The person you mention only gets lots of rewards because a) people vote for him and b) people do not vote for other people.
b) is as important as a). I notice you have a lot of steempower but don't do much curating. By yourself you could make a lot of difference to a lot of good authors, while diminishing the share the person-who-shall-not-be-named gets. But you don't...
Basically this site is in the hands of the members (and not just the whales), and voting plays a big part in regulating it. The problem is people want others to vote for them but can't be bothered to vote themselves.
I'm pretty sure his criticism was directed at the very small number of top-tier whales that control the trending page, not the rest of us that don't make much difference with our penny votes.
What the front page gets is a percentage of the fixed amount of steem generated in a 24 hour period, therefore voting for other stuff dimishes what the front page gets.
Things are skewed at present because most people don't bother to vote at all, believing wrongly that it is just about the whales. It is not. And moaning about not getting votes while not bothering to vote yourself is a bit cheeky, especially as OP isn't a minnow with 10 SP.
You should vote more too - you have 15 x my steempower but you earned less curation awards than me in the last week, because you don't bother.
True story. I vote when I see good stuff in my feed but I don't have the time to go gem hunting since I actually have a business to run that takes priority over this nifty little experiment (which is all it is to me, at this point). My approach has always been posting, not curating, since I have the ability to post quality content but not the time to be a good curator. Everyone should play to their strengths to contribute as much value as they personally can.
Everyone should do some voting every day even if it is just for half an hour. Otherwise we end up with these rants from people who refuse to vote but are annoyed that the 33 whales who do vote haven't had time to get around to them...
Some of us whales are actually spending quite a bit to fund solutions to help with the problems on this beta level platform.
I understand the frustration, but steem gives power to people so they can change the balance over time by voting. I feel like its necessary to vote and it honestly feels like rok-sivante is just getting a bit frustrated and in the panic phase of this.
There are a lot of people on here that can't write well but still want to make some money so they go with the curation strategy... good for them. As I already explained, I don't have the time for that and my talents suit me better for creation. That's how I can contribute the most value per minute that I'm on here... also, I don't think Rok is complaining about not getting votes... and I sure as hell am not. I treat this as a hobby project in the background. My business is real estate development.
People vote for good content, not in return for good curation. That's why the founders tried to build in an incentive system that rewards curators, so that reciprocity in voting wouldn't be necessary.
Personally, I'm indifferent to how people should vote. They should do whatever their gut tells them IMO. I think ultimately that's what's going to drive the site anyway, and ultimately what will make it palatable for your average person.
While I think it's admirable that people like yourself want to be good curators for their vision of how the site should look, the gut reactions of people are ultimately what will determine the curation if and when this site gains mass adoption. People who won't or can't contribute desirable content (read most future users) will only come here if they see what they want to see, nothing more, nothing less, regardless of how any of us here now feel about that.
"SHOULD" is the word in the idealism here that sways the whole outlook.
not everyone has the same talents/values to contribute. not everyone chooses to contribute the same type of value.
(and maybe there's another point of hypocriticism highlighted from my own case, having some unconscious presupposition that the site's dynamics and people on it "should" be different than what they are.)
...
and thanks, @officialfuzzy for the input. short, but appreciated. (and is more disillusionment than panic. :-) )
I missed out on a lot of BS since I stopped posting and even reading
I am glad I met all of you I value so much. I never say never and probably will publish again . I just have better things to do for now than to be a part of an experiament of a few cons.
My enthusiasm vanished.
No shame in saying who he is. No shame to show that the oil of what we call "Steemit" is powered by the countless sheeple of
the Great,
the glorious
Tinfoiled Vigilante
it is the sad, sour truth. We want to call it decentralised, anarchic or whatever else but right now a fraud is running the game and he has the founders on his feet because there is no Steemit without him. I am not even going to touch the Silk Road guy. (the things i saw being sold on that page makes my skin crawl).
I don't think it can get more pathetic than that. I expose the Tinfoiled Vigilante with every single chance I get. I never upvoted him and even if he flagged me some times, costing me massive reputation, i still went mongolian on his ass. Check my page and early posts. Life is about kicking ass, not kissing it like a whore.
Also, shame on you as well. You should have stood your ground and not bail as soon as the money machine run out. Many followed the same milking stradegy, including the tinfoiled vigilante. I can't understand why the whales put on trail people that fuck them over and ignore consistent members that offer so much to the community. This makes a lot of us frustrated but I am still allowing them some more room for evaluation.
Your stance doesn't make you any beter than him. The Tinfoiled Vigilante, upon leaving will say the exact same things as you; "Steemit was just a phase".
..please.
Truth is, you both made massive amounts of money without really deserving it while most of us stood ground and defended this shithole as best as we could for pennies—and we still do because we believe we can make it better.
also..no more 5K sensational posts huh? a..the bullshit easy money make us say....
He has a huge following on Twitter and FB. Now, I personally am not a huge fan. I question much more the impact of the guy who just got out of prison and is suddenly a witness and makes money on every post.
DV, whatever, yeah he's way too sensationalist. Shady, I don't think so.
Charlie Sherm, is NOT shady. As you'll learn moving through crypto-land, the gov kinda crucifies people from time to time to satisfy demands for blood and slaughter. His number was up, poor bastard.
honestly expressing disillusionment after investing a shitload of time and energy into something you believed in and "bailing" are two completely different things.
and frankly, if it was my call, no one would be earning $5k/post (myself included). as much of a blessing that might have been at the time, such disparity in rewards is NOT serving the site's best long-term interest.
Perhaps you were one of the ones that had posted about the 'TV's' track record I'd seen way back. Respect for having called it out, and continuing to do so.
Rok, I sort of know you from a while back so I understand when you're coming from.
Still, you seem to miss the most important part of steemit: CURATION. That is: you vote on what YOU like and in doing so [ maybe even re-steem? ] you influence where the money goes. That's one of the biggest thing you can do for the community.
IVoting power 100.0000% [ <--- that's yours.
Sorry, but you are not being truthful here imho. Instead of denouncing a guy for getting money that you no longer get, and arguing that you are right because your views are being confirmed by other person in the same situation, how about you use your upvotes and actually do something with all that SP you worked so hard for?
Yeah, I can understand. rok could make a difference by allocating votes. At the very least, let Curie or one of the other curation guilds use it to help the lower paying posts. IMO, even if he's leaving, that would be a good idea, to help level the field a bit.
there was a point in time where I was stoked on being able to throw some voting power behind posts I found value in.
at this point, when a vote is worth like $0.15, the novelty has worn off.
I wasn't arguing I was "right" here, just being honest about my feelings on it all.
and frankly, I don't feel like throwing $0.15 at any post is really going to make that significant of a difference at this point.
