The Witness Business: Promises of Riches

paulag (73) · 7 years ago

@drakos this 'do what I do and you will be rich' to is one of the reasons Jerry got kicked from Udemy, even thou he was one of the top selling authors.

he was also know to pay for reviews on his courses, as he pays people here for their witness vote

As for his following, sure he self admits that he has paid for most of this - its obvious when he posts a video, pays for advertising and get the view numbers he does that none of his online following really follow him, all the views come from paid advertising.

It is all about get rich quick, do what I do, you can do it too clever marketing. His is a marketeer and what he says is designed to make your head spin

But many people fall for it, if not, he would not do so well.

What I would say is, Jerry has the ability to bring numbers. But the real questions is, do we want that quality of user on Steemit ?

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12 votes

lexiconical (72) · 7 years ago

"It is all about get rich quick"

I would respectfully point out that he does make it clear there is a lot of work involved, even if that may get glossed over a bit since it's not the kind of thing the audience wants to hear a lot about.

"But the real questions is, do we want that quality of user on Steemit ?"

If we want to be mainstream, or a FB/Twitter/Reddit replacement, I'm afraid so. We can't be the indie band fans that don't like it when they go mainstream.

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3 votes

inquiringtimes (64) · 7 years ago

yes, I personally have tried to coach some of this entitled bunch who think they deserve to get paid to witness when they have done nothing on this platform but set up a server and bitch about not getting paid and insulted all of our hardworking witnesses who typically do 10 jobs in one

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6 votes

zinovi (50) · 7 years ago (edited)

Do we want that quality of user on Steemit ? I don't know, but on Steem - why not ?

I think anyone could find their place and build their community on Steem.

Take the ones formed around languages other than English.
How do you measure the quality of a post in a language that you don't understand ?

The only problem that I see is tag pollution.

I think that we should tag our posts in the language that we write them.

And regarding bad actors - the blockchain already has a mechanism to self-regulate.

Here, Steam Power speaks..

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spiritualmatters (55) · 7 years ago (edited)

@paulag ...Whoa… @jerrybanfield sure gets a lot of attention on Steemit, considering he isn’t the newest whale in the pond.
I discerned from the very first video he did on this platform, that his finance skills are not for the novice; and, those who listen know enough to keep up, or at least be willing to watch a video more than once to be sure they didn’t miss something of value. As I’ve noted in previous posts, he has a very high-energized pitch, pun intended.
@lexiconical is a genuine asset to his success; for which, in all fairness, Jerry always gives him credit for.
You said it best. Jerry is a pitchman…a very successful pitchman at that. In fact, he’s so successful, that even the trained ear might miss the fact that he’s pitching.
In all fairness to this guy, he says upfront in his intro to Steemit, that he has generously financed his own wallet; as many whalians have done, I might add.
If we say it’s the whales that keep the ship from sinking, are we sure we’re not biting the hands that feed this platform in the process?
I think as long as Steemians are playing by the rules, then the ethical side of things should be left to the individual players. I assure you, there have been worse things I could cite as bad for the community…starting with the porno thumbnails.
Peace.

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paulag (73) · 7 years ago

Right, I am with you, there are worse things for steemit, starting with the porno thumbnails. But this post has created engagement, so jerry is obviously a thought provoking subject.

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spiritualmatters (55) · 7 years ago (edited)

I agree. @jerrybanfield has a go-get-it persona which catches the attention of the viewer. Some jibe with him, some don't.

After giving it some thought, I realize that the funniest, and I mean, absolutely funniest thing of all is, (smh), he doesn't give a flying flip about the naysayers.

Actually this is a part of his success. He wears proverbial blinders, only focusing in on how to help others, and in the process helping his bank account.

By keeping his eye on the main thing, he doesn’t waste precious time explaining himself to people who obviously don’t have any intention of helping his bottom line, i.e. growing his brand.

Granted, @drakos makes it clear he’s not ragging on Banfield. And, then he goes on to make the case that teeters on doing that.

In closing, I have a what if: What if @drakos is actually Banfield? I could believe it. I mean, how better to keep people talking about him than to make a controversial post regarding the same. Ha! (lol)

Well, that’s it. I find a lot of people, mostly minnows I’m willing to bet, spend more time talking about him; than he does about us. Obviously, I’m as guilty as the next; because I’ve made more cases for and against Banfield than he’s made for or against me. (lol)

Peace.

