If Delegation / Vote-Buying Is To Be The Norm, Give It A FUNCTIONAL Interface
Commence rant.
I'm really tired of the delegation function. Frankly, I think it's pretty much ruining (ruined) Steemit. However, it seems too late to lobby for any substantial changes to it, as it provides the main investor yield for Steem - to remove it would drastically reduce the value of Steem.
We appear to be stuck with it.
If Steemit is going to remain some amalgamation of crypto-Ebay-post-promotion, let's just get it over with and give Steemit a functional delegation wallet.
Increasingly, delegation is turning Steem into a simple DPOS system like any of the other coins that do this, rendering the "proof of brain" tag-line farcical. At this rate, we may as well all simply delegate to the bots and check back in a year for the Bitconnect-like Cease & Desists.
I'm tired of having more and more people coming to me via DM to tell me I was right to rant about this in the past. I am tired of "Code Is Law" becoming more relevant each day as all the large Steem holders profit while small posters are forced to pay tolls to buy votes, an action that was widely shamed and reviled merely a few months prior. I'm also tired of flame-wars against any authors who "make too much" without using the bots.
I'm tired of hearing people complain about how unintuitive delegation is. Yes, it was programmed in a manner consistent with its original intent being a torture device. I'm losing track of how many people have tried to delegate to targets and been screwed out of their SP for 7 days because it is so counter-intuitive to edit an active delegation. I've dealt with this issue personally, and for a number of other users.
I'm tired of having 3 comments on my posts that say "nice jobr i upvoted u u upvote me", because my post doesn't even make it into "Hot" without paying a massive toll to use the network I am funding and staking. Is nobody concerned that nothing really gets READ on this site?
Maybe we should change the site's name to "Postit". It sure can't compete with "Read-it", because nobody reads much here.
It's bad enough that it has turned the entirety of Steemit into a vote-buying circle. I've given up on trying to get any of my posts seen, and I'm done wrestling with bot trackers to try and minimize my negative ROI from the "content promotion tolls." I just rely on the benevolence of my current and past supporters and my diligent clientele of however-many high-quality commenters (you know who you are.)
However, it also makes it clear to anyone that does even the most minimal research that almost all of the rewards on the highly-paid posts are bought, many at a negative ROI, and severely detracts from the impression that a new user might be able to make a profit here.
If it had looked like this when I got here, I probably would have checked out instead of bought in. It would have been obvious who was making the money - huge delegators, not content creators.
The trending page of Steemit is now a parade of garbage, from gamblers using the blockchain to pay out "fantasy cricket games":
To pumpers shilling cryptokitty giveaways:
No real people vote for this shit, but that doesn't keep it from being the top of Trending everyday and making Steemit look like a goddamn cesspool:
So, now that delegation and widely acceptable vote-selling is the norm, expect to get screwed if you don't do it. You can expect a minimum of 400-500% more gain from selling your vote compared to curating, so why bother? Simply join the club and fuel as much abuse as possible.
I guess it's a GREAT THING (tm) that Steemit didn't implement my proposed reciprocal voting to make curating more profitable than delegating like a rent-seeking oligarch. Sadly, it it Steemfollower and Steemengine willing to implement a Trending ranked by something other than post payout, while Steemit languishes.
On that note, expect to get screwed if you don't buy votes, either. Your posts are effectively invisible now if you don't pay the "bot-toll" to promote them.
So, it's clear that delegation, for better or for worse, is pretty much the key aspect to Steem now. Nobody buys and powers up their own SP - they pay to the "toll-masters" either per-use or for rentals. If delegation is going to be the norm, how about we get an interface of some kind for it?
You know, maybe a button or some kind of visible indicator ANYWHERE on Steemit other than the (-XXXX) in the wallet that tells you nothing? Perhaps some controls for editing an active delegation if we are going to insist on instituting lockout periods for mistakes nearly forced upon users by an interface communicated with via hyperlink URL? Some explanation of delegation in the interface for new users?
I wanted to insult the delegation interface by calling it a piece of shit, but it doesn't even have an interface. It's a joke. It's so counter intuitive that you need to actually calculate Vests per SP on the fly to an exact 6 digits. You literally have to find someone who knows what they are doing to set you up with a delegation link that is custom edited (or use the MSP delegator tool), then you have to trust an outside site like Steemconnect to even get it running.
Oh, and even if you do, this might still happen:
You can't add to an active delegation in the expected fashion. You have to re-apply the same delegation, after manually recalculating the vests, then add the new amount to it and make it all in one delegation.
Apparently, making the delegation function as prone to errors as possible wasn't enough - there had to be a massive and stupid penalty added on as well. "They" decided to program in a penalty that made sure to maximize both the chance and impact of any mistakes the user makes - a 7 day lockout period for any adjustments, even in error. The fact that this can't be edited if a mistake is made serves absolutely no purpose (there are better ways of curbing delegation "abuse"), and I consistently field questions and frustrations on SP "in limbo" due to the obfuscating nature of the delegation function.