If I had an excess of time on my hands and took pleasure in curation, I might be game to spend my time curating. Yet, there's the ideal and reality - and I've got other commitment that demand my time and energy, after which my enthusiasm levels for working for pennies on this site have significantly dropped, and my capacity to take in an excess of content is pretty much maxed out.
simplifying the matter, it comes down to two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
yes, I could "exert some influence" by throwing $0.15 at a good post. though truthfully, I don't feel this is where my time is best invested at this point.
@rok-sivante, do you think that you have made sufficient use of your own voting power, to support the kind of content that you would like to see flourishing on this platform? If you are unsure, check your all-time curation rewards on steemwhales.
to be honest, I really don't feel that throwing $0.20 (or however little it is at this point) at any article really makes much of a difference at all at this point.
two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
all the hours spent to read tons of content to throw a few dollars of curation rewards at are hours that could be invested elsewhere.
Dear Rok, I´d like to convince you, that you are strongly underestimating the power of your vote.
Let´s start with the obvious:
If you don´t find the time at all for manual curation you can dedicate your voting power to the different curation guilds, like @curie, @robinhoodwhale or @steemtrail. A voting trail of these guilds results in significant rewards in the range of 10$ to 100$. Without these guilds most of my posts would have remained largely unnoticed.
As the rewards are not growing linear with incoming votes, your vote does not result in 20 ct but dollars (!) if added to already trending posts.
Now here comes the biggest impact you can have with your vote:
If you identify good posts in the 30 minutes window of the news tab with zero or close-to-zero rewards, your 20ct would put a strong mark on these posts that would be seen by many other curators, prompting them to inspect this post, too! Your initial 20 ct (in particular as they are related with your name) would massively increase the chances for that post to make dollars afterwards.
Even if you are still committed to not contribute your content anymore, a huge stack of SP will remain on the platform. Please don´t leave it unused. Go in the news tab 3-4 times per day for 5 min each. You don´t need long to assess whether a post deserves a reward. It´s often a matter of less than a minute to decide.
You earned tens of thousands USD here, so dedicating a bit of time helping others to earn at least something is a fair expectation, I guess.
And it´s not just altruistic, since you would get significant curation rewards if you are good in spotting posts that others will support too. With a quarter of your SP I´m meanwhile at ~80 SP curation rewards peer week. So do the math to estimate what would be in for you (especially, as you can leverage your votes with your huge following).
I hope my arguments will let you reconsider your perspective on the value of your vote.
If your still not convinced, I´m offering you to do one week of curation on your behalf! Reach out to me on steemit.chat, provide me your posting key and I will demonstrate you what can be achieved with the voting power that you have at your disposal.
Yeah, but how about participating in one of the curation guilds? Pick the one that votes for the type of content that you like. That way the cost is zero, you provide value, you get some returns.
Also, for a lot of people those $0.20 could make a lot of difference. Oh, and there is the thing that those $0.20 are actually a lot in SP tokens, especially if (or rather when) the price goes up.
I've lost my enthusiasm for the site too but don't consider your reasoning very sound -- despite the fact that I agree with your appraisal of the person in question.
I'm just bored with it.
It's really weird but just paying people is not enough to differentiate the site from its competitors and make you want to use it. They need something more than just a plain white medium-clone with 2005-era posting tech.
The power imbalance between the whales and the rest of us is also more disconcerting than I originally thought it would be.
B-E-T-A
I can understand getting bored. But it seems like folks expect too much of a beta product. Anyone remember what fb looked like the first year? How much did anyone get paid for posting on it? #justsayin'...
Yup. Great point that I bring up ALL THE TIME lol :)
I think what people are starting to realize is that the money is the only thing attractive about the platform. It is enough to attract people now, when it's the only game in town, but as competitors come onto the scene, we're gonna see a serious exodus. Fortunately, Ned has mentioned that there are a lot of new social features coming soon so we can cross our fingers and see what those are.
Totally irrelevant, I'am afraid. This is 2016. The market has moved on. Expectations have changed. The costs of producing quality have decreased.
This makes about as much sense as saying Steemit is better than the clay tablets the Code of Hammurabi were chiseled into. Yeah, sure, but it's not competing for my attention against clay tablets.
Not that I spend loads of time on any social media, for that matter. Social media exhausts me. I'm searching for deep work that is meaningful to me and pays enough to cover my lentil bill.
-- George (damnit, I was certain I'd logged into my personal account.)
You: Expect less. See, here, Facebook 2004/5.
Me: This is 2016, brah. Apples and oranges.
You: You've misunderstood my point but I'm not actually going to attempt to clarify it.
Me: :rolleyes: It's up to the communicator to make his point, not throw a couple words and a screenshot down and blame the listener for failing to exercise ESP.
Sigh.... The problem isn't misunderstanding, it's being rude about it. But maybe it helps that Gabe and I are connected telepathically. Of course, you upvoted his comment... lol.
Quick everyone buy Golos....to the next crypto shit-coin we go!!...I've not made a single crypto-profit since Mazacoin...and baby wipes were eventually needed there too to clean up the mess! LOL!
We took a break but but will get back into it with a new format soon. Easy to burn out when you're trying to put out an episode per day while juggling everyone's jobs, business schedules, etc. Gotta just take it down a notch and keep it fun, I think.
At times like this, it's important to take stock of the non-monetary value that has come from the experience and focus on that. In my case, steemit enabled my buddy @jakevanderark to move to Chile and start collaborating with me on screenplays and that one thing alone made it all worthwhile. It also helped one of our Fort Galt members, @onceuponatime to come and visit us down here (he introduced me to the platform in the first place, which was pretty awesome). Even as I watch the value of steem fall and the platform itself devolve into the Doom Porn Infomercial Channel, I can always focus on the good things and thank the founders for what they've created. As you said, it's absolutely an experiment and I still say it's a great one but there's a long way to go before it's the sort of thing that I can stand behind and vouch for as a finished product. I was here for the crazy days in the beginning too, and of course we all knew that things would balance out over time, and they have... but as @mindhunter alluded to, the founders still retain the power to mold the community according to their whims and in principle, this is not a good thing. Decentralization is a key principle that is touted in the whitepaper and it's part of why many of us believe in steemit.
Having said all that, I'm happy to keep helping out around here as much as I can with the caveat that it's very much an experimental work-in-progress. I think of it as a fun little hobby project that may or may not develop into something really worth championing some day. At the very least, it has demonstrated a model for other developers to learn from and with a little luck, we'll one day have a whole bunch of alternatives to choose from.
In the mean time, I'm seriously re-evaluating my quiet, gentlemanly approach to certain matters... I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success.
