Enter a whale's mind
Those posts below caught my attention
https://steemit.com/art/@iansart/warm-beauty-watercolour-portrait
https://steemit.com/art/@metalbrushes/original-art-photography-032
https://steemit.com/art/@elenasteem/a-new-collection-of-drawings-i-drew-a-fox-video-process
https://steemit.com/photography/@nidin/very-beautiful-flowers
The first post has earned a whopping 19 cents. This artwork to me deserves at least $10 for the time spent doing it and also taking into account the final result which is great.
The second post has earned a whopping 30 cents. This is an original photo with good lightening/contrast and angle view ( looks like the author of this photograph may have put himself in an uncomfy position to take it), I would give this post $5 , I love nature pics.
The third post earned a whopping 47 cents whoohoo! This art is called digital drawing, basically she draws on a computer. I don't know if you tried to draw on paint but if you did you know how difficult it is, the art itself is very creative so for the difficulty and originality I would give this $15.
The last post earned a whopping 4 cents, crazy I know! These macro photographs are great, it takes some work and patience to get the right shot, the post contain many pics and I really like the last ant pics. I'd have given $7.5 to this author which i think is fair.
I like these posts, I think they are undervalued a lot BUT I'm not going to upvote them because I earn way more selling my votes to a bot.
As an example, If I upvote the first post to $10 I would earn about 2 steem but if I sell my vote to a bot I would earn about 6 steem, that's 3 times more.
However if these authors had the tools to allocate higher curation rewards to me I would upvote them without second thought.
If @iansart @metalbrushes @elenasteem @nidin had set their curation reward percentage to 60% they would have earned $4, $2, $6, $3 respectively for their work instead of 19 cts, 30 cts, 47 cts, 4cts. And you can bet I wouldn't be the only one upvoting these..
I want to apologize to these authors for not upvoting them unfortunately I have no incentive to do so since I make 3 times more money NOT upvoting them. Now you know why whales don't upvote your beautiful work...
Moral of the story: I would have to earn at least the same amount that the bot earns to upvote quality content that I actually like. ( which is about 50-60% of the post's value). I also think it's fair to say that changing curation ratio from 50/50 to 25/75 was a bad idea..
This is why Steemit is not what I thought it was.
I thought it would mean curation and votes based on content, not lining pockets.
I have been proven wrong.
Time to re-evaluate why I spend time here.
It is good that I found out about it in the first week on steemit.
Yeah, wish I had known.
Just watch how things develop, don't pour a lot of energy into this platform until they address its obvious shortcomings.
Its sad, but that's just how it is.
I think that this is how the world works or even the Universe. There is a law of resistance. Universe works the way that things happen in the way with less resistance - that is the most efficient way of doing things.
Of course that means that by doing such things you attract the same people. In other words - you post fast content just to get fast rewards and the place becomes what it says - money talks. 😂
Btw, when I found out about it, I was not very happy, too.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@scorer/steemit-a-place
The incentives are aligned in such a way that copy-pasting and low-effort posting is the norm.
So, the value of Steem is going to converge on the value of such data - which isn't scarce by any means - which eventually trends towards zero.
That's the future of Steemit, if nothing changes.
But having this knowledge helps you to make a better decisions.
And all of that because of this information.
Until "they" address its obvious shortcomings.... I do think a few tweaks are needed, but most of the problems here can't be solved by "them." They must be solved by us. I think markets (and Steemit is a market) can solve a problem like the centralized power of whales and the incentives they currently respond to, and it troubles me a little that so many of us minnows cry out for some type of regulation to solve this problem. Markets, though, require freedom for voluntary exchange, they require a sufficient level of complexity, and they require time. I'm not sure that forcing users to use the 50/50 curation percentage qualifies as true market freedom. (I've seen a suggestion for curation sliders – good idea.) But I'm waiting patiently (because markets require time, I can't stress that enough) for the sufficiently complex population of dolphins to become large enough (markets are scale dependent) to have the ability to compete with the whales.
I feel like, if our goals was to ACHIEVE something of real substance, instead of making money, then schools of minnows would bring together intelligence and ideas sufficient to potentially even just use steem as a launching off point for a fair and balanced egalitarian coin, with ultimate human use case scenarious. Alx
Please tell me this is not news to you. The trending page features the same authors for over a year..
Thanks for being honest. Most whales will say: We vote for good content.
There are bots flagging self-voters, while nobody flags pay4vote bots, getting paid to vote is in my opinion is the same exact thing.
@snowflake
I really want to invest in steem, everything in me is screaming: Buy! Buy! Buy!