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inquiringtimes (64) · 7 years ago

I can assure you that jerry and drakos are not the same people! that is all

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spiritualmatters (55) · 7 years ago

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...l-ng ol!!!

Thanks!

Peace.

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lexiconical (72) · 7 years ago

"Jerry even wrote a detailed history about the Top 20 witnesses and their skills"

Technically speaking, I wrote that!

We're working on the next 40 as well.

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

Oh, I guess I missed that detail, I only jumped to the actual parts about some of the witnesses in those posts. Why didn't YOU write those posts instead of him? So he took your words and posted them with your permission?

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lexiconical (72) · 7 years ago

"Oh, I guess I missed that detail,"

I wonder how many other people did that too =( I didn't get many new followers.

"Why didn't YOU write those posts instead of him? So he took your words and posted them with your permission?"

Yes, and we split the rewards evenly. I am also going to remaster them and post in them in an updated, correct sequence on my blog later. I saw it as a great opportunity to get a bunch of posts pre-written that I can post later, and help Jerry in a mutually beneficial way.

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

I edited my text, check it and tell me if it's acceptable 🙂

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lexiconical (72) · 7 years ago

Looks good to me, matey.

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gsargeant12 (35) · 7 years ago

Excellent post @drakos Upvoted, Resteemed, Followed and gave you a vote as witness! I came to this community directly through the marketing efforts of @JerryBanfield and have been consuming everything he has posted so far. He also has my vote as witness. I have also been doing my due diligence and reading everything I can find about this community, blockchain technology, being a witness, and many other interesting a valuable content located in this to me "one of a kind" community.

I love JBanfields content but I also now love yours. It's why I resteemed it as my first one. You bring much balance to Jerry's message. As I have been an online marketer for years as well as a tech person off and on ( just not heavily into server administration) I really synced with Jerry's message. I can tell you from much experience online that "making money" carrot will certainly draw the crowds as it always does, however in my experience 10 out of 100 people may follow through with attempting to go down the witness road Jerry leads them to and out of those 5 will quickly give it up. Out of the 5 who continue 2 will probably succeed at becoming a witness. Over time even one or both of those will eventually fall out due to circumstances of one kind or another.

If Steemit becomes the community we all believe it can become we will be talking about a million or even a few million member situation. For that to happen this community needs many more @JerryBanfield alerting the world about what this community has to offer. And if we do become that large believe me many, many more witness will be required to support it all.

Your post is the first I have yet to find (only been here a little while) that brings out the much needed balance to Jerry's message which I hope many others traveling this path will find as they to do their due diligence. As a long time marketer and tech person involved with the Internet, communities only grow by people like you and Jerry both caring and sharing and watching over each other. Glad to have found you! And yes my plan is to stay long term, become involved, perhaps become a witness myself as I am not ignorant at all to my way around servers and monitoring things, etc. Marketing is my love though so just not sure what path I will end up on here, time will tell. Once again @drakos keep up the great work!

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4 votes

guiltyparties (70) · 7 years ago

Very true. Out of a 100 you'd get 2 if you're lucky and as a pretty new witness I got to tell you even at the outset it's a fulltime job. Can't make it if you just come in, set it up, publish a post once in a while and do nothing. The community here doesn't accept that kind in this day and time.

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daveparkinson (58) · 7 years ago (edited)

I voted for @jerrybanfield too. He has shown the necessary level of competence, professionalism and respect required by prospective witnesses, unlike some other clowns I have encountered on Steemit.

Despite what some may say about his marketing tactics, he has proven to be effective, shown he understands the business model, and appears more than competent enough to fulfill his duties responsibly in the role of Witness.

I don't expect anyone to 'get rich quick', except for possibly Jerry, who has shown himself to be a leader, not a skeptical follower, in the endeavor for financial independence he shares with others.

For all the people criticizing him, let's see them do one better.

Too many "Suckerbergs" out there and not enough Jerrys.

@jerrybanfield gets my vote 👍

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zinovi (50) · 7 years ago (edited)

@drakos post didn't target @jerrybanfield as a witness, but him overselling the role as a way to make money.

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daveparkinson (58) · 7 years ago (edited)

I understand, but that's what Jerry does, that's his shtick, and others have commented on his overall credibility simply as a result of this. If there was no profit in being a witness for all the work involved, then what would be the point, and if the profit motive encourages him to be more dedicated to making it work, then all the better for everyone.

