This Is What's Wrong With Steemit - Another User Earns More Than Me For Reposting My Own Content

rulesforrebels (61) in steemit • 7 years ago

This morning I posted a DTube Video / Steemit Post about an Affiliate Network I recently discovered called RunCPA. It's a blockchain based affiliate network that pays out in Bitcoin. I decided to make a Youtube and DTube video about it as well as a Steemit post.

Later this morning I get a message from @Cryptostache telling me that someone has reposted my content. Personally, I'm still a bit unclear on Steemit etiquete. Technically speaking I don't think this user did anything wrong as he did credit me, however he added nothing to the conversation. He didn't give a brief opinion about my post, he didn't summarize what my video was about, he literally just reposted it. As of a few minutes ago I have made $0.24 cents and the guy who reposted my content has made $2.71. How is it fair someone else earns more for my creation than me? Especially when you consider he added nothing to the conversation and simply reposted my content?

The user who reposted my content has an account score of 65 so higher than me, and also has 2,222 followers. I feel like on Steemit if you have followers your going to get upvotes. Also, if you have a high score as he does, you'll often get upvotes whether they are deserved or not as people know people with high scores and followers are going to get upvoted. They also know they get a percentage of a post for curating it so they upvote people with high scores whether the content deserves an upvote or not.

Again, not really trying to attack the poster as technically speaking I don't think he did anything wrong and he did credit me, however I think it's more a problem with the culture of Steemit, the fact that people will upvote a post like this that adds no value and which the poster doesn't take the time to add anything to the content he reposts.

It just doesn't seem right that I made $0.24 cents off a piece of content I spent time and energy creating and this guy who simply reposts it makes $2.71

The Repost Which Earned More

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7 years ago by rulesforrebels (61)

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bitcointycoon (37) · 7 years ago

It seems to me like the etiquette would be to resteem the post, so that you would get the rewards from it. By reposting instead of resteeming, that author is taking your work and profiting from it.

brianphobos (70) · 7 years ago

Yeah. I mean if it was an embeded video that he was referencing and giving their opinion on if they agreed or disagreed with it then that would be different but their entire blog is just reposting everyone else's videos. We need whale support to just stomp that account out.

brianphobos (70) · 7 years ago

Man that is upsetting for sure and I had this big issue with YouTube and still do. I will become so pissed when I see these people getting unbelievable amounts of views reposting other people's content. I have seen people get to where they were at $3,000-$4,000 just stealing other people's videos.

There are so many different levels to this problem. You have the people who have posted stuff that was someone elses and got crazy good success for years and they never got the boot from YouTube or a strike against them.

Then you have the people doing the compilation videos and reaction videos. They are sort of adding something to it but not really most of the time and it is so much easier to do that then to actually create the original content.

Being a YouTuber and Steemian it does upset me and for years I have gotten really pissed and thought. "it is almost more profitable and time effective to be one of these content thieves"

At one time there was a thing the Prank Reviewer did and there were guys reposting prank videos in Arabic and they were getting more views and money then the creators of the videos.

I'm going to flag that other user and resteem this post.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Hey buddy, appreciate the resteem. To me this is an issue bigger than myself and $2. I really want to see this platform continue to grow. I try to be an ambassador for Steemit and bring new people over and if stuff like this is happening people aren't going to stick around. I appreciate the resteem from a more established account like yours so we can hopefully bring some attention to this issue.

Like you said in your other comment, even if he had written a paragraph and said a few sentences about "hey I saw a cool post from @Rulesforrebels about a new affiliate network, looks like it could be interesting, blah blah blah" even with that I wouln't really have had an issue with him reposting it as opposed to resteeming it but there was 0 effort put into adding anything to contribute to the discussion.

