Sounds Fishy - Steemit Bot Tracker ?
I've been creating content for Steemit for almost a year and recently saw a post by @jerrybanfield about using a bot to get more upvotes and make more money. At first I thought it was a fantastic idea and jumped on the band wagon using steembottracker.com in hopes of making it to the trending page. I admit that I tried it; now I am feeling bad about ever throwing my steem towards a money making bot. That's not why I am here.
I have mixed feelings about this. Pay to play is what I call it. What happened to just consistently making great content and organically having your content grow in popularity? I'm a photographer, vlogger and artist; I work my ass off to create good work. A lot of time, equipment and money goes into my photography. I often times travel and have assistants to help me pull off good work...and now I have to pay to play too?
Steemit is starting to seem fishy to me
I know that art is in the eye of the beholder, but to be honest when I see someone post a pixelated cell phone image of their cat that makes $250 steem; I start to wonder who upvoted them and if they paid a bot. Maybe I'm missing the bigger picture of steemit and maybe I too should care less about the quality of the content I produce.
I started on steemit because I want to inspire others, have engaging conversations and create good quality work. I'm starting to get a funny feeling about steemit right now.
One other note: I went to a steemit meetup in Los Angeles this week and I didn't hear one word about creating good content. It was more about how a community of bots can make you money. I haven't used this word in a long time but "Amway" came to mind. Again, this sounds fishy and I have mixed feelings right now.
Some recent work for those who are interested in photography and not bots (links to videos and blogs created for steemit at the end):
Video created for Dtube/Steemit that are photography related:
What was in my bag from a recent South America trip:
https://steemit.com/photography/@lightenup/1a7fh47u
A drive in a rare BMW M3 race car:
https://steemit.com/travel/@lightenup/if9oj1gk
Behind the scenes of a Hollywood production:
https://steemit.com/photography/@lightenup/behind-the-scenes-of-a-hollywood-tv-set
Stories of an International Photographer:
https://steemit.com/travel/@lightenup/on-the-road-again-stories-from-an-international-photographer
Living in Cali, Colombia:
https://steemit.com/photography/@lightenup/living-in-cali-colombia-yes-it-feels-like-a-season-from-narcos
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
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Thanks HappyMikes - my friend is laughing at me right now, "you ranted but you didn't rave"
Unfortunately, as with many things in life, greed takes over, and if there's a dollar to be made, people are going to exploit it, milk it until the well runs dry.
Steemit has so much potential to change people's lives, unfortunately greed takes over... hopefully things here can turn around but once the genie's out of the bottle...
I'm all about making money; I do think there is some good content here...but a lot of times I see bogus crap that doesn't make any sense to me. But I am starting to realize content is about diversity and doesn't always have to be generated by artists. But it's the posts that have nothing to say and make a lot of money, drive me nuts.
I agreed. And it's one thing for a crappy post the make money, it's another thing entirely when those crappy posts are using plagiarised content, words and images, plucked from all over the internet. This seems to happening more and more, and I know at least one bot owner is making a blacklist of banned offenders (and making said list public), but there are plenty more bots that don't review what they're upvoting... something's gotta give
Interesting perspective. Have you had any more clarity on this? We only just joined to try our hand at the social media thing, and acquaintances have steered us here, rather than instagram/pinterest etc. Your work is remarkable. I'm having trouble understanding how you have far more followers/votes than others I've seen without the payout? Is there a 'trick' to gaining exposure, or is this whole thing really just a pay to play scheme?
The meeting seemed to be oriented to new people, there will he others. Perhaps you could volunteer at the next one to speak about good content? You are a really good speaker and I think you have a lot of good tips to give to people. I will try to hide in the back so I do not feel tempted to interject.
Steemtools, Curie, and MSP Waves radio are really improving steemit for me. Rather excited for some of the projects Curie is working on.
On point Twirble! Maybe I will host my own Steemit Meetup in the near future! Great idea.
Yes sir. I agree about the bots. It's also not why I am here. I was also at the LA meetup and was disappointed because I got that same vibe. Not only that, but it seemed that they were kinda trying to use the newbies, so they could get their private posting keys and use their voting power for their bot. I don't think that is cool. Anyways... I did meet a few really cool content creators though and I had lots of fun chatting with them, so not a total loss there. I don't think I met you though unfortunately. Or @twirble... and I follow you both! Dang. Maybe next time! lol.
I don't think we met either. I will say I met some cool people as well, it just wasn't what I thought it would be. if you're down for a collaboration or project let's connect. I have some ideas, would be open to hear some fresh ideas as well.
I had especially enjoyed talking with @geniuslife and @riggsyfort. And there were a few others.. but ya.
As for collaboration, I mainly do outdoor adventure blogs. Hiking, backpacking, mountain climbing, fishing, gold prospecting, cliff jumping, all kinds of cool stuff like that. If you're interested in doing something in the mountains... I'm your guy.
I'll be you "voice activated light stand"! lol
Hi @lightenup! So funny you wrote a post about this because I am also feeling a bit funny lately. I really have made an effort even more recently to put great content about our RV travels of North America along with some great photos and I can't seem to get my reputation up even 1 number with all the effort I am doing. I even applied for the #adoptaminnow and had no responses...I LOVE sharing our story too and inspiring others, but it is a lot of work and though I enjoy doing it, it is nice to feel like you are making progress. I feel like it so UNKNOWN...it's hard to just keep Steeming On sometimes!
Love this content...and couldn't agree more about your feelings on the matter. I was wondering what the focus of that LA group would be...figured it would be less about the content, more about the money. I'm in LA myself, Boyle Heights. If you're ever down to meet up and chat about craft or Steemit, let me know :)
Some interesting thoughts on the bots. I'm trying this the old fashioned way myself. I still like the platform. Not nearly as annoying as Facebook, but I have to admit, I wish I could get the upvotes for my pics that I get in there. With time I guess.