"Litmus test" comes from Chemistry. It's basically (get it) a piece of paper with a dye on it that reacts at a certain pH. If it changes color you know the minimum value of the pH. In general the term "litmus test" is used as a really simple question to get a very simple result and use that as a way to make decisions going forward.
Stake
If you own stake it's yours. You can do as you want with it. It's your power and within your scope to do so. The rest of this community will act accordingly. They may support what you are doing, flag you, and/or start trolling based on what you're doing. My guideline presented below is intended for whales. Dolphins should be doing their best to follow this, and minnows too, but the consequences of doing a shitty job at this as a dolphin or minnow are slim. The consequences of large stake holders acting against a very simple litmus will have a perceptible impact on the rewards pool and culture of this place.
Culture is king
You can try to enforce whatever you want as an individual, but you're gonna have a hard time. The only way to really police this place is through a community effort and we need some alignment with a bare bones "what is considered abuse?" In order to enforce this culture we need whales to have some restraint and we need community leaders to exemplify good behavior that we should all attempt to emulate. With a healthy culture the general amount of abuse should go down making it easier to fight.
A good guideline
Simply ask yourself before you vote: "does this post/comment add value to this platform."
Now, I'm not talking about every minor self vote you make. If you have a funny comment on a friends post and want to make sure they see it I don't think that's a big deal if you're dropping small votes for visability. The ones I'm concerned with are $20 or more self votes (because that's roughly the 50k SP 100% vote level), especially in comments, where the goal is to use your stake to leach from the reward pool. So, before you add some huge self-votes that the community will find reprehensible and encourage others to act in bad faith just ask yourself "Does this add value to the platform."
It's important that you follow these guidelines. You're an investor. Maybe you got your investment through mining and stake-weighted inflation, maybe you got it posting, and maybe you got it through buying in. No matter how you got it please treat this place well with respect. If the investor's can't control themselves how can we expect anyone else. You guys set the tone. Please set a good one.
Some bad examples
If you'd like to see some bad examples of behavior just check out: https://steemit.com/payout_comments
It will show you the highest paid comments. These are almost always whales self voting.
At the top of the list is @ned causing on-platform drama with his former co-founder @dan. Rather than trying to constructively resolve a conflict he's using Steemit's stake, which is supposed to be non-voting according to threads in bitcointalk that discuss how that stake will operate going into the future to argue the need for the stake at the time the mining occurred. @ned's comment is also highly ironic in that it's a self-aggrandizing complaint on a self-aggrandizing comment.
I like Ned. I think he has a hard job, and while things have been slower than many would like he's keeping the wheels on and continues to grow his team. I'm looking forward to a good 2018.
That said, this comment was bullshit, stirred shit, attacks a cofounder, and causes drama. Does that add value to the platform? No. @ned please find a way to peacefully resolved your conflicts off the block and don't use the stake Steemit leadership committed to not use for personal drama, especially with @dan.
- How about @transisto?
I like transisto too. I know he gets in some hot water politically for flagging, but good abuse flagging is one of the most noble things a person can do. He's spoken to me about his hatred of corruption on the platform and how he wants to root it out. A lot of that is fantastic and I support the effort.
How about his random self-votes on comments? NOPE! They provide no value. He says he's doing it to support a project that will support the platform. Well that sounds interesting... But I don't see an update. If he created an update on a project that was supporting the platform would that show evidence of providing value to the platform? Absolutely! I'd love to read that post, and I'd welcome him to upvote it himself. but a 3 word "I'm doing good stuff behind the scenes" comment isn't a good use of community rewards pool. I see no value there.
@transisto I have two suggestions for you. Make posts describing the work or delegate some Steem Power to @msp-bidbot and get a daily payout from a bidbot (more on this later). I highly doubt another whale would complain if you self upvote on a project update about something that helps the block. I know it's 30 more minutes of work, but please make the effort to build a real post rather than just soaking in self-votes through non-productive comments.
This one is especially ironic to me because my litmus test is straight out of @transisto's mouth. He was the one harping on this, and I ultimately think he's right. It's tragic to me that he's now abandoning that principle because sbd is high (that's his own words). The term for that is "selling out." I think highly of @transisto and hope the behavior changes.
- Grumpycat
I like Grumpycat too. Actually I really like all these guys. Grumpy is a cat on a mission to end abusive bot voting. That's actually really noble too. I know it pissed some people off, but he's literally saving the reward pool from bot abuse and giving people more time to catch that kind of shitty abuse. Good work!!!
Then @grumpcat goes and starts self-voting on comments. Are those comments providing sweet sweet value to the platform? It doesn't look like it to me. It mostly looks like a hypocritical cat on a self-voting binge.
Cat. You do some good stuff around here, but that doesn't give you the right to rape the rewards pool. You get to use your stake. You can make those choices; however, if you use it in a selfish manner this community won't respond well. Please stop dropping $100 votes on practically meaningless comments.
Bidbots
There's still some frustration around bid bots, but here's the thing. They are open, transparent, have rules that everyone can view, and they are public. @transisto if you need money for a project put some Steem aside and use a bid bot. It's ok. These aren't killing the platform. They are an incredibly unique approach to marketing that rewards the investor and the user. Where else can you spend money, get advertising, and then get your money back. It's a service and one that's pretty highly valued on the platform.
It's ok to use. Frankly if you don't use them you make it easier for the shitposters to use them. Then the terrorists win.
You don't even have to run one. Again, delegate to msp-bidbot and get a daily return. And now you don't have to self upvote on your own comment spam.
Are some of the bot votes used for abuse? Absolutely, but the bot owners are working with @patrice and @steemcleaners to cut down on abuse. As the owners get better about stopping abuse they'll only get better over time. It's a process and a game of cat and mouse.
Guys, if you need the extra money for some reason and you're looking to get a return on your investment above and beyond the rising price of Steem then please choose this publicly available option rather than upvote your own comments that don't provide value. Again, it's your stake and you can do as you will, but as long as you can't demonstrate some self control I think you're going to get shit from the community.
But @aggroed, aren't you one of the worst constantly self upvoting whales on the platform?
Well, I upvote myself more than most whales, but it's practically never on comments. I write 1-2 posts a day on average and will continue to do so. I may have more posts than half of the top 20 witnesses combined. I like to write, and I think the writing I do adds value to the platform. I'm not ashamed to self upvote it because it meets my litmus test. Do my posts add value to the platform? YES! They help build communities on this platform. That's one hell of a service too!
On top of that I delegate nearly all of the stake I earn from this place to projects and people that grow this platform. When I self vote on a post I take somewhere between $2-8 USD for my work. I don't think that's out of line and then when I get it back I put almost all of it back into projects that help the community.
I use my bidbot to help me cover some of my life costs while simultaneously giving minnows a chance to earn. I have a fairly steady passive income from it and I can use that and my post rewards to lead a pretty good life while being able to build a community that's going to change the world. I think I found a decent balance that didn't include self-voting on 3-word comments. So, I pass my own litmus test. If I sell out at some point I hope there's someone here to call me out on it and help reign me back in.
Whales. I like you and this platform needs you, but please vote responsibly and lead by good example.
Namaste,
Aggroed