This post is probably going to upset some people. I'll probably get flagged by some asshole if I'm lucky. But that's only because butthurt people use flags to disagree and punish people, not because they've done anything wrong or broken any rules.
I've been on Steemit for a couple months now and gave it a good shot. I've figured out the economics of it all and this is just a 'first impressions', an impartial review of how I find the platform as a newb.
I know virtually no-one is going to read it because most people suffer from internet disease. I'm only ranked at '44' so that must mean I'm an idiot. It doesn't matter I may have a 7 figure trading account or be very successful in other areas, the law of the internets says if you start anything new then you're automatically an idiot. The converse is also true, have a high enough 'number' and it's assumed you know what you're talking about. They do say in business though, that people always rise to the level of their incompetence...
I get this a lot in gaming. You start a new game playing alongside seasoned players, and everyone treats you like a child. It doesn't matter if you've been a gamer for over 35 years, and playing since before most of them were born, if you have an initial low score then you're opinion is worth nothing.
I haven't been writing recently because I've been so disheartened by Steemit. I can see people post single line posts and receive 1000 upvotes and $800, while other people write decent informative posts and don't get a single cent for their efforts. I include myself in the second category of course, it's hard to find incentive to write a post for 3 hours when the reward is non-existent (a couple upvotes, and perhaps a comment or two, if that).
The same is true for I guess 99% of Steemit users, the system is so absolutely corrupted and biased against quality content it's a bit of a joke even trying. But as I've said since day one, I don't need the money and that's not why I post, I wouldn't know what to spend my $0.01 on anyway.
There's no engagement on the platform at all. I thought I would find at least a dozen or so other people with similar interests that I could chat to, which is my whole point of being here. Whenever I get a new follower I get all excited and go check them out - only to find it's yet another spammer following 300k+ accounts and zero interest in mine. I follow people all the time, try to talk to them and engage them in conversation. Most don't reply which is when I know they're just blagging it for the money, afraid to be caught out if they actually had to discuss it with a peer. Unfollowed.
Everywhere I see desperation in peoples posts, everyone wants to make a killing and become rich just by stringing a couple posts together about what they ate for lunch or a funny thing that happened at work that day. It's just not going to happen.
The rest of the users are wannabe crypto 'gurus', thinking they'll make it rich trading currencies. Well I've got bad news, trading currencies is one of the hardest disciplines there is, and the chances are you're just not going to make it. Meanwhile the people that are feeding you all the horseshit are making out like bandits thanks to your upvotes, you're just too dumb to realise it.
I can see Steemit for what it is now, a ponzi scheme where only the people at the very top are ever going to make anything of it, no-one else has a chance. For any wannabe authors out there, forget it, it's not going to happen. Write because you enjoy writing for sure, but if you want to make money there are far better ways to get rewarded for your skills. Steemit reminds me of a Hollywood diner, full of wannabe actresses just waiting for that moment to be 'discovered' and make the big time. I don't have the facts and figures, but it's probably easier to become an Astronaut than the chance of that actually happening to anyone.
If you weren't a first adopter or you aren't in the top 5% by now, you've missed your chance. Unless you've got some serious capital with which to buy votes and bots, you'll never see a return on your investment. Some clever people have already worked out how to game the system, and they're the ones making the money that you're not receiving for your posts.
As an economic systems it's a failure. Whether it was by incompetence or naivety on the behalf of the developers, they never figured human greed into the equation. I know some people even suspect it was intentional, the devs made their money and ran for the hills, hence no more updates on the platform. The only thing that could save Steemit from this ponzi scheme is a hard fork, where bots and self upvoting are banned.
It's like all the gullible idiots who think the increase in crypto from 5 years ago is going to happen again and everyone is going to make it rich. It was a new tech, it bubbled then burst. If you weren't on that train when it left the station then too bad, you missed it. Sure, some crypto will increase in the future, most will fail. Long steady growth is the future if you pick the right coin. Most won't. Regular moonshots where you're expecting 10x profits in a month ? lol
To that end, I've decided I'm going to keep writing on here, but no more Mrs Nice Girl. From now on I'm just going to tell the truth about trading and start calling people out on their horseshit. Sure, I'll get flagged all the way down to zero by people abusing the flag system for their own profit, but so be it. If I can save a handful of people from wasting their capital on bad advice and help a few people to make some actual money, then that's all I'm interested in.
Notice how all these people making 'predictions' all the time never actually tell you how much money it made them ? It's because it's all bullshit, they don't even trade, they just make money out of peddling bunk to gullible fools. The other category are the circlejerkers, people who made bad choices because of their ineptitude, and so have to constantly spam 'it's about to moon !' to somehow justify to themselves they're not a failure. Haven't you noticed how profitable those kinds of posts are ? What does that tell you about the people reading and upvoting them...
I think I've only seen one other user on the entire platform who tells the hard truth, @yallapapi. If you want to learn the reality of life on Steemit and your potential future, go read his stuff. I'm saying the same as him, but he's a lot funnier than me :-)
My posts are aimed at new traders, people trying to find their feet in what is accepted as being one of the toughest jobs in the world. If you know it all already and already making a killing at crypto then don't feel bad about unfollowing me, I don't mind. If you just want the hard truth about trading in the real world and making real money, away from all the 'prediction economy' pretenders then please keep tuned, I promise I'll start writing more soon, warts and all.
Sorry for the negative post, but a few realisations have hit home recently. I believe telling the truth is the most important thing, regardless of the potential fallout.
I'm currently trying to build up Steem Power so that I can actually reward people for writing interesting posts, instead of the mere $0.00 that my vote is worth now. Other than that, any money I make from Steemit will go to a Steemit charity or worthy cause and I'll post proof of it if required. I know this post just sounds like I'm being salty, like all the other posts complaining about Steemit, but I'm genuinely not in this for the fame or money :-)
Header image credit : teachersandwritersmagazine.org via Google image search, no affiliation.
About me -
I'm a full time financial trader, mostly in Forex and Commodities. I write for fun and try to help beginner traders get started, avoiding all the mistakes that I made. I'm always happy to chat or discuss ideas so please just give me a shout in the comments !