Last week’s “Share Your Biggest Criticism With Steem” discussion was vibrant. In fact, it was my most commented post EVER.
That’s awesome.
Clearly most of us are feeling über-enthusiastic with Steem prices up and SBD’s ongoing pump amplifying our rewards to even greater heights.
On the personal level, it feels like Steem’s great projects are growing and proliferating. I’ve had the joy of seeing @sndbox and @illuminati-inc grow and mature in great ways, both working through difficult questions to find effective and ethical paths forward.
In times of great prosperity, it is important to check in with constructive criticisms. While people are celebrating, are any major problems going unnoticed?
Popping champagne isn’t smart if your roof is leaking. No matter how happy you are, you should probably patch that up first. And while some people prosper, others may be missing the boat - it’s good to assess early and adjust before small grievances become major grudges.
So we had this conversation and I was surprised at how uniform the results were. The majority of responses focused on one single issue: The problem of vote bots.
Examples of Criticism Against Vote Bots
Here are a few of my favorite comments from the previous discussion:
(this next one will be anonymous)
That comment is interesting because the user admits that they use vote bots even though they don’t like them.
I know a lot of Steemians echo this sentiment. They don’t like votebots, but they feel that they have to use them to not be left behind. It’s something to think about.
Meanwhile, some other topics came up. This was a unique proposal:
Most people’s curation rewards are very low. Adding this option would only affect a few… but it might be nice for them.
Discovery issues were a theme:
And lastly, this idea of “use value” versus “exchange value” seems useful to think about.
Great Conversation!
This thread was wonderful. I learned a lot about how other users view the Steemit platform, and saw some great conversations emerging between other people even without me getting involved.
I think Steemit today is already set up for awesome conversations. The mild incentive of upvotes and fear of flags helps keep everybody honest, leading to longform conversations where real ideas are conveyed thoughtfully.
Let’s do it again soon.
If you have ideas about other Steem Discussions we should have - tell me in the comments and I'll consider it for a future post.
Great read.
I've mentioned in the past that I have a great time on this platform, but never really dug into the in's and out's of using bots and really gaining traction as a Steemit user - I just like making content.
When the bots went down a couple days ago, I saw multiple people address the fact that their typical stream of upvotes dropped drastically.
I think at a time, bots were somewhat necessary to push the platform forward and into the forefront - obviously we all want Steem to grow - but I think we have to be careful about the 'distribution of wealth' that we allow, and how far we let it go.
It's funny because it's so similar to the issue that the United States is suffering from. 'Whales' claiming that they will help the poor, stacking on more and more weight only to hoard it at the top 1%. Before you know it, it's almost impossible to gain any traction of Steemit without the endorsement of a whale, and that's not what this platform is about. It's about great content creation, not getting the attention of the 1%.
Now, I'm not saying the community is corrupt XD that wasn't my point. I love the community here and I think its currently a very healthy one. I think we just need to be honest with ourselves and keep ourselves in check about what may or may not be damaging to the community in the future.
Personally I think if you're creating great content you have nothing to worry about. But if we let the whales monopolize the platform, knowingly or not, the value that people see in Steem will diminish, and the site will become an automated ghost town of bots upvoting each other with no sign of human interaction.
Again, not something that I think is dire at the moment, but something I think is important to keep a close eye on. The middle class should always hold the majority of power.
Thanks for the insightful post!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hmm, maybe the increase in voting power should work with an exponential or logarithmic scale. So that when you start with steem you can grow fast, but the more you grow, the slower the increase of your voting power. Maybe a whale should have a maximum voting power of a 100 starter accounts or something line that.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yea I agree with you 100% that we want to avoid too much centralized of wealth. At the same time we have to recognize that some amount of whales will always exist in an economy. Overall I think Steem does OK, but there are a few glaring issues.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I had this conversation before regarding the upvote bots, as on of the commentor said it will only work for greedy people that are just here for the short term. I really see Steemit going the long way. My posts barely get any attentions but when they do people are genuinely interested and suportive, they also help me improve my content. You don't get that with upvote, so yeah, I don't make any money but with time at least I know I will have build a following of people that see my content as an added value. This is the way I like to play.
I also agree that it is difficult to find interesting content in some areas, I think the search function should be improved so that we could search for some topics and not just tags.
And also have recommended posts that are in line with what we currently follow as well.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I coded my own upvote bot without even knowing what an "upvote bot" was. The idea, for me, was to be able to upvote people I appreciate even when I'm not available to read every post. So not everyone I follow makes the list of getting automatically upvoted. I also limit the # of upvotes each day to make sure the votes have more value for the authors. By keeping my upvote list short, I feel it has more personal meaning for me.
While I can see the argument that this de-personalizes the experience, I see it more like patronage. Patrons don't necessarily engage in everything created by people they support. Often, they want to support that person, in general. I see automating upvotes as one way to do that.
Then again, I'm not even sure what an upvote bot is -- so I could be missing something here. I tried looking for a good description/definition, but fell short.
Does anyone know if there is a good write-up on upvote bots and their pros/cons?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Ah yeah that is different! The vote bots we were referring to in last week's post were the one where you send money to an account in exchange for them upvoting your own content. That use is sketchy because, the way some people see it, it is a bad allocation of rewards from the Steem reward pool.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
...and this is why I've learned to talk/type out loud -- so people can correct me. 😃
I can see the concern with vote bots, then. And yet, it seems like people paying to promote their content -- albeit artificially hidden behind upvotes, which can feel like people who pay for fake Facebook/Twitter accounts to like their page.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I have not ever used upvote bots. However, I do get frustrated when:
Then again, I could just be producing loads of crap that nobody likes or cares about...
I also check myself regularly. I ask myself, "Are you really here to be a blogger and curator benefiting from a little crypto? Or is it all about the money?"
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You just need more time @iamhbros you've made 225 posts so far which is pretty low in the scheme of things. Very few users earn much in rewards before they hit at least 1,000 posts.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
definitely a good conversation. there were some points made that i hadn't even thought about, but then realized were things that annoyed the shit out of me too...particularly the circle jerk of always talking about steemit like it's a cult rather than a fun, incentivized platform for all things crypto.
either way, it's good to hear some grievances from users all across the board.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
People are crazy lol the conversation about steem or any cryptocurrency is never rational
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Very interesting post highlighting some of the challenges that users are facing. I find it very insightful, especially as a new user with little experience on Steem, who is trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks!
https://steemit.com/@therockman
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I think quality authors that consistently produce good work like yourself. Deserve to have vote bots put on them. But it's true there are ways to misuse just about ever tool in existence digital and non for that matter.
Great post Matt. You ever do any traveling? If so my latest post is all about not getting sick from the food in other countries. May help you out one day.
Hope you are well! -Dan
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Good @heymatts
Like help me
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit