Daily insight into how I vote and why

Today's observation

So I was up early this morning. 5am. That gave me an hour on Steemit before getting ready for the work. I checked my phone. I wanted to see how @mummyimperfect's cake video had gone. I had invested a lot of time on Sunday and Monday evening filming and editing that video for her. It was still on "only" $50.

The Vlog gained no traction overnight (UK time). I checked the video count on YouTube. 10 views. So 44 upvotes, 10 views (of the video), $50. Things that jump out to me are.

• Not many people had watched the video or upvoted, which implies not many people had seen or been attracted to the post.
• Less people had actually seen the video than had upvoted. Which implies either YouTube's stats are wrong or people are curating without read/ watching the content.

People seem to be playing the "curation game" more than actually curating and reading content. I kind of suspected such. It's far easier (and possibly more profitable) to spend 10 minutes upvoting a lot of posts that 'seem' good, then spending 10 minutes reading and upvoting a single post that is good.

So slightly annoyed at the cynicism, I went on a trigger happy tear this morning. Picking off posts that seemed like they might be profitable, just to test how the theory panned out.

Today’s voting

https://steemit.com/hot-mom/@rubybian/hey-steemit-gonna-talk-about-my-work-today

This post by @rubybian had under $10 against it when I voted. Aspirational post from the tag ("hot-mom") to the picture of the wardrobe of shoes. A good 'thank you' Steemit post, the introduceyourself post did well, so upvoted. Quick upvote.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@travelista/hello-steemit-i-am-edith-travel-and-lifestyle-enthusiast-and-recently-steemit-fan

The success of the travel/ lifestyle pics seems unabating and this post by @travelista. Pretty girl, check. Verification, check. Nice aspirational pics, check. I was getting early enough to earn to percent share or two. Quick upvote.

PS - I know people get easily railed up by post like this. Don't. Get use to it. This is social media. People do social things and other people like it. Lucky Steemit also rewards 'intellectual' pieces too. There is enough food on the table for everyone it eat. And everyone must eat for Steem/ Steemit to be successful. Rant over!

https://steemit.com/quatlootrader/@fyrstikken/how-to-do-market-make-and-auto-trading-steem-btc-and-sbd-btc-on-bittrex-using-the-quatloo-trader

Even though Quatloo-Trader appears to be for Windows and I only have a Mac, I've come across the Bot before. It should be a really useful tool for non-programming traders to get involved in STEEM trading. Again, I'm voting early enough to earn if this does well. Quick upvote for @fyrstikken.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@tinyhomeliving/don-t-get-discouraged-keep-posting-quality-and-original-content-and-checkout-steemit-s-white-paper

A bit of perspective from @tinyhomeliving helped cure me from my upvote rage. It's the kind of thing I would have wrote to myself at this juncture. It was a much needed message simply articulated. Go read it. Upvote and rage over.

https://steemit.com/steem/@cannav/steem-on-poloniex-soon

Had a feeling that @cannav was onto something... and I was right. Soon after I voted on this I saw that STEEM/ STEEM Power was live on Poloniex. Nice. Glad I upvoted this.

https://steemit.com/cookingwithsteem/@camilla/re-mummyimperfect-cooking-with-steem-how-to-make-the-perfect-steem-powered-carrot-cake-vlog-20160718t225143577z

Checked in on this post before calling it a morning. Upvoted @camilla's comment because it was sweet. I must be getting soft (in a good way). :)

https://steemit.com/steemit/@girlbeforemirror/doctor-doctor-i-think-i-ve-caught-the-steemit-bug

This post was bought to my attention by @azurejasper in yesterday's comment. I liked this as it came across as honest. @girlbeforemirror really captured that feeling of having a platform yet not quite knowing how or what to reveal. Not much acknowledgement for a good post. Upvoted.