I think to some extent we as a community need to kind of figure out what's acceptable behavior and what isn't. We need to come up with a clearer idea of Steemit etiquete for lack of a better word. I see people compare Steemit to Reddit and on Reddit it's acceptable and it's normal to repost content or links you find interesting. With Steemit, at least my impression is that the community would prefer origional content or at the very least add some commentary or thought of your own to what your posting. I know on Reddit there's a strong set of sort of "unwritten rules" that people abide by and with this being a newer platform I kind of think were still figuring that out.

I know people complain that new people to the platform and minnows "whine" alot about not having as much success as they would like and I feel that's a very valid point because there are a lot of people who are entitled or expect things too quickly but I think this issue I highlighted in the post goes to show there are legitimate issues of minnows having to struggle while established accounts that IMHO don't really deserve to grow or be rewarded are growing and being rewarded for no other reason than they are established and people blindly support established accounts.

I honestly almost take issue more so with everyone who blindly upvoted the other post as opposedto the guy who posted it. There's always going to be lazy content creators who steal/borrow content as opposed to creating it but if we have a strong community that type of behavior won't be rewarded and they'll just fade into obvlivion.

brianphobos (70) · 7 years ago

Yeah it is certainly a huge issue and with some platforms like Reddit it is more like a person is stealing someone's "thunder" but on here and on YouTube where people are getting paid it suddenly changes everything.

That guy taking your content like that is really taking from all of us. He drains the reward pool and squeezes out real content creators like yourself. It drives interest away from STEEMIT and makes it seem like an unfair system and people bounce out.

Trust me..... I have had huge frustrations with YouTube overtime and started uploading my first videos back in 2008. It was real upsetting to see some of them not gain traction and then even a couple of years later kept getting rejected from the partner program. Eventually they opened it up to everyone and that became a revenue stream for me.

From the start of STEEMIT we have dealt with issues of people "gaming" the system. It all goes along with Game theory. Some people will take the high ground and stick to strict voting methods that will make them seem honorable in a way. Others will upvote themselves half the time. Others will try to upvote themselves all the time and won't even vote anyone else at all. Those accounts will be a whack-a-mole situation but it is something that @steemcleaners is dealing with. I have submitted it to one of the members. They already had that account on the list but they are going to look into it further.

It is a weird area for sure because you were looking to earn money on the video and letting everyone know about it. It is possible someone uses your affiliate links to the video gets "more exposure" in a way. It is weird and it frustrates me on here and YouTube for sure.

The hope is that people who are making a more positive contribution will eventually have enough power to just smash abusive accounts and then they will have to go through the constant trouble of recalibrating what they are doing by making new accounts or powering accounts down and trying to load up other accounts but that it will become so hard for them to do it that they learn it is just easier to just positively contribute to the community.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

You brought up a couple interesting points. The first being in some ways I may look my content being reposted as a good thing as like you said I shared an affiliate link for RunCPA so the more people who watch the video the more chances I get at getting that link clicked and profiting that way.

I can kind of see it that way but I think I dropped my link in the writing below the video. While the link is in the description of the Youtube video, someone would have to from the Steemit post that guy reposted click the Youtube video at the top, be redirected and read the desciption but I have a chance most people would just view the embedded video and move on so I doubt I'd have too much upside in terms of exposure but you never know.

As far as people gaming the system like you said it happens on every platform, on Youtube I have one particularly popular video that went semi viral and I get 3-5 people per week reuploading it from various accounts. Ever since Youtube implemented the 10k views to monetize its helped a bit but no instead of people trying to make money off ads they repost my video and link to a jvzoo product or some ecommerce course they have or some other cpa offer.

brianphobos (70) · 7 years ago

Yeah I think it was a good idea for YouTube to implement the 10K rule to be honest. It helps keep these crack babies from just popping up accounts left and right just to get monetized off someone else's content.

Good news. @teamsteem upvoted your post and flagged that guy's post of your stuff.

The bad news is that guy has literally sharted out like 20 more posts doing the same thing since then. One including another one of your videos.

