Steemit Things I've Learned In My First 7 Days - #1

in steemit •  7 years ago 

I'm going to write a series of things I've learned here... as I learn them. I will keep them short and to the point to not waste too much of anyone's time. They are obviously meant for the new people because frankly they (like me) probably jumped in and have to learn on the fly.

-If you have any questions about what I discuss, ask them in the comment section below

-If you like what I talked about and think your followers would like to learn from it, "RESTEEM" it.
(note: you don't get paid to resteem something, you just help to spread around a message that you like)

-If you have another topic you would like me to cover next, then also reply that request in the comment section

Here goes:

Upvoting And How To Follow Your Voting Power

The first thing I noticed was that my upvoting seemed to be useless after the first few upvotes. It seemed like I voted a lot and while the first few showed up as a penny ($0.01), almost all of them after that were never affecting the amounts.

a tutorial 2.JPG

I just kept upvoting and upvoting figuring it would fix itself as time went.

After awhile I learned that your voting is limited and controlled through something called "Voting Power" (see pic below). Essentially what that means is that you get your voting power reduced by about 1% for every vote you make (for now at least, as you are small). So if you upvoted 100 people in one day, you would be completely out of power and would have to wait to "recharge your power"

a tutorial.JPG

Recharging Your Power

Recharging your power is actually something rather simple, it just means: stopping voting while your "power meter" gains. It gains about 20% of its strength back automatically each day. (Note: that means it will take you 5 days of "not voting" to get back to where you started if you let it run completely down). Which of course I did, and I gotta tell you is hard to not upvote people on this site ;)

Finding Your Power Meter

You can find your "voting power meter" at the following site:

www.steemd.com/@(yourusername)

My example: www.steemd.com/@davemccoy
(of course you will want to look your own voting power so insert YOUR USERNAME after the @ sign)

This site can tell you many interesting things about your account, but for now I believe the most useful feature is to help you "regulate" your voting power.

This is just one tip of something I have learned in my first 7 days. I have many more things I've learned and if people seem to find it interesting, then I will continue to prepare more of these tips that I find. It is up to you in the community to let me know if it is useful.

I want to point out that I am by no means and expert and I am just offering my humble advice based on what I have learned. If any more experienced users have more to add, I welcome them to do so and help everyone out!

Thanks for reading and I hope I can help a few people along the way :)

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Thanks for sharing @davemccoy I have been wondering why my votes were producing zero from 0.01. I will do as advised and recharge for now. I would like to upvote this because it made me understand but I don't have any power at the moment. I'll wait for your next helpful tips and will surely upvote there :)

haha on waiting for the upvote, I know exactly how you feel... Its like you feel cheap not upvoting, but on the other hand if you don't let it recharge, your power will always be low... Just resist the temptation, people that have been around for awhile will understand ;)

And thanks for explaining that it helped, it motivate me to do another point!

Have a nice day/evening @wanderlass and stay in touch!

Thanks @davemccoy :) will use my upbvote wisely and resist the temptation to upvote for now :)

:) ... One of the things I've been doing, is if I really like a new article then I resteem it instead of liking it. At least I help a little by getting the author a little more exposure!

I have resteemed this :) Most of my followers are newbies like me so this would be helpful for them too.

Awesome @wanderlass, that is perfect. I certainly appreciate that and it is a way to recharge your upvotes too! And thank you :)

I did that too! Then a kind person showed me the link like you have here. I love looking at that page and have learned a lot from it. My vote is still essentially worthless even at 100% and it was hard to wait 5 days for it to come back up. I really like to vote for people and the cool things i see here......I'm getting this awful feeling here of wanting to be a contribution to people and not having any power to do it. A couple of generous people voted me some big votes the first couple of days i was here thank god! Since then pretty much no one votes on anything i do - i get a couple of votes it's true. I get comments from people also that don't vote for my post. I find this strange and to be honest pretty rude. I made a promise to myself not to comment without voting the post up. I just think it would be crummy to tell someone i like their post but not enough to vote it up... This post is long and rambly and ranty and i hope you won't be too annoyed with me. The only way i can contribute to anyone would be to buy Steem and power up right? I vote as much as i can with trying to keep my vote over 80% and comment too...with a vote up ;)

Hey Ross, do not worry about annoying me because you certainly don't annoy me at all... In fact I'm very happy that you explained your frustrations so that I may be able to give you some advice to help you.