I'm glad you said "I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success."
I have been biting my tongue about a lot of things on here and unfortunately for guys like me the payouts have been extremely frustrating. Only an extremely stubborn person would still be on here working for $0.50 / hour. Steemit has hemoraged so many good content creators it isn't even funny. Eventually there won't be any new people who have the crypto skills and exchange accounts to join this platform. Steemit needed us to create content and help create a bridge for people outside the crypto world. By upvoting sock puppet accounts everyday they have alienated a very important demographic off of this platform. Would anyone really expect a guy like me to spend my time creating on here when I can spend 5 hours on a post and not even be able to buy a candy bar with the payout?
Re: "At the very least, it has demonstrated a model for other developers to learn from..."
Good point (not your only one, haha, but) Yes, Steemit Inc and all of us need to remain aware that if not kept "in tip-top shape" its model will be copied and/or improved upon. As said I just spend $200 on BTC to convert to Steem, and have been somewhat all-in to date, but I've also signed up for Akasha to see what it offers. Steemit has broken ground yes, but keeping the top position even in the market you created is a whole different ballgame. "Tom" at MySpace knows this all too well, so hopefully we'll find ourselves emulating "Jeff" at Amazon.com more than anyone. He basically invented (or popularized?) the concept of an online affiliate program for instance, and stayed on top even after Books-a-Million , Walenbooks, and other bookstores came online as his early "competitors". I know Steemit has an affiliate program in the background - it might be time to rev it up in order to dominate marketshare before other competitors arise?
In the mean time, I'm seriously re-evaluating my quiet, gentlemanly approach to certain matters... I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success.
I have sacrificed some reputation for speaking out about some of the abuses and will likely see future earnings hindered as well. I wish more people would follow suit or at least acknowledge and condemn the abuses when they are pointed out. Instead, they simply ignore them, make excuses, or condemn those exposing the abusers. My plan was not to speak out for personal gain. I actually hoped that the platform would be better off knowing which accounts were shams and who was behind them. Apparently, you're actually rewarded more for being a sham and a scammer around here - especially when you're a "whale" or a friend of them.
What happened with your posts was really upsetting. You made the sacrifice and to be honest with you I also bit my toungue because I really needed the money consider how much time I have spent on this platform.
At this point Steemit is at a major pivot point and all the good content creators are going to end up leaving if some of these issues aren't addressed.
Steemit is such an amazing thing and it is seriously sad that it might be completely ruined by a few early adopters who ended up with an enormous amount of power.
perhaps the article came across as misbalanced, given I've been holding it in for so long - though the person/issue in question has been just one contributing factor. the main reason for considering taking a break: OPPORTUNITY COST.
I agree that the presence of one person isn't a reason to leave or stay. While I don't agree with the persons views he is talking about I have never been too overly concerned with that persons payouts. There are far worse problems going on with Steemit than just that. It is a damn shame. Steem / Steemit is one of the greatest invovations the Internet has ever seen and it might not survive. :-(
The concept will survive, even if this first platform doesn't. It's still a great idea, no matter what cancers happen to taint the first iteration. I'm still optimistic and will stick around for the long game, even if it takes longer than I hoped to get the kinks ironed out :)
I agree with you. The concept will survive for sure.
But ask yourself this. If your payouts get as low as mine for the amount of time I have put in would you still post here?
Good content creators are leaving in droves.
Yeah it isn't worth my time especially when I see sock puppets consistently making mad cash. I started my power down last night and will likely turn my account into a curration bot to upvote good content creators like yourself who I know are real and make good content and that way I won't really spend time on here except in a few situations where I want to get on and post something.
@radioactivities - Cool. I already vote. @pharesim did a great job of explaining the world of witnessing to us on the steem smart podcast and I check-in every once in a while. I wish I could downvote/flag witnesses too but I guess we can't have everything ;)
Take some time off. I hope you'll be back. It's easy to get depressed when the price and rewards are low, but this is the very beginning of a much, much bigger set of projects in the Steem ecosystem. All your SP will be worth something someday!
"It's easy to get depressed when the price and rewards are low"
REALLY? The rewards for your posts have never been low. Your Yellowstone National Park post just made over $1,000 and your Tide Pooling post made over $1,300. Both those posts had no original pictures or anything. Were they worth something? Sure. But look at my recent posts for Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, and Petrified Forest. Original content, great pictures, great story......etc..
I can't even buy lunch with the payouts despite having over 300 followers and people who love my stuff? How much longer do you think good content creators are going to stick around on this platform when the payout differencial is that skewed?
Steemit needed good content creators that know enough about crypto to not be intimidated by this platform. Once we are gone who is going to replace us? There aren't that many people in the crypto world that can produce content like this and are willing to take the gamble of spending 5 hours on a post and getting paid $0.36. It is a damn shame but Steemit is one of the most amazing invovations the Internet has ever seen but I'm giving it a 50/50 chance to survive.
@brianphobos - I think you've really directed that at the wrong person. @donkeypong has helped to set up curie , was instrumental in helping steemSTEM get off the ground and now recently announced Steem Guild...
Also, you have some pretty cool posts, I'm following :)
Thank you for following and the kind words but It doesn't change the fact that the reward system is so skewed. How do you think I feel when I'm trying my hardest to put good content out there and can't make it. I'm not saying he hasn't done anything and that his posts aren't worth anything but his Yellowstone National Park post just made over $1,000 and his Tide Pooling post made over $1,300.
If I could make $100 / day on here liquid. (SBD and STEEM) I could devote full time to this platform and really crank out some super high quality stuff. Hardly any pure content creators can do this because the rewards are so skewed. It is going to cause all the good content creators to leave. It is already been happening.
It appears this site has not become what I had envisioned it to be.
What did you envision it to be? I'm not sure that was clearly outlined in your post here. Your expectations aren't being met, so you want to quit. But what are your expectations?
Do you expect a platform which only rewards posts you agree with and not ones you don't? Are you upset that people with influence on this network like the reporting that's being done by the person in question even if, as you said, it could be called B.S. from another perspective? I like some of their posts (because they legitimately let me know about events going on that I wasn't previously aware of), and I call others out as ridiculous.
Your post here has a lot of back and forth in it. On one hand you're saying you're upset about a post which didn't earn as much as you expect, on the other you're saying you'd rather post somewhere for free. You're saying someone else is earning too much money, while also saying you didn't really care about the money. Is the problem with others or your own expectations?
If someone really is a con artist and scammer, why not bring forward evidence and call them out to protect the community you love so much? If they are not, then why leave?