I talked to one of the members of @steemcleaners and they have a little bit of a track history on that user for plagiarism but they are always toeing the line of what is acceptable according to there criteria so they don't flag a lot of the posts.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

haha of course he did lol, thanks for bringing it to my attention. i flagged that one. the least the guy could do is at least @rulesforrebels me instead of leaving off the @

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@crypto-p/bitcoin-falls-below-usd4-000-or-cryptos-hit-hard-or-bloody-morning

francisoyetakin (13) · 7 years ago

Cool

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brattley85 (37) · 7 years ago

Imho that's just a plagiate of your content and absolutly not ok. If he's thinking it's worth sharing je could just resteem it. He also Not mentioned you in the right way like @rulesforrebels. But don't get upset: good content will win on the Long run:)

wekkel (51) · 7 years ago

Over time, posters of good content will be the new Whales.

dexter-k (67) · 7 years ago

This kind of stuff really irritates me. I came here because I saw @brianphobos post about this and I wanted to find your original article. I gave you a 100% upvote so at least you are up close to where the other was now. This kind of thing happens, and it's not cool, but if you keep your head down and keep working eventually you will build a good following here and people wont be able to just steal your content like that.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Hey @dexter-k appreciate the kind words buddy, definitely gonna keep trucking along!!!

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cryptokeepr (61) · 7 years ago (edited)

I'd be upset. If it's a resteem that's one thing but copying the post and using it as ones own without adding anything to it isn't cool. I'm gonna go upvote your post so you get a little bit more reward for your content.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Thanks buddy appreciate it :)

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jbp (56) · 7 years ago

@crypto-p always does that and is one of the people which earn the most by self-voting here on steemit..

cryptotem (63) · 7 years ago

I have the same impression of @crypto-p. Not really adding value by reposting and self-voting..

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

I'm not really familiar with him and havn't dug into the numbers too much so maybe the majority of that $2.71 came from a self vote, however I still question why 40 something other people thought it was worth rewarding him for a repost that took 0 effort?

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nomad17 (58) · 7 years ago

I can see how frustrating that can seem, but don't see it as a negative thing. By reposting your post, he exposed you to more people than would normally see your own post, especially if someone has more followers. So in a way, he did make you a favour because maybe as a result of mentioning you, some people have followed you because they liked your content. I don't think steemit is unfair in that sense because a person's reputation and steem power allows them to have more exposure and thus more upvotes which brings more money. I once posted something and made few cents, about an hour later, another user posted exactly the same thing but in his words, and he made a LOT of money. So I could've been mad about it, but at the end of the day, you shared your content to benefit others, and while our efforts are not always rewarded, we achieved what we set out to do, which is help others or inform them of something. I hope this makes sense.

rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Hey nomad thanks for the comment buddy. I guess I took issue more with the fact that everyone was upvoting lazy content even more so than the guy who stole/borrowed my content.

I do agree with you in the sense that the more eyes you have on your content the better but also like some others have pointed out if he wasn't going to add any value I would think a resteem would be a better option. Even if he just added a couple sentences like hey saw a cool post by @rulesforrebels I agree with this. Even something that simple I wouldn't have really cared about him reposting it but at least add some value ya know.

I think I'm going to be more selective with my voting and upvote the real good quality content with higher percentages as this issue kind of highlights to me how many of us myself included at times just blindly upvote stuff from popular users whether the content is really deserving of the upvote or not.

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steemitboard (66) · 7 years ago

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aldentan (67) · 7 years ago

@brianphobos brought me here.

I think re-steem should have been the obvious option.

Oh well, I hope Steemit comes up with a bot or something to detect obvious reposting that adds zero value.

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theresteemer (59) · 7 years ago

As the guy just posted it as a youtube video, I think it won't be possible to come up with a bot like this.

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

I love @brianphobos he creates a ton of great content and has been very supportive and helpful to me on my journey on Steemit and I greatly appreciate that.

Thanks for checking out my post as well.

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aldentan (67) · 7 years ago

No worries. Will be around for you in the future too.

theresteemer (59) · 7 years ago

I think SteemIt is like live itself, it's not being fair all times. The richer they are the more they have to say.
But at the end of the day you will get rewarded for your deeds and struggles.

But I think the difference between live and steemit is that in live the "minnows" never can get on the top (a few exceptions will always be there). While on SteemIt good content will pay out over the long term.

So although I can understan your anger, see it from the perspective, that those people who watched the video on the other guys post got known you and will turn back to you and not to the other guy if they find any value in the video.

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Hey buddy what is live? I'm not familiar with it?

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theresteemer (59) · 7 years ago

It's a typo budy. It life :)

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Not sure what your saying is a typo not putting the @? It's happenned twice, doubt it's a typo.

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theresteemer (59) · 7 years ago

Haha:) What a cool misunderstanding:) What I wanted to say is, that neither SteemIt nor life aren't fair all times. But just like you go on if life pisses you off, you have to go on when something on SteemIt pisses you off. Hope you got me now:)

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inco2017 (15) · 7 years ago

Here's What's Wrong With Steemit - Other Users Generate More From Me To Reposting Their Own Content, if this continues to happen I think steemit has disappeared its audience

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wekkel (51) · 7 years ago (edited)

People are attracted to high reputation posters on Steemit. No matter what they post what they write (or more often, don't write), they always get tens to hundreds of upvotes and earn big money.

That's how it works in life, brother, and that's how it also works at Steemit. Better get used to it.

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

Many people who havn't liked Steemit complain about issues like this. It's an issue of the culture of the site which is constantly changing and has room to be improved as this is a young platform. I disagree with your that's life sentiment.

On Reddit people who spam or steal content are often downvoted. On Youtube there's mechanisms to have your content removed when it's reposted by others. I think the community as a whole should put more thought into what they are rewarding.

Again its not my site, I don't make the rules, just giving my opinion of what I think would improve this community.

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

I guess that is what I'm questioning. Is that what we want Steemit to be? Anyone with a high rep is rewarded by teh rest of the community regardless of whether it's deserved or not?

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wekkel (51) · 7 years ago

The rest just gets a little less.

One thing that could be done is not show the upvotes in an article, no amount and no rep number of the author. Would be an interesting experiment to see what the behaviour of Steemit users would be.

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mattclarke (68) · 7 years ago

I have considered that before, but those details are still available on the blockchain, so people would just move over to busy.org or some other site, giving themselves an edge.

taslimahmed (25) · 7 years ago

how can it possible ?

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

If you have a high reputation score your going to get a lot of upvotes. People know people with high reputations posts earn money and people earn money for curating ie upvoting content that earns money so what happens is someoen who has a reputation score of 88 could literally make a post with nothing more than a period "." and the post would probably earn some upvotes.

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sabalinet (8) · 7 years ago

@rulesforrebels Intriguing put up - many thanks . Have to be terrifying to own this issue. Resteemed.

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lpfaust (66) · 7 years ago

@rulesforrebels theft of your content and reposting without any source attribution (you) is plagiarism. Even if he copied it word for word and gave source attribution it's still plagiarism, and I know it's something STEEM-cleaners does take seriously. Generally they wil flag the post before payout to eliminate any rewards and/or lock down their rep score.

Have you tried messaging someone on Steemit Abuse and/or STEEM Cleaners on Steemit.chat? If not, I would encourage you to do so ASAP.

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lottoprof (45) · 7 years ago

Hi I'm new on steemit. I like to fun around
Following you. Kindly follow back

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rulesforrebels (61) · 7 years ago

hey buddy your going to get a lot further on here making insightful comments commenting on a post than you will with this follow for follow stuff. If you had said somthing interesting regarding my comment I would have checked out your profile and probably followed back and liked a post or two.

lottoprof (45) · 7 years ago

Thanks for opening my mind. I never knew that until now