I think it was the Smart Media Token that Ned was talking about, but I did a search and found that it's pretty old story, so perhaps not news.
Anyway, I've been experimenting with bidbots and I've had mixed results with them. On the other hand, I have been building community and spending more time on Steemit, just commenting and curating. I've even happened upon some other ways to make Steem and SBD through curation as a service. BTW, I do try to work with bidbots that do curation to stamp plagiarists. I want manual curation when I work with them.
So I agree with your final point: building a good following requires working with people. People naturally vote for someone who is familiar, and I guess I have to accept that instead of calling it "nepotism".
There really is no shortcut to just doing the work.
I did a post about this about a year ago that seems to have helped a lot of people if you're interested.
The Most Valuable Steemit Post Begins In Your Head - Tips To Maximize Your Social Currency On Steemit --- by @luzcypher
As soon as my kids are asleep, I'll be reading it. I've actually been working on my attitude, mostly with determination. In a sense, I'm turning this into a puzzle.
I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. I'm just going to do the best I can and see what happens. Thanks.
@luzcypher, thanks for sending me that link. I read it. Then I found the link you put in your article to another article by @stellabelle. In the last 24 hours, I've received a crash course in how a gift economy works. I am in the process of rethinking my approach to Steemit and my attitude about Steemit.
I am son to a capitalist who owns a successful business that is now more than 48 years old. I have been immersed in the "commodity economy", as Stellabelle described it in her article. I paid special attention to her story about @papa-pepper. Everything I have learned from you and her, turns my thinking upside down, and I like what I see. I am now working on changing my style and subject matter choices to better suit a gift economy.
For some perspective, I offer this link to a very long comment I wrote long ago:
href=https://busy.org/@digitalfirehose/re-sweetsssj-re-walden-sweetsssj-sixth-day-eleventh-hour-selfvoting-via-a-13-account-content-farm-20180214t161837467z
I wrote all of that while thinking that Steemit works as a commodity economy. I am clearly wrong about that. With some time, I may write an apology to @sweetsssj, once I've made this change in my thinking. I want to be in the right place before I write it. I like to seek equilibrium, so I'll very likely write it, in the same thread.
So, I wanted to thank you all for this education. I wanted something different than what I was getting anywhere else when I started with Steemit. I just didn't know what it was that I was going to get here. I also didn't understand what is valued here.
I'm a writer and I really enjoy writing. But if people don't see value in what I write, I either have to find my audience somewhere else, or adjust my content to the audience and still find something I enjoy writing about while making that change. I have some ideas of what direction I will take, but I have not fully formed a plan yet. All I know is that a change is coming.
Have a fine day. All of you.