Like milk, but different
In light of a couple of recent visits by the Doctor, I think it's about time to serve some #milkntaters to soak up some retaliatory downvotes.
The other day I was sent the profile of me-tarzan and was amazed at how this account had seemingly managed to fly under the radar whilst kicking out 70 odd posts a week and voting purely to self and a suspected alt. Three years, 10000+ top level posts, and over 200,000 STEEM earned in liquid and SP.
At this point, I'm almost giving this guy a pat on the back for his efforts, but if everyone did that......
The EIP has gone a long way in cancelling out some of the worse anti-steem behaviors, but it's likely to be an on-going 'disagreement' in which much has, and will be written. Those in receipt of a stack of downvotes, generally cast due to potential reward disagreement have a few options:
Spit the boobie out and start powering down, claiming Steem will never succeed if people aren't allowed to do exactly what they want
Continue posting and retaliate against anyone removing rewards on their content
Change approach
Unfortunately, I see much less of the 3rd option and more of the first of and second. @me-tarzan, seemingly well into his crypto analysis has chosen option one. And @dobartim and friend/relative @flysky have chosen option two, although both are currently not posting much.
Like @me-tarzan, the success brothers also both have close to 200,000 SP each, enough to put some positive weight behind option 3, a change in approach.
With communities set to go live very soon, I see users like @paulag working hard to build a community around a niche she has experience in and feels could grow in time. Unfortunately, she doesn't have 200k SP but is throwing most of what she has at the project in order to encourage content from new (and old users, and commentary within.
Wouldn't it be cool if me-tarzan, seemingly keen on crypto analysis, got involved in that community and helped build it up around him. We've seen from the tribes that the owners/key players (@riverflows @ naturalmedicine and @khaleelkazi @ steemleo) have gained followers and support since the inception of their tribes, and they don't hold close to the SP.
@dobartim and @flysky have frequently produced poetry and art, both would seemingly work well as a community project if the support of that realm of creativity was there. 400k SP, in my opinion is plenty enough to draw people in and grow that space, and I'm sure their contributions would be welcomed too.
I don't hold much hope that they'll listen to me, but I thought i'd give it a shot - #milkandtaters is nice as a one-off, but there so much more at the supermarket to try.
Dinner time!
I think there's always going to be people who seek personal gain without thought of those they harm; History is full of it...Look at DeBeers and their blood diamond trade for instance...Anyway, here, in the digital world, it's not as easy to fly under the radar and bad behaviour can be clearly seen for what it is.
I believe it is up to the community to redress that behaviour, as it is doing, when it's revealed. By redress I mean brutally stamp it out.
Having said that I believe there is a way back for those who have acted poorly in the past. Redemption for wrongdoing is available and should be permitted by those of us (the community) who have been affected by those wrongdoings...The community at large.
I've used the word community here a few times and in reality it is a community we are involved in...No different to a community of cave-people. Imagine a cave-dude acting poorly within the caveman-community...(Eating all the sabre-tooth tiger whilst the other cave-dudes were sleeping)...They'd get clubbed to death or reprimanded in some way at least, maybe even eaten themselves...Here in Australia Aboriginal tribal law is still practiced in remote communities (spear to the leg etc.) I'm serious.
Steem isn't that brutal, we're a sophisticated, classy group of intelligent beings and have such traits as understanding and forgiveness...Right? (Maybe.)
As someone who has benefited from 100% downvotes over a period of a few months, on every post I made it would be easy to simple want to spear someone through the heart...However I'd rather see those that engage in poor and anti-community behaviour simply make an apology and get on with whatever the hell they wish to post, even if its nonsensical poetry, and get with the program for the benefit of the community and themselves. I'd be happy to welcome them back from redemption island and back into the fold...Provided the bullshit stops. I'm happy to give people one chance. One.
You may note I used the words benefited from 100% downvotes...I say that because during that period of getting DV'd so much the community rallied around me, supported me and helped keep my attitude on the up...That's community mofo's! That's what it's all about. It will not be forgotten.
P.s. I kind of agree with @bashadow also though...Sometimes change isn't possible...I don't know why...Maybe Sigmund Freud could tell us.
It takes time for change, one of the issues I have always had with the flags and professional flag groups, is that once they flag a person and that person gets on the mack-bot list everything they do is considered a steem block chain crime. I have seen countless comments that are valid and part of the real conversation down voted regardless of if it is spam, plagiarism, or what ever reason. Valid comments contributions being obscured because of a past mis-deed, kind of like going to jail for life because your third offense was you were starving and stole a slice of pizza.
