If you don't know what I am talking about, just skip this post.
On October 9th Jerry Banfield made a post potentially launching a new service for creating accounts, as a result the comment section broke out with a reaction I just didn't understand.
The original post has been edited so many times I may have missed something, but if I understand this correctly here is a list of his crimes.
- He spotted something that isn't working that well on SteemIt - Online sign ups
- He decided to create a service to address that issue - apparently people didn't like the price?
- He used a negative name (SteemItFail.com)
- He is often on Trending and makes a lot of rewards
If you didn't like the service he was offering, why not just not use it?
I don't know much about Jerry, his content isn't something I am attracted to "cheesy", is the word that comes to mind but he also has never done anything to me. I have noticed he brings strong feelings out in many. Recently, I did a post asking where people heard about SteemIt and there were about 100 responses and many of them said "Jerry". I am sure he was mentioned by name more often than anyone else, so that moved him out of the slightly annoying category for me, and I decided he is bringing attention to SteemIt, I tend to think that is a good thing.
One thing that seemed to upset people about Jerry's idea is there are some other services already offering the ability to create new accounts without going through SteemIt, Inc. Including https://anon.steem.network/ by @someguy123 which is a great service that I personally have used successfully. A side note worth mentioning I don't think I have ever heard anyone say one negative thing about @someguy123 which is kind of amazing in this community. Well done.
I often advocate using flags to combat spam, scams and negative behavior on SteemIt, so I take no issue with the actions of those who decided to flag his post, but I am still confused...
Jerry isn't the first one to complain about the Sign Up feature on the site, I have posted about it myself. He isn't the first one to create a service that is controversial, and has the potential to earn a lot of money. (I wish I was guilty of this one)
What is everyone really mad about? (Asking for a friend)
@whatsup
Yep I saw that yesterday too and decided to stay the heck out of it. I found it through another person's post which was casting Jerry in a very negative light. I think the word scam was in the title of the post.
I also didn't get a chance to read the original post Jerry put up since I didn't notice this "controversy" until several hours after it had started. I did go read the comments on Jerry's post and people were pissed! Some were alluding to Jerry being up to something very sinister which I don't think is the case. I'm usually very skeptical of people and I'm not generally one to give someone I don't know the benefit of the doubt but I'm having a hard time seeing why people are so angry.
Yes the price was a bit high but if people don't want to pay it there are other options which Jerry may or may not have been aware of. And yes he is running a witness campaign so he should know a lot about things like signing up but we all make mistakes. He does do a lot to actually help new users and he brings a ton of new people to the platform. I don't know of anyone else who is advertising Steemit at the level he is so I'm giving him a mulligan on this one. I have too many other things in my life to be pissed off about at the moment lol.
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Great comment, I felt like I was reading my own reaction. I hang out in SteemSpeak and when the conversation broke out in there I was even more confused.
I must be missing some underlying issues, because I really respect some of the people who were pissed, but I was left scratching my head.
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I was defending my buddy Jerry yesterday.
I love the guy! He is someone who just goes off and gets 'er done. The rest of us dream of trying. He's an awesome example of someone who multi-tasks and works on many levels.
I already followed Jerry for online course creation on multiple platforms and have watched him leap into a few things - screw up - revise - try again - succeed later.
I did not really get the issue or even try to decipher it yesterday. But I knew jerry would make it right and he did. I just wish more people would try harder at their own dreams.
Jerry rubs some people the wrong way no matter what. But he promotes steemit and the little guys more than most. The haterade that came out yesterday was pretty brutal in my opinion. But this too shall pass and Jerry will be off on his next scheme very soon. Think of him like a very intelligent, eager, excitable kid in a man's body and then it all makes sense.
The biggest take away for me was the horrible idea that signing up for steemit is so freaking hard that people are willing to pay for help. This is 100% insanity and gives yet another barrier to entry for new bloggers. Steemit needs to grow and having sign up be this hard is unbelievable. Then if they get here - the new minnows face even more challenges and few make it to 40 rep. This is the issue - not Jerry trying to help.
