This post was posted by Theymos, bitcointalk admin, here while having a discussion about whether Steemit links should be banned on bitcointalk.
It seems to me that steem is a classic scamcoin, and steemit is being astroturfed like crazy. However, if a steemit link contains substantial, on-topic content, then the shadyness of steem/steemit doesn't warrant removing the link.
My response:
It seems to me that steem is a classic scamcoin.
Let's talk about Steem as a platform first of all.
Mate, you know nothing about Steem. Have you even bothered checking out our community before reaching to a conclusion on what Steem really is? You probably have seen worse shitcoins in your lifetime, and yet you're calling Steem, which is a perfectly legitimate cryptocurrency, a scamcoin.
Have you bothered to check out what Steem is really backed by? What makes Steem so special, and what makes Steem a great platform for people like us who are already using Steem to express our opinions, and benefit out of sharing our opinion? Steem is backed by original content that is authored by users that willingly accept Steem currencies as a form of payment. What's wrong with that? It's like writing an article on a newspaper and getting paid for it.
Now, Steem as a currency.
Steem is a perfectly legitimate cryptocurrency. Why? Because it has all the properties that bitcoin has - non reversible transactions, decentralized network, and a community behind it. Can Ned or Dan reverse payments on the Steem network? No.
Is Steem a pump and dump coin? No. Sure, price has been volatile, but people have shown interest in buying in more of these coins because they know what the platform is capable of bringing us all. It will revolutionize social media, as well as blockchain technology. There has been no dumps that have taken place in a matter of seconds, crashing the price to mere satoshis.
and steemit is being astroturfed like crazy.
Um. Not sure what you're talking about here. There is no paid public support here, even if the network is designed to pay for good posts. Are people forcing us to say something? No. We can literally speak for ourselves, just like Reddit or Twitter. There is no censorship. Even the whales respect our opinions. If your argument is that we are being forced into writing pro-Steem articles, then you're wrong. People criticize Steem all the time, and make suggestions for improvement. This isn't a fascist regime. I have wrote about food in the past, and still get upvotes for it. And AFAIK, ned and dan aren't personally paying anyone to join the network and say good things about it, apart from the $10 Steempower, which they are not even able to cashout until they hit 10x.
99.99% of the people here love Steem, and they may say good things about it. How's that bad? To say something that you truly mean? 99.99% of the Steemians are legit, honest people. And 100% Steemers don't get paid to say something good about Steem, by the owners. Steem has strong grassroot support.
It's damn simple. Steem is not paying for public support.
Your forum, on the other hand, is CENTRALIZED AND CENSORED. You can do whatever you want with your forum, expel users, add new users, ban users. It's all up to you. Even giving negative trust to innocent users is possible. You have to admit that Steem resolves all these problems, by having a decentralized social media. And this is why people are interested in it.
However, if a steemit link contains substantial, on-topic content, then the shadyness of steem/steemit doesn't warrant removing the link.
Let's talk spam.
I'm telling you now, that your bitcointalk articles are the ones that are NOT ON TOPIC. Take a tour of the forum, and you'll see a ton of people spamming useless stuff just to get paid a few cents for their signature. Your forum is flooded with signature spam. I doubt you can call your forum containing "substantial, on-topic content".
And take a look at Steemit, there are lots of actual people that love what they do - writing articles online. They actually share their life experiences. They write detailed introduceyourself posts. They love each other. They don't hate each other like you guys do on Bitcointalk.
And your thing regarding the shadyness of Steem - anything to back it up? If you say that the whales are controlling the majority of the Steem supply, then, doesn't the same thing apply to bitcoin? Doesn't the same thing apply to fiat currency? Doesn't the same thing apply to shares?
Conclusion:
Look man, I appreciate your effort in warning the bitcoin community about a potential threat. I understand that you have seen so many scams in your life that even you can't keep count. Especially ICOs, pump and dumps and things like that. But take my word for it - Steem is not one of them.
I strongly suggest you check out Steemit fully, register an account before blatantly saying speech of hate about it. You'll find lots of interesting discussion, and a very, very clean interface. Much better than the outdated one of yours, as well as the new one that you have been promising for years.
Steem is an honest project, with an excellent community.
And the best is yet to come.
