I was extremely disturbed by @jerrybanfield's latest Account Creation Service, which charges people $50 to create an account.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@jerrybanfield/my-steem-account-creation-service-alternative-to-steemitcom-signup
Let me get some facts straight to you @jerrybanfield:
If you signup with Steemit.com, they will create one FREE account per user. For more accounts, there is:
SteemConnect (https://v2.steemconnect.com/accounts/create) allows you to create a new account instantly, simply by paying the account creation fee (6 STEEM). However, using this service requires an existing Steem/Steemit account (your personal account, a friend, or family member). Therefore, it is quick and great for creating additional accounts for yourself, family or friends.
AnonSteem (https://anon.steem.network/) allows you to create an account by paying the account creation fee, plus an additional fee for using their service (for a total of 10 STEEM). AnonSteem does not require you to have an existing Steem/Steemit account. They accept STEEM, Bitcoin (BTC), and Litecoin (LTC).
Check a condensed info about the signup at https://steemian.info/signup-faq
And there's me (and another witness whom I won't mention), who helped users with stuck accounts in the approval process. We created accounts for them freely out our own pocket. If the users could afford the 6 STEEM, I asked for 6 STEEM, not a penny more. The 6 STEEM is the minimal fee to create an account by the way, it's needed to give the users enough SP to transact. Also, I have created a few accounts with 27SP delegation, with nothing asked in return. Can you beat that Captain Greedy? If I had your super stake, I would create even more free accounts to benefit the users.
So why is Captain Greedy charging a whopping $50 to create new accounts? Not making enough money from upvotes and witnessing?
When @jerrybanfield started his witness campaign, he made some really bad moves. First, he gathered FREE information about witness setup, and started selling his guide for $180 !!! When he realized this tactic was bad for him, he offered a 100% discount. WOOHOOO what a bargain, for FREEEEE information readily available on the blockchain/Steemit. As he gained witness votes, he started 'tipping' his voters with money to 'thank them' for their vote. Those actions were very much frowned up at the time when they happened. And now this new questionable strategy will definitely hurt his reputation.
That's your third strike Jerry, and you're OUT.
As far as I'm concerned, I flagged his scammy post, and removed my witness vote for him. I encourage you to do the same, people with such behavior are a disgrace to the spirit of Steem.
P.S. Soon after @jerrybanfield got hammered in the #witness chat channel, he edited his post. However, the original version is still on the blockchain:
Are you a visual artist? Join the Steem Artists Guild.
We are on Discord at https://discord.gg/CY9u65g
Proud member and delegator of the @minnowsupport project.
Join us on https://discord.gg/GpHEEhV
Available & Reliable. I am your Witness. I want to represent You.
🗳 If you like what I do, consider voting for me 🗳
If you never voted before, I wrote a detailed guide about Voting for Witnesses.
Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses. My name is listed in the Top 50. Click the upvote symbol.
Alternatively,
with cli_wallet : vote_for_witness "YOURACCOUNT" "drakos" true true
with steem-python: steempy approvewitness drakos --account YOURACCOUNT
Thank you for writing an entire post about me! What a compliment!
Did you just find this post from 2 weeks ago? I suggest you also read the comments.
Yes! While I was reading @timcliff's most recent witness report just a few minutes ago to find new witnesses to vote for, I noticed right below my update was your post about me.
Your https://steemian.info/witnesses is very helpful to see a complete witness list below 100 rank especially!
Oh I see. Well I'll let you read the comments, it was a very heated thread.
https://steemian.info/witnesses has the most hits on my website, people find it very useful.
You'll need a few more popcorn buckets for the rest of us.
Pretty much, but also yes, to @drakos as well. sigh
You deserve a lot more like Sr haha.
I just got my popcorn out the microwave. Let's Go!!!
Awesome post ...keep it up and win the world👍😊...and @neoxian i follow u so plz follow me...and comment back or rply plzz and vote me 😃
"Money does not change people, it reveals them" Henry Ford.
I live my life by this code because you can very easily see who is genuine and who is not.
One thing I look for is the "replies" or "no replies" to comments given or NOT given by those who have a big following or are whales.
Often you can see that, if a so called "important" steemian makes a comment on their post , then a reply is given back. But when a newbie or a minnow makes a comment, then no reply is given back.
For me this is revealing for it says; "I only give attention to those whom I see as "important"."
And what exactly is "important". Well either you have a lot of money/steem power, or you have a big following. In other words the message is; "If you are small you dont exist in my eyes so contact me again when you are big".
This is a form of elitism and is actually a psychopathic trait. The idea that some are deservedly more important than another just because of wealth.
Our actions and non actions reveal our intentions.
I am not making any judgements about Mr Banfield and will keep my opinon to myself. I merely tell this so that people can quickly discover for themselves if Mr Banfield is or is not genuine by looking at his replies or non replies. To whom does he reply to and whom does he not. Does he reply to only "important" steemians or does he also reply to non-important steemians... and how often.
I will give an opinion on this post however. I think it was a very brave action to bring to light something you feel was immoral or dishonest and for this you must be congratulated.
It is such things that are in the spirit of fairness in which is steemit was built for. At least that is my belief, and why I joined steemit in the first place. We either want steemit to have a reputation for making money in an honesty way or a reputation for making money for the sake of making money at all cost. The latter is the way the world is already. I thought we were all here to try to make a better world in our small way.
Either way, history shows that greed always kills the golden goose.
I guess Steemit is still in beta and we are all part of a great social experiment to see how a society would or could function if the economy were based on the blockchain.
"Money does not change people, it reveals them" - Henry Ford. I'll have to remember that quote.
