copycat writers and steem drama

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(Edited)

a bitchy entertaining rant for the masses that I intend to lambo on...

a profound statement on an inherent redundancy within the steem community

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{writer, offstage} queue tongue in cheek sarcasm, irony and theatrics...


This post goes out to all you serial or copycat posters who write about steem every day.
(except for WU because she is cool...)
What are you doing?

I'm not saying that you write bad posts. no, bad isnt really the correct adjective...

I'm just saying that I am getting damned tired of hearing the same spiel about the woes of Steem from every Tom, Dick and Harriette ad infinitum, how the Steem community is so beleaguered and corrupt and divided, how we are going thru all these challenges, the drama, the drama, the drama!!


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Don't you all think that half the drama comes from these damn posts? That maybe, just maybe, if y'all stopped expounding on it for a moment, that things might settle down and take their course, without this nonsense?

But instead the topic of the day gets milked for all the votes and comments from jaded, triggered or cry baby people who complain about how horrible bots, tokens, trending, new steem is...

because writing about steem, and the ensuing shit of it, pays big bucks.

for payout you say? nooo, I write about steem because I am enthralled by it, this is my niche, what I am known for!

Seriously? Is there nothing else you can write about? Are you that dull minded that you need to limit yourself to only one topic? Or do whales just not vote on anything that doesnt have to do with steem, even though the creativity and enthusiasm of writers and curators is what keeps this platform vital...

the formula:

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~ write about steem in a wildly passionate, biting, enthusiastic or rip a newsteem-hole way. make it dramatic, triggering, controversial and pungent AF

~ tag all the trigger tags and give it some click bait title so every whale and orca will want to know what the drama is

~ make sure to ask leading questions or stick in a provocative statement so people will need to correct you with their superior knowledge, making your comment section look awesome

~ promote yourself on every server, and updoot that post with several bots, or ocdb it to be pc, so you attract the morons who just vote highly paid posts for curation rewards

and finally, sit back and rake in the rewards. repeat as often as needed.


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FFS, new steem is awesome! i'm making more rewards than I've gotten in months, and thats even with the shitty price of Steem. For the first time ever, whales are voting and commenting on my posts! I'm getting paid decently for my curation efforts. I'm getting more attention and comments on my posts. The people at the top who soaked up a shit ton of the rewards thru bots, self voting and circle jerking are being downvoted, and WE ARE ALL HAPPIER!!
ok, maybe not the bot owners, and the accounts who used to megabot to rake in the big bucks before they got downvoted..

So stop with the woes of Steem! Go write a real post about where you went on holiday, your kids, what you painted or fixed, how beautiful the trees are - something other than how things are not yet perfect in Steemland.

Yes, it could be better. We could go so far as to wipe bots out of existence and ask the whales NOT to vote for the same fifty people every day, who pull in massive rewards and cash them out like a monthly paycheck. But that's no reason for all these copycat posts twice a day telling us WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW.


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If you want the answer as to why Steem isnt doing as well as it could be, (besides the crypto market), look at peeps wallets, investigate where their steem goes before you updoot them, ask why people are no longer powering up and investing. Write an expose and hold people accountable for their actions.

Or if you dont want to annoy the piss out of people who could feasibly ruin your rep, make a list of eleven great ideas for making better decisions in the community. Question why the people who we onboard to Steemit leave - could it be from all the alarming posts, opinionated trolling, the huge learning curve? Maybe go do something about that, write a post on how to make onboarding easier before you go to conventions to tell each other how great Steemit is.

But please please, stop writing cheer leader posts about how #newsteem will work "if we only believe". It's been done! Dorothy tapped her ruby slippers and we have left Kansas. It's working, just let it go do its thing and stop talking about it incessantly. The time for action is here. Go do something to make newsteem even more awesome, and tell us what you did!


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Some questions for the people on WUs top thirty list:

Are you supporting the community through projects, incentives, new ideas, apps?
Write about that. Tell us why you deserve to be on the top thirty trending list.