First, you are doing better than you thought. You haven't even been on the system for a whole month and you are up to a 39 Reputation. As that gets higher, people will respect you more.

The fact that you are frustrated with the amount you are receiving per post is partly a consequence of you not understanding how the system works. It is a system that is built (ingeniously I might add), to do different things for different types of people. It is something that happens in the real world, and while you might not understand it (yet) that doesn't mean it is not "good". In fact, I would say what they are doing is great and it is giving people all over the world a chance to truly change their lives.

Next, you haven't converted your SBD's into STEEM yet (which I will be discussing over the next week). Its complicated, if you want to be a longer term beneficiary of the system, you will want to convert your SBD's into STEEM, and then "power up" that STEEM into STEEM POWER. This will do 2 things, it will give you more power behind your votes but it will lock you into staying into the platform longer. In other words, STEEM POWER is just STEEM that must be sold over a longer period of time. But if you plan to stay with them for a long time, then you would want to do that and I can show you how if you ask.

Next, I know you said you like to upvote people even though you read my article and that certainly is your choice. But you are going to continue to get next to nothing by do so. You are actually not helping yourself or the author because the author wants to see you as big as possible too (that way your votes WILL MATTER). So I suggest you follow my advice and let your Voting Power recharge and get it into the 80 t0 95% range and carefully monitor it. (I refresh mine after every vote.

Now you may think that the failure to upvote is being rude, but it is indeed NOT RUDE. Writing a nice sincere comment explaining your thoughts about the author's work is far more valuable to the author than the faceless upvote that us newbies have. Anyone who has been on this site for very long, DOES understand that. THEY want you to "engage" them by viewing their work, commenting on your thoughts, and when you feel it is great, then you can also resteem it.

You're going to have to trust me on that, just try to give comments instead of upvote and you will see what I mean. If you were going to give 50 upvotes in a day, don't give ANY but instead write 50 nice comments telling the author what your thoughts were. Over time, it will do several things, but it is a skill that will help you to meet new people.

Next, while you have 67 followers, and that is good. Don't be shy in following other people. If you are in a post where you like what they are talking about, follow the other people in that post that are there admiring the same thing as you. You have at least one thing in common, and probably many more. So again don't be shy and follow many people that you think will be someone you would like. (note: if you don't like someone, you can always unfollow them easily).

That is enough advice for now to get you going, but you are viewing your process from the wrong perspective. You are actually doing well and if you listen to the things I told you and do them, then I am confident that you will find much more success.

ps... one last point, the beauty of steemit is the opposite of what you allege. You don't have to put any of your money into them to succeed. I have not put a penny into it and plan to earn my STEEM POWER the same way you are. It takes time to do it right, but that is why it will be successful... Good things aren't easy, they just have to be possible to be achieved.

Take care and let me know if you want to convert your SBDs into STEEM POWER and I will show you how.

Thanks. Just what we need. I'm a newbie too and it's great to see simple, piecemeal advice that even my tiny brain can understand.

Aww that is a nice compliment @looksfarwoman :) ... I'm glad you found it helpful and appreciate you complimenting me on my explanation! Stay in touch, I will do more of these soon!

Thank you for this!! I am very new to steemit also.. lots to learn but worth it I think! :))

You are welcome @teamtruth! I definitely think it is worth it. I enjoy interacting with people and there isn't enough hours in the day to satisfy my appetite to learn! :)

This was helpful, thank you!

You're welcome and I'm glad it was useful to you! Thanks for letting me know, it makes the effort to put it together worth it when people respond. Cheers @jentz44

Of course! Im still trying to figure out how it all works. Have an idea on some of it, but not enough yet. I love it when others post tips and tricks on how it works. We need more posts like this for newcomers. Keep it up!!

I'm in the same boat as you @jetz44, learning a little more every day :) And I agree we need more posts like this for newcomers, but I think they designed the system so that we (the newcomers) can learn it, teach it, and share it with others.

If it wasn't intentional, then at least they surely are getting that result (which is fine by me because I like to help people to get it) ;)

Thank you so much for sharing this information.
Today is my 4th day here. So was wondering about Voting Power.
Now I understand, Looking forward to learning and earning more with you
@robertmannino

thank you for letting me know it was useful to you @robertmannino. I look forward to also learning and earning with you too, so stay in touch! :)

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Once again, thank you @resteemable... You are there to help us new steemers out... I will have a topic including your valuable help in one of the future "things I've learned".

