RE: Will Steem succeed or commit suicide?
LOL
I do take your points, particularly regarding botnets. But, and I wish to say this with complete respect, those 'garbage posts' are gonna be Steemit's bread and butter. Not the Single Malt and Champagne, but the bulk of the posts people are able to make that intercourse with their social circle.
As such, I don't have a problem with that. I'm not gonna follow folks that post pics of Kim Kardashian's butt, but I consider such posts literally sacred compared to AI written posts, botnets, etc.. Actual people hold them to be valuable, which gives them value.
While there may be little substantive difference between such posts and posts that are simply vehicles for votebots and vote buying schemes, there is a qualitative difference, and it's important. Most people aren't gonna write work that Hemingway did, and Steemit needs to be their social network too.
That it is will make the top content more valuable, not the only valuable content.
Without the 'masses' Steemit will fail. Fakebook will win, because the masses are recognized as integral to it's success. I bow to necessity in the fight to destroy Fakebook. Doesn't mean I'm gonna post pics of Nascar...
I apologize for any outrage I may have expressed in a semi-ad hominem manner. You are correct that stating that posts are 'garbage' doesn't state that the posters are.
No problemo. I agree with you. I've made the same argument from the other side when appropriate (when people complain that their quality posts to 37 followers make no rewards). Steemit is ultimately a popularity contest, after all.
I reckon it's only a contest if you're trying to win ;)
I see it as more of a forum, because that's what I come here for - to air and hear ideas in a melting pot.
I have endured a dissatisfaction with people so profound that I am considered a recluse by those that know me today. The thing is, I am not a recluse, I just cannot abide the fermented despair and doublethink imposed by society (in America) so simply opt out, in order to avoid having those influences injected into my mind and person.
This causes me no end of difficulties, particularly with lack of substantive criticism. Most people I encounter are trained to talk behind ones back, rather than offer straightforward comment.
This is not useful to me, so I extend my reach on here, to those that, like myself, and you also, will make comment that is not designed to save the face of whom you are talking to, and may actually help them reconsider what they need to.
I reckon I 'win' just by being here, popularity be damned!
I can only echo your sentiments of being an outcast in a dysfunctional society.