Are you writing a decent post which is then dooted by whales, then cashing out Steem every month instead of powering up?
If you are, write about that and tell us WHY. Why do you think you deserve to get a Steem paycheck while the rest of us do this for next to nothing because we are dedicated to BUILDING A COMMUNITY.

paid for by the milk a post to make lambos a steem icon committee.
p.s. none of these images are mine because i am an unoriginal hack who copycats topics cuz i cant think for myself..



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34 comments
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Hi @torico, as a member of MAPX, you just received an upvote. This info-message is to announce that the ADDAX trading game will start Round 2 on Monday 23 September. Read the new announcement on ADDAX.
Thanks and hope to see you in the game!

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LOL! Totally true. Been this way for the life of Steem, it is the best paying topic. I have found it odd that the most rewards go to the echo chamber and not to the creative content.

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you nailed it. i try to see the humor in this oddness, but .. its pitiful ffs.

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but to play devil's advocate, clearly, there is a HUGE market for Steem related posts here! Arguably this is the kind of content that is most desired/consumed within the steem community, and without a doubt it is the best rewarded. It gets the most engagement, and probably gets the most views (although this bassackwards platform can't even track views on content LOL). I totally understand where you are coming from and I personally don't like or read this kind of content, but... really hard to blame people for writing to and for their audience. And clearly, the audience for both Steem drama posts and Steem cheerleader posts is HUGE

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yes, but the question is - why? Do people upvote steem content because they want the attention or vote of the author? how many people vote for Aggy, Ned or Dan because of who they are and not because of the content they provide? Do they want a share of the curation rewards? Do they need the outlet to bitch about what they cannot change? Or are they seriously interested in the subject matter and invested in the community?

dont get me wrong, i do my fair share of chatting on a few of these posts. its when i see other people copying the subject of the original post and making it their own that i get annoyed. they dont even do the subject justice, its like reading waffle. They don't add anything to the conversation. It seems they just do it to get noticed by whales, or because they think thats what they need to do - its part of the formula for success on steem - become a steem niche blogger.

I don't mind the people who have actually been doing this for years or people who have a reason to post about steem, such as a community leader or well known member. Other than the fact that some of them write 2-3x a day to cash in on their notoriety. I do mind the no-names who take that approach, as if they understand whats going on. This is the same type of blogger that interprets the crypto market for you, even tho they have no credentials.

other point is - if steem posts weren't botted, and up-voted by whales just on the author/subject matter alone and not their content or worthiness - would those posts have half the market that they do? would they merit trending? or would they fade an hour later?

what I am doing is poking at the reality of this "HUGE" market, and seeing if it actually holds water. on my opinion, there are a lot of cheap imitations on the market, and we need to think about WHY we are upvoting these posts. especially if the authors have already paid themselves.

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Oh I know what you are doing :) And I totally agree. I was just playing devil's advocate. The writing and talking about the steem experience incessantly never appealed to me at all, and even less so the knock-off variety by people who don't actually understand the issues. You can set in on the shelf next to the "how to succeed at Steem and earn $" posts written by under 30 rep new accounts.

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yep pretty much. but what seems obvious to us is alien to others.. i kinda grow weary when so few people care what i have to say.

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P.S. notice that I wrote about the steem community, notice my payout pre bot votes, pre whale votes. where is that huge market? oh shucks, it must be upvoting real content.. or maybe I am just a nobody.

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Fear not. I nearly reached a top slot with some humor today. I see a couple artsy posts around the top, including two great examples of #showcase-sunday. I'm trying. If I ever make that top 30 list, whatever, I've powered up nearly everything except for a tiny percentage, over three years. I'll write about steem sometimes. Those posts show up from time to time. When you're here and spend a lot of time, it's hard not talking about it. I prefer to work on the arts and entertainment though.

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yay grats! i dont care if i ever make that list. if i do, it means im making too much money. to me the answer is simple - people should be spreadin the wealth and love with votes. creativity and connecting are where im at, with a few notable exceptions. its ironic but steem talk bores me most times. people spend way too much debating about the best way to proceed and wind up doing nothing. things what seem obvious to me are shouted down by those in charge. i have tons of ideas but no one ever listens.