Note: If anyone is reading this message and don't know how to use @resteemable free service, I suggest you ask. It is a great tool to get you exposure and help you out in your "newbie" days.

Thank you @davemccoy for the explanation of voting power. As a newbie I am excited to learn more. I hope you continue this series of what you’ve learned.

Nice post

Thank you @aligaby89 :)

thanks very much im also new her .. its my first day 😊

You are very welcome @birla! And I also want to say "welcome" to you. Since it is your first day, I'm sure you have many questions and lots of things in your mind. But when you feel like you have questions, feel free to ask me (or for that matter just about anyone here on steemit)... People want to help you, so dive right in! And of course, always have fun :)

Thank you @davemccoy! Very informative and I hope to read more because Steemit is rather complex. Cheers!

lol, you are right about that @lesshorrible ... I try to think of it as steemit is filled with amazing amount puzzles to solve... Fortunately for me, I'm a problem-solver by nature (so I like it) :)

And glad you like it and encourage me to do more, I will do so. Thanks for the reply too

Informative and interesting

Thank you very much... I'm trying to help as many as possible!

Recharging is so difficult! Even though I read a lot of the material for new users, I still manage to find myself under the optimal 80% a lot. There's a lot of good content here on Steemit and having to put a pause on issuing those rewards, even if it is just 1 cent, is difficult to do.

lol @steffistasis, I know... I figured this out 4 days ago and have been trying to get back up, but posts keep coming up and gets to me enough to make me feel compelled to send that upvote. I'm starting to think I'm "recharge impaired" ;)

Well said. I'm also new here, i just added one more knowledge to the things i've learnt from steemit. Thanks

Thank you @zinonweke ... I get exactly your point... Lots to learn, much to share! Let me know if there is anything special you have questions about, I may have stumbled on it ;)

Thank you for the information! I like that you are going to tackle one issue at a time in a simple way. It can be overwhelming to try and figure everything out at once. I'm kind of just winging it. But I would like to read more posts like this.

Always nice to hear from my fun quirky friend ;) ... I agree about it being overwhelming, but that's only because you (and me) are trying to figure it all out at once. Maybe that makes me a bit quirky too, lol. Thanks for reading and resteeming it,and most importantly for commenting on it Shiloh.

Upvote back brothers

while we are all newbies, you will find that comments are more helpful than upvotes (since none of us have any voting strength of big value). So @rikianddria get out there and give some valuable comments to posts and authors you like, and you will get much more rewarded. That's the most valuable thing you can do right now.

thank you for your helpful advice.

Realy informative info especialy for new Wellcome dear to steemit....be in touch @sarinakhan ....

Well thank you very much @sarinakhan, nice to see you again :) ... And yes, stay in touch!

Thank you @davemccoy :-) This post is really helpful. Re-steemed.

Awesome @glenndale15000 thank you for the resteem! And I'm glad you liked it, I'm very happy to help you! And even happier that you took the time to tell me in your comments.

Thanks a lot. I just want to tell you that I appreciate your post and it really helps :) God bless.

awww thank you again :) ... And may God bless you as well @glenndale15000... Happy new year and stay in touch :)

I just had to upvote this - learned a lot! Thanks!

haha... thank you @rabergerin ... I'm very happy you commented and told me so, your comments are what makes the effort to write this post worthwhile. So thank you too!

Thanks for writing this. I didn't know voting power went down like that. I checked my account on steemd.com and my voting power was around 88% but then I upvoted this post (couldn't help myself, I found it really useful lol) and now it's down to 84%. I'm gonna get off Steemit for a while and let it go back up lol.

I watch mine all the time now and I its interesting for sure. It recharges on a continual basis at the rate of 20% per day... So you still have some votes left... The way I think about it is I always want to use my votes if I have them, but I just have to monitor where its at so that I don't run out when I really want one :)

And I'm glad you thought this was useful @kristyleann, it makes it worthwhile for me that I helped you. Stay in touch :)

I think you've found your niche by helping others. This is awesome to see!

lol :) ... I like to do this, passing along tips to help others get more satisfaction is rewarding. But I don't have to tell you, you already know that ;)

Yep as a new person you only get 10 votes per day, yes you can vote more but you only recover 20% a day after 10 votes you are drained to 80% voting power and till you get your slider you need to vote for only the stuff you like the best. And it can take longer than 5 days to repower if you get into the negative numbers with your voting. When I was new I drained so bad it took me 10 days to power back up to 100%

Awesome @tecnosgirl, thank you for adding more (and better) information for the people here. I haven't even gotten into what happens on the "negative" numbers (and hopefully don't experience that for awhile. :)

I understand that it does take a long time to come back up though, I was below 5% when I learned this and I have had to show restraint ever since. Its kind of a good thing though as I look back, because it taught me how to do other things and engage other people. Without the simple upvote as a quick expression of favor, I found that I actually had to think about what I wanted to express in a message and accurately reflect that in my messages. That has been a blessing as I have made deeper impact in the messages than I have ever done on any posts.

