This post hits quite a nerve for me and turns my stomach (nothing personal). I hate that people are put in a position to potentially compromise on their values, as I see your conflict above. It's not your fault. Some people handle it as simply business. As for me, I feel that I have three options:
Build myself up properly and do the exact opposite when I have the power.
Accept that this is how some people on the top of the pyramid think, see how this has significantly hurt the rest of the pyramid, and dial back on my passion for this platform.
Load up whale money to combat this immediately, but haven't and won't, because I decided to experiment with earning Steem with my bare hands... as was intended. My Steemit wallet is small on purpose, not because I couldn't join the upper circle in a matter of hours.
I'm almost enraged at how the design puts people in a position to have to choose between profit and what I feel is doing what is best for aspiring and deserving authors.
I sincerely do appreciate you sharing this insight. It does a good service to the community to open up discussion on the topic and educate.
I don't know what else to say. This has just deflated a lot of hope I had in the system. I've been debating breaking away from my strategy to make a significant investment because my posts earn squabble, and I can't reward others more than a mere $0.05! I mainly want to give, and am frustrated that I can't unless I give in.
Commenting has been the main enjoyment I've had because my thoughts are seen and replied to quickly, giving both the author and I motivation -- worth far more than any (insert #)x return, which I'd honestly not need at a whale level.
In the absolute worst case, I think one can still do both. It's practical to allocate some voting power to a bot that does good, like @minnowbooster, and keep some to manually vote with. If that's not doable, I'd appreciate any constructive feedback as to why not.
Thanks again for sharing this.
HA, I said the same thing just now... It deflated my hope in the system too.
if anything, it's time to get the incentives aligned better. This is a petri dish, and not perfect at all.
I have noticed that Steemit isn't in beta anymore.
This isn't a petri dish, not any longer.
This is Steemit, the way they intend it to be.
it still says beta on the website.
Only some times. See the issue I opened on GitHub for this: https://github.com/steemit/condenser/issues/1939
Fortunately, nothing is forever. Times change and minds can rearrange, so stick to your cause and contribute in how you see best fit to be the change you want.
I am glad to know that i am not the only one whose stomach has been turned upside down. What you said is exactly the same as how I feel. I think you just proved to me that you're worthy of a SP delegation, because I see real value in YOU.
Thank you for the huge vote of confidence, @stellabelle. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a SP delegation, but I'm more than glad that you see value in me.
I 100% agree with you. This is sickening. I plan to do the exact opposite of the OP. Once I build up my power, it will be used to award content creators. Not make money from a stupid bot! How selfish! Sick.
Everyone has different goals with the platform, and just because they're different than ours, doesn't mean it's the end of the world. I feel that a limited number of bots do good for those in need and give some hope, but the investor side seeing them as vehicles for maximum ROI > doing good is where the gap begins. No one is at fault individually. It's a system that's eroded in design is imbalanced from what I gather, but it'll hopefully level out in the long run.
Upvoted for that attitude. Unlike you I do not have the option to do anything other than earn steemit with my bare hands.
I understand @snowflake's position, and I thank him for letting us know his whale truth.
Firstly, I prefer manual curation. To answer your question, I personally feel that Minnowbooster gives people who use it some hope that they can get noticed on the hot pages and a little reward for their curators as a thank you. When people put their heart into their work, and it gets lost on the sea floor, it's a means to feel positive for the reasons above. As you have significant SP, I can understand that it might not be something you've personally experienced.
Minnowbooster is also very transparent service that's a predictable option over others that are either random, or have some form of chance to them. You can confirm via minnowbooster.net.
I'm not huge on bots, but in my limited experience so far, I feel the best about this one if I've elected to use any. On top of that, @reggaemuffin is one of the best Steemians out there behind much of the back end of it, and I know that they care immensely about its vision.
While investors can passively delegate heavily to it for ROI on minnow payments, I believe that the vision behind what it's there for in the first place is true to how I've interpreted it.
I chose to earn my SP from nearly scratch, so I suppose I'm biased from a minnow's view at this time. I could flip a few BTC and change this experience for an easier street, but I want to learn from the ground up to relate to everyone.
Thanks for catching my comment. I'd appreciate any of your personal views or further discussion as I have much to learn, but also much to share.