So, a lot of people seem to think that I'm a whale. That's a misconception. I'm a Dolphin. I'm not even a particularly large dolphin. That's because ball size is typically measured by SP.
A couple ways to look at this account
If you go by the standard-
Redfish 0-1000 SP
Minnow = 0-5000SP
Dolphin = 5000-50000SP
Whale= 50,000SP+
I'm a dolphin. I'm not even that large of a dolphin because I'm not that huge. According to Steemwhales I'm not even in the top 500 accounts on Steemit.
What's another way to look?
I like follower count generally. I'm floating around top 60 most followed accounts. If you exclude all the people that just followed 40,000 people and now have 4000+ followers then I'm in the top 40 most followed accounts. Actually I think I might be personally responsible along with @jerrybanfield for the rise of those folks. I wrote an article about the ways you get on the top 25 most followed list and mentioned spam f4f as an approach. Now's there's 20 of them near the top of the list. I also think Jerry has been actively encouraging the behavior. Oh well. Sorry guys. For the record it is a pretty shitty way to get up on the top of the list. You'll notice many of those accounts have thousands of followers and still accounts only worth $30. It's probably not worth your time.
Anyway, all of that is to stay now that I'm rockin' close to 4,000 followers I'm in the top most followed.
The Best handle for figuring out long term success
I don't know any place that tracks this conveniently right now, but my favorite measurement of success is looking at the combined SP of all the people that follow you. That gives you a sense of the long term trend you're likely up on. So, yeah, having 4,000 brnad new minnows is neat and all, but I'd rather have 1 whale droppin' votes on my posts from a strict financial gain perspective. It's the same with tracking this. What you want to know is how big are the collective balls of all the people that read your posts.
It's easy to do that in Discord rooms that use Banjo. Just type $follows Steemitname and watch what it spits out. The higher your value is the better off your long term success on the platform is looking.
Anyway, I'm not a whale... yet
People seem to think I'm a whale. I'm not. I make decent money but I have a house, wife, and 2 kids. So I basically have no spending cash for say 15 more years or more. So, I can't just come in here and buy a shit ton of steem. So, I have to do it modern way, which is posting for it. I have around 20k steem. I have purchased $2500 of steem, but the vast majority has come from author rewards. Yes I have a big following. Yes I helped create a minnow group and get some publicity for that. Yes I am a witness. Despite all of that. I'm not rich. I'm just a dude. Just a medium sized dolphin. I still got 30k Steem Power to earn before I'm there. It's gonna be a bit before I get my Whale Ball upgrades.
So, lots of people make this mistake when reaching out in Discord or Steemit chat. I just wanted to clear it up.
Witness Side Note
I'll probably do a full post on this laterz, but I'm rocking 19.1 now. Hopefully you stop seeing the broadcast error. I got it once myself. For the record @netuoso broke steemit. For the record we didn't give him the Minnow Support Project Medal of Honor for that specific activity! Fortunately, the devs and some really smart users fixed it in pretty close to record time, and now many of the witnesses are rockin' the fix. This place is stronger for having gone through that process.
Good Times.
Hi there.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Feeding the shark now.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
EEEK a shark!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
New Followers get 0.001 SBD$ and an upvote for free!!
Just follow @steemvote and...
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for brining this up, I always wanted to know what qualifies a person to be a dolohin... I guess I'll be the smallest dolphin of them all in a few days 😂🐳
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah man! Doooo it!!! d'ya think "Flipper" was the biggest Dolphin out there? lol And look what "Flipper" accomplished :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
@stackin, I'm a bit surprised that you didn't know what qualifies a person to be a dolphin. If I remember well, you commented on my post -300 SP more to become a dolphin. Anyway, I'm preparing my dancing shoes to come for your dolphin party in a few days. The indices are very clear from what I see in your wallet that you are just one step away . I'm yet to organize a party, though. Cheers.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah, had no idea... lots where saying 30k SP minimum 😂🐳... I need to be stackin some more 😎
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh my goodness! Can you imagine that they were lying to you? Yes, I think you should be stacking some more like I'm doing. Sometimes, I just add as little as 5/10 SP. They all add up. Act true to your steemit name, @stackin to stack more and more steem. Lol!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I really like the cumulative Steem Power of your followers metric. Would love to see that added to steemd.com
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you for posting this. As a Redfish just starting out it's nice to see what's possible if I stick with it. I had thought about doing the f4f but felt in the end what's the point if they aren't quality followers. Good luck in the next year getting to your whale status.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Look at you catching a sneaky @jesta upvote through your comment on muh wall!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Like a rare pokemans
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"I'm not a whale... yet"
This reminds me of the post I made of Bitman.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
funny!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
but not factual.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Whales are just fat dolphins anyway :-) Nice job on the witness climb, I remember waaaaaay back (like a few days ago) you 50+. I'm happy for you, keep up the good work.
