GOODBYE CRUEL STEEMIT!

FAREWELL, IT WAS NICE WHILE IT LASTED!

I'm sure those phrases are becoming familiar to some of us here on steemit. Many are saying such things, and many more are thinking them. Maybe you are thinking them. Maybe I am.

Has steemit just become a passing fad that was fun while it lasted, and that's about it?

Personally, though things are being implemented all the time to make steemit a better community and a more user friendly platform, it is also not exactly what it once was.

I'm sure that many of the older users who have at least been here for a few months realize this fact.

---

Lately, steemit has been looking a lot like this:

---

We are beginning to have a user retention problem. If this situation is not properly handled, the trend will continue. If the trend continues, steemit will suffer. Growth is necessary for longevity, and many of us are already invested in steemit long-term.

I believe that unrealistic ideas about what steemit offers are beginning to affect the length of time that users will spend attempting to "succeed" on steemit.

---

This illustration is provided to put things in perspective.

---

Let's face it, unrealistic goals and expectations almost always lead to disappointment.

When something doesn't live up to the expectations, it can get frustrating, (even if the expectations weren't realistic.) For a while now, the changing dynamics of the platform have lead to a distortion of what steemit is capable of. When the value of steem is worth a fraction of what it once was, the potential value of your payouts are only a fraction of what they once were too.

---

THE EXPECTATIONS OF OPTIMISTIC NEWCOMERS

Easy street here I come!

It seems that almost everything in life requires some seriously hard work for most people. Basically, unless you are willing to bust your butt in an attempt to get what you want, you most likely will never get it. If steemit could make everyone rich who happened to encounter it, we'd all already be rich. Simply put, there is no easy street, and anything that may be considered to be easy street by one person may only work for that one person. If there was a real Fountain of Youth or Money Tree, we'd all already be there.

I heard I can make $10,000 in two hours.

Versions of that story were once true thanks to steemit. Perhaps (I said perhaps) that may be one day be the case again, but now is just not that time.

I can best demonstrate this fact by using this graph from this recent post by @ontofractal.

The total payout for was October 11th was $16828, and last weeks average was $15254.

When we compare that to peak payout of $220386 around July 17th, there is obviously a huge difference in the potential that a user can make.

The first @dollarvigilante post paid out a total of $15,967.63 even with 13 flags on the post. To get that kind of payout these days, you would need to be the only author getting any payout all day.

Though stories like the one about how @dollarvigilante had a post that made $15,000 in 12 hours are true... they do not represent an accurate depiction of the opportunity that someone has on steemit at the current time. In fact, it only happened that way for him because of who he was and the name that he had already made for himself. The average user joining steemit these days has no followers or "name" that they have made for themselves.

Anyone hoping to make thousands within days of joining steemit will be disappointed. If that's the goal, they will not succeed.

I'm gonna be so rich.

This mentality will not work for the reasons shared above. The only real way to get rich on steemit these days is to live in a very poor country and require very little to cover any expenses. Then, the payouts from your posts might make a big enough difference to be considered "rich."

I am certainly not complaining about a lack of payouts from steemit. All it provides and all of you have been a huge encouragement and blessing to my family!

Make $$$ posting??

Yep. That's the whole draw for most people. Perhaps my voice, thoughts, and contributions will be worth something here. Though there is no guarantee, there is that possibility. You will never know if you do not try, and you will never have no chance to succeed unless you quit.

---

THE CLAIMS OF THE DISGRUNTED AND DISAPPOINTED

It's a scam! It's a ponzi scheme!

Well folks, steemit is neither a scam nor a ponzi scheme. People are free to join for free and have no obligation to ever pay anything to use this platform. The option and opportunity to buy steem does exist, but this option should be treated as an investment. Any investment has the possibility of either gaining or losing value, and steem is no different. As with almost anything here, there is no guarantee. To use this platform requires no more than a little of your time, and if getting no financial return on your investment of time makes steemit a scam to you, then please be aware that red rights, stop signs, checkout lines, sports games, and television are all way bigger scams that you will have to deal with, because they never paid you for your time either.

I'm going whale hunting!

Yeah, that's a great way to commit steemicide. Let's face it, on steemit, whales are where the real payouts come from. You may be able to scrape together a few bucks on a post without them, but you will never really get a great payout without them. When a user gets frustrated to the point of going whale hunting, they are basically biting the hand that feeds them (or the hand that they want to feed them). If you ever want the option to earn something on steemit, don't blast the whales.

