Why Inequality on Steemit is a Good Thing!
Since about my second week using Steemit, I have seen a large number of shrill voices denouncing the low quality of some top-voted posts and demanding that the wealth be distributed more evenly. Whales are accused of elitism and dolphins are accused of sucking up to the whale titties. (Yes, Whale Titties are a thing. Here's an article about them.)
This type of complaining about this type of issue seems predictable. Almost like something we've already seen a million times.
Because we have. We see the same thing every day at work, on the news and on every other level of our society. People Bitching.
The important thing that I've learned and embraced about the Steemit community since I started writing here, is that it functions like a miniature, self-contained version of the rest of the universe.
Here's an adorable mini-horse wearing a hat to illustrate my point.
I was going to just type "microcosm" and move on, but it made my post exactly 147% more boring.
Anyway, Steemit is a microcosm of the global economy, particularly as it applies to content-creation and entertainment.
In general, the same rules apply as well as the same struggles, which I actually very much enjoy. There ARE a few peculiar advantages though. Let's talk about he Bad and the Good and the Peculiar.
The Bad
A lot of good shit will go ignored - and that will make people sad inside.
This is just like the rest of the world where amazing things go ignored every day.
Like this series of YouTube videos about robots that fart ketchup:
This should have won Best Picture when it was released in 2012. but instead we got The Artist, which was obviously just Academy Whale-bait.
The sad truth of our world is that inequality persists, sometimes for arbitrary reasons.
The unequal and unpredictable nature of the payout system affects me as much as anybody. I've been writing pretty consistently for a month now, and I have yet to cash out a dime. I have been rewarded with a few hundred Steem Dollars over the course of 20 odd posts, but I have just been powering everything up. I don't desperately need the cash for anything at the moment, and in the mean time Steem Power seems like a better investment than Bitcoin. (If somebody wants to correct me on that, please do! I am a newbie at Cryptos)
All that to say, I'm not making any money on this platform in the traditional sense, but I am using it anyway.
This is because I see opportunity. For investment, sure, but first and foremost as an exercise in personal growth and the development of my own money-making skill sets.
This brings me to …
The Good
This place is like a writer's bootcamp on crack with cash door prizes.
No fucking shit people.
I've learned more about social media marketing in the last month than the rest of my life combined.
You can't spit without hitting a well-written article about "How To Make Money on Steemit" that may as well read "How to Make Money ANYWHERE"
I've read detailed tutorials about virtually every topic related to content creation and marketing imaginable. Hundreds of pieces of great advice covering details I had never even thought of before I started Steeming.
To list a few:
How to write a headline
How to write an article
How to gauge your audience
WHEN to post your article
And if you are coming here with a certain amount of marketing acumen, the great news about creating quality content on Steemit is that you already know what to do! It works basically the same way that it works everywhere else.
The Peculiar
Finally, here's the thing that makes Steemit uniquely better than the big scary world outside.
Steemit is a risk-free playground!
You can make money here, but unless you invest heavily with outside currency, you literally can't lose any money.
It's the perfect incubator for ideas. A test environment for any ambitions you may have previously abandoned, or skills you overlooked.
Instant feedback (or silence!) from thousands of strangers. Tangible rewards for effective marketing. Endless resources and tutorials to help you improve.
God, I wish college had been half this useful!
Now if you don't mind my asking …
What the fuck are you waiting for? Keep on Steeming!
:)
Equality of opportunity is important but what you do with that is another thing
You definitely get my upvote for this. As I told on my comment to the main post: "I hear you! People invested heart in soul in this project involving the world deserve to take good care of their baby for a while, till it is ready to fly of its own wings. I'll definitely be helping it all the way! All for one and one for all!!! Namaste :)
Here is my post about: Why Inequality on Steemit is NOT so Good Thing!
I think if the person is consistent and gains a following, things will be fine.
@pachenko relax and enjoy, Cheers bro good job
@bleepcoin
Great point! - Do you teach others with it? Or whine about the whiners? I think the best people are those that receive good opportunity and work actively to help other people receive the same too.