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mcfarhat (70) · 7 years ago

Thanks for saying it out loud, @drakos!
I've been following Jerry for a while now, and i like what he does, he also got my vote, but he does indeed make things look much easier than they are, and that disillusions people.
I've been personally considering becoming a witness for sometime too, yet digging into it, it certainly is a full time job. Which is why I am yet to make this move.
You also got my vote now too. I think having both ends of spectrum at witness level is a positive thing.

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voorash (55) · 7 years ago

Personally I muted him a while ago because I got sick of seeing his face on every post he makes and some of the stuff I saw him posting was just downright wreckless advice. As far as people needing to be experienced to operate a witness I disagree a bit. The more people running nodes the better as it gives backups for if the top witnesses have issues. I considered setting up a witness not because I saw it as a road to riches which it is obviously not but rather because I like the platform and I am very involved in projects utilizing the blockchain. Although I suppose people like me are probably not the ones you are thinking about.

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felander (71) · 7 years ago

I just wrote a small article, https://steemit.com/witness/@felander/being-a-witness
an enquiry on the witness subject and also because I had just read the jerry article and it just sounded to good to be true but the funnies thing was someone just posting the link to this article without comment
I really like what you put down here, it is well written and might make me put my plans on hold until i can figure out a bit more

thanks and steem on

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jaynie (75) · 7 years ago (edited)

Interesting.... I looked at becoming a "witness" after seeing his posts... but decided against it once I realised the level of leg work... not that I am not willing to put, in... I just simply don't have the time availability....

Interesting post @drakos

I like your VOICE!

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

Thanks for reading. Wise decision. I think people could focus more on their blog and leave this witness stuff for the nerds 🤓

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jaynie (75) · 7 years ago

lol!!! aptly put ;)

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zinovi (50) · 7 years ago

🤓

If for whatever reason they really wants to become a witness,
they could always register a company, form a good team and fund the endeavor.

It wont be cheap, easy or from the start - profitable.

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crimsonclad (66) · 7 years ago

a great post. So many steemians are coming forward with desires to witness, with no plan on how, no idea of the costs of both time and money, and with no actual interest in the development of the community, the service to the community, or the interest of further developing steemit for all.

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atopy (59) · 7 years ago

Would you believe me that I had no idea who the guy is? :) Then a few weeks ago, by pure accident I may add, I stumbled onto him. Sadly for him, I am a quick judge of character. I won't go into what post I read ... I will sum up. I did not like anything I saw/read. Maybe I should have read more of his content to understand why he has so many followers. But as stated...I'm a quick judge and jury kind of girl.... and I do not get it. :) Maybe it is a mystery...like 50 shades of gray.

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inquiringtimes (64) · 7 years ago (edited)

I think @drakos outlined the why pretty clearly. Although I can say that I have been impressed with the quality of jerry's witness posts lately, but we have @lexiconical, at least in part, to thank for that.

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zinovi (50) · 7 years ago

At the beginning I too didn't get it.
A lot of things started to make sense after I found his Speaker Meeting series on dtube.
The first video is here - https://dtube.video/v/jerrybanfield/schmd2cm

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atopy (59) · 7 years ago

...yeah I listened for 10 min. Sorry. It sounds like a self-help book. No worries. I do not understand many things ... I do accept them. It is there. People like it. People like success soppy stories. I do not judge people who like this .... just saying ... not my cup of tea.

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darthflux (48) · 7 years ago

@jerrybanfield is a very good Steemian ^_^

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nightshift1134 (52) · 7 years ago

I'm almost thinking the same with my witness server, im setup properly but I'm not "that" level of a nerd lol it's costing me 80$ and I'm nowhere near able to earn anything.

But we'll see ill keep learning and getting better.

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

You need to campaign for votes.

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nightshift1134 (52) · 7 years ago (edited)

On my posts i have a footer like most witnesses to vote for me, but i think most people dont care or dont know how lol

Is there another way to campaing im missing or a quick google search?

And id be happy with making at least 80 steam a month [to cover costs] ill leave the top 20 to the better steemians than me

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

Campaigning is about getting involved in projects, creating projects, connecting with people and whales. Takes time. That's the kind of stuff Jerry doesn't explain in his posts, and which bugs me.

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3 votes

pawos (62) · 7 years ago

presumably because he understands this as the secret of his success :-)

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humaidi (73) · 7 years ago

nice post..

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pawos (62) · 7 years ago

what, that's all you can say? meaningless.