All the points you make are valid. Nevertheless, when someone like jerry has 15k followers on Steemit, it's not that easy to answer everyone's comment. You can see by the amount of comments he gets on his posts. I'm not trying to defend him here, this is a general result of being popular. If we look at celebrities for example, the same applies; a rising star has the time to read and reply to the little fan mail they get, but once they reach a higher level of celebrity, there's no more time to read the exponentially growing fan mail.
Ahh that's it. You put Jerry on YOUR pedestal, but then Jerry didn't live up to your expectations.
Could you be a sour fanboy? Jerry is not a celebrity.
Perhaps the person he has hired to write his posts can answer the comments too?
Well said @arthuradamson!
Well said!
I had no idea he was selling Witness information for $180. That really makes my stomach turn, as no one has ever done that or even thought to profit from the information. Wow, this was really shocking. Thanks for writing about this.
Guess you never heard of the bestselling book series "_______ for dummies"
I think your overreacting to a guy who is working. He spent the first half of his post telling you other ways to get signed up. He spent the time and is providing a service. Bringing up the other $180 service he tried is a moot point.
I don't really like him, but I don't hate him for trying. And he isn't trying to hurt anyone is he? Was he deceptive? No quite up front about it.
I have followed him because he was talking about signups taking long times for friends and family getting onboarded to steemit.
I think there are 100 other topics worth discussion. Maybe your post says more about you then Jerry. Someone I never thought I would be defending.
"Someone I never thought I would be defending."
It gets tough being drafted (pressed) into a regular devil's advocate, doesn't it?
(pressed)?
I realize he loves your work; and, can understand why you're taking the high-road on the matter; but when playing the devil's advocate; be careful to not get burned.
He's got an innocent presence that could sell manure as ice cream.
Everybody can't be wrong. In a court of law only 12 people would decide guilt or innocence. By the looks of this comment section, in this case he'd fare on the side of the former.
Peace.
"(pressed)?"
It's a synonym for drafted, sort of an old-timey, naval term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressment
Big issue for the war of 1812.
"but when playing the devil's advocate; be careful to not get burned."
Good advice. I'm only advocating for evidence for any claims people make, that is all. A fair trial, if you will.
"Everybody can't be wrong."
Eh...not so sure about that one...
"By the looks of this comment section, in this case he'd fare on the side of the former."
That's why we need someone willing to ask for a fair hearing. 99% of people didn't even realize I wrote the witness posts when they assembled this pitchfork mob (exaggerated for comedic effect).
pitchfork mob
That's exactly what that felt like last week; and, I walked right into the thick of it by not looking at the writing on the tape covering my camera MYOB!
"Everybody can't be wrong."
Eh...not so sure about that one...
For sure you're a million% right on that one. How many have been falsely accused when things were taken at face value?
i.e. Yes, I might have icing on my chin; but it doesn't prove I ate the last slice of cake. I may have just frosted a new one...
Poor analogy on my part; but, to keep things light, I get it.
While, I'm glad the conversation caught fire, it let me know that eyes are watching. But, I couldn't help but feel in the middle of it, that some will have a beef with him, no matter what he does; halo or horns.
So, on that note, peace and love is my choice for the day. Everything else is tooooooo tiring for my spirit.
Peace!
" I couldn't help but feel in the middle of it, that some will have a beef with him, no matter what he does; halo or horns."
I think you might be right there!
The saga continues:
https://steemit.com/happierpeople/@jerrybanfield/assuming-positive-intent-178
I don't agree, particularly, with what is going on here:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@laurabanfield/hi-steemit-here-s-to-new-beginnings
Yes, I saw the thumbnails for these links; and will definitely give them a look when I get caught up with the drafts.
Praising God, things are flowing glitch-free for the now.
One thing I've learned from successful people is they don't hover underneath a dark cloud. They are always in forward progression, moving towards sunny, blue skies.
The recent links serve as a great way to take the light off last week's firestorm; and, start anew.
Positivity has no room for the negative.
Peace.
thats mean
Did you read the other people's comments on this post and Jerry's two recent posts? Are they over-reacting too?
I deal with stuck accounts on a daily basis, go to the #help channel on steemit.chat and see what goes on there, how many frustrated users show up daily and how we deal with them by giving them the best affordable advice we can, in public and in private messages. Ask any of them, how has @drakos or @timcliff helped you recently.
So when I saw that $50 flashing in my face, I had to react accordingly, because it's an insult to my and other helping volunteers efforts, and it's an insult to the community.
"Did you read the other people's comments on this post and Jerry's two recent posts? Are they over-reacting too?"
Yeah, kinda. Nobody is giving the stupidity explanation due consideration.
Frankly, the fact that I had to go on MSP Waves to get people to realize that I write all the witness posts and I don't think Jerry even reads them (because I also proof-read them) was just staggering.
Nobody around here is developing an informed, dispassionate opinion based on the facts...except, like, me (harhar).
But again, I apparently am the only person who read the posts where it states over and over again the posts are my words.
"So when I saw that $50 flashing in my face, I had to react accordingly, because it's an insult to my and other helping volunteers efforts, and it's an insult to the community."
Are Rolex's watches an insult to Timex's watches?
If you prefer something more comparable...
Is Whole Foods' milk an insult to Wal-Mart's milk?
If I negotiate a contract for pay twice that of a similar coworker, is my job an insult to theirs?
Why are you guys so pissed off at a self-admitted reformed alcoholic who keeps going to AA not knowing some shit about the Steemit platform? Of course a guy like that is going to make some dumb mistakes, especially given we ALL do.
Is it not obvious what Jerry's value here would be (sign-ups?)
timex kind of an insult to rolex actually...
