Steemit: The Digital Equivalent of Pissing Into The Ocean (and the rampant abuse)
I go through ups and downs on Steemit. I have had a hard week this week, so maybe I am just feeling it more than usual but I have come to the realisation that unless you've got tens of thousands of followers on Steemit, you can't get anywhere on this platform as it currently stands without buying votes.
I've been posting every day the past few days, all different types of content ranging from a wacky theory I concocted about Elon Musk being an AI program, right through to interpretation of news stories and everything else in between.
And the thing is, it's not like it's a secret or anything. If you want to get to trending or get votes, you have to buy them using bots.
And I don't want to come across as ungrateful, whiny or jealous either. I have written content that has received organic upvotes, it doesn't translate into fistfuls of cash, but I have been lucky to break $1 on a couple of my posts.
But there are a few bad apples destroying Steemit, even people posting content under the guise of wanting to cleanup and improve the quality of Steemit, allegedly.
Case in point, this post titled, "Need suggestion To Make Steemit Alive For Long Term" doesn't really bring anything useful to Steemit and ironically the most useful thing about this post is a comment left by someone else which actually has some good suggestions.
The author of this post spent almost $450 USD on voting bots to vote it to the trending section where it has been sitting for a couple of days now.
For the record, I personally have nothing against voting bots if it's for high-quality content, but this isn't a high-quality post at all. If you have a high-quality post and you want to promote it, by all means, use voting bots. If it contributes to Steemit in a positive way, pay to promote it.
I can tell the author has put very little effort into the post, it is littered with basic mistakes that any free spell/grammar checker like Grammarly would immediately flag. Just for laughs, I copied that linked post into Grammarly and it found 80 critical mistakes.
But not only that, the author actually contradicts himself numerous times. A few of these are not in the order they're written in the original article, but given how poorly written and formatted it is, that doesn't really matter.
The main problem these days are a trending page . Every one with a shit post is going to trending page.and it make a very Bad impression on steemit site.
I will give you a moment to knock your head against a hard surface a few times until you suffer irreversible brain damage just so you can try and understand that sentence.
I think what the author is trying to say is, people are promoting shit content and polluting the trending page and giving Steemit a bad impression to newcomers.
If we are offering such high votes to every one who do not deserve the vote This way steemit life will end soon.And this way no one will get any benefits from the platform. We must think about the steemit success rather than our own success.
Wise words, my favourite part was this line where the author says, "We must think about the steemit success rather than our own success." - because nothing says I care about Steemit success like raping the reward pool by spending $450 USD on voting bots to promote your shit post to the trending page, right?
what i thought last night that If we should follow some rules here to make the steemit more secure and profitable for every one and give a chance to the new users as well we need to follow some rules and restriction.
Because nobody else has ever thought about cleaning up Steemit before now, why didn't anyone else think of this sooner? Thankfully we have @alishannoor looking out for us by paying to promote their brilliant ideas, otherwise Steemit might continue its decline into mediocrity due to poorly promoted shit content, oh wait.
We should place a limit on daily vote buying like one person will only be able to buy 20 SBD vote per post per voting bot {maximum}.
Absolutely, with exception of the author who is happy spending more than that to promote their own content though, right? Not everyone can write quality content like @alishannoor can.
If a Bot owner is 100% sure that there is some one who is the perfect author and he give quality stuff to steemit they can make a special list for those authors to allow them to buy an unlimited votes.But if they are 100% sure that the author is perfect one.
With quality posts such as this one, I am sure @alishannoor would be first in line to be added to every reputable bot that has a quality list for only promoting quality authors and content on Steemit.
By placing a limit Like refund amount on post having max "X" amount Of "STU" ,No one will get a post value more than 200 STU . ( if our limit is 200 STU)
How ironic.
I found most of the users are using steepshot and they are just taking a single picture and make it to the trend page this should be blacklisted if some one noticed that they are posting low quality pictures .
I agree with this. A lot of people are posting low-quality pictures onto Steemit and then buying votes to get them to the trending page.
You know what is so fucking ironic about this self-righteous author who clearly has gained his reputation solely using voting bots, is that he has the audacity to write an erroneous and poorly formatted post telling everyone else that they need to fix Steemit when HE IS ONE OF THE PEOPLE REDUCING THE QUALITY ON STEEMIT.
Oh, man, sorry. The irony in all of this is too much for me to bear.
If you think I am being unfair and targeting someone who is well-intentioned and doesn't deserve it? Check this post out: https://steemit.com/blog/@alishannoor/testing-post-to-check-service-1518310079-5763469 - yep, posted by our dear old concerned Steemian @alishannoor. The content of this high-quality post reads:
Hello Dear friend i am just trying to post a testin post to check some thing i hoe you will not mind what i need to do is just a test for my software this So please donot get bothered with my Post ..
