The bidbot dilemma (Part 2)
This is a follow-up post to @yawnguy2/the-bidbot-dilemma. In brief:
- My @yawnguy and @yawnguy2 posts get curated by others when bidbot-promoted
- These bidbot-promoted posts occupy "trending" slots, independent of quality
- Very few humans actually read or comment on my niche posts (I'm not whining about this)
- I'm 68 years old, not interested in fame or making money from Steemit
- I am interested in getting my @yawnguy stuff used (it's free)
- I wanted to get a rep of 60+
Here are my @yawnguy2 author returns in Steem, along with Rep changes:
@yawnguy2/rubik-tips-for-bigger-odd-numbered-cubes Paid 120, Return 120 (Rep 65.895 --> 66.076)
@yawnguy2/cosmic-dumptruck-the-caretakers Paid 120, Return 134 (Rep 65.690 --> 65.895)
@yawnguy2/rubik-willingness-to-scramble Paid 120, Return 144 (Rep 65.445 --> 65.690)
@yawnguy2/rubik-how-to-solve-the-tartan-cube Paid 120, Return 140 (Rep 65.224 --> 65.445)
@yawnguy2/rubik-how-to-solve-the-shepherd-cube Paid 120, Return 140 (Rep 65.0 --> 65.224)
@yawnguy2/the-ballad-of-feisty-j Paid 120, Return 120 (Rep 64.8 --> 65.0)
@yawnguy2/vagrants Paid 120, Return 146 (Rep 64.5 --> 64.8)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-161-to-184 Paid 120, Return 143 (Rep 64.1 --> 64.5)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-141-to-160 Paid 120, Return 141 (Rep 63.8 --> 64.1)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-121-to-140 Paid 120, Return 142 (Rep 63.4 --> 63.8)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-101-to-120 Paid 120, Return 114 (Rep 63.0 --> 63.4)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-81-to-100 Paid 120, Return 129 (Rep 62.6 --> 63.0)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-41-to-60 Paid 120, Return 119 (Rep 62.2 --> 62.6)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-61-to-80 Paid 120, Return 116 (Rep 61.6 --> 62.2)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-21-to-40 Paid 120, Return 128 (Rep 60.9 --> 61.6)
@yawnguy2/under-the-rim-verses-1-to-20 Paid 120, Return 128 (Rep 60.2 --> 60.9)
@yawnguy2/the-bidbot-dilemma-part-2 Paid 120, Return 128 (Rep 59.2 --> 60.2)
@yawnguy2/ramesses-ii-silver-coin Paid 120, Return 136 (Rep 57.8 --> 59.2)
@yawnguy2/nice-display-case Paid 120, Return 127 (Rep 55.9 --> 57.8)
@yawnguy2/rectilinear-poetry Paid 120, Return 109 (Rep 52.9 --> 55.9)
@yawnguy2/breakfast Paid 40, Return 49 (Rep 49 --> 52)
@yawnguy2/the-bidbot-dilemma Paid 40, Return 39 (Rep 25 --> 49)
Totals: Paid 2360, Return 2572
I paid 60SBD to a bidbot for each of my last 6 @yawnguy posts, with Rep boosts of 60.4 --> 61.0 --> 61.6 --> 62.1 --> 62.6 --> 63.0 --> 63.3
These figures show nothing surprising, namely that bidbots can boost one's rep at pretty much zero cost although the money gets tied up for up to 3 months.
Is this ethical? As a relative newcomer, I find this hard to say. It doesn't seem like "gaming the system" as it is done openly, and anyone with a few hundred Steem they can use temporarily can do it. In addition, most of the trending articles seem to have been artificially boosted by bidbots anyway. It seems non-ideal, but better minds than mine must know of the problem.
Image: Pixabay
I just found your post via @dr-murat who has been a delegatee of mine for 2 months.
Thanks for that report, it's still eye-opening for an "old" user like me (being on Steemit for 16 months), but mostly because I have never made use of bidbots myself.
There are other ways to get your content read and upvoted. Specialising in science or community-related topics is one, commenting on known whales' posts and participating in contests and related activities is another one. All of this is managed by use of certain tags (the categories you enter at the end of a post). Most projects have Discord chats where posts can be submitted for curation. It's not about Steemit's Trending tab that much ...
It's not recommended to come along with high quality posts before building up a network of readers. Sounds strange but when I joined people were encouraged to comment a lot instead of posting much. The RC system has changed that - unlike before HF20 the new users lack the required RCs for real networking activities for a long time if they are not given a delegation soon. Which is why I supported @dr-murat this way (and some other users who quit though).
There are apps and other ways for auto-voting. These can help users to make use of their voting power in times of absence from Steemit.
Getting a name and real reputation on Steemit takes time and requires a lot of patience. And I suppose your content is not read better now either. ;o)
Thank you very much for this detailed comment. It is very useful.
Good question. It helps when you really think your content is good and if you want a lot of people to see it. I actually find your posts because of bidbots. But some people may abuse it too.
Thanks for the comment. Good point.
I see your most recent post (Erzurum pix) has 1127 upvotes. I understand how, of course. I wonder how many of those people actually looked at the two images. My posts are text-heavy and require much more effort to absorb than viewing images, so you have an advantage over me in that respect. Several times I looked at an arbitrary upvoter's account via steemd.com/@username and saw that they upvoted 5-10 posts a minute -- that doesn't give a lot of time to digest them!
You are right again, actually I tested some bidbots on my last post 😂. I understand the viewer quality from some comments.
Try a Witbier with it!