So you do speak?!!!
I thought you are a shadow bot!
Glad to know you are human
yea but i dont really like to
LOL!
That's ok if its good with you.
Thanks for the upvotes :)
Hah, a fair point, but in this case we're talking about totally different levels of quality and aesthetics. It's a poor analogy, to be fair.
I really don't care if he's AA or not, I wasn't even aware of it, and it's not even part of the issue. His personal life is his own, I'm not debating that. We all have our own sad stories, and it's not the key to redemption when someone messes up repeatedly. So throwing his AA story to get pity doesn't work on me. Marketers can manipulate people into selling their mother's soul if they wanted to.
Oh look, cute eyes, let's forgive him... NO!
"So throwing his AA story to get pity doesn't work on me."
It's not about pity. You brought that up, not me. It's about a rational explanation for what has happened leading to a determination of what he can offer the community.
"Marketers can manipulate people into selling their mother's soul if they wanted to."
Yes, the idea is Jerry might be able to do that for Steem in a way that increases adoption.
Do you see how he has pros and cons?
The only rational explanation I can see from this who thing, is that he is not a person to depend on when it comes to quality or trust!
What type of adoption he is increasing? More people to vote him and give him more money?
More spammers?
Even if you don't like to admit that he is scamming people out of their money (and its probably the fault of those people that are stupid enough or rich enough to get scammed). It is obvious that he is not doing things for steemit.
We all want to make money, but to go that far to make money is kinda sickening, especially when there are many other people who write better materials and are more honest, but they don't get the attention they deserve because of practices like this.
I am kinda awed by this whole thing. Never knew it turned out this way!
guess not...
$50, more like $85 + $13-25 tip he begged for at the end of the "checkout process".
I think the "suggested tip" was rolled into the $50, wasn't it?
It was 30 steem account creation fee + ~$14 suggested tip totalling approx. $50?
Could be wrong there.
It was 50 Steem, (14 Steem was a tip) but at the end of the check out he asked for another 10-20 Stem tip to make you "feel good". This was steem not SBD so another 15-50% more than SBD.
Yeah, well I certainly can't argue that those numbers aren't bad.
Tip? For what?
I am barely making any money in steem, I have 2 jobs in real life that barely pay my rent and still try to keep my page updated by writing at least 1 post per day. I also work as a writer for another group on steemit as a way of supporting each other and I haven't been paid a penny even, so far.
I certainly can't imagine how people (whales in particular) are supporting such outrageous behaviors.
Who can we trust in this case? Scary world indeed
Thanks a lot for your warning! Removing my vote.
I love your killer whale image. Cute killer whale LOL
Thank you so much :) I have more in my blog. I am drawing them by myself.
Wow amazing. I love the minnow fish here LOL
Haha :) Thanks :)
I too removed my vote. This is BS.
I never voted for him, and now, I really understand why I hesitated. This last stint is seriously over the top. Not voting for his Witness.
Yes, I was hesitant too. Just little things here and there niggled at me. Modern day snake-oil salesman. Be wary.
Oh so this is why he made the "Sorry Post".
@stellabelle I'm new here, I had given him my Witness Proxy. That ended real quickly.
me too
He's been here since May 2017. He's has more than 15,500 followers and he publish an average of 3-4 articles per 24 hour. 7 days per week. - He's also a witness and he has great support which is why he reach anything between $80 and $200+ on his posts.
Even though I personally don't like established Steemians like him creating 4+ posts per day, as they already earn tons of money compared to most Steemians, I guess it's what most Steemians want. Otherwise they wouldn't upvote everything he does. That being said, it seems like Jerry has reduced the amount of articles a little bit, as he was creating 4+ on a daily basis previously. - So that's good I guess.
However, to do something like this. To sell witness information and to offer accounts for $50.. - That's just shady. And greedy.
I still like to read some of his posts, as I believe he brings value... But this was too much. - Thanks for the heads up. I've pressed that "follow" button and I hope I'll see great things from you in the future.
I agree with the thrust of your points, however:
"Otherwise they wouldn't upvote everything he does."
I think this is basically because of the (bad) way curation rewards work and the autovoting situation.
I add to that the automatic voting is another reason they will keep voting his posts even if he does 10+ per day.
Which of course is caused by the curation rewards.
Human greed is the root of all evil indeed!
"his posts even if he does 10+ per day."
Definitely a problem! Curation rewards need to be reworked.
However, if he did post that often, I'd bet he'd lose some voters. I'm careful watching for that with my votes (though I just set them up).
curation needs fixing
I'd say so.
Yeep.
He post 4 times per day 7 days a week because he is in a closed circle of votes, all the big guys are voting so he knows no matter the fuck he writes is gonna make $100 $150 each post. He even upvote himself all his posts, he is selling a guide to be a witness, and now almost selling accounts. So if you think about this, he is doing a lot of shit in here agains the community. "Do as I say not as I do"
" He even upvote himself all his posts"
Nothing wrong with that.
I know there isn't a law about it, I'm only three months old in here and people always talk about the self vote as a selfish thing, I remember even reading a post about cutting the selfvoting. In my opinion if you are a big user, or even a witness you should try to share your vote with others. We keep talking about "The community" and we keep the closed voting circles, selfvoting with 100% and even selling new accounts to newbies, in my opinion that's not a good example to others if you are a witness. Anyway as I said I'm only three months in here, so maybe I'm wrong about this.
Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with voting on your own blog posts. If you don't think they are high enough quality to vote on, why are you writing them?
99% of people here can't get to Hot/Trending without at least voting on their initial post, because the pending rewards have a lot to do with visibility.
I don't like instituting rules that only apply to users of an arbitrary size, so I find it hard to rag on self-voting on blog posts.
I know I get your point, you seem to very much more experienced in here than I am, I'm gonna apply your advise from now on, thanks for taking time to answer and explain.
I'm happy I could help out!
Interesting, will save this and wait for Jerry's response. I personally find his posts obnoxious, but voted for him as a witness because he's super active, seems to help people on the site, and advertises more than anyone else I've seen, but I haven't seen all the things you've pointed out. Will wait to see how this plays out before removing witness vote.
Me too. I really like jerry and he has helped me personally as well as some good minnow posts I recommended to his upvotable posts. I think he cares about the little guys which is important in this place. But this does not sound good and hopefully he will re-think or explain.
I set my account here up for free and I am a technical idiot. Then my son set his up for free too. Why are people paying to get accounts here to jerry or anyone? I had no idea this was going on and now this is another barrier to entry.
I don't know when I will ever start inviting my connections at this rate. It's 4 months now and I still have not started recruiting...
I think the short answer is that most people here are not good enough marketers of Steem and their products, while Jerry is a marketing pro.
The level of marketing knowledge here is extremely low - I will give you that. He's found an opening for sure.
Professional liars and manipulators generally do well in this world. Good for them! They've found their place in this comedy.
I already have the awareness to catch one from a mile away and the backbone to spit in their deceitful eyes. I'm just waiting for humanity to collectively evolve towards joining me. But, until then, the "charming" will own the world.
If you can't beat 'em, ...
fuck off! You're weak and I don't want your energy near me.
That last part was mostly a joke, but I'm in a bad mood so I somewhat mean it.
I am not sure I can say confidently I have that, but I can sense something off. and since I know myself as being a strong believer in the good in all humans, when I sense that off I stay away. I did this with Jerry and everyday I am proven that my gut feeling was right.
Would like to learn from you the best way to identify it though. Care to teach me? ;)
X2
That seems like a lot of money to have an account created. Wouldn't that put people off Steemit? Surprised people would actually pay for that! On the other hand, he does spend a lot of money on Facebook ads promoting Steemit. Maybe he doesn't see what he's doing as a rip off? Who knows, I could swear he's already making a packet though? Hmmm
Not many users are aware of the alternatives ways to create accounts, he's capitalizing on that to swindle them.
"he's capitalizing on that to swindle them."
You are assuming intent. He could've just done something rather ignorant.
Does the prosecution have evidence to offer?
He 'capitalized' on the fact that top 20 witnesses 'make money', so he could sell his $180 courses, and he pushed on that a lot in the past, in posts and youtube videos. I see he was trying the exact same thing here, but he got caught very early this time, and I felt it must be stopped.
I can't argue that this was also a dumb plan. Maybe it was malicious. I can't really speak to that one.
I think it's a different situation however.
You could also say he's simply a better marketer. He's filling market demand, either created by himself or by a network that's doing a lousy job at closing deals.
Sure, 50 bucks is... pricey... But if that means one more satisfied customer, maybe it's not as bad as it could be.
Let's hope Steemit Inc and others here learn the lesson instead so we can get the products to customer better.
I agree with this, as long as he mentions the fact that there are other cheaper alternatives. Then people can choose what they want. If some, fully informed are willing to pay that much for this service, then ... why not ?
Many people are not technically inclined. The people he is suckering is your grandfather for example. Do you think this is morally correct, even if your argument is sound logically
"Then people can choose what they want. If some, fully informed are willing to pay that much for this service"
Well...
"Do you think this is morally correct"
Yes. Could it be any more obvious that it is?
(Doesn't make it not stupid, fyi.)
So this is moral and the grandpa is stupid. The not tech-savvy are ignorant, not stupid. Taking advantage of someone because of their ignorance is morally wrong in my opinion.
Lets make a more clear cut example. Ripping an old person off by charging him 5x the market price of medicine because he does not know any better, he can't 'google'
yep
How "satisfied" would they have been when they found out they had been ripped-off?
You mean once they realized they paid above the average market price for the product? It would depend on how highly they valued access to the network.
If someone does really well at marketing it, I don't think a higher price is necessarily a bad thing. In the long run of course, that's probably not gonna work to bring in ordinary users. In other words, it would be a short term strategy in the case of Steem.
In this particular case, Jerry is obviously doing a lot for the network already and without selling accounts on the side. Apparently he thinks this is still worth it and once he realized how high above others he had priced his product he even decided that it would be best to withdraw it entirely.
What I wish he would do now is to consider partnering up with those already existing services, or if he has better ideas, pursuit those.
Mrs. Banfield?
He thought he could rip people off before they were any the wiser - period!
Once he was told to, he withdrew the product. I don't care either way. It's not as bad as you are trying to make it sound. It wouldn't be even if his reason for withdrawing it was false, which would obviously still be bad.
@the-ego-is-you his marketing is just like the dollar vigilante's: "look at me, I made $X,000 on my first day/week on steemit" "don't you want to too?!"
What is implied is that you, jane/joe ordinary, can just blog and get rich on steemit. This is disengenuous.
It may draw in 10,000's, but I think leaves 9,000 leaving with a bad taste in their mouth.
It would be better to get 500 or 2000 realist to join and stick it out, than 10,000 that will mostly leave.
And steemit.inc doesnt get it either...with their "Steemit=Money" banner right now. But I digress
I came to Steemit via YouTube after seeing bothe thedollarvielante and jerry's videos. 2 days after arriving at steemit I have not once read another of their Posts or watched their youtube videos because I found their marketing to be misleading and harmful. Just my 2c
To that extent, I do agree that these are not good methods. I've said it before myself, many times. I'd like to see someone else try their hand at it though.
