You write "After years and years of oppression from Google and Facebook's censorship-enforcing algorithms, these people have made a mass exodus towards the future. That future is Steemit.
They come here in hopes of finding a home for their content which might be otherwise censored or unrewarded".
I am wondering what's the difference to a user who spent time and effort writing a post between being censored by Google / FB or being censored by @grumpycat / @heimindanger or any other vigilante that suddenly thinks their post is not worth the rewards it got ? There is currently a controversy about @suesa's April's Fool post that got to nearly $900 mainly through voting bots. Is that post worth such a reward ? I personally don't think so but who am I ? I believe the question itself is misguided - who among us has authority to say whether it's worth $5 or $50 or $500 or even $5000 ?
Then you write "But chances are, if it made it into the Trending section then others on the blockchain have found value in said post."
Or not. Again, using the same post as example, it's in the Trending section because @reggaemuffin (who might as well control the @suesa account for all I know) has massively bought upvotes from the bots ... With all the vote-farming and the reflexive effect spawned by seeing a post with a $800 reward, I can't even say how many people have found value in that post (I did like it, although not to the tune of $800 ... but I wouldn't have taken time to read it if it wasn't for the astronomic reward posted next to it)
Then you write "I personally don't feel that it's hard for a new person to make it on Steemit. " You certainly realize that you are rather the exception than the rule
I share @guyfawkes4-20 (and others') opinion that upvote bots are a cancer. And the fact that, as you note, money controls the platform is in itself a problem that needs fixed. The manifesto says "Come for the rewards. Stay for the community" - that's the best part of Steemit, the communities. There should be a balance between money and community spirit.
I believe most people who think that Steemit should be fixed somehow feel that currently the balance is too stacked in favor of money and too little in favor of community spirit. Should the balance be at least a bit restored ? What do you think ? Or should it be all about money only ?
Before weird conspiracy theories pop up: reggaemuffin and I are two people who know each other but have separate accounts. There are people on Steemit that have met both of us (at the steemSTEM meetup).
The rest ... well I'm mostly just tired of the discussion, so I won't comment on the rest. ^^
Great points. @suesa's post is a perfect example. He was simply using bid bots to make an April Fool's joke and it worked. Now, the community is deciding whether they think it should earn as much as it did and are downvoting it. This proves my point exactly: at the end of the day, the community will decide the value of a post and upvote/downvote accordingly.
I don't feel that bid bots pose any threat to Steem/Steemit. The fact of the matter is that only about 1-1.5% of all votes are from bid bots. The other 99% are from human users. What's funny is the people on Steemit complaining about the Trending page and using bots to boost their complaints lol. The real problem is the inability to separate out content based on what we want to see.. which is where communities come in. @steemitblog just announced that this new feature is coming soon. This is actually the topic of today's video that I'm about to post.
And money has always controlled this platform. That's just part of it. Not sure why people are bent out of shape about that. It's nothing new and doesn't really need to be changed. The more money (or SP) you have, the more control you have. I knew that from day one coming here. And it didn't stop me from coming here, putting in the work to get noticed, and investing in myself and my account. But I agree with you that there should be more focus on communities which is what I'm posting about today. Should be up very soon if you want to check it out.
And FYI - I've always been told that I'm the exception to the rule in every business venture I ever set out on. The truth is, I put in the work and make things happen... never complaining, never faulting others, never letting anything stop me. I just keep putting in the footwork and finding ways to be creative. I see this very much the same.
Why does everyone think I'm a guy ^^
Lol, sorry about that.. just a bad assumption and shows that I skimmed through your article. Great article by the way, which I'm now reading through again. And I can actually appreciate the joke.
I actually didn't expect it to get as much attention as it did, the bot votes were a gift. One that.. Brought more stress onto me than the gifter intended.
you admitted to that yourself in your post "The Truth" ! :-D
Damn, played myself here
"the community will decide the value of a post and upvote/downvote accordingly" - but that is wrong and contrary to both the Steem philosophy as explained in the whitepaper and to basic principles of social growth !
The community should decide whether to upvote or not to upvote. That is VERY, extremly, fundamentally different from downvoting. Downvoting is dangerous, socially corrosive and is akin to censorship.
Downvoting was intended as a tool to protect the blockchain from obvious, clear abuse, not as a means to rank the value of two normal posts
Bid bots: you are fooling yourself. 1,5% of votes in number, but how much in VP and rewards ? That's the number that counts ! I can use buildawhale and other bots that offer front-running services and get 1000 votes worth $0.000 followed by 1 vote from buildawhale, worth $100.000 ...
And even those 1000 that you assume are "human users" actually you have no way to say how many are not fake and duplicate accounts ...
And no, it's not funny that users complaining use bots to boost their complaints. Haven't you heard the saying "never bring a sword to a gun fight" ? If you want a complaint about a weapon heard you need to use at least the same weapon (or more powerful), otherwise your complaint will simply be ignored because "might makes right" - especially in a world ruled by money and money only ...
Finally, the "bouquet final" is extremly ironic - especially since you don't even realize how ironic it is !
Ok, let me run it past you slowly ... you've always been told that you are the exception to the rule ... which tends to indicate that it's probably true ... you are very likely a uniquely gifted and skilled individual ... which means that you cannot be the standard by which to judge the average user of this platform. Your example should be discounted as a "statistical aberation"
You are like Hercules saying "I don't see why all the fuss about those 12 tasks, they seemed very doable for me, I just came in and put in the work and made things happen ! I just kept putting in the footwork and finding ways to be creative with that stupid lion and with the Hydra and when cleaning those stables ... everybody else should just stop whining and simply put in the footwork like I did, what's so difficult ???"
If Steemit is a platform where one has to be Brandon Frye (or Hercules) to succeed, then Steemit has a problem. I'm sure you can understand that.