Feeling Lost? Here Is Steemit 101

in welcometosteemit •  6 years ago  (edited)

Welcome to Steemit, Internet! Let me show ya around.

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First of all, you may be here because you saw a blurb on the news or someone mention it on Facebook, but you're not really sure how it works, or how cryptocurriencies work, or any of that. No worries! I didn't either when I first started. So here's a brief primer.

How Payments Work

You're probably here because you heard "get paid for the time you spend on social media," so let's start with payments. The dollar amount you see under posts isn't US Dollars, even though it uses the "$" symbol. It's the amount of potential (because it can change during the week that voting is open on it, more on that later) earnings in the native cryptos, Steem and Steem Backed Dollars. Further, it is split between the author of the post getting most of that payment, and the curators (the people who voted for it) getting a smaller portion in relation to how big their vote on it was. If you click on the little down arrow to the right of the number (the up arrow in a circle to the left is what you click to upvote), you can see the "pending payout," which will tell you how much of it will be SBD and how much is Steem (it will say SP for "Steem Power").

Even though there are only three settings as to how you want to receive your rewards (100% Steem Power, 50/50 SP/SBD, or decline payment - you'll see the numbers crossed out if the author has declined any payment), on a 50/50 post, the numbers will be uneven. Why? Because the system presumes SBDs are worth one US dollar (tl;dr they used to be always worth one dollar, now their value fluctuates), but it calculates Steem Power based on the current price of Steem on coin exchanges. So usually that means you'll get more SBDs than SP.

Still with me? Okay.

Voting on a post lasts for seven days from the time of publication. Really, six and a half; the last twelve hours won't add any money if you upvote it. It can flux depending on more people upvoting it, someone flagging it (essentially, a downvote), and the price of Steem. How big of an upvote you can give is dependent on your Steem Power.

Okay, explain Steem Power to me

Steem Power is Steem (the currency) essentially locked away in a retirement account. You CAN cash it out, but not all at once (it will take 13 weeks to get all of your SP made available, divided into once weekly payments). If you want to grow on the platform, though (and earn bigger curation rewards - that portion of payments that goes to upvoters), you want to leave your SP in that account. It effects the size of your upvotes, your curation rewards, your rank, and how much attention others give you. Personally, I treat my SBD as "money" to pay bills with, and SP like an automatic contribution to a retirement account. I leave it there.

So how does flagging/downvoting work?

Unlike other sites, there is no centralized body who can banhammer users, delete their accounts, or deny their earnings (coughYouTubecough) if someone reports their post for some reason. The upside, of course, is you can't be censored. Breastfeeding mamas and burlesque dancers don't need to worry about Facebook jail because someone with a stick up their butt reported them as "inappropriate." The downside, is if there is really a creep, no one can boot them, either. HOWEVER, they can be downvoted into obscurity.

Say there is some spam account who just posts 500 comments a day of "Nice post, follow me!" (they do exist); very quickly people will flag those comments, dropping their reputation like a rock. Once their reputation is low enough, they are automatically "grayed out" - you have to click to see what they said. Easily ignored (and not profitable for them).

What's reputation?

That little number in parenthesis next to the person's name. It's supposed to be an indicator of, essentially, earning your reputation as a good account on the platform; people upvote you because they like what you have to say. However, for complicated reasons I won't get into here (there's plenty of posts ranting about it if you look), some people have essentially bought their rep, so the system isn't perfect. Everyone starts at reputation 25. Once you start going below that, you automatically look suspicious (with the exception of well known accounts with negative reputations; again, it's basically due to site politics and arguments about the unfairness of bought votes and gaming the system).

How do I turn my Steem Dollars into US Dollars that I can pay the electric bill with?

There are many detailed tutorials taking you step by step through the process depending on what route you'd like to take, but basically:

Step one: using an exchange like Blocktrades or Bittrex, you change your SBD into one of the "big" cryptos, like Bitcoin, Etherium, or Litecoin. You deposit those coins into a wallet at a site like Coinbase.

Step two: At Coinbase, you sell your Bitcoin/ETH/LTC for dollars, which will deposit into your bank account.

There are lots of other exchanges and wallets out there; you don't have to use Coinbase, Blocktrades, or Bittrex. I was just using them as examples. People like other exchanges for many reasons, like lower fees. But Coinbase is one of the big guns, so to speak, and pretty easy to navigate (and find tutorials for). Poke around to find the exchanges you prefer!

Congratulations! You just made it through the most complicated part of this primer. Give your brain a high five.

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Geez, is it all about money?