Sadly, I think they will not come. If that's the case, then hopefully new writers will take his place and show genuine, long term love for this community.
the person isn't question isn't THE reason I've been feeling ready to leave - and it's not the person in question, just a contributing factor.
others have brought forth evidence, and it's been ignored. I don't feel it my personal mission to call anyone out. because I have valued the principle of an uncensored platform and level playing field, I've kept my mouth shut (fingers restrained) the whole time. this one issue in particular might seem blown out of proportion, relative to where I actually stand on it because it's been bottled up. and any "back and forth" is likely intentional, because I'm not holding to one extreme position or another - but both are worthy of acknowledgement, and the truth always lies somewhere in the middle. and as I said - just cuz people do shady shit in their past doesn't mean they aren't worthy of forgiveness - and there's always another side to every story. I may have needed to vent some frustration on the matter, but that doesn't mean I'm going to outright disrespect anybody and bring up allegations and issues others have experienced with them, when there are others in the community who do value some of their contributions, regardless of my personal opinions.
the bigger reason I've been questioning stepping away, summed up in two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
maybe that didn't come through clearly in the writing, as it was written fast and perhaps emotionally-influenced. perhaps I did have some expectations of sorts - in which case the disillusionment is my own fault. and I never intended to outline my vision for the community in this piece because that was not the focus, and was stuff I'd been writing about months ago.
If you're truly leaving because of "OPPORTUNITY COST" then please be honest enough with yourself and others to say that up front. Don't use an emotional rant about someone else or how the values of the platform are out of alignment. Say it plainly like this:
You, the Steemit community, are not worth my time anymore. I have more important and more valuable things to do.
That would have been honest. You could have also just slipped out the back door becuase you're busy with other things. To instead post an emotional rant / rage quit and call to question the values of the platform is disrespectful to those of us who do think it's worth our time and are working to shape those values daily.
I've voiced my respect for the raw honesty you've shown in the past. That created an expectation for me which wasn't met here.
I'm not sure if its your misunderstanding or my miscommunication at root of the conflict here.
as I've said, there are multiple factors contributing my disillusionment with the site, (and I don't appreciate having words put in my mouth as you've attempted here.)
frame it as "an emotional rant" if you want - the point is, this community has been throwing money at - making an investment in - a person whose track record is a threat to the integrity of the community. I held in my viewpoint for two months - and finally, there came the breaking point where I needed to be honest about matter. perhaps, it stirred up more trouble than it was worth, without having gone into extensive detail trying to point out to people the subtle details in the dynamics of the matter that most do not see. (and perhaps I had other expectations at play of others to read between the lines.)
some things can't be spelled out directly - and it's a fine like to walk with a degree of uncertainty, determining whether to keep quiet altogether or drop a few breadcrumbs for those to follow who feel compelled to dig and find out for themselves.
based on both your comments, you're trying to paint things out as though they're clear black or white. you seem to be getting hung up on specific points and getting defensive rather than viewing the larger context as a whole - maybe that's a consequence of my not having written things more clearly. but then again, regardless of how clearly they could be written, maybe I should have expected such responses by honestly putting forth a viewpoint that challenged the culture - classic group psychology.
I don't appreciate having words put in my mouth as you've attempted here
I apologize. My intention was not to offend you but to (hopefully) help you understand how the words you are using here can be interpreted (and are being interpreted by me).
it was written fast and perhaps emotionally-influenced
Maybe "emotional rant" went too far, but whether or not something is a "rant", to me, is subjective. This post fit what I consider a rant and as you are an important member of this community to date, I called you out on it.
some things can't be spelled out directly
In communication, all we have to go on is the words we use.
you seem to be getting hung up on specific points
I based my reply on what you indicated was the primary reason: OPPORTUNITY COST. You not only put it in all caps, but you replied to others with the same answer. How else should I interpret that but with the words you say I put in your mouth?
Opportunity Costs: the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen.
Maybe it's impolite to say, "Steemit is no longer valuable enough to me to continue. My time and attention are more valuable elsewhere." but how else should I have interpreted your main point? I also dislike when people put words in my mouth, but I further dislike when I (or anyone else) uses language which portrays true feelings even if I (or they) don't currently recognize it. I prefer people who care about me point out the meanings of the words I'm using and, hopefully, reveal a part of my subconscious I wasn't ware of (and often don't like).
I'm fine with opportunity cost being part of your reasoning. Surely there are many more, but as you said, it's very nuanced and hard to communicate. I'm fine with Steemit not being as valuable to you now as it once might have been. The reason for my defensiveness is that I'm defending something I value (this community), specifically when the values of this community or put on trial instead of what you yourself said is a more accurate reason: Opportunity Cost.
When it comes to tribal loyalties and community involvement, it's not uncommon to devalue the community in our own minds before being able to leave it. It's quite common, actually. If you have other uses of your time that are more valuable to you, then by all means, pursue them. I hope, as you said, you'll also come back here from time to time and provide some value to us as well. I'm glad you communicated emotions you had bottled up for months. Unfortunately, when we bottle up emotions for too long, often their expression is misunderstood.
it has been a wild ride here, from the highs to the lows, all the investment I put into the community, to being disillusioned (perhaps just by my own expectations), and gaining different perspectives on it all along the way.
and granted, I got defensive at your comments, also. odd loops. it felt weird to be called disrespectful by questioning the community values, when I've been supporting the community from the start - and the reasoning for bringing up the issue is because it stands to reason having a person with a history as a shuckster being the top ambassor might not be in the best long-term interest in solidifying the site's reputation outside its own circle jerk. also got defensive at the suggestion any of this was less than raw honest - as honestly was the whole point. though yeah - backed up emotion may not have translated clearly, and I may still have my moments where an aggressiveness overrides the diplomacy.
I appreciate this last articulation/reply of yours. :-)
I am happy that at least one person got it!
Up-voting for totally selfish (non financial) purposes!
[edit] ohh now the good old "Dannie the lion" apparently got it too! Well, he is kind of whaley now, will survive me not up-voting him :)
The person you mention only gets lots of rewards because a) people vote for him and b) people do not vote for other people.
b) is as important as a). I notice you have a lot of steempower but don't do much curating. By yourself you could make a lot of difference to a lot of good authors, while diminishing the share the person-who-shall-not-be-named gets. But you don't...
Basically this site is in the hands of the members (and not just the whales), and voting plays a big part in regulating it. The problem is people want others to vote for them but can't be bothered to vote themselves.
I'm pretty sure his criticism was directed at the very small number of top-tier whales that control the trending page, not the rest of us that don't make much difference with our penny votes.
What the front page gets is a percentage of the fixed amount of steem generated in a 24 hour period, therefore voting for other stuff dimishes what the front page gets.
Things are skewed at present because most people don't bother to vote at all, believing wrongly that it is just about the whales. It is not. And moaning about not getting votes while not bothering to vote yourself is a bit cheeky, especially as OP isn't a minnow with 10 SP.