The best teachers are those that have students that surpass them! :)
This comment sums up really good what steemit is about: a place where everyone has the same opportunity. It's a blank editor form waiting to be filled. And the whales are nothing more than fortuna, the impersonification of the luck.
Nice!
I don't know if we can call this platform equal of opportunity. The idea, the inception is here but we are not there yet. A lot of power is still in the hands of a few and need to spread around, everything is in English which can hold back a lot of people wanting to post in a foreign language or aren't part of one of the massively spoken languages. The filters to get the content you're interested in are rather unefficient for now and a lot of people are here for pump'n'dump. Sooo, I think Steemit will do a lot better in a bit and needs some maturation of course, there is no shame in that. But it's probably a bit early to talk about equality of opportunity even if used properly :)
But the best part is that you can do anything with it. Even blog about your collection of clown cars that will only get 2 cents worth of upvotes. That's the power of the free blockchain.
BAM
I just came for the cute cat picture.
Your post shows me, that i have to consider posting more comments... as your 14 words sentence has given you 2K $ now ;)
the steemit system is working as planned !
Congrats !
Congratulations @pachenko! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honnor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPBy upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!
Fantastic post.
I've written a bit about "equality" specific to steemit and it certainly seems to be an unpopular opinion for some (with good reason), and I very well could have lost a "friend" over the post, but such is life.
I know there are quite a few users who have made some outstanding posts that have gone unrecognized and the author hasn't earned what I feel is fair in comparison to some of the other crap that has made thousands. For the most part, when there is something that deserves to make it to the front page, it does, as its recognized by a vast majority of users. But, in retrospect, a big part of earning the attention a post deserves does really comes down to timing. If those with enough voting power to bring attention to a post end up missing something it tends to go unnoticed and washed away in the sea of spam posts unfortunately.
Very much looking forward to other posts to come from you :)
Inequality is NEVER a good thing!
Forced equality leads to mass graves. What's your point?
Neither forced equality nor inequality are a good thing.
What I mean is sustainable equality. Such equality is positive and can only be acquired through application of scientific method for social and environmental concern (example Natural Law/Resource-Based Economy)
Completely agree with you on the 'sustainable equality'... though since it's an equilibrium position that has to be maintained, the scientific method you advocate for is the only way to keep the position maintained.
What that translates for me is that time will 'solve' the problem, if there is even anything that truly needs to be solved based on quantitative and qualitative analysis over time.
Good discussion :)
Thanks for interesting debate too. Such conversations are very stimulating.
Please, also you are welcome to explain what you mean by "forced" equality as it sounds illogical and paradoxical. If something is forced, it cannot be equal as it requires some position of power to enforce it. That means that someone has more power than others hence it is unequal itself.
Well... thats more of a snarky term for 'redistribution of wealth'. A progressive income tax is an attempt at forced equality, but as you point out it is impossible to accomplish for anyone who is looking objectively.
I think you just defined the problems of socialist policies in a simple paragraph :)
He is talking about the idiocy of Leninist/Stalinist Marxism.
But let's all remember that Marx was an anarchist, and that his goal was to fight the state. I consider myself a Marxist, in that I buy into, deeply, the vision for the future Marx espoused. That does not mean that I support all of Marx's ideas, because life has changed a great deal since then.
Most likely scenario with no third world war: tech makes living well so cheap that all of us become rich.
@blakemiles84, I agree with you on this one obviously. Definitely appreciate hearing an opposite viewpoint though! @logic
I am not that sure that inequality is a good thing. Because the whales are paying out in a way that doesn't make sense. I will make an article tomorrow why this inequality isn't good. I am not advocating the whales to change this. They do what they want. I just try to make them aware of things. What they do with my view is up to them.
I understand they invested more so they need to get extra advantages. I can understand why they get more free Steem Power every day than the rest of us. I can understand that they get more money when they get upvoted than we do. But the fact that they have so much power when they upvote, is not good. It is completely against the free market. And the free market will decide whether Steemit is a worthy product or not. If the free market decides the content that is valued here, is not what they want, then the market will dump Steemit and the whales will be left with a crashed project.
What does "completely against the free market" mean? In the real world, if we have a free market, having more money gives you power over other people. I don't think I understand why you'd use the free market to argue this point.