There's a sucker born every minute and Jerry is smiling about it.
yes I have found him to be very annoying. He definitely uses steem like a business and creates posts that really don’t help me as a minnow. But he is turning more into a whale and zombies just follow.
"uses steem like a business"
The horror. We should arrest this vile man.
"creates posts that really don’t help me as a minnow."
If only he realized his mandate was specifically to assist bearbear613, perhaps we could have averted this disaster!
lol smartass
Yes. Yes I am.
Indeed. LOL
He always came off as greasy to me. I don't follow him nor would I vote for him as witness, I always wondered why so many do? I cringe when I see resteems in my feed of him with that stupid graduation cap. Slimey smile, slimey actions..this isn't the type of individual that should be tasked with looking after this site, he's only here to make a profit and clearly will stoop pretty low to make a few bucks. Kinda gross, thx for having the jam to call him out. Resteemed this puppy to spread the word
Hey GA, I agree with you on the greasy, dumb grin cap wearing cringing feel. And maybe the fact that he is a witness makes it worse then I understand, but isn't everyone being a bit harsh and ganging up on a guy that really just was offering a service for a price? He was honest in pitching his service. Told you not to try it first.
Is steemit not a site where people are here BECAUSE they can make money? Isn't this a tad hypocritical?
The only reason I followed him was because he was posting on how hard it is to get signed up. I was having friends waiting weeks to get approved. I think a nerd is getting picked on for no reason here, and someone has to defend this guy. I respect your view so I hope you reply. I could be totally wrong here but lets not get a man killed for making a buck.
I respect your opinion, I was just sharing mine. I opened a second account a month ago for free. I feel he uses his stature just to prey on ppl and he got caught so you're seeing him trying to act apologetic. Imagine the feeling a new user would have getting ripped and paying for a service that's free or at the most $6? Pretending to help the site is a guise to pocket more money for JB. Being a witness to many is a privalege but imo it's just a way to rake in more for this guy. He won't get my vote ever, I save them for ppl I feel deserve it. A few people rightfully called him out and saved newer users from getting preyed on, if not he'd still be offering an overpaid service and damaging Steemit's reputation..he's a big face here and should respect the position he has. I don't feel bad for him but I would feel bad if he were able to take advantage of others.. like he tried to. He said he was sorry, I have to take that at face value but I still won't be following him because I wasn't before. There's so many others that deserve those votes, I personally seen huge accounts actually helping others and not just pretending to to make more $. Those are the people I want to associate with but to each their own.
Totally cool. I agree he is weaselly.I wasn't trying to defend his actions,I was trying to break up a lynching IMO. I'd have respect for him if he stood his ground. I think it could have been handled differently on all sides. I just thought it was overkill for something that has been identified as a problem and he provided his own solution. If the idea was so bad free market would kill it. And the guy did offer other services to try before you used his. The witness thing is a huge tangle that I'm glad not to be a part of. I just couldn't stand by a watch a guy get lynched for a miscalculation or trying to provide a service where there was no misleading or misinformation and he didn't hurt anyone. Maybe misguided and goofy but not deserving of banishment. So I tried to make folks think before joining in.
I don't have any friends on steem, and I don't have anything invested in it, beside the time I'd be reading,researching on the net.
I just hope guys like you that are cool and fun, and on here approaching fulltime, don't get caught up in any negative crap that is just a huge time waste. Last minute I spend on this topic.
I appreciate what you're trying to do. You've always been good to me and if u called me a friend i'd be grateful. I've seen you doing good on here and you have been supportive of me in the past so there's no hard feelings. Sticking up for Banfield is just a testament to your good qualities and compassion. Hope I still see you around!
I like the cut of your jib.
sigh that is seriously disappointing, some people get a little to money hungry and lose focus.
Hi @drakos,
I am not a fan of Jerry but I feel I must just say for objectivity purposes that when I checked out his original post on phist.steemdata.com, I've noticed that he clearly stated many times, that he does not recommend using his services only as a last resort, when someone doesn't seem to be able to register any other way. He also said that the registration procedure costs him $36 for each user.
I don't necessarily agree with rounding 36 to $50 but I've seen worst rip offs in my life (apple?)! At least he is saying that it doesn't really worth it.
I don't know about his other actions you have stated above, therefore I will not argue those.
However, Steem is the most open platform I've ever seen. I really hope it's going to stay open and free for everyone!
He should learn how the account creation process works, before embarking on a crusade to recruit people by feeding them false information. Everything he said was totally wrong. If he's really sincere about discouraging people from using HIS service, why the hell even post about it?
Why don't we encourage him to focus on what he knows then, marketing to new users? Could the community even help provide better documentation to that end?
If Jerry has value as a witness, that is what it will be in - sign-ups.
this sounds like it will be a job for captain hindsight
If he's not still working on BP/DP.
Honestly, the word to mouth gets out pretty quickly about Steemit, and users were already flocking before jerry joined. The account signups have doubled in 4 months, and that's not because of him. The more users, the bigger the snowball effect. One marketer isn't the only reason for Steem's success.
"The account signups have doubled in 4 months, and that's not because of him."
If you have evidence, by all means, present it. Otherwise, I will relegate this to the pile with other unsupported statements I can ignore.
It is a fact that he has brought $100,000s into the platform. Indisputable. I don't think he deserves running out of town on assumption of malice.
Can he explain why it costs him $36, when other witnesses will do it at cost for $6 STEEM?
He was doing it via Vessel out of (presumably) ignorance. That costs 30 (Steem?) per account created.
So, potentially not malicious but overpriced.
Actually, stating that the cost is at a certain amount when the cost is much less, is being malicious. The handling fee on top of the inflated cost is just the overpriced bit.
"Actually, stating that the cost is at a certain amount"
If we at least consider his side of the story as plausible, he thought he was going to be using Vessel, where the cost is reportedly 30 Steem?
Offering at cost would be silly, because anyone taking Paypal is taking risk of chargebacks.
Bad service, but I don't think it was a scam or malicious. Just dumb.
Cost at Vessel is 30 Steem, he was charging 36 as "cost" and then charging on top of that.
$50 is what he was charging for the service.
30 x 1.11 (internal market current price) = 33.33
Closes most of the gap to 36 at least, and he probably used a price of 1.20, where it's hovered for awhile.
I'm not saying it wasn't a bad idea, but I don't think it was pre-meditated money making scheme. If it was, he could have done it cheaper and pocketed more, no? Ignorance of the alternatives seems more likely.
"Actually, stating that the cost is at a certain amount when the cost is much less, is being malicious."
PS - You don't know what malicious means.
It requires intent, which you are ignoring.
He can't explain anything because he doesn't know what he's doing.
Ironically, that IS the explanation.
@drakos for witness! I'm new here and this definitely helps to know the community better. Cheers man.
Your article has been brought to our attention in 50_Votes_Plus channel on Steemit.chat by (Steemit.chat) user BitcoinButter and has been upvoted on behalf of the dropAhead Curation Team!
The article will be Resteemed by @dropahead Curator - Witness account of the dropAhead curation team!
Watch out for the #xx-votesplus tag!
By doing the above you will give us more STEEM POWER (SP) to give YOU more earnings next time.
Keep up the good work!
thanks for giving me the special treatment and mentioning my @bitcoinbutter account if @dropahead wasnt as strict might have got a shoutout for @isacoin also :P
Thanks @drakos for posting about this. I really appreciate the spirit of what you're doing to help people new to this and call out scammers. I'm relatively new to this and also have a friend who wanted to create a new account using an outside service and he would have likely ended up on Jerry's service and been at an extra $44 for nothing. Your information will be very valuable to him and others. I'm now following you and resteemed and upvoted. Hope you will follow me for original content and news about Blockchain, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and ICOs. Cheers! @thoughtchain
"scammers"
This wasn't a scam, it was just dumb.
You have my 100% support in exposing Jerry as a scam. he is well know for it on every platform he touches.
"scam"
This is not a scam.
Charging a price higher than you like is not a scam.
It pains me to say it but...even Genesis Mining is not a scam.
Now I feel a bit gross...going to go take a shower, excuse me, madame.
ur excused
bisteemit brought me here! :D
:-)
😈
I wanna be crypto famous! lol. Great post. Interesting read. I don't know much about Jerry but will dig into this further.
I do know @drakos was the only one who helped me get an account set up for my wife. He did it for free and didn't have to waste his time. But I appreciate it and that is the type of people we need as witness and to grow steemit.
You will always have my vote homie.
I just found a reference to this post @Drakos, and have upvoted, followed, and given you a Witness vote. I'm new on Steemit (1 month), and I believed, obviously falsely, that Jerry was a great guy. So much so, that I had given him my Witness Proxy. I thought it was rather strange that in Banfield's 'apology video,' he was laughing about all of the websites and programs that he'd been banned from. I wouldn't think that most people would find that funny. The other post that got me here said it had now been edited, however. Maybe he thought better of that segment and removed it? I haven't checked.
Wow, he could have had it all here on Steemit. He obviously started with what a lot of us could only dream of. His greed is exactly one of the things that I've always despised about this world.
Thanks for your post.
I never voted for him as a witness, I used to follow him and watched his videos. I started to hate him when hi started his youtube campaign just to bring his followers up here. He was encouraging his own people to came up here, register an account so they can upvote him, and now this? what a greedy asshole
What bothers me more is that he is still posting a making over $150 on each post, even after all this thing, and that's because the selfish upvote rings, if you check who are the people upvoting you will see the same people always, and a lot of big users, not to mention he always selfvote. So he is not only making money for his posts, no matter the fuck he writes he knows he will have all the big guys votes, no matter how shitty the post is, he is gonna make those $100 $150 anyway, and now trying to sell the creation of accounts to newbies, thats a total scam.
You now have my vote for witness, sir @drakos
I don't follow Jerry, and haven't for a while. I made fun of him a few months back, calling out his 300 ways to make money online, in which only 1 method works, which is selling the 299 methods that don't:
https://steemit.com/dontflagmejerry/@abh12345/90-ways-to-make-a-some-a-little-or-no-money-on-the-internet-and-1-way-to-make-two-million-dollars
When i heard he put himeself up for witness - head in hands
When i checked his wallet and saw these 'bribes' - head in hands
When i heard he was coming to steemfest - no comment as i'll likely saying hello.....
This is no surprise really, but I'm glad it's being said.
Well done, some good support here.
good looking out @drakos :)
he has since edited the post ending with :
Trying to abstain from responsibility when caught out by posting he hadn't been aware of the popular alternative account creation methods.
what a guy.
Hypothetically assuming for the moment that Jerry's story is true, he made a dumb mistake, was ignorant of some of the cheaper account options, then offered a dumb, over-priced product...
Was there a possible retraction that would have satisfied you? How would it have read if so?
How could someone make a honest mistake like this especially a witness who is supposed to be an example to other users on how to act on site be be and knowledgeable in how the site functions?
Jerry is a user long enough and is a witness long enough maybe an honest apology and not trying to weasel out of what he said instead of an flat-out lie.
When you knowingly offer a disingenuous service or product this is the definition of a scam and i think they're are plenty enough already on steemit we dont need witnesses leading more.
"How could someone make a honest mistake"
Does former alcoholic cover why I think there's reasonable doubt? Or should we go further?
"especially a witness who is supposed to be an example"
Generally speaking, I agree, but he is trying to make it right. Perhaps Jerry's true value is not as a role model but simply as a marketer.
"definition of a scam"
Charging a higher price than you like is not a scam. Knowing of a cheaper service that exists does not make it a scam, either. Otherwise, Whole Foods is a scam.
I'm arguing for not running him out of town, FYI, not that he didn't make a mistake (again).
trying to draw parallels between something completely is a logical fallacy (False equivalence)
It is not a general case it is a foundation entry point for the platform and implementing some high paid "feature" will only further claims against steemit as an MLM/Ponzi
It is a scam if you work somewhere or have access to services or products and approach customers without the knowledge claiming your service is quick and easy and a great deal this is misleading information to make a profit i.e a scam
I notice you getting votes from @jerrybanfield is this pay to put this kind of unbased spinning in defense?
"trying to draw parallels between something completely is a logical fallacy (False equivalence)"
Only if it's false...if you don't like the analogy, discard it. But Jerry was doing the same thing - charging more for a very similar product.
But, since he was doing it the dumb 30SP way, it did cost something like $35 per account, plus the risk of chargebacks on Paypal. Not a great moneymaking scheme, is it?
"implementing some high paid "feature" will only further claims against steemit as an MLM/Ponzi"
Agreed, that's why I've called the idea dumb at every opportunity. I'm not willing to say it's malice yet, however, nor run him out of town.
" claiming your service is quick and easy and a great deal this is misleading information to make a profit i.e a scam"
Well, the service might have been quick and easy. We won't ever know. Whether that speed and service made it a good deal is subjective.
It's not a scam, but again, I grant that it's dumb and suspect.
"I notice you getting votes from @jerrybanfield is this pay to put this kind of unbased spinning in defense?"
Oh yeah, he put me on auto-voter for like $1.25 a month ago purely in preparation of the next-time he would put his foot in his mouth.
If you want a non-sarcastic answer, I've commented for miles on his posts for 4 months and probably voted him more than he's voted me back, so if I'm moonlighting as paid PR flunky than I'm not very good at it.
I don't mind that you asked. Fair to call out the connection.
PS - I'm not sure these two can coexist: "unbased spinning". However, yeah, I think I am being pretty unbiased. I have a history of defending whoever is getting dog-piled.
it is false trying play the Jerry as some sort of victim who doesn't have control being a former alcoholic this isn't a sound argument,not based in logic or related to the topic at hand.
When you have coverage with followers and very "rep" a high ranking in witness there is no way something like this should be given any chance he was fully aware what he was doing no matter the spin you try and put it
his offer = False Representation of product or service.
there are laws on this in most country's + Scam ICOS let + widespread copyright infringement will as soon as blockchain law is in full effect bring down a mountain you dont need to add from the top
this seems reasonable
Ignorance is no excuse. It's his job to know these things, if he's a serious witness. Obviously he's too busy trying to figure ways to make more money.
" if he's a serious witness."
Does Steem not have room for different types of witnesses, even reformed alcoholic ones with a clear strength in marketing and a clear weakness in tech?
Do you understand the concept of genetic diversity? Apply that concept to Jerry and think about witness diversity.
Is giving him a chance to blow all his block rewards on marketing such a bad thing? (Does witness voting have a cooldown?)
These questions are mostly rhetorical.
u should write a whole post on this witness diversity idea
Request fulfilled.
I don't understand, why is there people who would pay?
Oh! I hope everything goes back to normal soon. Voting for witnesses would help?
Because they aren't aware of the alternatives.
If you want your argument to be stronger you should list all alternatives:
You mean they don't know they can't do it for free? Or this isn't free anymore?
They don't read the FAQ or go to chat and meet great people like Drakos, who once helped me.
The more I see of Jerry and the more things pointed out that happened before I got here, the more I dislike the tactics and the less respect I have for him in general. Thank you for pointing this out, I actually hadn't seen it. I still follow him, just to see what's up as I think these are the type of people we will have to deal with more and more as the platform grows. All we can do is make his tactics known, offer alternatives to his scams and hopefully continue the community aspects of Steemit, while keeping a eye out for those only concerned with the platform due to its potential monetary benefits. Keeping going full Steem ahead, my friends!
Say whaaa...??!! And I've been giving tutorials to my friends and family for free??? God dammitt!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for this post @drakos, I have 4 family members voted for him, I believe. Will pass this post to them.
LOL!
Thank you @drakos for being a Steemit PI. @jerrybanfield must apologize and #paybackthemoney.
We don't want his apologies, we want him out.
"we want"
You being the designated spokesperson for...whom exactly?
the collective of course
I was a bit taken aback too when I saw Jerry's post. Certainly not in the Steemit spirit. It's not as if it's difficult to get help here. Most are very generous with their time and assistance, free, gratis and for nothing.
From my view point this is a hit piece on Jerry. Your jealous! The way you went about this is wrong! If you provided criticism that would be fine. But you attacked him!
I think this witness thing is out of hand and it makes certain folks nuts.
Your just as much in this for money as Jerry is! As we all are on steemit for $$$
Your a hypocrite! And a dangerous one at that stirring up the community for your ego/witness mentality. Tell me where he violated a law? Maybe one day someone as brilliant as yourself will start a campaign against you out of pure jealousy. Think before you act. Your acting like a bully and picking on a harmless awkward guy that is doing no wrong.
So, overcharging $50 for a FREE account is ok with you? A guy who does that is not harmless, quite the opposite.
For your information, I have supported and voted for jerry since he started witnessing. I even looked away when he made his first blunders. Please don't judge if you don't know the full story.
I read and still don't understand the reasoning for the hit piece. He broke no laws, was offering a service for a price. You can disagree on the price but its no reason to form a posse and try to hang a man.
When you offer your opinion that is fair. When you actively set out to ruin a guy because you feel he charges to much, you have gone too far.
You only address the $50 overcharging, your blinded by $$$. And it doesn't matter what you think about it. It's not harmful.
Your actions are far more harmful.
Don't talk about judging seems you do alot for everyone else.
I didn't form a posse; people read, speak their mind, resteem, and react. That's how social media works. He didn't break any laws, because there aren't any on a decentralized platform. The only law is the law of the users. He got busted trying to sell an overcharged product, he lied about what he knew, and you expect people to kindly respond to that? My opinion is more than fair, if it wasn't fair, I would be the one having the backlash. Apparently, I'm not. I'm not harming him, he's harming himself.
You took it further than it needed to go. Ok to be against a service or product.
But then you campaigned against him personally. As a witness! Cops might arrest or stop a bad action but they don't serve as judge and jury.
From the ending of your post "As far as I'm concerned, I flagged his scammy post, and removed my witness vote for him. I encourage you to do the same, people with such behavior are a disgrace to the spirit of Steem."
Then you raw raw cheer everyone in the comments to smeer him and happily collect witness votes, just wow! IMO your dangerous, and shouldn't lead anyone but there are tons of sheep. If Jerry was wrong for what he did because he's a big shot witness, then so should you for your personal attack and enriching yourself from his mistake.
Might think again before interfering in commerce so recklessly.
"because there aren't any on a decentralized platform. The only law is the law of the users." lol
As I said in one of my comments, if he was a regular user, I wouldn't care that much, a simple downvote and comment would have sufficed. But him being a witness and doing these questionable moves is a different ballpark. Witnesses are "elected" to be witnesses based on trust, all eyes on them, and it's a very big deal what he's done. Personally I wouldn't trust a person doing irresponsible things to be a witness, hence I removed my vote. You do what you want, if you trust and support him, so be it, but there are others who don't.
Mmmm....seems the post has been edited.
Of course he edited it to save his face, he took a beating in the witness chat channel.
Wow didn't know all this. But.. What if, just what if it attracts people who really don't care about $50 ? I think thats his strategy. It could attract people who live in a different planet than you and me if you know what I mean. People that don't want to handle details of account creation themselves. To be really fair though, he should mention that there are other cheaper alternatives so that the user get a real choice.
he is really creepy...
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A pathetic use of power by Banfield. More people need to find out about his greed and self-interest. Definitely remove vote as a witness. Gonna resteem this post. Good on you for calling him out. What surprises me a bit is seeing the upvotes still on his original post. @sweetsssj and a few others, thats also a big concern
"What surprises me a bit is seeing the upvotes still on his original post. @sweetsssj and a few others, thats also a big concern"
They're probably just AFK/not reading? They are all on auto-vote.
gotcha
Those are auto-upvoters, they hardly read any posts.
new here so you are saying the always trending china girl is using some kind dirty trick?
There are auto voters out there that you can set up so you don't have to manually do it and you can get a higher share of curation rewards. One of the popular ones is steem voter
omg how will steemit goes mainstream (vs tumblr)
exactly
Well spotted, a great post. ( I go off my gut instinct, and thought he looked dodgy, from when I first joined).
Good to see ethics being the primary concern here, and not money.
I gave you a witness vote
Thank you :)
Wow. That is very greedy. I found this steemit because of this guy while i was searching about crypto. I was greatful for that so voted on him but now when i know more about this platform, i find some of his advices wrong. This is the last straw. Removing my vote for him. Thanks for letting us know
This is absolutely ridiculous. Resteeming.
I was going to write this as well, but glad someone did it more eloquently than I could. I pretty much feel the same way. I kept trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but can't get past the feeling of him being like a used car salesman.
This is a bit ridiculous and very poor behaviour. Who is this dude?
+1 witness vote for you.
Join the posse, hang em high!
I just mute them; less mess to clean up.
you don't get sarcasm
Yeah, that must be it.
Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the info sir.
Hello! Many thanks for the warning. Unfortunately, such situations happen. In Ukraine, people say: "Do good - you will get evil."
I do believe @jerrybanfield has gone a bit far with some of his attempts but I do believe he has reached out to quite a lot people to notice and join steemit. I'm one of them.
Yes people get greedy and no one is happy when they lose more than expected. I even loled at what he last wrote.
But he's done a good job contributing for steemit and he's getting hammered enough from his "decisions" so let's just give him a chance.
Zen
This man doesn't have any interest in the growth of this community, he invested round about $30,000 here and became a whale on the day one. He doesn't have to do any hard work as people are blindly following him and want to say some more but can't, I'm not a whale and don't want to be flagged either. He's just an investor and thinks like a businessman, not like a normal human being!
Long and the short of it all, no shortcuts!
Sign up as a witness to reap rewards however small, just do it honestly. Don't gain knowledge and then charge for something freely available online.
Some do battle to get signed up find the help that you need without charging I support your post @drakos and taken heed.
I am new to steemit but in last 2 days, it seems that it is a battle field. Fighting is going on between members, between whale account and community account :O
Tell it like it is drakos!
Thanks for good information and philanthropic contributions of your time and expertise.
Cheers! from @thedamus
✨⚡️✨🤘😎✨⚡️✨