You should vote more too - you have 15 x my steempower but you earned less curation awards than me in the last week, because you don't bother.
True story. I vote when I see good stuff in my feed but I don't have the time to go gem hunting since I actually have a business to run that takes priority over this nifty little experiment (which is all it is to me, at this point). My approach has always been posting, not curating, since I have the ability to post quality content but not the time to be a good curator. Everyone should play to their strengths to contribute as much value as they personally can.
But you want others to vote for you?!!
Everyone should do some voting every day even if it is just for half an hour. Otherwise we end up with these rants from people who refuse to vote but are annoyed that the 33 whales who do vote haven't had time to get around to them...
Some of us whales are actually spending quite a bit to fund solutions to help with the problems on this beta level platform.
I understand the frustration, but steem gives power to people so they can change the balance over time by voting. I feel like its necessary to vote and it honestly feels like rok-sivante is just getting a bit frustrated and in the panic phase of this.
There are a lot of people on here that can't write well but still want to make some money so they go with the curation strategy... good for them. As I already explained, I don't have the time for that and my talents suit me better for creation. That's how I can contribute the most value per minute that I'm on here... also, I don't think Rok is complaining about not getting votes... and I sure as hell am not. I treat this as a hobby project in the background. My business is real estate development.
People vote for good content, not in return for good curation. That's why the founders tried to build in an incentive system that rewards curators, so that reciprocity in voting wouldn't be necessary.
Personally, I'm indifferent to how people should vote. They should do whatever their gut tells them IMO. I think ultimately that's what's going to drive the site anyway, and ultimately what will make it palatable for your average person.
While I think it's admirable that people like yourself want to be good curators for their vision of how the site should look, the gut reactions of people are ultimately what will determine the curation if and when this site gains mass adoption. People who won't or can't contribute desirable content (read most future users) will only come here if they see what they want to see, nothing more, nothing less, regardless of how any of us here now feel about that.
"SHOULD" is the word in the idealism here that sways the whole outlook.
not everyone has the same talents/values to contribute. not everyone chooses to contribute the same type of value.
(and maybe there's another point of hypocriticism highlighted from my own case, having some unconscious presupposition that the site's dynamics and people on it "should" be different than what they are.)
...
and thanks, @officialfuzzy for the input. short, but appreciated. (and is more disillusionment than panic. :-) )
If the Steem price goes down, I will just generate more Steem. Or, buy more. Either way :)
haaaaaaa, just wrote the exact SAMETHING! Damn it, man. Have my upvote :)
I missed out on a lot of BS since I stopped posting and even reading
I am glad I met all of you I value so much. I never say never and probably will publish again . I just have better things to do for now than to be a part of an experiament of a few cons.
My enthusiasm vanished.
Three excellent responses. Well said.
Well put.
Agreed 100%
this particular post got over 214 votes and raked in $12 in rewards.
my votes are worth about $0.20.
do the math.
Round and Round... Round we goooooooo. The votes that is!
@rok-sivante
No shame in saying who he is. No shame to show that the oil of what we call "Steemit" is powered by the countless sheeple of
the Great,
the glorious
Tinfoiled Vigilante
it is the sad, sour truth. We want to call it decentralised, anarchic or whatever else but right now a fraud is running the game and he has the founders on his feet because there is no Steemit without him. I am not even going to touch the Silk Road guy. (the things i saw being sold on that page makes my skin crawl).
I don't think it can get more pathetic than that. I expose the Tinfoiled Vigilante with every single chance I get. I never upvoted him and even if he flagged me some times, costing me massive reputation, i still went mongolian on his ass. Check my page and early posts. Life is about kicking ass, not kissing it like a whore.
Also, shame on you as well. You should have stood your ground and not bail as soon as the money machine run out. Many followed the same milking stradegy, including the tinfoiled vigilante. I can't understand why the whales put on trail people that fuck them over and ignore consistent members that offer so much to the community. This makes a lot of us frustrated but I am still allowing them some more room for evaluation.
Your stance doesn't make you any beter than him. The Tinfoiled Vigilante, upon leaving will say the exact same things as you; "Steemit was just a phase".
..please.
Truth is, you both made massive amounts of money without really deserving it while most of us stood ground and defended this shithole as best as we could for pennies—and we still do because we believe we can make it better.
also..no more 5K sensational posts huh? a..the bullshit easy money make us say....
He has a huge following on Twitter and FB. Now, I personally am not a huge fan. I question much more the impact of the guy who just got out of prison and is suddenly a witness and makes money on every post.
both of them are shady as fuck.
You've got to be kidding me.
DV, whatever, yeah he's way too sensationalist. Shady, I don't think so.
Charlie Sherm, is NOT shady. As you'll learn moving through crypto-land, the gov kinda crucifies people from time to time to satisfy demands for blood and slaughter. His number was up, poor bastard.
honestly expressing disillusionment after investing a shitload of time and energy into something you believed in and "bailing" are two completely different things.
and frankly, if it was my call, no one would be earning $5k/post (myself included). as much of a blessing that might have been at the time, such disparity in rewards is NOT serving the site's best long-term interest.
Perhaps you were one of the ones that had posted about the 'TV's' track record I'd seen way back. Respect for having called it out, and continuing to do so.
Rok, I sort of know you from a while back so I understand when you're coming from.
Still, you seem to miss the most important part of steemit: CURATION. That is: you vote on what YOU like and in doing so [ maybe even re-steem? ] you influence where the money goes. That's one of the biggest thing you can do for the community.
IVoting power 100.0000% [ <--- that's yours.
Sorry, but you are not being truthful here imho. Instead of denouncing a guy for getting money that you no longer get, and arguing that you are right because your views are being confirmed by other person in the same situation, how about you use your upvotes and actually do something with all that SP you worked so hard for?
Yeah, I can understand. rok could make a difference by allocating votes. At the very least, let Curie or one of the other curation guilds use it to help the lower paying posts. IMO, even if he's leaving, that would be a good idea, to help level the field a bit.
there was a point in time where I was stoked on being able to throw some voting power behind posts I found value in.
at this point, when a vote is worth like $0.15, the novelty has worn off.
I wasn't arguing I was "right" here, just being honest about my feelings on it all.
and frankly, I don't feel like throwing $0.15 at any post is really going to make that significant of a difference at this point.