Plus a bonus is that I have met hundreds of new people in many different field of life (all around the world). So being in "recharging mode" isn't such a bad thing afterall :)

Again, thank you for taking the time to give us more accurate information and for also caring what happens to us "newbies" :)

Sounds like I with other newbies on here, this was very informative and helpful. Please, keep us informed as you learn new things. It is very much appreciated!

Thank you for letting me know @toddcurry! And yes, I think we are all in the same boat navigating our way through the sea together! And yes I will continue to post new things that I've learned to hopefully benefit everyone's experience.

Really helpful, thanks for the insight.Exactly what I was asking for in my last post.

Thank you for the comment back @emmybelieve! And I'm glad it helped :)

Good stuff @davemccoy Upvoted and followed. I look forward to your other posts as I'm new here too...Been 8 days now :)

Thanks @nuridin and I'm following you too! We are in the same freshman class (like in school), I just hit my 9th :)

Congratulations @davemccoy!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:

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Thank you for the information @arcange, that is very cool... I'm just happy that many seem to find the information useful. Together we make it a little bit better one by one :)

Lol. It's really hard to not upvote stuff🙈 thanks for the info. Much clearer. What's left is to find out how many meaningful upvotes I can give in a day without damaging it's chances of refill before the next day. 😊

I think at this stage (we're small), you should try to keep it between 90 and 100... It will recharge 20% per day they say, but it seems to take longer the closer you get to 100%... I've brought mine up to 90 now, from under 5%, but it seems like I only get about 8-10 a day without knocking it down too far.

The other thing to remember is if you aren't going to be on it for a day or 2... In that case you can run it down further since, you won't be around to use it. When I go on vacation, I'm going to take it down to 1% :)

And one last thing, learning to be on here without upvotes as a crutch to be nice has forced me to make many more comments to people instead of using my upvote. That has resulted in major amount of likes on my comments, which is much better than any posts that I've made. So being low on Voting Power can be a good thing if you develop your comment skills to others (because they just might like what you said) !!!

Glad I could help, if you have any other questions, just let me know!

I always do 100 votes on different people post but in return on my posts only 2 or 3 upvote are come . And my ranking and power stop on a one point

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I now know why I am at Zero.Thank you very much. lol I want upvote this post, but it's worth 100% upvote.

haha... save your upvotes and let them charge.. honestly its just cool to know I helped you :) ... I have 3 other articles in this series and each of them helps with one aspect or two. I'm glad you connect with your first comment, I'm here to help you any time.. We're 2017 classmates after all

Again very helpful im bookmarking these tips as that was part of my plan along the way so thanks again. i have picked up quite a lot just over the last few minutes and I have a few tips to share to great stuff :)

I'm glad you found it on your own :) ... I just replied to your other comment, but you are quicker than me lol...

This is the first of the four and the other 3 are in the link I sent in that other comment, or I'll post it again here:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@davemccoy/steemit-things-i-ve-learned-in-my-first-11-days-4

Cheers!

Newbie here, just banged a wall and received the bandwidth message. Thanks for sharing this @davemccoy ! Appreciate it.

yes its been killing me for the last 5 days... I'm out almost all day until 5 or 6pm my time... I will get through it, but I hope they fix the problem that's causing it... And thanks for commenting, because we have now made a connection! Stay in touch and welcome too! I have about 10 articles like this covering lots of topics you will be encountering soon, so feel free to come get them and ask me questions any time. I'm happy to help my teammates :)

I guess I never really knew what I was doing when I registered. Thanks a lot.

No worries @henrycrown, I'm pretty sure none of us did ;) ... It takes time and we are a community, so that means we do our best to help each other and share what we have learned. I'm sure you will pass this info along to someone else someday (I can pretty much guarantee it). Thank you for the comment!