https://steemit.com/fiction/@azurejasper/an-original-part-i-the-drive

I love the fact that @azurejasper is writing fiction. A few weeks back, I tried unsuccessfully to kick start an idea to get more writers on the platform. Unfortunately I'm not sure that Steemit is currently the platform for longer pieces of literature. But I liked this. I like that fact that he kept this opening stanza short and leaving the reader wondering what will happen next. Upvoted.

https://steemit.com/dolphincurator/@azurejasper/re-nanzo-scoop-chronicles-of-a-dolphin-curator-18th-july-2016-the-beginning-of-a-new-chapter-20160719t040444456z

Upvoted this as @azurejasper was the first to take up my invitation to link a piece to read. He linked two. Including one by someone else. Thanks and much appreciated.

https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@averagejoe/introduce-yourself-steemit-in-switzerland-youtube-introduction-video

I think in the frenzy this morning about Poloniex trading STEEM/ STEEM Dollars some of the simple things were missed. Steemit has new users joining everyday. The majority of which are fascinated by the platform and couldn't give two hoots about a crypto exchange. I liked this post as @averagejoe had taken the time to do a video introduction. I look forward to what he has to bring.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@apocaloptimisto/re-nanzo-scoop-no-upvotes-no-problem-you-will-be-king-makers-20160719t060941336z

I upvoted @apocaloptimisto because not only had he taken the time to read one of my old posts but he'd also commented on it. If there is on post of mine that I'd advise people to take a look at it would be No Upvote, No Problem. I think it's a key message for newcomers to Steemit. I'm not trying to flog you old content. The fact is an upvote by a newcomer will unlikely register a reward for me. It won't even net the newcomer a Curator Reward.

This is one flaw of Steemit. There is there is no long tail. Outside the first 24 hour of rewards (which admitted can be substantial), there is little incentive for curators to vote on content and consequently little rewards for the author. Bloggers may as well migrate their content onto their own personal blog. At least they may get something in terms of ad revenue for hits.

I've worked in the broadcast industry for many years. Residual income is a big deal for writers and actor and the like. The "show still goes on" after the curtain falls as people are consistently revisiting content. I hope this is an area that the Steemit team work on and puts right. Author's deserve a long tail and rewards long after the first day.

https://steemit.com/authors/@gavvet/how-to-catch-a-monkey-let-s-not-be-monkeys-on-steemit

As far as bloggers go on this site @gavvet is right up there. I didn't have much time to read this post. I was on a lunch break so I upvoted after skimming. I'll read this at leisure. I had got in early on this should will get a percent point or two however I did not get in before @wang.

A tip to curators. Get in and vote before @wang. He auto-votes on a lot of the top tier authors posts. He usefully votes between 15- 30 minutes depending on the author. You'll need to do your own research to work out when or whether he's likely to vote on a particular post. Getting in after wang can severely dent your likely rewards.

https://steemit.com/steem/@roelandp/steemstream-com-v2-major-updates-desktop-notifications-in-depth-speed-analytics-growth-of-steemit-save-favorites-filter-users

In case you haven't noticed there is a healthy competition going on between developers on Steemit. This is one of the most outstanding thing about this platform. It has a built in bounty. Make useful apps. Get upvotes. Get paid (handsomely) in 24 hours. This competition HAS to be encouraged to help the platform grow. And it will grow. At an unprecedented rate. It helps that the updates to Steemstream are excellent. I'm waiting to see how Steemitx responds. Good stuff @roelandp. Upvote.

https://steemit.com/dolphincurator/@nanzo-scoop/re-ydm6669-re-nanzo-scoop-re-stealthtrader-re-nanzo-scoop-chronicles-of-a-dolphin-curator-18th-july-2016-the-beginning-of-a-new-chapter-20160719t161731530z

I upvoted my own comment on yesterday's Chronicle as it cleared up a misunderstanding some where having on how the Curation Rewards work in the first 30 minutes. If you're interested in Curation Rewards be sure to read it, if the rules are unclear. There is a link to a very useful article on their too.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@chitty/read-this-before-you-quit-your-job-for-steemit

I upvoted this post by @chitty as it's sensible advice. Being a Dolphin that is currently making decent profit from posting and voting, I often struggle to resist the temptation to get carried away. Afterall I only 'do' crypto part time. What if I went "all in" on Steemit, how much would I rake in then?