But everyday when I see what is on the trending page I come to the same conclusion: regardless of the technology the value of steem can only go down.
Similar to Bitcoin if only a few dozen miners were allowed to solve blocks and the whales hoarded bitcoins in order to keep the public out.
I can only imagine how many people would love to buy into the technology behind steem or maybe a new fork of steem, but will not due to the current climate.
That's pretty accurate actually .
Even if steem has some problems ( which are solvable) it still has a way more democratic distribution mechanism than any other crypto out there.
I don't know if you've noticed but more and more people are getting into the business of rewarding users ( 21inc, electroneum,and many other social media app like sine). These guys are just only realizing that this business model is the future and is the only way to get the masses interested in crypto. Steem is at the forefront of that which is why I keep stackin every day.
I did not know that they were rewarding users in a similar fashion as Steemit. Although I keep hearing @ned talk about SMT's potential to reward on any web site similar to Steemit's model.
I am actually very grateful to Steemit, because a year ago I met @cathi-xx on here and I moved to England to be with her, so that is why I might be very critical at times, because I really want Steemit to succeed.
At the moment I am just holding a little bit of steem and hoping that they fix some of the issues. I have also stopped writing stories on here, since they take so long to write and get edited, when there are practically no large SP holders left that are still curating.
Steemit is a good playground and they have all tools to test the best way for this model. Probably that is why https://smt.steem.io was made. Only it was made too fast, because Steemit still does not have a viable product.
I never said it was.
And it makes it even worse, because users with power - like yourself - have accepted this sorry state of affairs and its been languishing this long.
So why is Steemit going to succeed? Is it to train a new generation of bots to monetize and comment on each other's posts?
Because that's the only use-case I see with the current system.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Not news too me at all.....
Omg god... @talltim, I agree with you so much..... :-/ This post make me sad. As you, i 've spent so much time here and I even went to steemfest. I needed to be sure about why I was doing all of that......
But I realised, that even if we all join Steem because of the money, we shouldn't stay for that. Because we will not have it. If we got it it's because of luck.
We don't have to think about money. We have to think about a decentralized place (that's why we should use Busy and not Steemit who is part of steemit inc).
We have to think about sharing content gaining money or not. Steem is a social media based blockchain. It will not change the world tommorrow. But ... you know right, that only fews cents can already change the life of people in Africa/Asia ?
We don't need to be here for the money but for the passion to share, to make friends.
I was already a blogger and I blogged for years without gaining any cents. Why wouldn't do it here too ??? I blog here too because I am read, commented and better found on Google (thanks to Steem SEO).
Stop complain... Choose why you are here. And if it's only for the money, better leave the plateforme. Otherwise you will get too frustrated.
But I agree with you that's not what steem advertised (blog with quality content and get rewarded). That's more about who you know than what you do. It's more about how much you also have and can make your upvoter win (have you heard about circle jerks?).
Anyway, don't be here for the money... It will drive you mad. Be here because of the hope it gives of having a "decentralized place without - for now at least - any advertising every where and who still can change some really poor people's lives" .
If it was just about the money I would've quit a long time ago.
It isn't. Its the principle. Those intangible properties that supposedly separate us from animals in the jungle. Except here, money is tied to power - so you see a system that is teeming with all kinds of opportunistic parasites.
That's what I'm railing about.
It could change, and maybe it will - but until then I'll just scale back. I'm sure there are more newbies in the hopper who haven't realized what I have.
But they will.
Keep feeding the bots, whales. Soon they'll be the only thing you can talk to.
there must be a change done to the code because i spend most of my days creating and posting and it is not going to pay the bills and i might stop all together.
if the currency's value is decided by a code, then why not adjust the code to make the currency value higher? this current model is not sustainable for someone seriously working on the platform full time
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
It could be said that rewarding better content increase better content submissions,
better content attract more people (views)
making the value of being viewed higher in the rankings on Steem more valuable increasing the value of SteemPower and Steem in the process.
But I agree, It could sound very far-fetch for the average investor.
A group that I was with before was talking about how hard to get the attention of a whale. Some recommended following the whale, give comments and hope that this would generate some interest and they would be a recepient of an upvote from time to time.
Others said to use certain keywords and tags that the whales like and hope again to receive that elusive upvote.
Others tag the whale in the post hoping the tag would make the whale vote.
There even some who were badmouthing whales and to me that was just too negative and downright rude. How judgemental for them to thing they know how a person things. I left that group because I couldn't stand them.
