I joined Steemit Chat yesterday and immediately noticed a trend in the #postpromotion that I can't help but talk about because it speaks to the very foundations of this new system.
We've already got Whales, Dolphins, and Minnows...so I suggest adding Beavers to the mix. You've seen them around. These are humans who immediately upvote your post.
I watched a guy, we'll call him ScienceFictionAuthorGuy post a link to Chapter one of his Steemit novel. Within 30 seconds Eager Beaver had followed the link, scrolled to the bottom of the page and upvoted the content, returned to chat and said "@ScienceFictionAuthorGuy Hey, I upvoted your content!". While this might seem like the behavior of a bot, this was someone I'd had a conversation with a few minutes prior. This Beaver was eager to get an upvote in return (based on the number of times per 3 minute period he was posting a link to his post).
This is fairly standard human behavior, Reciprocity. Doing something for someone in hopes they return the action. It's not an altruistic act, or particularly creative. These kinds of exchanges are less social and controlled ultimately by the resource or favor being bestowed.
Steemit is a system and a system has three parts. Elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose. We are all clear on what the elements (content) and the interconnections (upvotes, comments, views, etc) are. However, there is a schism about the function or purpose of Steemit as a whole. This is an ideological battle I see being played out on the front page and in the backrooms of chat.
For a lot of people this system's function is make them a shitload of money. Maybe not even a shitload, maybe just enough to feel like they can get by.
For other people the purpose of Steemit is to share their content. The payout is a nice bonus, but more a secondary feature.
These are two radically different goals. Systems can get into trouble when they are set to seek out of the wrong goal. Bots, and Beavers are feedback loops that drive the system in a certain way. They technically follow the rules of the system, but they shift Steemit away from it's creative content-sharing core and into another thing to autonomously mine. The cultural creatives get discouraged and move on to the next thing.
I don't write for bots, I write for humans. It makes me sad and angry (sangry) when the only views my post gets are from the autobots.... but it's even worse when a human has decided to shut down their appreciation for value and perform automatic actions.
Be careful with your vote! Don't confuse going through the motions with seeking the right goal. Take the time to read a post or consider it before you automatically upvote it. I would rather my friend's save their votes for posts that speak to them and further their goals for this system than some generalized reciprocity.
That being said... hey, buddy, can I get an upvote? ;)
I am glad I read this, I will be doing things differently thanks to you. "The science fiction writer guy"
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But you'll still give me an automatic upvotes because I'm a lady... right? :P
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I will give you anything you want, even after reading your "Renee Nouveau's Blog 2.0" post! LOL!
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That needed to be said. Ty!
Vote for good content, not just to reciprocate.
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Amen, Renee. Well said.
Someone had to say it.
Now SOMEONES need to listen!
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I feel the temptation to do it too. When reciprocity becomes the cultural norm it can seem like 'the only way to get ahead'. The thing with this systems trap (wrong goal) is that technically it follows the rules of the system.
I guess we have to police ourselves and raise awareness and shift the paradigm to our vision for Steemit.
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Hey I read the post, now read mine.
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You just upvoted for the hot girl...
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Please read my post and up vote. Thanks. Please. Please. Please. I read yours now read mine. I actually hear this all day. I was just going to write a similar article. Now I'm taking a different angle.
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While "You show me yours and I'll show you mine" is a philosophy that has worked to my benefit at various times throughout my life, I agree it shouldn't be the law of the land here on Steemit. Vote however you want to, but you shouldn't feel forced into it.
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How did you verified your Steemit username on Steemit Chat ? Im struggling with it :/
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I've been hearing this a lot lot lately: I'm here only to share my ideas, art, whatever, not because of the money. Really? If the point is only to share ideas, there are better platforms than Steemit. You can have a Wordpress blog, for example, where you have full control of the look, feel, and promotion of your content, but guess what? Wordpress doesn't pay, so we come here, thinking about getting that extra bonus. I've got a couple 1000 here and it feels great and that's the whole point of this platform.
Upvote circles, groups, reciprocity, promotion, spam, etc, click baits, are all common things on any social media. People will game the system trying to be liked even when no money is involved. We can't fix this.... The only way to have this "fixed" would be by creating some sort of centralized censorship and curation and this is pretty much the opposite of what @dantheman and @ned are trying to do here.
The only reason people are talking about all these issues is because of the money involved, everyone wants a piece of this cake and is hard to try everyday to only get a couple cents in the end.
This things will always be a social network with all its flaws and problems.
I enjoyed reading your post. Sorry for the long comment.
Thanks for sharing.
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In systems theory you have the problem of wrong goals occurring when stupid things happen "because it's the rule". You stating that 'we can't fix this' is only an enticement to me to work harder to change things. :D
Moderators don't need to censor people. We can censor ourselves once we realize there is a problem. Once the problem is stated people start saying "hey, I'm just automatically upvoting because I hope they upvote my stuff but maybe it would be better* if I started only voting on the things I really like, and that brings value to the community".
It's cute that you think this is the way it always will be and that there is no alternative! I think that money is a byproduct of this system not its goal. Problems start when people begin to confuse the two.
*better = more fun! more genuine! more stimulating!
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That's cute that you think that people will start upvoting things that they really like because it will bring value to the community. :D. People will organize in groups, stack money, vote on their friends so they make money together. Did you ever see that Monopoly experiment where the game is rigged and some people start with a huge advantage? It tells a lot about human nature.
Things can change, for sure, we can try to change our behavior and do the right thing, but the system needs to change first. It is a extremely frustrating experience when you try to fight a rigged system like this. It is all on the owners hands right now. They decide how money is distributed, who gets to be seen, what kind of post is worth money, they change the rules of the game on the go, right?
And regarding community... what kind of community do we have here? This is still on a beta stage and has around 50K accounts. There's no Steemit community, at least not an organized one, with its culture and rules.
I hope Steemit grows to be a more interesting and mature network. It can be huge, but right now it is all on the owners and developers hands. There's not much we can do right now.
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Hey @cloveandcinnamon, I've done some research and I think you've got a point. I also didn't mean to sound derogatory --merely playful. May not have come off as such through this medium! Thank you for adding your wisdom and perspective to the conversation.
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No problem...I actually agree with a lot of what you are saying.
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"The system needs to change first" and how do you think systems change? I suspect you think it's a top down approach?
I don't see it the same way you see it. I see this is as more self-organizing. Yes, those at the top can shift paradigms (which can trickle down into goals) but in a self-organizing system there are random elements that don't always adhere to paradigms. I truly think that we as a collective work towards the output we desire.
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It may become something else, but right now it is a fact that a handful of whales are extremely powerful and the 80% of minnows have no say or vote power.
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I enjoyed reading this, a well observed piece. I'm not a bot :)
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Good one
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👍welcome @reneenouveau
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