If I had an excess of time on my hands and took pleasure in curation, I might be game to spend my time curating. Yet, there's the ideal and reality - and I've got other commitment that demand my time and energy, after which my enthusiasm levels for working for pennies on this site have significantly dropped, and my capacity to take in an excess of content is pretty much maxed out.
simplifying the matter, it comes down to two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
yes, I could "exert some influence" by throwing $0.15 at a good post. though truthfully, I don't feel this is where my time is best invested at this point.
tl;dr I am selfish, ungrateful and fuck you, new people, that might need my support that I had so generously received when I was new.
See ya, rok!
easy to come to own conclusions when don't even bother to invest in seeing different viewpoints.
and clearly no point in expending effort trying to explain if someone not willing to listen/read.
@rok-sivante, do you think that you have made sufficient use of your own voting power, to support the kind of content that you would like to see flourishing on this platform? If you are unsure, check your all-time curation rewards on steemwhales.
to be honest, I really don't feel that throwing $0.20 (or however little it is at this point) at any article really makes much of a difference at all at this point.
two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
all the hours spent to read tons of content to throw a few dollars of curation rewards at are hours that could be invested elsewhere.
Dear Rok, I´d like to convince you, that you are strongly underestimating the power of your vote.
Let´s start with the obvious:
Now here comes the biggest impact you can have with your vote:
Even if you are still committed to not contribute your content anymore, a huge stack of SP will remain on the platform. Please don´t leave it unused. Go in the news tab 3-4 times per day for 5 min each. You don´t need long to assess whether a post deserves a reward. It´s often a matter of less than a minute to decide.
You earned tens of thousands USD here, so dedicating a bit of time helping others to earn at least something is a fair expectation, I guess.
And it´s not just altruistic, since you would get significant curation rewards if you are good in spotting posts that others will support too. With a quarter of your SP I´m meanwhile at ~80 SP curation rewards peer week. So do the math to estimate what would be in for you (especially, as you can leverage your votes with your huge following).
I hope my arguments will let you reconsider your perspective on the value of your vote.
If your still not convinced, I´m offering you to do one week of curation on your behalf! Reach out to me on steemit.chat, provide me your posting key and I will demonstrate you what can be achieved with the voting power that you have at your disposal.
Thanks!
Yeah, but how about participating in one of the curation guilds? Pick the one that votes for the type of content that you like. That way the cost is zero, you provide value, you get some returns.
Also, for a lot of people those $0.20 could make a lot of difference. Oh, and there is the thing that those $0.20 are actually a lot in SP tokens, especially if (or rather when) the price goes up.
70K sp makes a hell of a difference once a post has hit 5-10$...
Well, you have 70K SP. Let's put this to a good use. Please contact me, I already dropped you a message in Steemit Chat.
I've lost my enthusiasm for the site too but don't consider your reasoning very sound -- despite the fact that I agree with your appraisal of the person in question.
I'm just bored with it.
It's really weird but just paying people is not enough to differentiate the site from its competitors and make you want to use it. They need something more than just a plain white medium-clone with 2005-era posting tech.
The power imbalance between the whales and the rest of us is also more disconcerting than I originally thought it would be.
Best wishes.
Good point.
I am glad to see @georgedonnelly saw this post. @rok-sivante glad to see you survived the "Shemitah". Oh wait everyone survived it. Oh wait again... it was total BS and most clear thinking people could have seen that! https://steemit.com/conspiracy/@bitcoinmeister/debunking-shemitah-silliness-and-the-irony-behind-so-called-free-speech-conspiracy-sites-censoring-critics
B-E-T-A
I can understand getting bored. But it seems like folks expect too much of a beta product. Anyone remember what fb looked like the first year? How much did anyone get paid for posting on it? #justsayin'...
Yup. Great point that I bring up ALL THE TIME lol :)
I think what people are starting to realize is that the money is the only thing attractive about the platform. It is enough to attract people now, when it's the only game in town, but as competitors come onto the scene, we're gonna see a serious exodus. Fortunately, Ned has mentioned that there are a lot of new social features coming soon so we can cross our fingers and see what those are.
Totally irrelevant, I'am afraid. This is 2016. The market has moved on. Expectations have changed. The costs of producing quality have decreased.
This makes about as much sense as saying Steemit is better than the clay tablets the Code of Hammurabi were chiseled into. Yeah, sure, but it's not competing for my attention against clay tablets.
Not that I spend loads of time on any social media, for that matter. Social media exhausts me. I'm searching for deep work that is meaningful to me and pays enough to cover my lentil bill.
-- George (damnit, I was certain I'd logged into my personal account.)
Not irrelevant at all. Your reply indicates that perhaps the point of the comment was missed? @piedpiper obviously got it.
You: Expect less. See, here, Facebook 2004/5.
Me: This is 2016, brah. Apples and oranges.
You: You've misunderstood my point but I'm not actually going to attempt to clarify it.
Me: :rolleyes: It's up to the communicator to make his point, not throw a couple words and a screenshot down and blame the listener for failing to exercise ESP.
Sigh.... The problem isn't misunderstanding, it's being rude about it. But maybe it helps that Gabe and I are connected telepathically. Of course, you upvoted his comment... lol.
Quick everyone buy Golos....to the next crypto shit-coin we go!!...I've not made a single crypto-profit since Mazacoin...and baby wipes were eventually needed there too to clean up the mess! LOL!
have you stopped doing steemsmart?
We took a break but but will get back into it with a new format soon. Easy to burn out when you're trying to put out an episode per day while juggling everyone's jobs, business schedules, etc. Gotta just take it down a notch and keep it fun, I think.
At times like this, it's important to take stock of the non-monetary value that has come from the experience and focus on that. In my case, steemit enabled my buddy @jakevanderark to move to Chile and start collaborating with me on screenplays and that one thing alone made it all worthwhile. It also helped one of our Fort Galt members, @onceuponatime to come and visit us down here (he introduced me to the platform in the first place, which was pretty awesome). Even as I watch the value of steem fall and the platform itself devolve into the Doom Porn Infomercial Channel, I can always focus on the good things and thank the founders for what they've created. As you said, it's absolutely an experiment and I still say it's a great one but there's a long way to go before it's the sort of thing that I can stand behind and vouch for as a finished product. I was here for the crazy days in the beginning too, and of course we all knew that things would balance out over time, and they have... but as @mindhunter alluded to, the founders still retain the power to mold the community according to their whims and in principle, this is not a good thing. Decentralization is a key principle that is touted in the whitepaper and it's part of why many of us believe in steemit.
Having said all that, I'm happy to keep helping out around here as much as I can with the caveat that it's very much an experimental work-in-progress. I think of it as a fun little hobby project that may or may not develop into something really worth championing some day. At the very least, it has demonstrated a model for other developers to learn from and with a little luck, we'll one day have a whole bunch of alternatives to choose from.
In the mean time, I'm seriously re-evaluating my quiet, gentlemanly approach to certain matters... I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success.