I understand the whole concept of minnows, dolphins and whales. Why the SP of a whale is highly coveted and generates lots of value for the poster.
I have to thank you for your candidness on the matter. There was no beating around bush and you explained why you are doing it. It makes sense and you use your power to gain what is important to you.
Until now I can still feel that my mouth is open and shocked. I have always believed that content is king and that is why I joined Steemit and write my soul out in trying to come up with qualify posts.
There was a time on my 2nd week that I felt disillusioned because here I was pouring my heart out but no one was voting nor even commenting. I have thought that I wrote good when I posted some but it was to no avail. As you put it I was earning cents and I was not getting exposure.
I was contemplating on using upvote boys and. Resteemed services just to increase my visibility however I decided not to because I wanted to grow on the merit of content and that people would enjoy what I wrote. In hindsight I should use both forms. To take pride in what I wrote but also be seen using the bots.
In all honesty I feel that I have been punched in the gut.I still can't get this wrapped in my head not can think of a solution.
I have to reassess what I am going to do next then.
I don't believe that ALL the whales vote in this fashion all the time (as far as I know). Don't forget about all the "dolphins" out there willing to support your work too!!
I agree and I have seen on other posts that they are using their power to enrich the quality and content of the community.
There have been several dolphins and a lot of minnows that I have genuinely interact with and I see how passionate they are as well in creating content. I love how some people create such beautiful and heart moving content.
In a way this is good because it created an avenue for people to talk about this in the open. I still believe in Steemit even after being disillusioned a bit but that is another superpower I have. Grit on being able to stand up and push through.
Thank you for your kind words @daveks it has brought some positivity back.
@daveks - You're right, I also neglected to recognize in my response the there are plenty of dolphins working ahead on the front lines for the minnows. Good point.
Are they? Where are they then?
With only few whales/dolphins occupying the trending, hot and promoted tabs. While new is full of crap.
Oh my!
I became a poet just because of steemit
Where everything will rhyme as long as there is a dime!
you won't see those huge payouts with "dolphin" votes, think $5-$10 in payout vs $50-$100!
I was contemplating on using upvote boys and. Resteemed services just to increase my visibility however I decided not to because I wanted to grow on the merit of content and that people would enjoy what I wrote. In hindsight I should use both forms. To take pride in what I wrote but also be seen using the bots.
In all honesty I feel that I have been punched in the gut.I still can't get this wrapped in my head not can think of a solution.
I have to reassess what I am going to do next then.
This is exactly problem am having on steemit, how i wish i could get the right solution to it in time. Steemit.com is getting out of what I have hearing from my mentor, after a long thinking and and many more someone will write, edit and others, still yet getting cents..
Things are getting out of hand for we minnows since contents are not been vote for due to the originality again.
This post hits quite a nerve for me and turns my stomach (nothing personal). I hate that people are put in a position to potentially compromise on their values, as I see your conflict above. It's not your fault. Some people handle it as simply business. As for me, I feel that I have three options:
Build myself up properly and do the exact opposite when I have the power.
Accept that this is how some people on the top of the pyramid think, see how this has significantly hurt the rest of the pyramid, and dial back on my passion for this platform.
Load up whale money to combat this immediately, but haven't and won't, because I decided to experiment with earning Steem with my bare hands... as was intended. My Steemit wallet is small on purpose, not because I couldn't join the upper circle in a matter of hours.
I'm almost enraged at how the design puts people in a position to have to choose between profit and what I feel is doing what is best for aspiring and deserving authors.
I sincerely do appreciate you sharing this insight. It does a good service to the community to open up discussion on the topic and educate.
I don't know what else to say. This has just deflated a lot of hope I had in the system. I've been debating breaking away from my strategy to make a significant investment because my posts earn squabble, and I can't reward others more than a mere $0.05! I mainly want to give, and am frustrated that I can't unless I give in.
Commenting has been the main enjoyment I've had because my thoughts are seen and replied to quickly, giving both the author and I motivation -- worth far more than any (insert #)x return, which I'd honestly not need at a whale level.
In the absolute worst case, I think one can still do both. It's practical to allocate some voting power to a bot that does good, like @minnowbooster, and keep some to manually vote with. If that's not doable, I'd appreciate any constructive feedback as to why not.
Thanks again for sharing this.
HA, I said the same thing just now... It deflated my hope in the system too.
Fortunately, nothing is forever. Times change and minds can rearrange, so stick to your cause and contribute in how you see best fit to be the change you want.
I 100% agree with you. This is sickening. I plan to do the exact opposite of the OP. Once I build up my power, it will be used to award content creators. Not make money from a stupid bot! How selfish! Sick.