Nope! One of my favorite things about Steemit are all the people trying to make the world a better place. I love the crew at #ophumanangels, where we post about little acts of kindness and encouragement; #litterwalk is where we post about our litter-cleaning missions; and there are at least three tree-planting accounts that I know of: @treeplanter, @intrepidsurfer, and @thegreens. There is a Steem-funded school @SchoolForSDG4, too! We have raised money to adopt a piece of rainforest, plant trees, support impoverished people in Indonesia, and buy cat food for my elderly neighbor's cats. Steemit is FULL of awesome, kind deeds.

There's lots of artists sharing their work, visual, musical, and written; more contests than you can shake a stick at, and of course, allllllllllll the cryptocurrency news. We even have #steembay - selling your goods on the blockchain!

You should think of Steemit as less like Facebook, and more like a true internet of ideas.

BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT BLOCKCHAIN IS, PHOENIX!

I know. Some dude on cable news mocked it, trying to sound smart instead of admitting that he didn't understand it, either. "It uses so much electricity!!! It's bad for the environment!!" ...those numbers are actually based on older tech used to mine Bitcoin. Most Bitcoin mining has moved on to a more efficient system now, and not all cryptos use the same mining tech as Bitcoin, anyway. How much electric does Google use? Facebook? YouTube? Wall Street? You get the idea. It's not the eco-apocalypse.

"But BAD ACTORS use cryptocurriencies, like DRUG DEALERS on that one site!!" ...that site was shut down ages ago, and uh, drug dealers use cash, too. You gonna boycott cash? No. That's a silly argument.

So, you wanna understand blockchain? Here are my two recommendations. One, the book The Age of Cryptocurrency (link to it at a mom and pop glbt-friendly bookstore, but you can also find it at The Behemoth That Shall Not Be Named) by Paul Vigna and Michael Casey.

Two, this excellent YouTube video from SciShow:


not at all my work, but it's totally what I point people to all the time

I hope this post helped you feel a little less lost trying to figure out what exactly is happening here in Steemit land! If you're new, don't forget to make an introduction post, and put the tags #introduceyourself and #introducemyself in it! Thanks for reading, and...

WELCOME TO STEEMIT!

That Red Fish your momma always warned you about

Referral links:

Get free Manna, crypto UBI: https://www.mannabase.com/?ref=6e4b50d35e

Join Simbi, the barter economy website: https://simbi.com/wren-paasch/welcome

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Awesome article... I hope it helps the new people.. it certainly would have helped me..

Thanks! I hope it helps, too.

This is a great article about Steemit! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

Great article. I didn't realize that people's entire accounts could be greyed out. I knew that comments could. I've only been on here for 2 weeks now. Still learning. Thank you.

Yep. When their whole account is greyed out, you can still see them if you look for their blog specifically, but they won't be in feeds, as I understand it. You can also "mute" people whose content you don't want to see.

Good to know. I may use the mute feature now. There are some people who I feel don't deserve a flag, but I don't want to see their content. Thank you for the information.

Glad to help.

Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 17 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.

I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 34 SBD worth and should receive 101 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.

I am TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!

Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
trufflepig
TrufflePig

Wow, thank you! 😃

I am so impressed with this: succinct, straightforward, yet with a passing nod to all the nuances of steemit, all done with a light touch and without getting bogged down. I kind of knew all this, had gleaned it here and there, but so useful to have it written out like this!
I have a question, though: if you want to put money into steemit, I guess it is the same process in reverse? Buy bitcoin or similar, put it in your coinbase wallet, buy steem? When you've bought steem or steem power, does it automatically show in your account?

I haven't gone in reverse myself because poverty, but I am pretty sure you can buy at blocktrades and have them deposit directly to your Steemit account; and I think it's correct that they don't take fiat so you'd have to two-step. But again, I don't have experience doing that, so I'm not certain. I'm sure someone must have an informative tutorial that can better help!
Edited to add: you would be buying liquid Steem, and would then have to power up to put it in your SP. :)

Yes, I have seen some but ... I struggle 😎. Just realised my last comment was my 1,000 post 😱 and now that milestone has gone and it's 999 until the next one. I ordered that blockchain book through our local radical bookshop, it has to come from the States but only takes a fortnight or so.

Yay 1000 posts and radical bookshops! 😃

Just made my first trade, thanks to your post. Took less than an hour, including verification and reassuring my bank that yes, I do want to do this and it is me, and very straightforward.

Woohoo! Congrats, that's awesome!

Waaw... it is a great post @phoenixwren, with detail explanation about steemit, so everyone who want to join here they can understand what must they do here!
And you know that, I know steemit from my brother and he teach me detail how to use it, so honestly I never read tutorial how to run steemit well, so this post also more useful for me to understand steemit clearly,
Thank you @phoenixwren😉

I'm glad if it was useful, thank you!