I'm glad you said "I'd gladly sacrifice my reputation points and future earnings in order to help clean things up for everyone else and give Steemit a better chance for mass adoption and success."
I have been biting my tongue about a lot of things on here and unfortunately for guys like me the payouts have been extremely frustrating. Only an extremely stubborn person would still be on here working for $0.50 / hour. Steemit has hemoraged so many good content creators it isn't even funny. Eventually there won't be any new people who have the crypto skills and exchange accounts to join this platform. Steemit needed us to create content and help create a bridge for people outside the crypto world. By upvoting sock puppet accounts everyday they have alienated a very important demographic off of this platform. Would anyone really expect a guy like me to spend my time creating on here when I can spend 5 hours on a post and not even be able to buy a candy bar with the payout?
Re: "At the very least, it has demonstrated a model for other developers to learn from..."
Good point (not your only one, haha, but) Yes, Steemit Inc and all of us need to remain aware that if not kept "in tip-top shape" its model will be copied and/or improved upon. As said I just spend $200 on BTC to convert to Steem, and have been somewhat all-in to date, but I've also signed up for Akasha to see what it offers. Steemit has broken ground yes, but keeping the top position even in the market you created is a whole different ballgame. "Tom" at MySpace knows this all too well, so hopefully we'll find ourselves emulating "Jeff" at Amazon.com more than anyone. He basically invented (or popularized?) the concept of an online affiliate program for instance, and stayed on top even after Books-a-Million , Walenbooks, and other bookstores came online as his early "competitors". I know Steemit has an affiliate program in the background - it might be time to rev it up in order to dominate marketshare before other competitors arise?
I have sacrificed some reputation for speaking out about some of the abuses and will likely see future earnings hindered as well. I wish more people would follow suit or at least acknowledge and condemn the abuses when they are pointed out. Instead, they simply ignore them, make excuses, or condemn those exposing the abusers. My plan was not to speak out for personal gain. I actually hoped that the platform would be better off knowing which accounts were shams and who was behind them. Apparently, you're actually rewarded more for being a sham and a scammer around here - especially when you're a "whale" or a friend of them.
Sad but true... wanna start a kamikaze squad? lol
One already exists. It's very small though.
That badge of honour again!
What happened with your posts was really upsetting. You made the sacrifice and to be honest with you I also bit my toungue because I really needed the money consider how much time I have spent on this platform.
At this point Steemit is at a major pivot point and all the good content creators are going to end up leaving if some of these issues aren't addressed.
Steemit is such an amazing thing and it is seriously sad that it might be completely ruined by a few early adopters who ended up with an enormous amount of power.
There are a lot of people in this community. The presence of one person is not a reason to leave or stay away. I hope you reconsider.
He is not going anywhere. he is just whining because there are no more 5k and 6k posts like before. He is trying some attention whoring.
Lol you never hold back:)
of course not.
perhaps the article came across as misbalanced, given I've been holding it in for so long - though the person/issue in question has been just one contributing factor. the main reason for considering taking a break: OPPORTUNITY COST.
OK.
I agree that the presence of one person isn't a reason to leave or stay. While I don't agree with the persons views he is talking about I have never been too overly concerned with that persons payouts. There are far worse problems going on with Steemit than just that. It is a damn shame. Steem / Steemit is one of the greatest invovations the Internet has ever seen and it might not survive. :-(
The concept will survive, even if this first platform doesn't. It's still a great idea, no matter what cancers happen to taint the first iteration. I'm still optimistic and will stick around for the long game, even if it takes longer than I hoped to get the kinks ironed out :)
I agree with you. The concept will survive for sure.
But ask yourself this. If your payouts get as low as mine for the amount of time I have put in would you still post here?
Good content creators are leaving in droves.
I'll still post when inspiration strikes but I won't set time aside in my daily routine for it, that's for sure.
Yeah it isn't worth my time especially when I see sock puppets consistently making mad cash. I started my power down last night and will likely turn my account into a curration bot to upvote good content creators like yourself who I know are real and make good content and that way I won't really spend time on here except in a few situations where I want to get on and post something.
@brianphobos - That's a serious compliment. Thanks :)
I'm trying to get a campaign to vote for the same witnesses. Your opinion is appreciated!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@radioactivities/rock-the-witness-vote-together-our-voice-matters
@radioactivities - Cool. I already vote. @pharesim did a great job of explaining the world of witnessing to us on the steem smart podcast and I check-in every once in a while. I wish I could downvote/flag witnesses too but I guess we can't have everything ;)
Only time will tell.
Take some time off. I hope you'll be back. It's easy to get depressed when the price and rewards are low, but this is the very beginning of a much, much bigger set of projects in the Steem ecosystem. All your SP will be worth something someday!
"It's easy to get depressed when the price and rewards are low"
REALLY? The rewards for your posts have never been low. Your Yellowstone National Park post just made over $1,000 and your Tide Pooling post made over $1,300. Both those posts had no original pictures or anything. Were they worth something? Sure. But look at my recent posts for Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, and Petrified Forest. Original content, great pictures, great story......etc..
I can't even buy lunch with the payouts despite having over 300 followers and people who love my stuff? How much longer do you think good content creators are going to stick around on this platform when the payout differencial is that skewed?
Steemit needed good content creators that know enough about crypto to not be intimidated by this platform. Once we are gone who is going to replace us? There aren't that many people in the crypto world that can produce content like this and are willing to take the gamble of spending 5 hours on a post and getting paid $0.36. It is a damn shame but Steemit is one of the most amazing invovations the Internet has ever seen but I'm giving it a 50/50 chance to survive.
@brianphobos - I think you've really directed that at the wrong person. @donkeypong has helped to set up curie , was instrumental in helping steemSTEM get off the ground and now recently announced Steem Guild...
Also, you have some pretty cool posts, I'm following :)
Thank you for following and the kind words but It doesn't change the fact that the reward system is so skewed. How do you think I feel when I'm trying my hardest to put good content out there and can't make it. I'm not saying he hasn't done anything and that his posts aren't worth anything but his Yellowstone National Park post just made over $1,000 and his Tide Pooling post made over $1,300.
If I could make $100 / day on here liquid. (SBD and STEEM) I could devote full time to this platform and really crank out some super high quality stuff. Hardly any pure content creators can do this because the rewards are so skewed. It is going to cause all the good content creators to leave. It is already been happening.
What did you envision it to be? I'm not sure that was clearly outlined in your post here. Your expectations aren't being met, so you want to quit. But what are your expectations?
Do you expect a platform which only rewards posts you agree with and not ones you don't? Are you upset that people with influence on this network like the reporting that's being done by the person in question even if, as you said, it could be called B.S. from another perspective? I like some of their posts (because they legitimately let me know about events going on that I wasn't previously aware of), and I call others out as ridiculous.