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This brew-ha-ha confused me too, but I appreciate your reasoned take on it. I have used the cheaper account-creation option, but it is a slightly involved process. I suspect Jerry's service is more expensive because his process is less complicated? Not sure, but I generally don't believe in the idea that charging a high price forces a consumer to do anything.
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A lot of my connections charge high for their products so that they get high-end clients. This seems to work. I just think that it should be easy to get here - not so complicated! I'm amazed I managed it since I am a technical idiot :)
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An interesting situation, maybe Jerry did not mean anything wrong and just wanted to facilitate the registration, but from the beginning it probably turned out to be a mistake, it's strange! Thank you @whatsup
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https://steemit.com/story/@jerrybanfield/i-am-sorry-for-my-last-post
I think he realized that he was mistaken.
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I saw the post you're refering too yesterday and made what may have been a hasty judgement based on what I read at the time and that the actions were frowned upon by people I have respect for. I should've researched the situation more prior to commenting thats my bad.
Hopefully it's a storm in a teacup and people will now drop it.
I love free market but hate to see people getting ripped off.
I've never followed the man but the comments here are interesting as the concensus it that he does a lot of good. The fact that he has apologised shows he has some integrity so that's a good thing.
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Poor Jerry! I kind of feel bad for him!!! But I also understand why some people got mad. Probably because Jerry wanted to charge almsot 10 times more than the other services! But maybe he didn't know about those services? Let's give him a bit of grace I say.
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It is good you can see both side. :)
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i won't read his original post but i read his apology post, i think he realized that he makes some mistakes by offering the account creation service, but i think now jerry own his mistake and that's great, no one is perfect, making a mistake is not a problem but faking it's perfection is worse, i am happy jerry own it and i wish him a very cheerful journey ahead in steemit.
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I was confused after hear this news. What`s the reason he was hell out?
I saw his post, it has great ideas, instructions included. He has good skills and talented effort. Something was wrong. This is only my opinion..
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Who?
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looks like i need to skip it actually don't know anything about the scenario ;p
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yeah right.
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I got the same look towards jerrybanfield ^^ Too cheesy for my taste but he done a lot of good for the community. Tag "drama" seems perfect in this case xD
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Best answer for all the questions !
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The project is open source and accepts pull requests on github. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to contribute to the project by modifying the registration form?
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@whatsup very very intresting situation, I think nothing wrong Jerry is a very hardworking and full of potential just wanted to facilitate the Community!
He made some mistakes but he accept his mistake and come with apology !
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I have not read through all of the comments here, I skimmed, so I apologize if I am parroting something that has already been said.
I think the biggest issue is that Jerry's offering was going to cost $50 plus a "suggested tip" of $10-20. Now on the face of it, I have no problem with this. If you are offering a service which people are willing to pay for then that's fair.
The problem comes in when you talk about trying to get mass adoption of Steemit as an alternative to other social networking sites. There is already a pretty big learning curve which causes people to leave as soon as they sign up, if you put another obstacle, that being a cost, to the account creation process, that might deter even more people from joining the platform.
The argument could be made that people who have to pay to get set up are invested in staying. But it could also be said people who are considering it might see the price and decide to walk away.
What if Jerry not only created this service, but then used Google Ads to make sure his service came up at the top of searches for Steemit. I work for a ticketing venue where Scalpers do this all day every day. People think they are at the legitimate site, and buy tickets for 4x the face value because they picked what was at the top of the search function.
I am not saying Jerry necessarily would do that, but he could. And if your first taste of Steemit is the idea of a $50 signup fee, that will turn a lot of people off.
Just my two cents though, I don't know if that is why the masses are upset, just one valid argument I could see.
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Interesting, I can see the point. I think it is unlikely, but it brings awareness to how others may view it.
