Stop Making Steemit All About the Money, It Won't Work - And Other Ranting About What Sucks About Steemit

This post is payout declined since Steemit centric posts and circle jerking are sickening and taking way too big of a slice of the pie daily, and I think it needs to stop. There's rarely any other point to them than the fact that the authors lack any and all imagination, and people upvote them because people upvote them. Most of the time it's the same stuff over and over and over again, and people masturbating over how everything is awesome, and they're awesome for being a part of something that is so awesome. Awesome.

Anyways, this is not circle jerk.

I'm frustrated over two things in particular.

One is the amount of circle jerk everyday, and Steemit promotion always being money centric. Steemit is great because people make money, basically. Second is the amount of hardforks that are constantly being done to tinker with the reward system. No development on the site to speak of. It's all about the rewards, everytime.

First off, making Steemit marketing all about the money is a doomed effort, if we are to make STEEM, the currency, into something big, with Steemit being the flagship app. And that should be the focus! I want a goddamn financial revolution, yesterday, and it's already obvious that Bitcoin won't bring it to us.

So, why is solely focusing on the money such a doomed effort? People will always automatically come for free money, right?

Wrong.

Raise your hand if you were skeptical at first about being able to make money on Steemit.

I know I was.

For years, while being on the internet, I've been taught that easy money on the internet is scam. End of story. Smart people tend to avoid scams. People who don't, are usually dumb. And I won't say anything here about a sizable portion of the Steemit userbase, but you can draw your conclusions.

Now, Steemit is not a scam. It's possible to make money, risk free, and cash that money out on your bank account. This is a fact. And if you play the game the right way, make the right whale friends, and make the right type of Steemit circle jerk posts, then yes, it's possible to make thousands upon thousands of bucks per day by spewing bullshit that no one outside of Steemit is interested in reading.

Why, then, are we still such a small community, even after a year of payouts?

Because A) People don't believe that it's not a scam, because easy internet money is a scam almost without fail, and B) People usually don't believe in their own chances of succeeding. Even if they believe that it's possible to make money on Steemit, they quite often lack the faith in their skills to find that success. We often have very low self esteem. This is a psychological phenomenon that has been skipped over completely in Steemit's marketing.

Also, when the money is made, then what do people do? They cash out. You can't buy anything with the STEEM in your wallet, and the people who come here for the quick buck are not going to hold the quick bucks in their wallet, they're cashing it out. That's why I find it so stupid for certain well esteemed Steemit members to make posts about how they talk about making such and such amounts of dollars during their first year on Steemit, because no, you did not make the dollars on Steemit, you made STEEM. You made the dollars by dumping and cashing out.

What's the message here?

It's that STEEM is not anything worth holding, it's just a tool to get FIAT. You know, the real money that can actually buy you nice things. If I don't understand any of this, and I'm reading this, it does not give me the impression, at all, that STEEM could be something worth owning. You just get rid of it as fast as you can to get those sweet government dollars. Or bitcoin, or some other equally worthless shitcoin. Yes, I just called bitcoin a shitcoin, deal with it.

Also, how come no one is asking the question "Why does Steemit suck so much that we need to literally bribe people into using it?"

Reddit doesn't pay its users. Facebook doesn't pay its users. Twitter doesn't pay its users.

But people still use these sites, among other sites.

And don't get me wrong, the money is a great thing, I like having the rewards system, it's what the site is all about - BUT ever since I joined, I've wanted it to be about more than that. And as long as it's all about the money, I find it broken and flawed.

I think focusing on the money is ass backwards in the sense that the site itself should be fun to use for free. That's how social media sites are designed.

It's possible to make money on YouTube if you're successful. But it's still a fun site to use if you're not making money. Millions upon millions of people use it daily, for free.

Instead of these endless hardforks that just scare off investors since they can't trust the economics of STEEM staying intact for longer than a few months at a time, how about some UI development? How about an interface that's not from the year 2001, one that's actually engaging, addicting, fun to use, and not a clunky piece of shit?

I know for a fact that some people I know have not joined Steemit simply because it's ugly and confusing.

Sure, for crypto nerds like us something like that is not a big deal, but we're in a bubble. We're in this nerd bubble where we can easily forget how normal people see the world. We can spend time figuring stuff out and making sense of things, and we may even enjoy figuring this shit out, but most people don't. They'll give a website three seconds to impress them, and if it doesn't, the chance to impress them is gone forever.

I just don't understand how INC can't hire a competent, or even semi-competent web developer, they're not that expensive. A former co-worker of mine could make a better website for a hundred bucks. But it's not just the functionality, it's the design, the look. This shit is not hard to figure out.

I heard that work is not being done on the website right now because INC is busy working on the mobile app, and while a mobile app is a good thing, isn't the wrong way to go to have a shitty website, and then go for a mobile app while the website is unfinished? The mobile app is something you get when you like the main website. Why would anyone search for a Steemit mobile app on their App Store? Surely you need to know what Steemit is first. And in order for people to like Steemit.. you get the picture.

Point being, the desktop site is still your flagship app.

Hell, the site crashes all the time, everyday. Instead of planning the next hardfork, how about working on the site's stability? Even for a little bit?

And regarding the money, and this is coming from someone who is a beneficiary of this and is making good rewards, the fact is that you don't make good rewards on Steemit because your posts are amazing. You make good rewards by knowing the right people. That's what it is, it's a social media phenomenon, it won't change, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just how social media, and the world, works. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, if you felt special, but your circle jerk posts are nothing special, people upvote A) for curation rewards and B) to kiss your ass because you'e an influential member. Simple as.

That can't be fixed, and no amount of hardforks will change that. And maybe we don't have to.

What can be done, however, is taking some of the focus away from the money, and making Steemit a good social media to use even without the money involved.

First, you plan a social media that people want to use for free.

Then you add the money.

Then you have a winner.

Give people a reason to stick around even when they're not making big rewards.

HF19 will happen this Tuesday, and I know for a fact that my rewards will take a hit, and admittedly my motivation to use Steemit will probably take a huge hit, as well. I know everybody's all excited about the hardfork, but to me it just means all users will be more equally poor, and it makes the site less exciting.

That being said, it annoys me that just because my rewards will get lower, my interest in Steemit will drop. I still want it to be a thing, and that's the reason for this post.

Where's all the focus on the STEEM blockchain being censorship resistant? Where's the focus on Steemit being free from shitty Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. algorithms? Where's the focus on Steemit being free from big business advertisers who dictate what content is and isn't allowed on the site?

These are the big fucking deals.

But when it's all about "I've made $50,000 on my first year on Steemit, woo!" the important stuff gets buried underneath all that shit. The things I mentioned are Steemit's gimmicks that make it special, focus on them. Not just the fucking money, especially since after HF19 no one will be making any money here anymore anyway.

And when the site is not being worked on, people will skip it, unfortunately.

So, yeah, sorry for not sharing your enthusiasm for the site, but I'd like to mention that I'm only being critical because I give a fuck. I'm pretty sick of traditional social media, and want an alternative, and Steemit could be that, but it lacks focus, or at least the focus is on the wrong things.

If you disagree, shoot me up on the comments.