It is my pleasure @phoenixwren😉

This is a very good article and perfect entry into the contest... I'm happy to be a fellow contestant with you in this great idea that Asher has put together! :)

Thank you, and likewise! 😊

Great post !
I won't say I would have liked it to see it when I started, because I'm happy to see it now ! I didn't know they were tree-planting accounts, I'm gonna check that in depth.

Yay, more trees! 🌳

Simple, easy to understand and to the point. I liked it for it's basic message, and well, I don't know a lot about crypto, so it is not really needed to enjoy steemit. So simple is simple, and easy is well makes simple fun.

Thanks! :)

Great article! I wish this had been round when I first started! It would have made things so much easier.

Thank you! I hope it does help. It's a learning curve when you first start out! I've been thinking of doing walkthroughs for ages but there isn't an app that can do that for Kindle (there was one or two in the store but all the reviews said they didn't work).

My Gods @phoenixwren - thank-you for writing this, its the best intro/ tutorial I've come across so far, and I've looked around until steem began to bellow out of the ears! Still don't really get how the SP/ SBD distribution works, but I'll keep coming back to this artickle as I wade further into the unknown.

ps. really excited to hear about the treeplanting projects, gonna head over there now and see woss going on! x Thx x

I'm glad if it was helpful! And I know the feeling - we've all been there in information overload. You'll get the hang of it! :)

great intro to steemit! gah when i first joined where were all these articles ;) lol... i remember going around looking for all of these facets of the blockchain!

Right? Me too!

Welcome, phoenixwren! Best wishes for a very fun journey here on Steemit! Have fun

By the way, there are several groups you as a newcomer can join. They will stay with you for your journey, helping and mentoring along the way.

@greetersguild invite link https://discord.gg/AkzNSKx
@newbieresteemday invite link https://discord.gg/2ZcAxsU

Saludos es un placer ver personas nuevas por aquí, éxitos te desea @ydavgonzalez.

Gracias, pero yo no soy nuevo (lo siento, mi Español es muy limitado).

Wrg of electricity usage, you wrote ...

Most Bitcoin mining has moved on to a more efficient system now

Eh, no? Newer equipment can do more hashes pr kWh, but on the long term, the total energy used for bitcoin mining, measured in fiat money, will be proportional with the fiat price for Bitcoin. So, if the USD-value of one bitcoin will grow into i.e. 50 kUSD and stay there for several months, the electricity demand for Bitcoin mining will seriously push electricity prices upwards, globally.

That's however irrelevant for Steem, the "delegated proof of stake"-model doesn't "waste" electricity in the same way.

I wasn't speaking of cost, I was speaking of kWh. It was discussed in the book I mentioned.

Also, as time goes on, miners will get less and less Bitcoin for their trouble, which will be a counter to your idea; and increasing adoption of renewable energy is a depressing force to energy prices.
I couldn't find where I had jotted down the exact number just now (I have the book in audio, not print), but their stat was that if all Bitcoin mining was done with the current, efficient way right now, it would be equivalent to 7000something American homes. Maybe that will increase with time (presuming an even more efficient hash rate isn't discovered), but again, with less Bitcoin given to miners, maybe not? It's becoming less and less individual-with-noisy-rig and more and more group-of-people-paying-to-have-a-stake-in-a-big-industrial-setup. Splitting fewer and fewer Bitcoin for their investment. Maybe if the price moons, it'll still be worth it, but there are so many variables.
And yes- doesn't apply to Steem, or several other cryptos.

  ·  6 years ago (edited)

Theory and practice does not always go in hand, but in theory Bitcoin price (measured in kWh/btc) and electricity consumption is very much connected. There are some factors that can keep the electricity consumption from growing out of hand, the halving is an obvious one, I don't have time elaborating on the others right now.

Better equipment is not such a factor per se. It's a bit like expecting the invention of airplanes to cut down energy consumption because the mileage pr person or unit of fuel is lower - in reality any such benefit is quickly eaten up by the fact that people travel longer on their holidays and do more business travels. With Bitcoin mining, the important thing is not how many terahashes pr second one produces, but how many percents of the total hashing power one has. Better equipment on the market just means people will upgrade (with the added environmental costs of doing such an upgrade). Also, when the btc price grows faster than what people manage to upgrade their equipment, it will eventually be profitable to turn on old equipment.

I got ya. We'll have to see how it pans out, of course!

As long as the Bitcoin mining electricity consumption is insignificant compared with the total global electricity production, the fiat spent (CNY/EUR/USD) and energy used (kWh) used is proportional, so it's the same.

Should the Bitcoin price really moon, the electricity price will grow due to increased demand; kWh and CNY will become disconnected, the fiat spent will continue to grow linearly while the kWh will grow slower.

Welcome to Steem, @phoenixwren!

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