The recent hack however brought me back to my senses.

Even today I'm feeling the effects of it. I can post. I cannot however withdraw money as my owner and active keys don't work. My funds are likely beholden to a hacker. I'm reliant on the Steemit team to fix things. I'm confident they will although it sounds like at the very least I'm going to need to get into a bun fight with a hacker over my STEEM dollars. Luckily I'm not reliant on that money to put food in my kids mouths.

If STEEM continues it's trajectory however there will likely come a point when I'll need to consider quitting my job. It would make no sense for me to spend 10 hours a day on a decent paying job when there is life changing money on Steemit waiting for me to cultivate and pick wisely.

If I retain my current share of the total amount of STEEM, that point will be when STEEM 's marketcap is 3 billion dollars. When that happens I'll need to think start thinking about dipping into my STEEM Power. I'll also need to consider the tax implications, hire accountants and all the legal stuff I thought I'd left behind in a previous life. Steemit is great, however where I'm from, the government throws people in prison if they don't get their pound of flesh.

Anyway, it's posts that stimulate this kind of thinking in me that are worthy of my upvote. So I duly obliged. Thanks @chitty.

Previous results

Here are the curation rewards that came in today for posts I've blogged about recently

0.167 STEEM POWER for discombobulated/presenting-steemitx-com-a-simple-way-to-follow-users

0.045 STEEM POWER for emily-cook/guerrillas-in-the-mist-the-faces-through-the-steem-let-s-connect-on-a-personal-level

0.127 STEEM POWER for fyrstikken/how-will-the-new-steemit-referral-system-work-and-when-will-it-start-working-ned-and-dan

0.001 STEEM POWER for nanzo-scoop/re-fyrstikken-how-will-the-new-steemit-referral-system-work-and-when-will-it-start-working-ned-and-dan-20160718t125407774z

0.543 STEEM POWER for anwenbaumeister/shameless-plug-check-out-my-new-steemit-health-channel-anwen-meditates

0.091 STEEM POWER for gavvet/dragonslayer109-s-daily-pic-of-hidden-gems-proxy-posting-for-user-of-hacked-account

0.037 STEEM POWER for jl777/i-am-being-attacked-on-liquidity-provider-points

0.040 STEEM POWER for liondani/steemit-com-has-not-doubled-in-value-in-the-past-three-weeks-it-has-ten-fold-10x-increased-it-s-value

0.369 STEEM POWER for steemitpolitics/steemit-you-won-i-am-leaving-wordpress

0.272 STEEM POWER for repholder/repholder-s-steemit-escrow-service-beta-marketplace-and-more

0.096 STEEM POWER for anca3drandom/i-made-the-first-steemit-earrings-but-few-bothered-to-look

16.894 STEEM POWER for cryptogee/the-goose-and-the-golden-steem-a-tale-by-cryptogee

18.652 STEEM Dollars from Curation

• approx worth $80 (@ current price $4.32 - massive jump in price yikes!)

As you can see, the bulk of the rewards came from me getting in early on the @cryptogee post. I haven't included any earnings I made from posting and commenting. Obviously, the love I recieved from yesterday's Chronicle dwarfs this. Some I'm really grateful for your support.

Final word...

Okay, I'm off to wash the dishes.

If you feel there are good content I’ve missed (it doesn’t have to be your own, it might be stuff you’ve voted on), please leave a link to it below and the reason you upvoted it. I’ll take a look in the morning. If I don’t upvote it, I’ll try to give feedback on why.

Hope you enjoyed this review of my voting activity. Happy Steeming. Be sure to follow and check in tomorrow.

Scoop

#dolphincurator #curator