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No such thing as making too much. Never sell yourself short. Just picture a busker in the subway. Would they stop if they reached their quota for the day? Would they even count the money, or would they just play? Would someone who produced a viral video know in advance their video would go viral? They'd make a lot of money. If someone went platinum on their first music release, would they say they made too much? Most of the time it's unexpected, unless you've signed a contract.

People are spreading it around. That situation is slowly improving by the day. There's always been a shortage of curators. Creating a culture of people content with earning a few tokens, getting paid to be entertained, is what this platform needs. Entertainment can be anything really, including steem posts, if that's what people like. Some of those steem posts are disingenuous though and I see where you're coming from. I've seen this happen before. A long time ago. People dropped what they came here to do just to write about Steem. The steem post market became saturated with junk. Then what happens is those who shit posts about Steem start complaining and bashing the platform, because they didn't earn. What was once a positive, history shows, will turn into a huge negative. People will get frustrated with the amount of steem related content cluttering their feeds. This cycle will have to come full circle again. Things will settle down eventually. There are some individuals who do a great job of commenting and reporting on steem and some just chasing the money. Make that money easy to get, you'll get more chasers and the quality will drop, then the people get mad. It's common sense but some folks haven't been here long enough to know what happens.

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uhm. i have known some buskers. if the 'business" is good, they stay. if its meh, they tend to play until they have enough for a bottle of wine and some food then call it quits. they'd much rather hang out with friends and earn nothing than play for people who pay them but dont stop to listen.

lol bad example, but i know what you mean. you dont know you've got something viral until... the same people vote on your post every day whether you shit post or write something epic.

my answer is the same, I dont want to be there. that means people arent really engaging, or listening.

i guess Im an anomaly. entertainment is all good, but I want content, not waffle. if a photographer posts an amazing photo yet tells me nothing about it, i dont give that much worth. if another guy posts average joe pics but tells an good story, gives me perspective on what im seeing, that post gets more value.

after the 79th amazing photo, its just another photo. and i think this is where people get confused about what makes great content, and what we should be rewarding. talent counts sure, but without perspective and meaning, whats the value?

this is where quality over quantity fails for me. i will reward more for the effort in creating a good quality amateur post than i will for one incredible photo with no explanation.

I don't mind making a dime if i know i've put in the work. but if someone started rewarded me 50 steem for every post? I'd turn around and give most of it away to people I thought deserved it as much or more than me. because to me, that is the meaning of community.

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People tend to follow other people, not posts. Just like anywhere, people tend to support other people. If the photographer doesn't add their personality to each post, it's true, the image just becomes another image in the sea of images. Same with art. If the art post is a simple Here's what I made, and then the art, it's hard to support that post if the one next to it is the art and something interesting to say or the art plus creative writing combo. If it's just a picture of a tree, I can't follow a tree. The moment they include their personality and talk about the experience, or anything, even rambling about their day, that makes the post unique and it's much easier to follow someone who seems interesting. I've been trying to explain that to a few folks for years.

but if someone started rewarded me 50 steem for every post? I'd turn around and give most of it away to people I thought deserved it as much or more than me.

Had I not powered up nearly everything I earned, I would not have been able to give this post, or anyone, the vote with value. Under this system, over the long term, if you give that Steem away now, you end up giving less than you could have if you powered up. If your posts suddenly dropped in value, and you gave away a lot of your earned STEEM, you've then created a situation where you cannot even pass around votes of higher value.

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sure, i follow other people. i have 50 people on my gina, and when their post pops up, i read. if it is good content, i vote on it. if it isnt, well maybe i give them a minimum vote because i like them.

some people i no longer vote because they no longer write good content. but i dont know that if i dont bother to review their posts every so often.

there are very few people i vote 100 percent every time, and usually its because they only post one good post a week, or a month.

that is maybe 30 percent of who i vote. the rest i go to curation sites and look for new or undervalued content. some of it i curate even tho its simple or needs improvement because that person TRIED. they did their best.

not all of us have talent. I will be the first to tell you that i am a hack photographer, that sometimes i do punk posts. but i do them to the best of my ability, so ya my photos are fuzzy or my art is a total mess. it's the experience that counts.

the photographer CAN and SHOULD add their personality to the post. posting isnt a contest measuring technique or skill. if that were the case many noobs would never get voted. if the photographer goes so far as to say location, then i have a reference. if they say, this was the tree where i met my wife of 50 years, then i have a story. without that, I have a photo with a lot of specifications that mean nothing to me.