The whales can do as they please with their votes, including upvoting whatever friends or other accounts that they want. If you find it dishonest to have multiple accounts, just hover your mouse pointer over the "POST" key on the "Submit a Story" page. When I do that, a tab pops up that reads Post as "papa-pepper". Obviously, the option to have multiple accounts and this safety check to make sure that a user is posting under the correct username was built into the system some time ago, perhaps even from the beginning. Those who created the platform can choose what they want to do within the platform, and if you don't like it, I'd suggest that you make a better platform and invite everyone over.

Back to FACEBOOK!

Anyone can head back to facebook if they want, or use multiple social media sites along with, or instead of, steemit. However, if posting content with no desire to potentially earn anything for it is your goal, why not just select "Decline Payout" in the "Rewards" options on the "Submit a Story" page?

Head back if you want, steemit will not force you to stay.

---

Like so many things, steemit has both an entrance and an exit.

---

My goal is to encourage others not to use the exit.

---

But how do we get others to make the choice to stay?

---

ALL USERS

1 - VOTE

No matter what your vote is worth, please search out content that you enjoy and upvote it. Votes are so encouraging, and even if they are not worth much on their own, they can help add to something greater as more votes are added to the post.

2 - DON'T FLAG WITHOUT JUST CAUSE

Many users will get in flag wars or flag content simply because they do not personally like the post. We all have the option and freedom to use flags (downvotes) in this way, but it certainly does not encourage others. If you see something that you disagree with, move on to a different post. If you really think that something should be done, leave a comment.

In cases of plagiarism or other similar activity, flags can be a good way of showing that such activity is not appropriate. However, it is often best to point out this fact first and see how the user responds. Some may just not realize that what they are doing is wrong. Let's give others a chance to learn and help them as they attempt to interact here on steemit.

---

3 - ENCOURAGE

Honestly, sometimes in grade school the role of "encourager" was an easy way to participate in a group project without having to do as much running around as the "go-for" (gopher), but encouragement is so beneficial in many situations. Steemit is one of those situations.

I was recently talking to @robyneggs in a private chatroom and was giving her some encouragement. She had said that it was hard sometimes to stay motivated, and I replied that I knew the feeling, and felt that way about every three or four days. Honestly, the idea of quitting runs through my head at least a couple times a week. Sure the great payouts that I sometimes get can be encouraging (how could they not be?) but your replies are too!

When someone like @englishtchrivy leaves a message like this "@papa-pepper I just wrote an article on how you can grow your own apple trees on seeds and in containers inspired by this very post!" it brings me so much joy that my post was inspirational.

When I get a message like this "Another great post from @papa-pepper! Now working on the Spanish translation..." from someone like @traducciones it lets me know that others not only appreciate what I am up to, but they are willing to invest their own time and effort to make my posts available to the international community within steemit and build up this global platform in ways that I could never do on my own.

When someone like @gringalicious leaves a reply like ""... You are so correct!... My Dad read your post and he says to keep these coming. Steem ON!" it makes me realize that whole families enjoy what I am up to here.

Basically, I've done very well, but I can still get discouraged. I can only imagine what it must feel like not doing very well on steemit. Even if your upvote isn't "worth anything", your encouragement can still be priceless.

4 - JOIN FORCES

Many initiatives like Robin Hood Whale and Project Curie have been created to act in a whale-like manner and made a real difference in post payouts. There are many ways that we can now follow what these groups are up to, and we can even program our upvotes to follow theirs by using www.streemian.com.

Group activity can be a great way to influence post payouts and encourage others.

5 - RESTEEM

We all have the option now to resteem posts. If you find one that you like that is not getting noticed, resteem it if you want and get that post a little more publicity. It's free, and it is also so encouraging for the author to see others resteeming their posts.

6 - PROMOTE

This option is somewhat similar to resteem, but it will cost you at least something to attempt to get more attention for another user's post. For the most encouragement possible, you may want to notify the author that you promoted their post, otherwise they may never know. If the promotion leads to an increased payout, it'll be encouraging either way, whether they know or not, but there is no guarantee of a better payout when promoting.

7 - NAME DROP

When you mention another user in your post, it's free publicity for them. If they notice it or hear about it, it can be very encouraging. I remember one morning as I was going through my feed, I saw my name mentioned four times, and a few of the mentions were even in the post titles. Now that's encouraging!