=======
If you like my writing and ideas, check out my series on the game theory of steem!
Maybe I didn't chose my wording correctly. What I wanted to say is that the whales are only a very small group here. Their preference of topics is not going to determine the success of Steemit. It's the preference of the subscribers that is of importance. If 20 whales would only like to see introduction posts and therefore only introduction posts are rewarded, but 2 million of people would like to see other topics, than whales will kill this project. Because the project will only become a success if Steemit provides topics that satisfy the desire of the 2 million subscribers.
I gave an extreme example here, but just to illustrate why I think whales upvoting power is way too big compared to the rest. The rest has hardly any influence on the topics that are rewarded. You could compare this with a company forcing 2 million people to buy their product without caring whether these 2 million people like the product or not.
Ok, I understand we are still in an initial phase and they want to attract people. But I think at this point attracting people shouldn't be the number 1 focus. What is more important now is to make sure that the value is here to attract people automatically. I am working on a post about this topic that I will publish here tomorrow to make my point clear.
Thanks for the link. I will read it. I am curious about your game theoretic explanation.
Really liked your writeup... and its driving a good debate. Thank you!
@blakemiles84 Indeed, it was not fair, but we have to appreciate that and must remain seportif with his works .. with enjoy a cup of coffee
You deserve a pat on the back. Very rare to see someone value or at least admitting to appreciating a different viewpoint. Be proud!
Imagine the opposite: total equality. This would eliminate any dynamics I believe. Also quality could not excel, because if it would, it would again lead to inequality...
Social systems are much more complex than obsolete and utopian duality which you present. Social systems, as everything in Universe are of emerging nature (constantly changing). We need to strive for sustainable equality. Such equality is positive and can only be acquired through application of scientific method for social and environmental concern (example Natural Law/Resource-Based Economy)
Nobody needs to imagine total equality. That's not what anyone is talking about. It's just that the gap between the few at the top and the rest maybe is way too big.
Really do you want us to all be the same?
Equality has nothing to do with social uniformity. Please do not use logical fallacies and explore the meaning of words.
Fight poverty not inequality.
Well, there is a gradation ey. A society with 1 billionaire and 3 million slaves is also an inequal one. Does that sound like something tempting ? ;-)
@logic
Inequality is great. Now, poverty, on the other hand, totally sucks. We should work hard to fight poverty by allowing inequality.
Watchout out @blakemiles84 for illegal 100%
Downvoting, because you holding a lot of STEEM power you can shut people up !!!!
Dude you're spamming irrelevant stuff on peoples posts.
WTF are you talking about ?
EDIT: I'll upvote this comment to make sure everyone can see it
Blake I am not spamming , I am just a little dude here. I read, I comment , my voice are little.
My upvote couldn't even push at all.
I always do upvote, if no good , I read I move on.
I helps other little poster to gain their inspiration .
That's all.
I follow all good posters , inspire them , motivated them
I guess everyone love to be heard.
The little one
If you want to "be heard", comment about the actual content of the post. Posting a billboard of yourself does not benefit you, the OP, the readers, or the community.
That is why I downvoted your comment.
Also, just because your vote doesn't have much weight behind it, doesn't make your commentary any less valuable.
Noted
I hear you! People invested heart in soul in this project involving the world deserve to take good care of their baby for a while, till it is ready to fly of its own wings. I'll definitely be helping it all the way! All for one and one for all!!! Namaste :)
I mostly disagree.
But I upvoted because your story is worth reading.
Your argument is truncated: the "good" has nothing to do with the "bad" and if what's being created here is just like the "real world" = inequality and interest groups >>> normal people than what's the damn point, anyway?
I dream of a great steemit not a mirror of our times.
An idealist? Maybe, so what?
Ps: a comma can be useful for a good post.
Agreed! I need a paragraph tying this together. Thanks for the feedback.
I think you need to be realistic, a paragraph won't help much :)
How's the Koolaid?
Probably tastes a lot better than an inability to form coherent arguments.
Watchout for your illegal down voting
Think you hold a lot of STEEM Power you are in control???? DH
please explain what was illegal about me downvoting your irrelevent, self-promoting posts.
Upvoted - I enjoyed your style :)