Oh, and note that the "edit delegation" function of Vessel should not be used, as it is broken. It doesn't edit anything, it just applies a new delegation failing to take into account the old delegation. Try to edit a delegation with Vessel and all you will get is your SP missing for 7 days and a loss of voting power. You have to assign it as a new one, over-writing the old one, as per usual.
I'm about done with this rant. I'm not saying delegation should be removed; it's probably too late for that now, and it has been used for good purposes. I have been a longtime delegator to the Minnow Support Group, for example. Nevertheless, things hardly seem better than the days when leasing large delegations for self-voting/vote trading were the norm.
Have a glimpse into the future (aka: the present)
Disclosure: I am a delegating hypocrite, but I can't fight the market alone.
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 10,000+ active user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: Google
Copyright: CurbedNY, Steemit, Reddit, SteemConnect
Ever since I joined I've worried about this "self governance" thing, it's never worked.
Interesting, thanks for your perspective.
I am pretty invested in steemit, so I do read people's posts, and have thought about content curation.
The best content curation will probably not happen on steemit.com (let's face it, Steemit is really focusing hard on SMTs rn), but third party sites that find a theme and curate the best content from steem for it.
That could drive traffic to certain users. I've thought about making a site that would resteem great content around one focused topic. Readers of this site may or may not be steemians, but they'd get the best of what is being written. It would have to be human curated, not bot/algo curated.
It is what it is at the moment, kinda sad though. It's still the best platform for decentralized and incentivized blogging.
But I'm seriously hoping for other platforms to bring some competition, that would maybe help!
If the majority of the economic activity on this platform is going to revolve around delegation and buying votes, we absolutely need a better option than trying to edit URLs to assign delegations.
As someone very new to the platform, who invested some money just to be able to give a .03 vote instead of the .001 the whole thing makes me wary. Will it get figured out? Or should I power down and run?
You made crucial point. New users on Steemit can’t do nothing without bots. Even if they write great blogs, nobody will see that. Without delegation Steemit would be much better. Crucial thing for Steemit is involving new users that will bring quality content and if they bring it, they should be rewarded for that.
I would also change upvoting. Many people save upvote power for self voting. Because of that quality articles don’t get rewarded like it should.
If we split voting power on two parts, one for self voting and other for upvoting others, articles would be better rewarded.
Keep fighting for better Steemit 👍
This place is a lot to take in.
I hate the idea of buying votes and renting SP.
There is so much flagging going on right now in what appears to be an attempt by one player to own that market. Are there some actors here who want this place NOT to work?
The blogging aspect here is ok.
It's not what attracted me.
I see it as a valuable tool for building physical communities.
I have no clue why people get so caught up with the thinking that their lens for seeing how the platform 'should' be used.
This place can be many things all at the same time without most of this conflict. But there seems to so little will to engage and work through personal bias.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and for putting up with my own rant : )
j.p
What you posted was far too reasonable for us to call it a rant.
haha thanks for that
This is probably not really news to you but I am sure you will find it interesting.
https://www.corbettreport.com/
the title is:
FEATURED VIDEO
The Weaponization of Social Media
Ugh, you said it all perfectly, my friend...I was surprised that buying votes was even allowed to begin with when I first joined Steemit, let alone this cycle of promotion, reward, and delegation. Steemit has built what appears to be a self-sustaining and growing ecosystem, though all of its intricate ins and outs are far too complex for most to understand, and the openness of the platform and lack of monetization regulation has led to the opposite of what it proclaims to promote: Profit first, quality content and community second. I have read a fair number of opinions lately recommending quality commenting over posting and promoting, so maybe there's a small bastion of hope for the time being, but nothing will change until Steemit takes some credible steps to give minnows a fair shake and put content and community first.
I tend to agree. Perhaps I should just start making dMania memes since apparently that's a good use of delegation.
I've noticed that those seem to pay out drastically higher than a whole lot of other posts, effort vs rewards-wise.
I make it a point to find people like you to follow and read what they post but it is sooooo hard. I've been here a year and a half but only active for the last 3 months. I jumped into an ecosystem in flux so it is hard to wrap my head around what my be best for everyone. I imagine it is even worse for new members. The effort I go to to find good content is insane but also I've realized that it doesn't matter what I produce because nobody is looking. I think zappl will rule this place and microblogging will replace long form content.
That's not going to be a good change for me, personally. I need to work on my brevity skills.
I hear you. We will see how it shakes out. I like to use zappl to share news that I think my readers might like. It takes about a minute. Much easier than long form content and has the same exact monetary result for me.
Yes! THANK YOU @lexiconical !
It should be about making and appreciating great content instead of sucking d*cks! (Sorry, I don't know how to describe it in another way.. 😉)
Well, I'm afraid the ship has sailed on it being "merit" again, not "votes bought."
They can at least provide a functional interface for doing that.
Well man if you say something like this
what can be left for smaller users with less followers lol. I wish I had knew steemit 6 months before December (since I joined in December 6), but oh well...
I don't like to see a trending full of bid votes, but other than that, us users cannot do anything about it. It is up to the witnesses and the developers, we can only hope for another platform to arrive and see if it's better.
About the delegation, there is an easy way to delegate using this tool https://helloacm.com/tools/steemit/sp-delegate-form/