ps: Way to go @netuoso :-/ LOL
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Like rhinos are fat unicorns!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
LOL Exactly! We're on the same page.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
huzzah for github resolution and SF19.1..way to go @netuoso pushing the buttons
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
and a sump for the resources of the platform...spinning the hamster wheel takes electricity.
please, folks, listen to @aggroed
no more f4f spam
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I do not have the patience for the f4f spam approach. Following people just so they would follow me clogged my feed with all sorts of non-sense I really was not interested in. Trimmed my following list to just the folks I like and respect on Steemit, and it was like a breath of fresh air. Now I prefer the old fashioned way of growing by interacting with people and trying to turn out quality content. Works a lot better I believe!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Exactly, the people that like what you say will upvote you, the people racing from spam comment to spam post and back aren't going to read or vote your comments anyway!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Gave you my tiny minnow vote, enjoy the .00001 payout lol
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
BOOM!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
'I'm not rich. I'm just a dude.' Was the best line. Thanks for being so forthright. I just joined and I'm not looking to spam for friends as you'd mentioned. Any tips on how to get my writing & artwork noticed are very helpful so I'll pay attention to your posts.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I have a bunch of steemit tips posts. Lots are in the Discord channel I started. General growth advice. Minnows comment, dolphins author, whales curate. And make as many friends onchain and off as you can.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I think you meant minnows comment? At least that's what I've seen once in the past and is what is currently working for me. Otherwise, I should change my approach?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
fixed
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I hope I'll become a dolphin one day
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
OH NO! I thought I was at least a minnow... LOL didn't know there was a category below minnow. 😂😂😂 That's all right... no balls at all, hahah It's cool.
I've never seen a breakdown of who is what, so thanks for sharing! :)
Always enjoy your content, and I'm sure you will make it to whale status one day. keep on swimming!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks Karen. THx for reading.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for the content. Always love learning new things about Steem life :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Then we can say you are a very Healthy Dolphin who will grow big very soon @aggroed! It is just matters of months!
Same like Dolphins, you are always helping out, this is what is great about a special one like you!
Cheers
@progressivechef
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for the nice post.
I'm just a small minnow who like to blog here and love to grow step by step with good content and my #BeerSaturday Challenge.
Have a great day and steem on
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
So you are working your way up to becoming a pilot whale or a killer whale (largest members of the dolphin family) aka a blackfish - good luck dude!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Never mind... i can clearly see you as a whale in the coming few months, with your dedication and effort in the platform, you will definitely achieve the whale status.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I totally understand what you mean but the f4f approach. When I started on here a month ago I did exactly the same. Did I start getting a lot of followers? Why yes. Was my feed filled with spam? Why yes...
Realized quickly that that was a stupid idea I should never have done...
Anyways, so now only following the people I really care about and have no idea which followers actually like my posts...
I'd highly suggest to others to stay away from that approach...
Thanks for all the support you always showing us @aggroed :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Sure dude! EZPZ.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
For the record... I enjoy Pizza
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I don't think it really matter all this ranking (redfish, minnow, dolphin, whale). Ok in a way all the ranks and stats are cool don't get me wrong but the most important here i think is making good friends, reading great content, create great new content and having fun while you do all this. At least for me its like this. Having fun here is the most important as the rest will follow!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yep... but tracking success can be healthy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I am still getting my head around Steemit. Didn't really understand what half of what you said means, but you said it well. I got the part of the wife and two kids as I'm in the exact same boat 😀
So there's a fish analogy going on here, I got that. And who are the witnesses?