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Lol asking for a friend. Classic.
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I missed that post but I know Jerry Banfield before I started Steemit. Actually, he's the guy who introduced me to Steemit. His videos and articles are very detailed and he puts a lot of effort in this regard. This is because of his efforts and smart work that he is close to make his name in the top 25 Witness list soon. The pricing and product that he proposed did not backfire at him rather it was just a tool that gave his opponents a chance boil him through their comments.
I respect @jerrybanfield for what he's doing. He's an asset to Steemit community.
Thanks for doing this much needed post and sharing it with us dear @whatsup.
Steem On!
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I heard about this indirectly. There's nothing wrong with someone running a paid service, but the market may offer other, cheaper, options. It seems Jerry had forgotten about Anon Steem :) That's no reason to attack him when he seems to have done a lot to promote Steemit.
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Sometimes you put on your galoshes and wind up hip deep in shit. Then you realize you should have worn waders instead. It happens :) Personally, I don't think anything of it.
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I think Jerry is a great guy, but i have not really spent time on his content like you too. I think he should consulted before trying to create a steemit registration site.
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@whatsup,
Personally I don't like him, I am not following him and not reading his posts either! So, better I stay away from this discussion! Coz, I have no idea what happened yesterday! Moreover, I won't promote STEEMIT in mass scale! I did before (not STEEMIT) but now I am just a viral promoter of this platform!
Cheers~
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i must have miss a lot of things here.
his post is good, sometimes giving advices to stemian like me through his post.
But flag war on sevices that may bring money? well i guess those people aren't bad, the money and the war that really bad.
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I was around the furore and I think what Jerry did was exploitative. He offered a service that cost $50 for a sign-up, WITHOUT mentioning the alternatives like anonsteem which costs 6SBD. I feel this is an abuse of his popular reputation and greedy since he is already a high earner. Also he edited his post immediately after he encountered criticism to the extent where he didn't even mention his initial offering.
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I think you are right. Really let the market decide, in the end it will. I do not have a problem with that. However, I do think there are a few nuances that I and others might be picking up on that get the backs up. Jerry does advertise the shit out of Steemit - he has the marketing experience and is good at capturing eyeballs, he is also a witness (running a pretty heavy campaign) and with that there are certain expectations that the community (that is what we are trying to build) holds over witnesses. As a witness I expect that if you see a problem you would use your influence to fix it for the betterment of the community. Not exploit it. I find most of his content is the type of late-night-TV-help-me-help-you, 'buy-low, sell-high using my system' without the pay-wall. A lot of fluff, in my opinion, and it tends to come across as disingenuous. I think he needs to tone down the gregariousness if his posts and focus more on some altruistic endeavors that might put his money where his mouth is. With that comes investment in the community. I would rather him focus on that than using his resources to advertise Steemit (why not build an advertising consortium with Whales or witnesses, instead of taking it on himself). But again, self interest. All my opinion but I think more would concur.
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Interesting and valid points. Thank you for weighing in.
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I think he published this post in good faith to make it easier for people to register
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A man has a right to make a living, if u or anyone dont want to buy then dont.
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amigo #resteemia at your service
stopped following large scale promoters just after loosing funds in few investment programs ;) nice work @whatsup
ReSteemia
'UpVoted ReSteemed Commented'
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Do these pages really work https://anon.steem.network/ or are they just a scam?
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What most people are mad about is the price
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Sometimes we have to be silent and prove our importance through our work.
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@whatsup - Ma'm he made a mistake & then he realized he made a mistake. I think now it's okay. But I like your style ma'm. You have guts to talk about his mistakes rather than other people who always support every nonsenses. I'm respecting you for that ma'm.
+W+ [UpVoted & ReSteemed]
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That's pretty cool to know....
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Read the first comment to his post https://steemit.com/story/@jerrybanfield/i-am-sorry-for-my-last-post.
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