My Irritating Adventures With Steemycam, and Why Follow-Through is Important
On 6/1/17 I was approached on Steemit.chat by a user named "ethank" who claimed to be the editor for SteemyCam, and who's first assignment was to find a team of writers, I was one of the first he approached because of my various sex positive content and education. They wanted some articles and blogs on their Steemit account to flesh it out, since the creators know almost nothing about sex work themselves and can only write about analytics and dry content.
Of course I immediately jumped at the opportunity, as someone in the adult industry already, I was drooling for an opportunity to dig myself into other avenues besides being a model, and the prospect of being one of the first and only trans performers available to watch on launch on top of it, was also a spicy proposition. I loved the concept, loved the conversation that was going on.
We talked about what kind of articles I would be writing, erotic fiction and the like. Stuff like a fictitious account of a cam girl's life. Things I could do very, very well as someone so steeped in sex work. The offer I was given was $25-30 per article, and 50% of the liquid Steem rewards from the posts. They had a list of articles they'd want me to write about right away, and this made me super excited that I'd be busy for the foreseeable future.
So we moved over to discord, a great move and a much easier way to contact one another in my opinion than steemit.chat. On 6/2/17 Ethan told me he had a project meeting to be present for with SteemyCam, and would tell them I'd like to start right away. Talked about creating a topic list just for me, flirted with the idea of a formal guidelines sheet to work off of for their posts, and the general flow of how their writing team is going to function. Afterwards we worked out some kinks with the payout structure, and settled on me getting $30 per article after he edited it, and 50% of the Steem rewards when the posts get paid out.
We then talked about me modelling for the site, and how that would bring in some more income as well. I was even going to bring a girlfriend on for my shows and do duos most of the time, which are typically super exciting! This means yet another avenue of revenue for my household, that desperately needs it.
We talked more about how lucrative transgender porn can be, especially camming, how it's one of the highest tipped categories on Chaturbate for instance. Near the end we talked about adding my partner to the writing team as well, considering her sex work knowledge and writing technique to boot. It would be a very strong combination I feel, and so did the editor. This was the last I've heard from him, before he was let go. Five days later and still zero update on anything that had happened.
A month later I still had no way to get in touch with SteemyCam to see what was happening, I commented on every one of their recent Steemit posts asking what was going on, and got no reply. About a month later I clicked their website link, lo and behold, they finally had a contact e-mail set up. I jumped at the opportunity to salvage this, it was my dream job while I'm going through college, no way I wanted to let it go, and I really wanted the damn money! Thankfully they were very receptive to the idea of picking me up still as a writer, and had let me know that Ethan was let go, and had mentioned a very passionate writer that he found, they assumed correctly that it was me.
The next day, their email server went down, and I had to find another way to contact them to continue this conversation. At this point I've used 4 different platforms to try and communicate with this company and their employees. Steemit, Steemit.chat, Discord, and through e-mail. Next attempt was Instagram, where they promote their site launch quite a bit and have a decent following, I'm assuming this is what they mainly use to talk to people on, and I was given a prompt reply.
They were still on board, and the payment structure was about the same, we clarified some things, and decided that they'd want me to start next week. Today I was messaged after a few days of no replies and being "seen" so I know I was being heard, just not tended to. This was of course because I was about to get turned down, mere days after an agreement with the actual company instead of just the editor. The screens speak for themselves, sorry they're so big. I was led on for two months, and will not see at least $300 that I thought I would have this month for rent and bills. I feel very, very fucked over by this company, and even then, I've left the door open for them to bring me a serious offer in the future. I'm patient, but I'm also poor, marginalized, struggling to make ends meet, and will put my heart fully into any opportunity that I can get. When I get fucked with like this, it's absolutely painful and disheartening.
Obviously this is not a company that a writer can have confidence being approached by, and I don't want anyone else that was approached by their editor to continue pursuing a fruitless path. Get your shit together, Steemycam, this wasn't cool, at all.
Your local crypto slut - <3
Thank you for writing this, Jamie.
First, we are discouraged that your experience did not match your expectations, especially before our services are even live. It is clear that it is time to step out of our coding caves and be more hands-on and attentive with interactions.
We mentioned this to you in private (and I think anyone who is building startups can relate) that development is taking longer than expected. Honestly, the past two months have gone by in the blink of an eye.
Just when our team gets a notion that it's time to expand, we realize we just aren't there yet.
Again, we apologize that miscommunication has led to a distrust. If there is something we can do to make this right, please let us know.
Steemit.chat is probably the best means of communication at this point.
Thank you.
I appreciate you taking a mature stance on this situation and understanding my frustrations without backlash. You now know of many ways to contact me when/if you're ready to make me another offer. Good luck on the development!
Nice
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