So I'm just going to upvote and resteem this now then? I'll follow you, too - seems there are a few things to learn...
Cheers!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Welcome to Steemit. I have this: https://steemit.com/steem/@aggroed/i-m-new-here-can-you-explain-steemit-to-me-like-i-m-5 see if that helps!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hahah awesome - thanks for the lunchtime read! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I still ain't getting the witness thing
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Looking forward on becoming a Dolphin :D
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Everyone sees everyone bigger than yourself as a whale. I've been called a whale by a smaller minnow, even though I'm only a bit over 300 SP, so I can't imagine how some see you as a whale.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As a Redfish, I had no idea what the levels were, thanks for the info!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for sharing this post. I think you posted to clear up the misconception of you being a whale, but what I got out of it is I need to quit complaining or feeling bad about my "low" rewards. If a person who puts there blood, sweat, and tears into this platform is only a mid sized dolphin I have nothing to complain about!
For sure. I think "tests" like that should be carried out more often. Yes it was inconvinient. Yes I complained about it a lot. Yes I think Steemit is now a better and stronger place for it.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
To a plankton, you look like a whale.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great post -- i'm now following and i have a voice! And some awesome peeps on my list too. Come on by @thedamus and check out my wares ;) you'll be glad you did!
Cheers! from @thedamus
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The problem is people think a fish is a fish, most folks think a dolphin is just like a whale only cuter and more cuddly but both taste just the same.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
When is a whale not a whale?.
When it's a Dolphin.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It is just a matter of time before you become a whale. Keep up whit the great work.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'm just enjoying the ride, not getting too caught up in those details. Seems like you are too, and that is what seems to attract true followers. When you can pretty much just buy your "whale-hood", if you had the resources to do that, you would have a much different perspective than by working your way there.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I didn't know what the whale/dolphin/minnow thing was based off being a total noob, thanks for the clarification!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great post as aways my friend.
You are the best :) Upvoted.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As I was reading your content, Its like I was listening to a story from Mr Robot. Just kept reading on.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you for sharing this now I know the differences because I always heard this minnows, whale and dolphins I don't understand but now it's clear. Thank aggroed
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Good post^^
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Witness @aggroed, I like this way of tracking combined SP, which you've enlightened us about in this post. The moment I tried the approach, banjo threatened to eat me up. Lol! Maybe, I didn't enter the quest correctly. Meanwhile, I have never been a fan of f4f approach. It doesn't go down well with me. No wonder, the ratio of my followers to those I am following is about 5:1, which is okay by me. I must not follow everybody. Generally, those I follow are Steemians whose content I always want to see in my feed because we have some things in common, maybe we belong to same niche. A good example is @amy-goodrich, who is my fan in the food niche and I vlog in same niche.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Cool post! I traded/bought my SP, so I have great respect for someone earning it the hard way!! ;). Good luck with your quest!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I envy that approach! Wish I had the money for it. Thanks for the upvote. I've followed you. My votes are not worth much because i put my SP towards minnow projects, but I'm happy to send a few resteems into the world on some of your posts. Write something that pertains to minnows I'll make sure it gets some eyes. Again, it's nice to meet you and it's lovely to see you on my wall.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks very much for your kind comments!
I don't intend to post much actually, but if I do probably just going to be about trading ;)
I felt pretty smart when I bought about half my SP under $0.50. But then like last month I doubled my quantity, while it was falling - but still ended up paying over $2.00 for a lot of it! But it doesn't matter to me too much, as that's the risk you take when investing in this stuff. In it for the long haul! And the same goes for anyone with SP who isn't powering it down 😀
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah, I'm not sweating the price. It'll be back over two in August and up to 5 by december. That's what I see.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hoping! would be nice 😁
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"measurement of success is looking at the combined SP of all the people that follow you."
That's a great metric. I fear that my followers are probably on the very small end, and this metric would dump me a lot lower than the old Steemwhales does, where I'm a surprising #479.
