Beginning To Lose Motivation On Steemit...
Although Im in love with this platform, I am beginning to lose motivation quickly. Quality content is constantly being overlooked, while pictures of a lizard are gaining $500. Should I sit here and spend a few hours putting together a post to get $2? This is extremely frustrating and Im pretty sure im not the only one who feels this way.
This is what Steemit currently looks like. The majority of us are minnows gasping for air, trying to find some food to nibble on and every day one minnow dies because their wasnt enough motivation to live.
Less than a quarter of Steemit accounts are active users which is not a great sign for the site moving forward. Why should people waste their time giving others useful imformation while others are posting less quality and making more money? I spent 2 hours sourcing information to bring content and news to this platform only to see a picture of a sunset gain more upvotes than my post. Why Im still on here idk, but I do know after seeing something like that most users would leave this site. I believe there is something that can be done to fix this.
Will Steemit fix this or will they let popular users influence monetary movement?
On Steemit, users can upvote themselves and double their money in half a year. Thats 250%+ a year. Idk about you, but any site or investment where I can gain more than 250% a year on my money is something that will not last. Upvoting yourself shouldnt be an option. People will just upvote themselves and not even bother looking for quality content because upvoting themselves is much more profitable.
How about the "Trending" and "Hot" tabs at the top. It seems like its the same people who dominate the top every day. How about a trending or hot based on your reputation score? Or setting up a team to search for wuality content. I believe this would encourage people to create better content in hopes of making it to this "new tab." This would help weed out the low quality content and give individuals who are posting useful information and giving the site value exposure.
I expect to receive $2 for this post.
If you agree that there needs to be something needs to be done please resteem. Thanks!
Looks like your estimate of how much this post will make is going to be way off. I do agree with you (at least somewhat) is that it's a problem. The source though isn't that just anyone can post a picture of a sunset and make more than you, it's that the right people do it and once people start seeing it gaining traction, they want to upvote it for some of the curation.
I can't recall the reasoning, but the whitepages do lay out why you not only can vote for yourself but why it's automatic on your own posts. It made sense when I read it but I'm so sure it applies to comments as accurately.
Ultimately, I agree that this is somewhat an issue as it does discourage quality content creators - who are absolutely necessary for the long-term survival of the platform. Part of me wishes you couldn't see the payout on any posts but your own so that people would vote for what they actually like instead of trying to hop on the wagon and get their tiny slice.
It is definitely discouraging. And that is actually a great idea! If they hide the payout and the amount of upvotes I believe people would be more inspired to look for quality content instead of just upvoting something that has a lot of votes just to curate.
I dont 100% agree. There are things i do agree with tho. I have only been here 1 month. I started with like 11SP I know have 90 something SP and i jave invested nothing. I started with $10 and now have $180 something. Again all I have invested is my time that I would have spent posting on instagram, twitter and facebook. So for me its a win. I try to participate in contests and steemgigs. I find it gets me out there and my first post made nothing but i have had some $50 posts too. Keep trying! Best of luck! Upvoted!
All due respect but I think you're looking at it from the wrong angle. If you know the philosophy and system behind that pyramid you posted you will understand that that system is the result of criminally consolidating wealth and political influence over centuries and using PR to make people believe that this consolidation and influence is make believe.
Point is the system is based on control and manipulation by a seemingly malevolent group dressed in the superficial benevolence of human rights organizations, save the planet, feed the third world and all the other bullshit - all criminal extortion rackets.
Now Steemit on the other hand is a perfect mechanism for price discovery free from invisible hands, unfair competition and manipulation of environmental variables. What seems to you as being unfair, distorted or opaque is merely a market mechanism which can, and in my opinion will, work for billions and is designed to do just that. It's just that you can't expect it to work flawlessly from day one with what 20.000, 50.000, 100.000 participants? The market is in its infancy. Besides there might be value where you don't see any. I don't have a japanese hiking boot fetish so I'll probably never roam around posts dealing with that but I'd never assume that it has no value just cuz I don't care for it.
So give it some time and patience, ignore the numbers and the payouts and focus on what's important to you, what you're good at, where you can add value! In the end you will get the reward. If you don't you've at least learned what people don't want to see. As someone mentioned, the market decides who comes out on top and THAT is exactly what free market capitalism is all about.
That system has always worked wherever it was applied through the price discovery mechanism and will work on here. Just cuz it's got a bad rep due to some people incapable of fathoming that they've never spent a day in their lifes in markets that are NOT manipulated (anyone born from about the late 1800s onward) does not mean it doesn't work :).