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sixersfeds (51) · 7 years ago

I'm glad someone took the time to say this. I'm actually not a huge fan of Jerry b UT that's a different subject. The point overall being that becoming a witness isn't for everyone. With a very established network of witnesses now, with Steemit well into it's second year, even if you become a witness it will take a lot of time and effort and/or existing merit to move up the list. I was actually blown away to see how high Jerry has moved up the last month. I think another thing he should stop doing is pretty much telling people to make him their proxy for witness voting. Something about the way he words it in his posts really bothers me, it's like a command with a question mark at the end, lol. Thanks for touching on an important topic.

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kubbyelizabeth (66) · 7 years ago

I once heard it best from my best friend. She said she seeks friends that have enough respect for her to call her out when she is wrong. Rather it is respect, courage, or whatever it comes from a good place. Awesome post and I hope you continue to pin point the importance and challenges witness face. You got my vote drakos!

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hidayani (46) · 7 years ago

You have a good personality, want to solve and straighten out problems compared to enlarging an existing problem.

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pawos (62) · 7 years ago

hey @drakos, you're new to me. maybe, because i'm not very old :-) lol (here on steemit of course). but i totally disagree with banfield as a witness. it's all about his behavior to buy votes. but what's about you - are you a nerd, do you need to buy the votes for you as a witness, and which country you live in? that's interesting to me. thx & greetings

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

Yeh he caused quite a stir when he started as a witness, buying votes and selling setup guides of freely available information.

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pawos (62) · 7 years ago

right. and my questions?

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

Yes I'm a nerd, no I don't buy votes, that's not the way I do things. I live in Penguin Land.

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pawos (62) · 7 years ago

one, two, three - so is he :-)
witness @drakos you will be!

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inquiringtimes (64) · 7 years ago

drakos is a hard working mother f'er. he spends all day in the help channel of steemit.chat sharing his infinite patience with all of us.... amongst other things.

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pawos (62) · 7 years ago

thx. i voted for him already weeks ago :-)

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alexvan (74) · 7 years ago

Hey @drakos, you did not mention that he outsourced the maintainance of the nods to @someguy123. I think it is crucial to see why and how he does it. I think a witness shall do the work by himself. Why does he not support @lexiconical on becoming a witness, as I'm sure he has much more technical understanding? It is all about getting the quick buck, as I see it.

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inquiringtimes (64) · 7 years ago

being a witness is not doing everything yourself. The best leaders must have the ability to delegate. Lexiconical, is a writer, not sure if he's trying to do the witness thing. That would take away precious writing time.

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eternalsunshine (51) · 7 years ago (edited)

Agree that it is probably not as easy as this. No need to be an expert to know that it probably takes time, skills etc...

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dbdecoy (53) · 7 years ago

Yes, being a witness is not a cakewalk. That is the reason I am hesitant to become one, though it is a tempting task. I am still doing due diligence.

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kenentertainment (57) · 7 years ago

Damn steem is crazy, i'm new everyone, i'm still trying to figure out what whaleshares are and i read this. It's like a whole new language, anyways thanks 4 the post and have a good one!

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

Steem is a very complex environment, a lot to learn every day.

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3 votes

anarcho-andrei (64) · 7 years ago

There are a huge number of different ways to engage with the platform, and a ton of emerging communities. MSP is a perfect example of that. But witnessing does require a significant effort on the part of the person running the node. I have enough technical knowledge to understand the broadstrokes, but even I question whether that's enough.

Witnesses serve a vital function in the Steem ecosystem, but it's not simple, easy, or cheap.

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kenentertainment (57) · 7 years ago

Thanks yall, i'll get it down, just need more time!

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criticalblaze (41) · 7 years ago

You have given me some vital campaign info. Resteemed some really good stuff that has been unbelievably helpful, despite how much of failure my witness campaign has been so far, it is has definitely given me a much better understanding of this particular blockchain. I am underway on a little project regardless of if I turn my witness off or not

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jerrybanfield (74) · 7 years ago

@drakos I appreciate you looking at the posts I do and what can I say except thank you and

You're welcome!

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drakos (70) · 7 years ago

Of course. Although I don't always agree with all that you write, you still compile good content for the community.

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4 votes

jerrybanfield (74) · 7 years ago (edited)

Thank you @drakos and I appreciate you answering so many questions for witnesses like me in the chat! What I love about Steem is that we have a community where we openly disagree with each other because this is healthy. Anywhere free from debate and discussion is likely to be a place of oppression. If everyone agreed with us on everything, what fun would life be?

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