Thanks for the post, interesting thoughts on measuring success. I'm having a mini-crisis of motivation due to problems in my other two (ugh, right?) jobs and this is a new metric to mull over.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It's the best metric out there. After enough time an active poster will surpass an inactive whale if they have good followers. So, the best thing to grind out for wealth is large SP holding followers. Not sure that's best for life, but if all you want is money than that's the way to go.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Agree wholeheartedly, on both counts. It's important to remember why you are here and do what will bring you success. I personally got so fed up with censorship on Reddit that I leaped at Steemit when I learned about it, and of course, the rewards are a huge bonus and great way to sell new users on "YASN" (yet another social network + Nethack reference).
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hope you will reach the spot soon!! :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Finally someone explained the difference between a minnow, dolphin and whale so well - it all comes down to the amount of SP you have! And now I know that the magic number to become a whale is 50,000 SP.
Thanks @aggroed, I've been meaning to figure this out for a while and I'm glad that your post answered my question in a snap. You may still be a dolphin but you have the heart of a whale!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
LOL...
Next to my son,you are the fastest growing person I know!
He is 9 yrs old and already almost as big as me!
Amazing how fast these younger generation's grows!
;-)
Keep up the Good work.
namaste
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
When did the term redfish enter the lexicon of steemit? That's a new one on me.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
To lay credence to what witness @aggroed stated, this is a graph from witness @arcange, showing the distribution of steemit registered members by category. Besides, @aggroed, I like the way you stated how much you invested $2,500 worth of steem in steemit. Of course, we all know that you've been investing your precious time and incredible talent too. Many here think that they can just come and reap from a place where they've not sown. It doesn't work that way! Thanks for the enlightenment and your hard work in this community that is paying off. Ride on.

Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks Mary. Nice graph. I hadn't seen that despite liking and following along on steemit blog every now and again.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You are welcome, Aggroed. I understand how very busy you are working on different projects all for the good of steemit community.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great post, I remember your "I'm going to have to sit my wife down for the chat" post...my God you have achieved so much in such a short time, it has been amazing watching your progress here on Steemit, I am glad that it has gone so well for you so far and wish you well for even greater things in the future :-)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks! That's awesome. I work pretty hard at this. That was a "fun" talk.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for the $follows tip! I still kinda need to figure out what the actual worth is compared to others, but its things like this that make it a lot easier here. Thanks for that :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I remember I followed you because of your helpful posts, and they are still helpful! You're always rocking, doing great stuff, and when you finally become a whale, there will be tons of people who you've helped rooting for you. Keep up the good work :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
That's touching! Thanks!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thank you for your responsiveness. I had needed hand-holding and you have responded, and helped. That's why you've got my vote. And why I trust @lovejuice. I have lost on other penny bots and love juice is about the only one I trust.
You seem like a real person, @aggroed. That is very admirable in the fake, robotic, bot world we live in.
You give me hope.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Life isn't that bad. Tons of good people on here. Voting bots are fun, but the community is the best thing about Steemit hands down.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
There are so many ways to accomplish success on this platform.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Absolutely! SP is just one of them. And a lot depends on your goals too. Thanks for stopping by :)
I've baked you some cookies. Stop by again sometime!

Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The categories are interesting.
I think a discussion on cumulative Steem Power would be interesting. How many minnow votes should be worth 1 whales worth of SP? 4000 seems mighty high, given the averages of the platform. Shouldn't a volume of that size have the same or similar curative power as 1 single whale?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hello "Just a dude"! 😀

Whaleometer?!? is at 40%. Engagement and commitment is at 100%!!
SteemOn Dude and keep up the good work.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks Dan!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Have you ever been told by the smartest dude in class that a quiz was quite a challenge when you know he aced it. Yeah that's right 😂
NB: I did the telling 😁
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Getting a leg up is hard even when you have killer content. On steemit it seems its content plus contacts that make money and draw interest and gain any leverage.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Good for u. Good post?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting. As a minnow, the netuoso event predates me. I'm interested in what it means to "break" steemit.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting to hear about the real person behind the account. I've awarded you a $0.03 upvote to contribute to your $30K target ;)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
i see you ;D hello dolphin aka whale :D
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh so I am not even a minnow yet but a Red Fish! :D
At least you are a cute dolphin already and just waiting to be well fed to grow as big as a whale. :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Dolphins... whales... when you are a minnow swimming upstream it is hard to tell the difference . Lol! Glad you made it. 🐓🐓
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit