Today I was going to buy some SP via Blocktrades but I've watched my account value going down and down and down over the past couple of weeks despite powering up all 'earnings'. I have to say this is a hugely demotivating factor, and I have allowed my thoughts on Steem, SBD and the Steemit platform turn a bit negative. It has come about during this latest crypto bloodbath whereby I have also been reading posts made by other Steemians' and other articles outside Steemit which have influenced me to the point where I am not going to invest my money in an inflationary crypto which is devaluing rapidly, so I bought Litecoin instead. This spiral has turned me bearish on Steem and the Steemit platform in the short term.
Long term I feel that Steemit has a decent chance of success but I think it needs to be adaptable and possibly modify stuff which isn't working or is negatively affecting Steemit and the value of Steem along with it. I'll be honest - sitting down and writing a longish post out and getting one or two upvotes which takes the post to $0.01 then seeing your effort get zero reward as the post drops back to $0.00 again is hugely demotivating. It just makes you think "why bother?" Especially when you can earn more just by selling your vote to bots or posting a dmania meme which took you all of two minutes to knock up! Multiply this by thousands of users and this has an effect! This is turn means that you find you spend less time on Steemit, less time curating and less time upvoting which no doubt has an effect on the rewards pool if many plankton and minnows follow suit.
Because of the value of Steem and SBD, there are naturally less people posting because of the demotivating factor. Let's be honest - most of the people are here because they want to make money- not for the love of Steemit or because they like curating. This brings me to the point that Steemit is at a crossroads. It needs to realise and address the very things that are holding it back like self-upvoting, low quality posts trending because of bid bots, people or bots asking for money for resteems despite having not many quality active followers, too many people who upvote themselves or their friends but nobody else's posts. Also, I've noticed that those with established accounts who get regular upvotes from the same minnow followers could once in a while give back an upvote or two to smaller account holders who regularly comment or upvote their posts but I've noticed that few actually do and this is a shame. To get should be to give because isn't that how Steemit was designed to function? I'm not saying those with more SP should do this all the time but just now and again as I realise people will want to preserve that all important voting power. I feel doing this would improve the mood and help the platform. Just my two cents, though I probably won't get one for this post but thanks for hearing me out! 😁
For me personally it is almost a good thing. I am on steemit to exchange ideas, connect with interesting people, maybe learn something. For me the reward system on steemit is rather questionable. I believe it actually corrupts the mind. It makes people suck up to others in order to get upvoted, post things they think will get them rewarded. I'd say the posts and comments on steemit would be completely different, if no rewards could be expected. More honest...
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I agree @herrleeb . It would become more like Reddit.
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Speaking of content, I see you as an ally in efforts to educate people about what Israel has been up to since 1967. I hope you keep posting about it here and everywhere. Be brave in the face of accusations of being "anti-semitic" and "an Israel hater"! I've been over at www.unitedwithisrael.org trying to educate these people. It ain't easy, but these are the people who need to hear it.
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Thanks @kirbyhopper . I intend to keep posting about Israel. In fact, I remain convinced that the nerve agent recently deployed on British streets was the work of Mossad agents: Israel's security services or hit squads. I've been called all sorts including an anti-semite and Nazi. I reject their accusations.
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Wow, I haven't even gotten into Mossad, got my hands full with the stuff that's been going on with the Palestinians. I'm almost afraid to learn about it....
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Here's my, uh, penny's worth :) Agreed on the above but keep in mind Steem has been following the "market" like all the altcoins so investing in Litecoin doesn't solve anything unless you really think Litecoin will have more relative value at the time you might want to cash in on your investment, whenever that might be. At this point, I think the value of Steem relative to other altcoins is going to be based more on the other applications for the Steem blockchain that the developers can attract, not the quality of Steemit. In fact, I think the developers within Steemit Inc., who own a lot of Steem/Steempower, are banking on those other uses for the blockchain to increase the value of their financial investment, and really don't give a crap about Steemit. They might throw a bone to us dogs once in a while, but only to perpetuate the farce.
The moral of the story is if you are investing in crypto look at the overall potential of Steem in relation to the other coins, and that has a lot to do with things other than Steemit. In my mind, Steemit was the "proof-of-concept" for Steem, it has served its function for the developers, and if it fizzles out it doesn't really matter. If you feel Steem is a good investment, buy some Steempower instead of just Steem, and you can also use that to "play the game", or even, get rewarded at least something for your work.
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