Steemit Strike: Apology to Followers and Announcement of Indefinite Break from Blogging

ats-david (74) · 8 years ago

It's sad that he won't even acknowledge that actual users are leaving or suspending their activity here. Just keep going forward with the terrible idea. Because fairness, or whatever the reasons are.

@berniesanders is right - if there's an actual problem, fix the damn code. This is just bullshit and it's causing real problems with real users and investors.

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8 votes

fyrstikken (75) · 8 years ago

Actually @ats-david we spiked hard in account-creation yesterday.

We also spiked hard in comments

And also in Price

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bkkshadow (70) · 8 years ago

All the new sock puppet accounts coming to milk the system

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ats-david (74) · 8 years ago

Yeah, it's not surprising that something controversial will spike activity. That doesn't mean that these people are actually new users or that the activity is positive and productive. How many posts and comments have been about this stupid "experiment" and how it's just not good?

Then you have the @steemitblog post about the hard fork, which always gets people talking and voting.

And the price spike...well, that has nothing to do with any platform activity. It will also be temporary, since the Steemit, Inc. accounts are now going to power down, as they have already started.

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htooms (65) · 8 years ago

I created an account and threw a ton of SP at it. I am upset about the people leaving exactly as the video states.

I was instantly wiped out by a @smooth brown noser that I flagged in the mix. (the real whales didn't flag me - it was never me who was flagged on anything.)

I was responsible for the price spike yesterday and am still powering up. I vow to spread the wealth and harm the harmers. My intro: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@htooms/introduction-my-first-day-here-but-i-still-made-the-news-hi-whales

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hagbardceline (60) · 8 years ago

Sad to see you leaving but I totally get your reasoning. But I also know: You'll be back.

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5 votes

norbu (70) · 8 years ago

This post just gave me an idea. We who post are one of the backbones of this platform. We could also "experiment" and call a Pen-down strike to oppose this madness by not posting anything for a period of 48 hrs. Then they can flag away to their hearts content. But we can show them that if there are no posts, flags are irrelevant.

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4 votes

ats-david (74) · 8 years ago

abit doesn't care if people leave. He said it's a good thing if they do.

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simonjay (76) · 8 years ago

Did he explain why?

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ats-david (74) · 8 years ago

Yeah. He said that people who are here for the money should probably leave anyway. I guess he doesn't understand what STEEM/Steemit is, which is troubling, considering that he's a top witness.

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skypal (62) · 8 years ago

"He said that people who are here for the money should probably leave anyway." This doesn't make any sense. That's the whole point of blogging here instead of somewhere else, you might make some money.

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ats-david (74) · 8 years ago

Well, tell him that. He doesn't seem to comprehend it.

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karenmckersie (74) · 8 years ago

Check out my latest post !!! Im tired of being treated like crap by these bully whales !! I SAY STRIKE !!!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@karenmckersie/hello-abit-smooth-steemit-stike-notice-is-on-your-experiment-did-not-work

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smooth (70) · 8 years ago (edited)

I'd support that. Whether you realize it or not we are on the same page in pointing out that the system is broken and needs to be revamped to remove both the whale domination of influence and the need for downvoting to limit that influence. We may disagree on the particular nature of the problem but we absolutely agree that there is a problem

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5 votes

norbu (70) · 8 years ago

Whether you realize it or not we are on the same page in pointing out that the system is broken and needs to be revamped

I do realize and agree that we need to find a solution, but I strongly disagree with the approach taken of using flags to achieve an end. Flagging on steemit, AFAIK, is seen as a form of violence by most who have its best interest.

I may be wrong, but I feel the same logic used to write good computer code may not work when it comes to human emotions and this experiment is trampling quite a few, as you can make out by the surge in angry posts/comments lately.

If it was an attempt at waking up people to realize the broken parts of the system, it has worked marvelously, and some users have gotten so shaken up with this "enlightenment", they are even ready to leave the platform.

So, as another user who seeks success for the platform, I implore that the experiment be reconsidered and a healthy debate started again, because after this fiasco I believe we will have a meaningful one.

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9 votes

smooth (70) · 8 years ago (edited)

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Reveal Comment

teamsteem (74) · 8 years ago

Thanks for your comment @smooth!