I get what you are saying, and ya I should power up more. Im just a bit burned from steem price dropping so much that my powered steem is worth a quarter of what i put in. so for me, what i curate is more for CC. the steem is just a bonus.

and i agree, powering up counts as sharing. but if that same person powers up but doesnt vote, or votes only friends and never anyone new or struggling, i question that.

still id rather give 15 steem to a new user, if it makes the difference in their ability to post.

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I like to spread my votes around. 72 accounts this past week have seen my vote. There are some who get my support consistently because I've always been a fan of their work. I'm not going to stop being a fan and supporting someone just because they've managed to become popular and now earn plenty. I'll add to the pile and celebrate success. Building up consistent support is just as important as creating content that could potentially attract new readers/viewers. The consistent support needs to be genuine though. If someone is earning top dollar every post, but nobody comments which is a good sign nobody is reading, then it does seem strange to reward that member consistently. If you don't get consistent views on Youtube, you don't get consistent ad revenue. There are some I support consistently, yet they are consistently struggling. Again, I'm just a fan of their work, and some of those posts are just simple one image very few word posts. If they decide to ever step up their game, then they'll notice more consistent support trickling in.

Those autovotes coming in from genuine curators who choose to support people are legit. I get some and that means I have to perform well, or I'll lose it. I know this and there's pressure to always be at my best. That doesn't mean I have to change to suit their needs. My style is what earned their trust to begin with so I'm free to keep doing my thing, my way. Many still check in and leave comments. I don't mind autovotes like that. If they want higher curation rewards, good for them, since earning rewards here is what nearly everyone wants to do.

For me, giving someone new 15 Steem is as simple as voting ten times or so, roughly. Plus I can keep going, if they keep going. I thought about delegating SP early on, when RC was introduced. That would have been too much of a headache though. So many people start, then quit. If they go silent for a few days, do I pull the delegation, or do I wait? For me, I'd much rather see them slowly climb and gain momentum and I only say that because that's what I had to do, and I know it works. When I see folks struggling, I can relate.

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i spose this is why i am so concerned. i vote 75-100 posts daily. same as you, some people i vote consistently, some i vote for the curation but others simply because i really like their work, even if they only make $1.20 in rewards. this is important to me. rewarding the little people. because without them telling their friends positive things about steem, we are doomed.

i do however disagree with your belief that if people dont comment they arent reading. for me, i just dont have time nor inclination to make 100 comments a day. i reply where i feel compelled. and im sure others are the same, but i also think that quite a few people just vote and never read. and they do that because they know my work.

i know auto-curators are legit. i also know that they have the capability of changing their vote. if someone i autovote goes off the rails, i change my payout to them until i see improvement. but i also give them slack for not always needing to be top of the game. or for writing something that i may not appreciate.

i agree that delegation for newbs is the way to go now. i'll consider this and maybe power up my 42 steem that has taken me almost a month to earn..

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I agree, supporting people is a good idea. It encourages noobs, yes and supporting those who've established themselves gives those noobs something to work up to. If noobs saw that you lose support once you reach a certain level, for instance, many wouldn't even start. A healthy balance is crucial to the success of this platform.

I may have used the wrong wording when it comes to post lacking comments. If that member is established here, earns top dollar every post auto-magically, but never gets a comment, that's a good sign even those who are not voting automatically aren't interested. I mean, high rewards, never gets comments. Some of the posts I could point out have had the same voters for three years and most days, there's no one around actually showing proof they were there. That bothered me for awhile because I was consistently making the top ten most commented on posts, and my rewards were one tenth if not lower than some of these posts nobody seems to be interested in. I think things will change now though, since more curators are actually curating.

I know it's hard to leave comments everywhere and I'll often vote without saying a word after reading something. Part of that has to do with the fact I'm a content producer, like many others here, and it's difficult to produce content, and find time to write comments and get into discussions, like this one!

Delegation to noobs is fine, if you want to spend time monitoring their progress. I don't think it's a good idea, personally, because if they go silent for a few days, I won't be sure if they've quit, and if they come back after I've removed the delegation to give to someone else, a headache I don't need develops which is something I don't need. If someone could automate that process, I'd be all over it, helping out.

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ya, for delegation i have only done it for a few, i tend to get the pal mods to help out since they are more financialy able. you should suggest that to them too, as some mods can easily make accounts and delegate to them.

as to balance, its getting there, but theres a few people on whatsups top thirty list that earn whale votes yet cash out and barely curate. thats not really helping to support the community

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I know there's a few takers left on that list. Hopefully things improve.

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I must say, you did a better job on this post then I could have ever done, Well done!
We all know that some of those high rollers are here simply to milk the system. It's a shame they don't want to contribute to the value of the system they're milking. That's a lot like milking a cow, while at the same time starving her...

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exact. its like biting the hand that feeds you. i dont even have the desire to post lately, and given the cool reception this this post, dont know if ill bother. too many know it alls wanna be chief cook. i wont count on them for my next meal.

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Hi @torico!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.899 which ranks you at #1290 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has not changed in the last three days.

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 98 contributions, your post is ranked at #9.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • Some people are already following you, keep going!
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • Try to work on user engagement: the more people that interact with you via the comments, the higher your UA score!

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

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(Edited)

Talking about Steem on Steem, why not? ;) I get your point obviously and seeing the same old, same old warmed up again and again, who really wants to see that?

Rewarding positive content about Steem, especially from angles people haven't really looked at, is valuable. And if that author is even a believer in Steem, powering up more Steem and hodling it to the end, I'd rather see that rewarded 10x, than someone just coming to Steem, to post content that is completely irrelevant, simply for the rewards.

There will always be people who write to benefit from the system: you saw that with dmania, dlive, dtube and currently even with threespeak. That doesn't mean everyone posting there is just doing it for the money, but high paying rewards are usually a very good incentive to get people to do something.

Ultimately, it should be the goal of all stakeholders, to give people those incentives that are benefiting our platform & currency at the same time, as they reward those authors/contributors. Which is why I want to see people talking about Steem, or even better: developing projects, communities or even businesses on Steem.

Anyway, good post!

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hey ty for reading

in reply, I am trying to make a distinction between content that is " the same old, same old warmed up again and again" and a fresh new perspective. what do you consider content that is "completely irrelevant"?

Im saying we shouldnt reward content based on writer or subject alone. If a person writes about steem every single post three times a day, and gets huge votes every single time without saying anything new, should we be rewarding them?

so what if they wax on eloquently and makes it seem important. to me thats just waffle. the same old warmed up content is still not providing value if it just says, "steem is great, we are working on problems, rah rah rah", with no attempt to address the issues or explain the process.

I dont care how amazing the writing is, if the message isn't new, it stinks. Sure it's dressed up in a slightly different style and has a cute anecdote so people think its different information. oh ya and its botted so the payout is incredible. people vote on it and think it MUST be great content. what makes it unique from the post four hours ago?

talking about steem is fine as long as people are saying something NEW, and not writing just to get a payout. I'm asking curators to be a bit more discriminating in what they vote for, and stop jumping on the high post payout bandwagon for profits.

As you say, people writing about, "developing projects, communities or even businesses on Steem" - agree, this is worth while. This is worth paying for.

This is the distinction I would like curators to be making.

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Here here. I, for one, prefer reading posts that aren't about Steem. I also don't think the blockchain needs more negativity. Sure, every so often a rant is called for, if only to get something off your chest, but there are soooo many other subjects.

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i think theres room for a balanced rant because not everything is black and white.

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let's see now.. you wrote a post on steem to complain about people writing posts on steem about steem.... out of writing ideas for the day?

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perhaps you are not looking at the planned irony of the post...

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perhaps you are not looking at the humour of the comment

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touche, internet humor is difficult to interpret :P

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