Your post here has a lot of back and forth in it. On one hand you're saying you're upset about a post which didn't earn as much as you expect, on the other you're saying you'd rather post somewhere for free. You're saying someone else is earning too much money, while also saying you didn't really care about the money. Is the problem with others or your own expectations?
If someone really is a con artist and scammer, why not bring forward evidence and call them out to protect the community you love so much? If they are not, then why leave?
he envisioned it to be 5-6k posts like before....how the fuck do the admins promote degenerates like him is beyond me
great questions @lukestokes I would like to read @rok-sivante answers.
Sadly, I think they will not come. If that's the case, then hopefully new writers will take his place and show genuine, long term love for this community.
the person isn't question isn't THE reason I've been feeling ready to leave - and it's not the person in question, just a contributing factor.
others have brought forth evidence, and it's been ignored. I don't feel it my personal mission to call anyone out. because I have valued the principle of an uncensored platform and level playing field, I've kept my mouth shut (fingers restrained) the whole time. this one issue in particular might seem blown out of proportion, relative to where I actually stand on it because it's been bottled up. and any "back and forth" is likely intentional, because I'm not holding to one extreme position or another - but both are worthy of acknowledgement, and the truth always lies somewhere in the middle. and as I said - just cuz people do shady shit in their past doesn't mean they aren't worthy of forgiveness - and there's always another side to every story. I may have needed to vent some frustration on the matter, but that doesn't mean I'm going to outright disrespect anybody and bring up allegations and issues others have experienced with them, when there are others in the community who do value some of their contributions, regardless of my personal opinions.
the bigger reason I've been questioning stepping away, summed up in two words: OPPORTUNITY COST.
maybe that didn't come through clearly in the writing, as it was written fast and perhaps emotionally-influenced. perhaps I did have some expectations of sorts - in which case the disillusionment is my own fault. and I never intended to outline my vision for the community in this piece because that was not the focus, and was stuff I'd been writing about months ago.
If you're truly leaving because of "OPPORTUNITY COST" then please be honest enough with yourself and others to say that up front. Don't use an emotional rant about someone else or how the values of the platform are out of alignment. Say it plainly like this:
You, the Steemit community, are not worth my time anymore. I have more important and more valuable things to do.
That would have been honest. You could have also just slipped out the back door becuase you're busy with other things. To instead post an emotional rant / rage quit and call to question the values of the platform is disrespectful to those of us who do think it's worth our time and are working to shape those values daily.
I've voiced my respect for the raw honesty you've shown in the past. That created an expectation for me which wasn't met here.
I wish you well, sir.
I'm not sure if its your misunderstanding or my miscommunication at root of the conflict here.
as I've said, there are multiple factors contributing my disillusionment with the site, (and I don't appreciate having words put in my mouth as you've attempted here.)
frame it as "an emotional rant" if you want - the point is, this community has been throwing money at - making an investment in - a person whose track record is a threat to the integrity of the community. I held in my viewpoint for two months - and finally, there came the breaking point where I needed to be honest about matter. perhaps, it stirred up more trouble than it was worth, without having gone into extensive detail trying to point out to people the subtle details in the dynamics of the matter that most do not see. (and perhaps I had other expectations at play of others to read between the lines.)
some things can't be spelled out directly - and it's a fine like to walk with a degree of uncertainty, determining whether to keep quiet altogether or drop a few breadcrumbs for those to follow who feel compelled to dig and find out for themselves.
based on both your comments, you're trying to paint things out as though they're clear black or white. you seem to be getting hung up on specific points and getting defensive rather than viewing the larger context as a whole - maybe that's a consequence of my not having written things more clearly. but then again, regardless of how clearly they could be written, maybe I should have expected such responses by honestly putting forth a viewpoint that challenged the culture - classic group psychology.
I apologize. My intention was not to offend you but to (hopefully) help you understand how the words you are using here can be interpreted (and are being interpreted by me).
Maybe "emotional rant" went too far, but whether or not something is a "rant", to me, is subjective. This post fit what I consider a rant and as you are an important member of this community to date, I called you out on it.
In communication, all we have to go on is the words we use.
I based my reply on what you indicated was the primary reason: OPPORTUNITY COST. You not only put it in all caps, but you replied to others with the same answer. How else should I interpret that but with the words you say I put in your mouth?
Maybe it's impolite to say, "Steemit is no longer valuable enough to me to continue. My time and attention are more valuable elsewhere." but how else should I have interpreted your main point? I also dislike when people put words in my mouth, but I further dislike when I (or anyone else) uses language which portrays true feelings even if I (or they) don't currently recognize it. I prefer people who care about me point out the meanings of the words I'm using and, hopefully, reveal a part of my subconscious I wasn't ware of (and often don't like).
I'm fine with opportunity cost being part of your reasoning. Surely there are many more, but as you said, it's very nuanced and hard to communicate. I'm fine with Steemit not being as valuable to you now as it once might have been. The reason for my defensiveness is that I'm defending something I value (this community), specifically when the values of this community or put on trial instead of what you yourself said is a more accurate reason: Opportunity Cost.
When it comes to tribal loyalties and community involvement, it's not uncommon to devalue the community in our own minds before being able to leave it. It's quite common, actually. If you have other uses of your time that are more valuable to you, then by all means, pursue them. I hope, as you said, you'll also come back here from time to time and provide some value to us as well. I'm glad you communicated emotions you had bottled up for months. Unfortunately, when we bottle up emotions for too long, often their expression is misunderstood.
thanks for this last clarification.
it has been a wild ride here, from the highs to the lows, all the investment I put into the community, to being disillusioned (perhaps just by my own expectations), and gaining different perspectives on it all along the way.
and granted, I got defensive at your comments, also. odd loops. it felt weird to be called disrespectful by questioning the community values, when I've been supporting the community from the start - and the reasoning for bringing up the issue is because it stands to reason having a person with a history as a shuckster being the top ambassor might not be in the best long-term interest in solidifying the site's reputation outside its own circle jerk. also got defensive at the suggestion any of this was less than raw honest - as honestly was the whole point. though yeah - backed up emotion may not have translated clearly, and I may still have my moments where an aggressiveness overrides the diplomacy.
I appreciate this last articulation/reply of yours. :-)
wow ...you went total stellabelle on Steemit!
too funny not to upvote your comment hahahahahahahahahhahaha
I am happy that at least one person got it!
Up-voting for totally selfish (non financial) purposes!
[edit] ohh now the good old "Dannie the lion" apparently got it too! Well, he is kind of whaley now, will survive me not up-voting him :)