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

It's a free market. People paid and also worked for that influence. Synthetically trying to redistribute everything is a self-important move, in my opinion, that is severely compromising the platform. You vote down people's posts, but then your own trail voters upvote your bot posts. I'll be back blogging when all this stops and I'm not punished by Communists for working hard to deliver content to my valued audience.

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smooth (70) · 8 years ago (edited)

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Reveal Comment

kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

I have never denied it is part of the free market. I am not saying it is "unfair" either. I am saying it is a misguided and illogical at balancing things out which, contrary to its stated purpose, doesn't help smaller users but hurts them. It punishes success as well in established users.

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freebornangel (73) · 8 years ago

Too many cats, not gonna be able to herd them, the scabs would clean up.

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steemitqa (64) · 8 years ago

Sucks to see you go albeit temp.

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doitvoluntarily (77) · 8 years ago (edited)

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

What I meant by free market is that these whales are free to band together voluntarily and use their Steem Power as they please.

Ironically, in the supposed interest of helping small fish have more power, and take away influence from whales, they are using their whale influence to now crush small users.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

And yeah, if I were an investor, I woild certainly be a little concerned with all this.

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doitvoluntarily (77) · 8 years ago (edited)

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

Right. I see your point. My point is that within the real free market, Steemit is a private enterprise, and thus the stakeholders can do as they please.

If Steemit were a model of the free market, then yes, I see your analogy and it makes sense.

Either way, there are consequences for actions, and I think this whales will find that out.

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doitvoluntarily (77) · 8 years ago (edited)

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

This platform allows for downvoting. It is a private organization that allows for this activity. There is nothing anti-free market here. This analogy is to me, an apples to oranges comparison.

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doitvoluntarily (77) · 8 years ago (edited)

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sweetsssj (76) · 8 years ago

Is there anything truly a free market?

Welcome to hear examples.

Is there anything truly decentralised?

We are working towards an ideal that does not yet exist. Perhaps it will never exist.

Is it not an oxymoron that we attempt to gamify and place valuations but seek for equality?

Equal opportunities does not automatically mean equal fulfilment.

I think too much effort is placed on trying to make things "fair" since we know that things never were fair in the first place.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago (edited)

The free market (bigger picture) allows for Steemit to be this thing that it is now. That is my point. That is all I am saying.

The free market may decide that these actors not mimicking a real-life free market suck, and thus Steemit might fail when users leave.

Get it? I am not saying you are wrong. I am looking at it from the real-world, macro perspective. I am not viewing Steemit.com itself as the all-encompassing free market. It's not. It's a website and a platform and thus subject to these dramas.

It may continue and succeed, or it may fail. I think, like you, these silly whales are helping it to fail.

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snowflake (65) · 8 years ago

They are not crushing small users, they are only negating votes so that more users have a weight and can make a difference in reward distribution.
Smooth and co wouldn't have to downvote any post if other whales stopped voting, so blame those whales for not wanting to improve power concentration.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago (edited)

I have seen the small users downvoted, so that is not true.

And besides, @abit claims in his latest post whales exercising their influence is "unfair."

Why is stakeholders with more vests having more influence unfair? That's the whole point of stake-weighted voting.

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snowflake (65) · 8 years ago

What do you mean with small users? newbies or users with low SP?

Why is stakeholders with more vests having more influence unfair? That's the whole point of stake-weighted voting.

I don't know if you followed debate recently, but the big problem currently is that the utility of steem power is essentially 0 because the large majority of users have no influence at all and they would have to buy at least 10k usd to be able to give a mere cent to someone. This means that we have a system based on stake that is completely out of touch with the reality, most users will never be able to be a whale. The whole thing should be scaled down to reflect the reality of users on this platform.
Regarding your question. Why is stakeholders with more vests having more influence unfair? I think abit said that in the context of the reward curve, the n^2 algorithm give a huge advantage to whale which is unfair.

This is what most users don't understand about this experiment

One thing that I noticed is that users who are currently being autovoted by whales seem to be the most upset. This is logic because currently they have some kind of guaranteed revenue which provides some stability which is good for them. However what they fail to understand is that this stability is an illusion, it is very fragile actually because any whales can decide to stop the autovote for any reason at any time. This experiment will provide a much more predictable and stable way to earn a revenue which is why I find it hilarious that so many people say they want to quit because of it. Authors who are serious about building a rep/following and want a stable source of revenue should be ecstatic about this experiment.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

If a fix is needed, the code should be changed.

I am talking about both new users and those with low SP, I have seen their posts grayed-out, downvoted into oblivion, and heard their discouragment.

This experiment was not announced, has no real clear methodology or controls, and is punishing effort in true Communist fashion, by penalizing both new users and those of us who have worked very hard to build up an audience.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

And of course whales can stop the autovote at any time. Who doesn't know that? And what is wrong with that?

The influence is off balance, perhaps, so the code should be changed. People should not be flagged for effort. This is very discouraging and an ugly move on the part of these "experiment" whales.

@berniesanders figured it out and left.

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snowflake (65) · 8 years ago (edited)

If a fix is needed, the code should be changed.
I am talking about both new users and those with low SP, I have seen their posts grayed-out, downvoted into oblivion, and heard their discouragment.
This experiment was not announced, has no real clear methodology or controls, and is punishing effort in true Communist fashion, by penalizing both new users and those of us who have worked very hard to build up an audience.

New users are not being downvoted, only users with whale autovote.

You worked hard to build an audience but all your payouts are coming from a few whales. Your audience has no impact on your posts. And it's like this for everyone on this platform.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

New users are indeed being downvoted of they are lucky enough to get a whale vote. See what I mean? It's not my opinion. It is happening.

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snowflake (65) · 8 years ago (edited)

New users are indeed being downvoted of they are lucky enough to get a whale vote. See what I mean? It's not my opinion. It is happening

elementm was downvoted because her post was autovoted by a whale https://steemit.com/art/@elementm/flowers-in-the-backyard-and-account-verification

investigator also got downvoted for the same reasons https://steemit.com/photography/@investigator/trilogy-or-photo

Posts that have not been botvoted by whales have never been downvoted .

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago (edited)

You said above:

New users are not being downvoted

That is factually not true, as I have just demonstrated. 3 days on Steemit is a new user.

Second, according to @abit, you are also wrong. Not only whale votes (and it is not only whale bot votes it seems) but also posts voted on by whale-like groups are systematically being targeted.

If I am not mistaken, this includes curation guilds.

If the voting weight is detrimentally imbalanced (and indeed I think it may be) let's change the code.
This is a stake-weighted platform. Those that do not agree with stake weighting are free to go elsewhere.

I worked hard to earn the trust of those (even powerful NON WHALES) who put their bots on me. Now their say in my content's value is being destroyed because of a few misguided whales and their disorganized "experiment."

You are simply incorrect that new users are not being downvoted, and that only whale bot votes are being "counteracted." Read @abit's blog for yourself.

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kafkanarchy84 (74) · 8 years ago

My votes were consistently adding one cent to users' content, because I have been grinding on here since day one. I pretty much have no money to invest in this, but have made it all blogging. Now users like myself are punished for this effort.

Let's change the code and adjust n^2, not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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daveks (77) · 8 years ago

Well said.

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karenmckersie (74) · 8 years ago

I am in full agreeent ! I put your link to this post in my STRIKE NOTICE POST I just put up ! Check it out !!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@karenmckersie/hello-abit-smooth-steemit-stike-notice-is-on-your-experiment-did-not-work

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bkkshadow (70) · 8 years ago

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everittdmickey (73) · 8 years ago

good point.
I now find that I no longer care much myself.
buzzkill

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sokoloffa (69) · 8 years ago

Be strong in spirit.

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gduran (69) · 8 years ago

It's not only @abit it's also @smooth, I guess there are more, at least @asshole admits he's an asshole, these guys think they are very smart, well you're actually even dumber than @asshole. Listen to this shit "A downvote was applied to partially counter earlier whale votes as an experiment to reduce whale domination of voting influence. Not intended to express an opinion on the content nor result in a net reduction of rewards or reputation (automated notice)", it's automated, fuck them, they don't care if the content's value it's just to show they have power or maybe some other idiot reason. Downvote this assholes, I'm gonna take a real beating off of your flags.

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karenmckersie (74) · 8 years ago

Thats right its total BS!! CHECK OUT MY POST TO STRIKE !!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@karenmckersie/hello-abit-smooth-steemit-stike-notice-is-on-your-experiment-did-not-work

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pqlenator (59) · 8 years ago

Each to their own I guess, all I can say is my rewards have increased , it could just be coincidence or this 'experiment' is working for some by providing more exposure...possible rewards. Give it a chance.

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