Thanks
It's just a test post for testing some software supposedly, it earned $36.09 from 16 upvotes. This guy literally posts nothing but shit and it earns $36? I am not even jealous, I am mad. This is the kind of content the author is supposedly against.
While we are on the subject, would you like to see another quality post from our creative writing genius @alishannoor - look no further than this "high-quality" post about sewerage terms: https://steemit.com/engineering/@alishannoor/sewer-and-its-types-simple-definition - it doesn't even read like a complete article, it literally looks like he gave up towards the end.
This post earned $92.79 from 29 upvotes. Yet another example of someone abusing Steemit using voting bots to upvote content that is literally shit (it's about sewers), absolute garbage.
I can't help myself, do you want to check out another high-quality post from @alishannoor (I know you do): https://steemit.com/love/@alishannoor/every-thing-in-the-world-is-yours-if-you-gave-them-love - a post titled, "Every thing In The World Is Yours If You Gave Them Love" and it has a few lines of text and poorly taken photos of his parrot. It earned $193.91 from 39 votes.
Look @alishannoor isn't alone here, he isn't the only person dragging Steemit down with poorly written, effortless content being promoted by voting bots. But if you're going to go write a post about how to improve Steemit, look in the mirror first and make sure you're not part of the problem as well.
Who knows, maybe I will pay to upvote this post on Steemit as well.
I feel your frustration mate. It pisses me off to.
In the 18th century the UK parliamentary system had a hiatus where there was a radical change due to corruption effecting all aspects of how the country was governed. Known as the rotten boroughs it changed things considerably for the good.
It strikes me, as a new user of #steemit, ( I’m too fat to be a minnow or plankton to be honest but I’m insignificant as far as the platform goes) that eventually the community will have to do something similar. It can’t make any logical sense for what is essentially a corrupt practice to effect the good of the whole community. Otherwise, as you point out, the community breaks down, game over.
I’ve been a reasonable user of Twitter and something similar has and is happening there. Had Twitter not started to adapt when it did then I’m quite sure it would be dead now, and it’s not quite through that as change takes time.
Open for my minuscule view to be swollowed up by a whale and spat back out into the ocean, but if it’s correct then it can only be a short matter of time before the community acts to protect and secure its own future.
Greetings @beggars. You have very clearly demonstrated in this blog alone that you have superior writing and formatting skills, and that you also are bright and capable so I think will some support and coaching you could do well here. And I do not discount what you say at all. Agree actually. It appears I did my last votebot yesterday! Anyway come on over to the community I hang out with. There are so many helpful, caring people I cant keep track of them all. In fact I've decided to follow their lead and dedicate one day a week to nothing but service. I'm posting a link here to a post I made a few days ago. Perhaps it will give you some ideas. But really if you are interested I'll send you links to people I know who would love to assist and who would welcome you into the community. Frankly I was just where you are now and was very frustrated when one of them delegated 500 Steem to me and pulled me into their group. Made all the difference in the world. Anyway heres the post, and if you want some names of people I recommend connecting with I'll get you that list. Blessingshttps://steemit.com/steemit/@mistermercury/success-on-steemit-requires-serving-two-masters. I'm going to resteem this so some more people will see it and reach out.
Howdy @mistermercury this is some solid advice, and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment with some words of encouragement. I pride myself on spellchecking and properly formatting things, I have been blogging outside of Steemit for quite a few years now. Your post is awesome and encouraging, I just gave it an upvote (my vote doesn't carry a lot of weight right now) however small. I need all of the encouragement I can get.
Funnily enough, I bit the bullet and just out of curiosity I spent 1 SBD on a couple of voting bots (not even sure they were good ones). This post went from 8 upvotes to its current 64 upvotes. It definitely wasn't a monetarily motivated move, and I am not sure it will do much for visibility, but interesting nonetheless.
I've been trying a multitude of different forms of content, it seems technology/cryptocurrency categorised content does quite well on Steemit. I am trying to stay clear of entering that dangerous territory of complaining about the state of Steemit, it feels like the thing to do. But at the same time, posts like this were written because I didn't want to sit silently while people upload photos without captions and earn $100.
People like you are the hope that Steemit needs for it to succeed in the long-term. Supporting and fostering authors trying to wade through the sea of spam, desperately keeping their heads above water.
I also have nothing against voting bots. I think they're a necessity as Steemit currently stands, and really no different than using something like Google AdWords to promote your business website to get a competitive edge, except in cases where people are using it to promote trash content (like I frustratingly call out in this post).
Do you have any recommendations on the best and most reputable voting bots to use? This aspect of Steemit is still new to me, and I would hate to end up on a blacklist because I used a scammy/non-reputable voting bot.
Fortunately, I am in Steemit for the long haul and I am not expecting it to be a get rich quick scheme or start making hundreds per post. I see beyond the superficial and see Steemit as a fantastic opportunity to build an audience and get rewarded for writing quality content. I very much see Steemit as a more democratic alternative to a platform like Medium (which is going the opposite way with its closed off stories and paid monthly support tier they introduced).