Sorry to go off on a tangent here, you tapped into my anaracho capitalist, free market, price disco emotion.
Rock on and you got my vote!
Appreciate the kind words and your time on writing this. I understand what youre saying and I do believe in the platform and I understand that the market determines everything which is fantastic and its definely a long process. Im just venting because its definitely frustrating at the beginning for sure which is where im at. I will continue to post on this platform in lieu of facebook because I find it informative and constantly growing my knowledge.
Mind you it is absolutely possible that control on this platform will be or maybe already has been centralized as well which would enable a small number of users who own enough of the stake to decide which posts get promoted to the front page, receive the most money, etc.
In that case it would be up the community to confront and overcome that or walk away. My point is it's up to the community to play along and shape the platform just like in the 'real world'. The difference to other platforms is there exists this price discovery mechanism that has a reputation/experience weighting built in which is great - and also opens the door for consolidating control.
Seems we're all in one very large experiment.
Markets are emotional. That's why this post is giving you more than others. People are feeling something from what you are writing. And another thing don't vote on your own post, if you must at least do it the next day.
Maybe try something different? It's really the market that decides what is "quality content", not the authors themselves.
I've noticed that funny stuff is pretty well received, almost without fail.
Of course you could always make a Steemit circle jerk post.. but I think that's lazy.
I do agree that weird stuff makes it big on Steemit sometimes, often even. But it's all about finding your following, really.
But now you have more than $2. :)
Lol its just frustrating that's all. I enjoy writing and I have fun doing it, which is why I'm still on here, but it definitely is frustrating and I feel like a few tweaks can make it better.
Cheer up buddy, everything is looking great, Trust me, Steemit will be huge in a few months and you will be super glad you came in early.
Lets hope so. I enjoy it every day. Just hoping it doesn't die out with the discouragement of others which is the reason for the article.
Don't focus on what others say or think, do you and keep your hopes up. You are the master of your reality!
Stay patient and keep putting out great content. I know what you mean of some people getting hundreds of upvotes for a sentence and others writing quality content and don't even make a dollar. Don't think so much about the money just keep putting out content and more upvotes will follow. Keep your head up. ;)
I never think about the money which is why Im still here. I am just stating what I see why the number of active users is only a fraction on the accounts made. Appreciate the encouragement! :)
You are right in regards that it appears like your work is not being recognized because bearely anyone sees it. There is something to improve on the platform to allow for more cross advertising for posts. AI could help with this. Also the self upvote should be regulated somehow. Why shouldn't we do it, right?
Like you I joined this month I like you I have a similar development. I haven't entirely found myself yet and I hade the same thought as you formulated here.
But I also see the fruits of my work. The first rewards are streaming in. You are actually doing even better than me in that regard. And the numbers go up. So try to concentrate one a few posts with not too much and not too little work and pair it with a lot of commenting and upvoting new articles. There is a lot of money to make there.
Stay patient, persistent and see it as a game that makes fun and not work.
Wait!...A picture of a lizard can get me up to $500!?
On my way to trying this out...(seriously lol)
PS: upvoting myself to get $0.03 :)
It's a amazing platform steemit. Everyday people get to know with this platforms and start to make an account.
Yes, but not many people are staying on the site.
I have to point out in my personal experience, just because active users is down compared to over all numbers doesn't tell the whole story. I have several friends that signed up late last year but only started posting in the last few weeks. They each had their reasons, the point is they decided to go ahead and make use of their accounts and start posting.
I am sure there are plenty that have just signed up to have an account, either to secure their username or for day trading and investing in Steem. A lot of people sign up just to comment and vote content they like, understanding they can still make money here.
We just have to keep working on good content. I have plenty of posts that don't break 10 cents while others break $100. There is no secret to it, you have to put the content out there in order for it to be curated and commented on.
I run a couple of websites and AdSense is not paying jack right now. I still have hosting to pay, staff to pay, domains, and related bills. With Steemit I just wrote and earn.
Thanks for the motivation. I am not focused on the money aspect, but more about getting your name out there and how we can help newcomers more.
The best way to do that is to decide what you are going to call the "top" of the list for your upvote. Will you call the limit at a dollar amount or a certain number of upvotes already? I prefer to throw my money in on early stuff. If it is on the trending page already I will usually reserve an upvote unless I really like it. For the most part, I comment on the trending page stuff more than I upvote and upvote more on the lower valued stuff from smaller accounts.