Based on "Authors Get Paid..." I joined Steemit bright-eyed and optimistic.
It did not take long for me to realize just how difficult "Start Earning" was going to be.
IMAGE SOURCE: @noganoo post on steemd
And as quickly as the optimistic light lit my eyes, as quickly it was extinguished.
Bots hammering users or blindly supporting others, networks of bots doing the same; in the above example, although the post received more upvotes from what appears to be individual accounts, all potential payouts had been returned to the reward pool all based on the actions/opinions of the few (and obviously one or a few in control of a bot network going by at-badger####).
Don't get me wrong.... the example of @fulltimegeek flag hammering @graig-grant's absolute spam crap content posts is awesome (in my humble opinion, anyway), @ausbitbank's flag hammering of @noganoo seems fairly justified and right from what I have witnessed so far (and so far, so much not witnessed to even really make a balanced judgement call on the subject).
Just because I am enjoying it (the drama show) and support it (for personal reasons) does not mean that it is right and should be allowed as-is.
And yet is all this drama, all this "One Life To Live" & "All My Children" & even a touch of "General Hospital", really why I joined?
It's taking a lot of self-discipline to not participate, to not find the abusers and bots to call out - a battle of self-discipline in which I am clearly loosing at the moment. Yet the struggle is real, and I do hope Content Creation wins out over Research/Investigate & Report.
Is #calibrae's development going to be successfully launched? Are there any other alternatives out there which strip the power of account value as the sole dictator of the platform, somewhere where one vote or flag is equal to one plus or minus? Somewhere where bots are not allowed or encouraged to dictate who succeeds and who fails on the platform???
I grow tired of this Financial Oligarchy, I yearn for something more balanced - believe me, if I had the money and the equipment I would gladly attempt building a team to develop something better.
Yet until then, I am here. And must find a way to discipline myself to self... if it is meant to have an attraction worthy of profit then so it shall be. And if it is meant to leave me in the shadows of Financial Giants and their army of Artificial Intelligence, then so that shall be as well (at least all I am "losing" is my time and effort, I will never sink one PENNY of fiat currency into this corrupted system as is).
Thank You for your time, and BEWARE THE BOTS and their malicious handlers.
Steem On!