Everyone has different goals with the platform, and just because they're different than ours, doesn't mean it's the end of the world. I feel that a limited number of bots do good for those in need and give some hope, but the investor side seeing them as vehicles for maximum ROI > doing good is where the gap begins. No one is at fault individually. It's a system that's eroded in design is imbalanced from what I gather, but it'll hopefully level out in the long run.
Upvoted for that attitude. Unlike you I do not have the option to do anything other than earn steemit with my bare hands.
I understand @snowflake's position, and I thank him for letting us know his whale truth.
What good does minnobooster do?
Firstly, I prefer manual curation. To answer your question, I personally feel that Minnowbooster gives people who use it some hope that they can get noticed on the hot pages and a little reward for their curators as a thank you. When people put their heart into their work, and it gets lost on the sea floor, it's a means to feel positive for the reasons above. As you have significant SP, I can understand that it might not be something you've personally experienced.
Minnowbooster is also very transparent service that's a predictable option over others that are either random, or have some form of chance to them. You can confirm via minnowbooster.net.
I'm not huge on bots, but in my limited experience so far, I feel the best about this one if I've elected to use any. On top of that, @reggaemuffin is one of the best Steemians out there behind much of the back end of it, and I know that they care immensely about its vision.
While investors can passively delegate heavily to it for ROI on minnow payments, I believe that the vision behind what it's there for in the first place is true to how I've interpreted it.
I chose to earn my SP from nearly scratch, so I suppose I'm biased from a minnow's view at this time. I could flip a few BTC and change this experience for an easier street, but I want to learn from the ground up to relate to everyone.
Thanks for catching my comment. I'd appreciate any of your personal views or further discussion as I have much to learn, but also much to share.
i find it bit funny when someone talks of value or undervalue of other peoples posts. there is upvote button - simple way to show your love toward someones work.
how will you use it its completely your choice and noone should tell others what to support.
its all about our individual choices and preferences. if you upvote bots, then you are into money, not into photography, music, animals or whatever.
and theres nothing wrong in that.
unless you start caring about future of Steemit, society, world and such =)
You can always poat a thoughful comment and not upvote... at least it's participating
Could we maybe tag all whales, witnesses and Steemit employees to this post?
FUNNY "The first post has earned a whopping 19 cents. This artwork to me deserves at least $10 for the time spent doing it and also taking into account the final result which is great."
Sounds like all the work I have done and posted on steemit. Guess I don't fit the mold for steemit support. It's all about self centered thinking and greed. SOMETHING I DONT HAVE.
In your words.. "I want to apologize to these authors for not upvoting them unfortunately I have no incentive to do so since I make 3 times more money NOT upvoting them. Now you know why whales don't upvote your beautiful work..."
I once thought Steemit could have been a positive for the future. Thank you for bringing clarity. Truth and Transparency won't happen the way it's set up. Just keeps people dumbed down and distracted I guess.
Please be ensured that @snowflake is not representing the average Steemian, probably not even the average high SP-Steemian. It is NOT only about ROI but also about community, helping each other and rewarding good content and motivating our followers and vice versa get rewarded for good content. What he does is just exploiting a once well planned system which turned out to have some gaps. The excessive abundance of bots could really ruin the platform.
I think you're ignoring a couple facts. Steemit isn't in beta anymore. This is the planned form Stinc wants.
It isn't gaps, or poor design.
This is exactly what they want to make, and this is what they made.
It is still in Beta, and if ALL want to change it, then a change could be made. The 42 whales alone can´t run Steemit, if they don´t have a continous stream of people buying new Steem and powering up. If frustration levels get too high, people willl move on to other platforms - this can´t be in the interest of the whales.
Almost 90% of users that joined in 2016 have left, and 80% of all accounts opened are no longer active.
Is that a high enough level of frustration?
Steemit used to say 'beta' in the top left corner. It doesn't say that now, so I am reading that it is no longer in beta.
The "beta" word appears when the screen width is wide enough. This is pretty bad, it should be a requirement to always be there.
In fact I'm going to open up a ticket on GitHub for this.
Thanks for letting me know. I have my screen magnified, and that apparently has caused the 'beta' to no longer be visible.
I don't agree with your approach but do not wish to start a fight. I too wish to make money here, but i also wish to foster this community by offering good upvotes for good work.
Good luck snowflake.
I wonder if we all really earn more if skilled people leave steemit because we don't upvote them (thinking to earn more money by not doing that).
Earning more Steem is worthless as long as Steem price doesn't increase ...