Once you spend some time on here and read the FAQ (and white/blue paper if you are extra keen!) its not so bad. And spending some time on DIscord helps - asking questions someone is usually able to help aswer for you.
I agree about the 'marketing' but Steem kind of sells itself - and thats the problem in a way that some people sell it as 'get rich quick' or 'easy money' which are both bogus and not helping anyone.
Yeah the bots have ruined the perception of trending because as you said new users will think thats what people are earning when infact the majority was paid for and some even get negative ROI
I'm learning my way around slowly and have largely given up trying to determine all the details. It is clear that building up SP is the key to success and that engagement through quality content, but also with individuals and communities trying to help others is the way to more SP. I read the FAQ and the linked article and the white paper when I first came on. The white paper seems to contain some odd claims, such as that upvotes are not micropayments, when I believe that for all intents and purposes they are. At this point I have largely turned to just doing what I feel is right: engaging with quality folks and upvoting quality.
Yep - power up as much SP as possible - wish I had of learnt this earlier. And yea engagement is key here - creating quality content is only half of the puzzle - you have to have people that want to read it!
Seems like a solid strategy to me!Any advice on whether it is better to use minnowbooster to ramp up Steem and SP from SBD, or just trade SBD for Steem on the internal market? When I started I immediately sold SBD on the market then powered up, but recently I've been using Minnowbooster. However, minnowbooster looks like an immediate win, but after a few days the vote value drops, so it may end up being a negative ROI.
Im not a huge fan of using bots in general so my answer might be a bit bias. I just tarde on the internal market but there can be an argument for using minnowbooster to increase your posts visibility while also 'powering up'.