Hi, My name is Mike and I help promote art, music, fashion, video and books here on Steemit.

I've noticed the minnows having trouble getting their work into the Steemit limelight. Waiting for a whale to notice you? After being on Steemit only 3 weeks I've done a lot of research and prying into Steemit philosophy to find an answer to this problem. Do you want to know what I found?

Decentralization Is Key

To understanding your plight, know that to be heard more means to hear others more. It's not enough to "talk loudly" or have the "best content". Later, after you've accumulated enough Steem Power and enough followers these things will matter. But in order to jump start your Steemit account so that it's generating the rewards you deserve, you either need to invest your own money into Steem Power, or you need to accumulate it through good ol' fashion upvotes. But how do you get these upvotes? Commenting on other's posts and giving out upvotes is definitely sage advice, but...

Bots

At first I was against the idea of bots. I began to feel they took away from the idea that we're all hear to upvote "quality content", because how can a bot know how to spot quality content?

Then It Hit Me

Bots are the key to creating centralized voting power on a decentralized network. It works like this:

• Like most bots on Steemit, the bot upvotes all posts it's requested to do so, regardless of content.

• When the bot upvotes it also leaves a comment, which in turn is upvoted by the artist requesting the bot. As more artists and musicians request upvotes and in turn upvote the bot's comments, the bot will gain more Steem Power and therefore increase it's upvote strength. This really isn't too different than how all bots on Steemit currently work.

Here's The Thing None Of The Other Bots Are Doing

• As the bot upvotes as it's requested to do so, a human looks at what's being upvoted. If the human feels the content is of good enough quality the bot is manually told to follow that artist, but still only upvotes when requested.

• As time goes by and the bot accumulates Steem Power, there will be a "happy medium" the bot will achieve in which the number of people requesting upvotes do not deplete the bot's voting power throughout the day, but the bot's upvote could be worth as much as $1 SBD per request.

The Problem With Most Bots

• When this happens more and more people begin to use the bot which then drains it's voting power, and despite how much Steem Power it has, it's upvote isn't worth much. You can clearly see this is the case with @cheetah and @minnowsupport and @originalworks and @minnowpond ... you get the point. Not to mention the bid bots which are really just like Steemit gambling and don't really help very much.

The Answer

• The solution is to cap the number of people allowed to use the bot. Just like cryptocurrency has a cap. Once the bot has achieved maximal efficiency, it will be reprogrammed to only allow those it's following to request an upvote. Now it's a centralized powerhouse of upvote power to be called upon only those selected based on the quality of their content. Problem solved.

I Made A Bot That Does This

It's brand new and doesn't deliver much of an upvote yet. But hey, it's an upvote. I named it @artturtle and it's very simple to use. Just enter the word "artopium" as one of the tags for your art, music, fashion, video or book post and ArtTurtle will be by in a matter of minutes to upvote your post. I will then take a look at your stuff and if you're an artist, musician, etc., and not a spammer, I'll have ArtTurtle follow you!

I'm not here to judge whether your art is good, just that you are not a spammer and are truly trying to make good stuff.

I just want to see minnows get the attention they deserve.

Request An Upvote From @artturtle Sooner Than Later!

Do it now before ArtTurtle reaches it's cap, which for now I am considering 100 artists, but will increase this as voting power allows.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I'm completely open to other ideas. Let's build an awesome community together!