put me on some kind of blacklist because they do not approve of me. It feels like that some days. A lot know of me, and seem to refuse to look no matter what like the decision was made before the post was published.
Refuse to look... damn, if thats tha case, they need a check up form the neck up! I think your content is great. It's what I wake up for in the morning... well, that and the wife poking my ribs saying "come on, we gotta get the kids to school"
I guess I am a circle jerk person or whatever..
I mean, why would I bother following someone if I didn't like their content. And since I like their content, why wouldn't I up-vote it? And it stands to reason that I like content creators that have similar interests to me, so they may likely enjoy my content and up-vote it as well.
I don't know why people get so bent out of shape around here about non-issues.
If people are complaining that dolphins/orcas/whales etc are ruining steemit, then their best option might be to decide that Steemit isn't right for them, or actually invest in the platform in order to be taken a bit more seriously. Too many people come here and think that they are going to get something for nothing. That's not how it works in the real world, and not how it works in here!
Someone with money can enjoy the same things as someone who's broke. We're people, not dollar bills. It's not the wealthiest member's responsibility to enjoy everything this planet has to offer and those without are under no obligation either. Pretty damn fair. And you're right... I don't expect those serious types who do nothing but talk about crypto to ignore all of their friends and come vote my style so why give something a dirty name and demonize people for simply acting natural. I'm not going ignore the people I've met and the content I enjoy. In most cases the people come first and that's not favoritism. DLive for instance is ditching out because they feel their content producers were undervalued but if 10 people all stream the same game, and I love that game, it doesn't mean all ten streams get a vote... I'll vote for the individual who's the most entertaining or interesting, whatever, and it all boils down to the human, not their content. Just like bands and music. Maybe you like punk rock but you don't like every punk rock band. Just a few of them. Totally normal.
I hear ya. It is exhausting trying to appease the voting police. And as you say, you make friends and you like what they write. It is only natural.
I think it all just comes back to the simple philosophy that each user can and should do whatever they want with their voting power. Plain and simple, really.
Speak about punk rock and circle jerking, I think it's now accurate for me to suggest you to listen to the Circle Jerks!(??? is it?).
I've heard them! Not my favorite punk band but I guess they're good enough.
They're not my most fav either but hey, the name tho, heheh.
My most fav English-lyriced punk band is definitely the Dead Kennedys, though.
Shady people are everywhere. It's actually hard to know what types of posts to vote on and curate. I'm constantly changing my mental algorithm.
Friends voting for friends? In a circle and we've all got our pants down?
Sounds like a good time to me.
Even good people do some dumb things but I have trouble believing a majority of people are here to do stupid things and bring the place down. It's not perfect, but it's not a complete disaster either.
YES YES YES SO MUCH YES! Amen hallelujah preach and all that!
I read this nodding, agreeing and I always applaud the way you write important things in such an entertaining way. It's so much fun to read! I know I don't comment often enough, but I see you, I witness you!
Well I'm happy to hear you liked it to the point of feeling the need to reenact the classic Herbal Essences shampoo commercial from the mid 90's that you've probably never seen. Or maybe they have that where you live? I don't know...
I see you, too. And I need to be commenting more. I'm slippin!
We had two tv-channels, three on a good day, in the mid 90's Finland, and I was 5 years old then, so I have missed this American commercial :D
"Oh yes, totally, let's catch up, soon!"
But for real, I'll try to be more active, not just drop upvotes and disappear.
I only had two channels growing up here in Canada as well. Three on a good day. I totally know what you mean by that. My parents eventually purchased one of those massive satellite dishes that moved around and borrowed signals.
How nostalgic! We live on a hilltop so we got the third channel, and even a fourth one by the time I was maybe 12. The neighbours only a 100 meters down the hill didn't get the fourth one until a few years later.
Where I lived, there weren't many hills. One could watch their dog run away for three days.
One of your best posts!
And all I did was yell at my screen for a couple of hours...
ooh, I love doing that
(This video kinda applies, even though it involves more breaking stuff than yelling)