DTube - Don't use it for the wrong reasons.

Sometimes what you write just doesn’t pan out, not in terms of the quality you perceive it to contain but possibly in the eyes of others and more poignantly in its rewards.

To be honest I do OK on Steemit now, with the bundles of words I write gaining an average of $4 - $5 or so.

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We all say, ‘were not in it for the money’, but don’t fool yourselves or pretend that’s its not relevant. You may as well be doing all this on Reddit or somewhere else if it didn’t hold some importance.

I know what some of you are thinking now... . ‘Stop complaining... you do better than me’.

I know that I do indeed gain more rewards than many, but with anything that interfaces into the STEEM blockchain that relates to writing (Steemit, Busy, Esteem), it’s a case of the more STEEM you have the more rewards you will get.

Is this a generalisation? Possibly it is, but you the reader know that deep down that it is the truth.

The little guys may get a @curie occasionally but with the
@hendrikdegrote account not having the same potency as previously, even gaining a ‘big’ @curie is not the same as it used to be.

This sounds like a right old moan doesn’t it?

The crux of all this is my last post looked like it was not doing so well. It was at $1.85 in rewards and contained the @dtube tag. I don’t do many vlogs as they take more effort to produce.

The dTube dApp is rather basic when it comes to adding content other than video content. You need to run Busy.org up as a separate app, then add your images and text utilising their hosting services, and when its all ready, copy the code out and add it to dTube. Its cumbersome but it works.

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As well as the vlog content, I don’t want to ‘cop out’ of the regular story and photographs. 500 words is generally a bare minimum as well as 35 or so photographs for an Urban Exploration write up.

I have seen so many dTube vlogs gain that ‘big vote’, so I was watching mine with anticipation and felt deflated when it didn’t happen. I shouldn’t expect the vote and it’s a bonus if it happens, that’s the spiel and that’s the rules.

I was like a grumpy bear that night. ‘How dare they not give me a vote’. I’m kind of laughing at that thought now knowing its completely ridiculous.

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I don’t know any of the vlog people and haven’t made any effort to connect on Discord. Why should they take any notice of me?

I don’t perceive that my vlogs are good either. I’m not confident in front of the camera and wince at the sound of hearing my own voice.

That evening I vented my frustration to @steevc (we communicate using other methods), and I could sense he was saying, ‘Stop the fucking moaning!’.

The thought of @dtube taking 10% of my cut, didn’t really help either.

After conceding it just wasn’t going to happen I did what I always do when frustrated by any leisure activity. Walk away.

Writing things on the STEEM blockchain is just that to me, a leisure activity and a hobby. Sometimes you need to get a reality check on things. If you play a computer game and get frustrated, just walk away too.

My post did OK in the end and is currently sat at $3.90. As for dTube, well I don’t want to ever feel like that again or have any expectations that may not be met so that will be my last vlog.

The moral of this story is, 'If you want to produce vlogs, then do it for the right reasons'. I realise now that this was NOT the case for me.

At least I don’t have to do double takes, using video and photography. Less work for 10% more rewards. That sounds good to me!