Name dropping is another free was to encourage others. Someone recently mentioned that another user had dropped my name in her post. Not only did this lead to me upvoting the post (which most likely would not have happened as I was not following the one who mentioned me) it also encouraged me when I read it (which also would not have happened).

8 - LINK POSTS

A great way to encourage someone else is to link on of their posts. I once did a post on Goji Berries and linked a post from @kepo777 who had also posted about Goji Berries. He was encouraged! This method is also free, so why not use it when it is applicable.

The @linkback-bot-v0 created by @ontofractal will even tip off the original author so that they do not miss the posts that linked their post in them!

9 - YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS

To spotlight another user and expose their work and their name to all of your followers is another common method. I have not personally done this yet, but it is on my to-do list and I already have the user selected. I'll have to do that soon for him.

10 - GUEST AUTHOR

Many users with more attention will post an article for a lesser known user, and allow them to "guest author" the post. The post will be written by one user and posted by another, and usually the "poster" will give the STEEM and SBD to the "author" for their efforts. This can get the guest author a larger payout than they would on their own and gets their username more exposure too.

11 - BRAINSTORM

The more minds that are thinking about how to solve problems and make steemit better, the better. Think about creative and practical ways to benefit this platform and its users and share those ideas with others. One idea I had was OPERATION TRANSLATION. See what you can think of and try to get others on board.

---

Those were just some of the things that we can all be doing.

Add your ideas in the comments below if you want.

---

DEVELOPERS

1 - CLEAR BUTTON SAFETY CHECK

A simple change to the "CLEAR" button on the "Submit a Story" page would be a huge improvement. If an additional tab popped up that asked "Are you sure that you want to clear?" it would save users from accidentally erasing their work.

Yes, I know that we can type our posts in another program and then copy them to the "Submit a Story" page, but this simple tweak would make the user experience so much better and eliminate unnecessary frustration due to lost work.

Let's make it a little easier for all users.

2 - RESTEEM UNSTEEM

What can a user do when they accidentally resteem another post? Nothing, yet. Can we please get an option to "unsteem" posts that we have accidentally resteemed? Twice now I have accidentally resteemed posts that I was only trying to upvote from my mobile device. I don't want to have to stop interacting and upvoting just because I am away from my computer...

I think that this option would be a huge benefit to the platform when trying to make "resteeming" all that it can be.

3 - SEPARATE PERSONAL BLOG FROM RESTEEMED POSTS

Many would be resteeming a lot more if it wouldn't clutter their own blog. A user's blog should be able to be dedicated to posts from the user. The resteemed posts should show up elsewhere.

---

---

The two types of quitters on steemit.

Perhaps there are more varieties, but these two immediately come to mind.

---

MR. "NO MORE WHALE LOVE"

I don't really like this guy, and I don't have any advice for others on how to get him to stay on steemit. Basically, at some point in his history on steemit, he got a lot of whale love. Now, however, for one reason or another, he is no longer getting the same amount of whale love that he had previously grown accustomed to.

Unless the whales come back to him, he will leave us all.

I'm not completely sure that this is the type of user that we want around anyway. Basically, the problem is his lack of gratitude. Would it have been better to never get any whale love? NO. Yet, he can't appreciate what he once had, and instead grows frustrated about what he is no longer getting.

I've had times of more whale love and less whale love. Whale love is pleasant and encouraging, and a lack of it is, well, not. However, I'm grateful to have gotten some whale love in the first place, whether or not they ever give me any more.

---

Mr. "NEVER GOT ANY WHALE LOVE"

This is the type of guy that we want to encourage. He's never reached his full potential yet, and we don't want him to quit before he really succeeds. A lot of various methods are currently being used to notice guys like this and encourage them in their efforts.

Somehow, we want this user to produce high-quality original work until he does get noticed rather than having him grow disgruntled and commit steemicide. Hopefully, we can become an even more encouraging and helpful community and allow this type of user to reach his full potential.

---

Above all, I want to avoid this picture becoming reality.

We all have roles that we can play as we attempt to make steemit all that we can. Let's produce the best posts that we can and encourage and upvote one another along the way!

---

FOLLOW

---

Awesome Handcrafted @papa-pepper logo kindly donated by @vlad - Thank you!!

OPERATION TRANSLATION logo provided by @oecp85.

(click link above for more info on Operation Translation.)