I would absolutely love all of the help I can get, the names of people who are helping Steemians succeed and the communities/groups that are taking authors under their wings and helping the platform succeed, that would be absolutely fantastic and greatly appreciated.
OK here is the first installment. I recommend you go to @gmichelbkk, he has some great tutorials and information on many tech sites and usages which really help in all sorts of ways. He has some great posts on the use of votingbots. Bots I have used that work well are @redlambo, @allaz, @luckyvotes, @cabbage-dealer, @postpromoter. There are others that are quite pricey to use but if you can afford them they do well too. One such is @jerrybanfield. You might want to go over to @davemccoy. He is not quite a (60) rep yet but is a mover and shaker and is bringing lots of people with him. He is engaged in @quarator and @newbieresteemtday. Both of these really help get you out there to lots of people. You may want to hang out and check out @eco-train. He is developing a very active group but leans towards eastern spiritual approach to things, but a great guy. You can apply to ride his "train". You may want to consider getting to know @wwf. He is a great guy and is very well connected. If you ask him questions he will respond and do all he can to help. Oh, and go check out @curie. These folks can change your life with getting you noticed and promoted. I know people who owe their success here to them alone. Go check out @maverickinvictus especially his post on 4/12. He listed some great people and sites that are launching him big time! You may want to go check out @littlescribe. She has some great tutorials. Some of her posts are just plain old corny but fun. However she has some great information too. Anyway that should get you going in the right direction. One thing I do is to go to these people I've listed and look at their comments and reply sections and then follow those who they are connected to. You must always be developing connections and relationships. This is just as important as posting good material. These folks will check you out and if they see you are sincere in your efforts and that you want to be part of the growing Galaxy of Steemit they will assist.
Many blessings. Just tracking down these folks and following the gold vein will keep you busy. But come on back for more if you want.
Mate, this is awesome and plenty to start with. Thank you for taking the time to do that.
My pleasure to help. Blessings, may you swim with the whales!
Alright! Kind of beat tonight so I'm going to make a note to myself to help out tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Tomorrow is my first service day!
I have not forgotten. Yesterday was a bit crazy. so working on my reply this morning . Won't take long.
I’m new here also. I have also seen this and it is discouraging. Also, I’m terrible at editing and gramma, so please forgive any errors. I suppose like may thing people find ways to game the system. There’s no reason some of this nonsense should make anything. I don’t really care if I make money or not. I just want to create share and be part of the community. There are people though, that put in hard work towards their craft, be it art, photography, blogging, whatever. They should be protected. I believe one of the reasons for this site is to stop people being popular just because their popular. To stop people making money off of nothing to the point where it’s only a select group making money and then the content is filtered and the circle closed until shit, it’s YouTube. Anyways it’s good to see people actively combating what I call flavored spam, it’s spam but flavored to cover up that it’s spam. 😝
I am a newcomer who has just come to this platform. I understand what you said, but I still feel very powerful. There are more people like you and the platform can develop better.
Sir. parece propio de la humanidad éstas conductas, es y será la lucha por mucho tiempo.
maybe im wrong but the use of bots should be disapproved by the site, which should reward the material and people who do quality post, rather than benefit those who pay to take advantage.
In an ideal world, you are correct. But Steemit has a discoverability problem unless you have a huge following on Steemit already, it's near impossible to get started on a platform heavily stacked in favour of power players. I don't think the bots are solely to blame, the Steemit devs need to really find a way to make new content discoverable in a more natural way.
At the moment the only way to be seen is the trending page or the promoted page, both require spending real money by proxy in the form of Steem Dollars. With exception of the community led curation groups and special categories, as a new user you're discouraged from day one.
I don't think you should expect to come to Steemit and makes tens of dollars on your first day, but if you're a great content writer, you shouldn't have to pay or hope that you'll be seen by groups/powerful individuals willing to help give you a chance.
If Steemit had a natural algorithm that automatically picked up great and interesting content, an algorithm that couldn't be manipulated or bought into, then there would be two ways to succeed: pay to play or just produce great content.
I am still relatively new to Steemit and I am happy with the progress I have made. But I am not going to lie, I kind of expected to be in a slightly better situation than I am right now. But, I am not discouraged and I am not going to give up. My intention is to climb to the top, so I can help other newcomers in the same situation get the chance they never usually get.
Thats what Im talking about. If you are a great content writer, people like you, maybe should be rewarded and taken into consideration for the content of their post, but sounds like an utopyc dream but... meanwhile That's what there is.
Wow, I truly appreciate you making this post @beggars. As a newbie, I myself have come across some posts that weren't very well thought out or put together. I am indeed grateful for articles like these that I can learn from. Keep up the loyalty and honesty.