!ENGAGE 25
We as a community are learning and growing, that is not happening with as many comments any more, so that segment of permanent punishment dealers have grown and learned, (I hope), about right and wrong and are more accommodating to those who are trying to change. It is a fine line, both parties need to be willing to change and address the issue.
Nicely put and very logical. I'm not as eloquent, or understanding of the blockchain* as yourself...I'm just a content creator that wanted to have a say. :)
I agree with you, here and in your previous comment of course too. I think there's a balance to be found and most of us find it.
I'm not sure I "understand" the block chain, I'm just opinionated at times. I like to read, look, and listen on steem block chain, I am a consumer, sometimes poster, and mostly just commenting what I like, and sometimes what I don't and when asked for an opinion, sometimes I need to be quiet.LoL.
Thank you for the kind comment.
You're welcome...We're all different but all need to live within the same community...I think it's possible, but it'll take a little effort from all of us. 😊
!ENGAGE 25 for you sir :)
@bashadow you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @abh12345!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
@galenkp you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @bashadow!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
Hi Galen, thanks for lighting up my post with some valuable commentary :)
I do air on the side of giving people another go, but clearly they'd have to do more than just saying they will. I also understand azircon and people who have tried endlessly to discuss change which has fallen on deaf ears time and time again.
Spear to the leg though, damnn!
Hey mate, you're most welcome always happy to add my small voice to the dialogue.
I know these two characters have been given every chance to get with the program and have repeatedly refused to join the rest of us. It's a shame for them really, an opportunity lost, but as you say every chance has been given. People like that will fall by the wayside just as wheat is separated from the chaff.
We're never all going to agree on the way forward, however destructive behaviour is not going to produce the results we need and desire. They had their chance(s)...Time to disappear.
Oh yeah man, tribal law is brutal...Not that I know much about it really, but the old ways are still practiced sometimes in conflict with Australian law. I might do a post on it someday.
Thanks for your kind words and for responding. 🙂
More they engage in this kind of bad behavior, more cornered they become. These days our media tells us (I do not watch TV, full disclosure) there is no such thing call bad publicity, it is only publicity. I beg to differ. Just look what happened to @dobartim and @flysky. My friends tried and tried to get them to their senses; asked, literally begged them to engage with the community in a positive way. They said NO. When we took action with downvotes. They retaliated against not only the people who downvoted them but also to innocent and people we vote! Like Galen, Taraz and Asher here (and many others). They didn't change their ways.
Look where they are now. @dobartim who used to "make" 3 posts a day, do not have a paid post for more than a month! Do you still think there is no such thing called "bad publicity"?
One of the things they have real difficulty in understanding; there are some people here who is not here for money, but here for a social experiment. This concept is so foreign to them, they just can't comprehend. So for those people, who is not here for money, they have nothing to loose. If I take lesson from history, and use battlefield analogy, an enemy with nothing to loose, is something you should be afraid of @dobartim @flysky
PS: Also all the people who are still voting them (a particular Korean Circle) and they themselves essentially loosing all the earning form curation. Funny thing is they say they are "investor" and business people, LOL. They don't have a first damn clue of their loosing business. They are just running themselves to the ground. Its pitiful!
Also, just watch their stupidity of up-voting their comments! This is 10 minutes ago :). From a business point of view, what a waste of up-voting power! They don't even know they are not going to get anything out of it.
I agree @azircon, it seems some simply don't have the capacity for reason, and will dig their heels in no matter what; Even to the detriment of themselves. It defies logic really.
I don't agree with the there is no such thing as bad publicity statement, it's just something media and marketers make up to further their own needs. It is quite clear that bad publicity sticks like shit to a blanket here on steem, and smells just as bad for those engaging in it. And so it should.
I saw many attempts to turn that poor behaviour around, and the imploring nature of those attempts also, and yet...Nope, they're not going to play ball.
I used to get picked on (racially vilified) as a young kid a lot and it taught me many things...Not least of which was that bullies are unreasonable and quite often feel a lack of self-esteem and self-worth. I think that is the case here and why the retaliatory DV's spilled over to those who probably didn't deserve them...It was a bid for relevance...That was never going to come.
...Still, there is no action without reaction and in life we, as human beings, reap the harvest of that which we sow.
Also; all this is good, but people must earn their lunch in steem :)
So please all the good ladies and gentlemen here please get to work with your mouse on this post:
https://steemit.com/popcorn/@acidyo/this-is-it-boys-and-girls#@abh12345/q4poj0
Because we have to heal some comments, and my fingers are tired and I am going to get a bourbon!
Below are @dobartim's latest downvotes on all comments, I didn't catch them all
Thanks for the effort here, it's a real shame they have not considered how this would benefit them and Steem as a whole.
The social experiment continues :)
!ENGAGE 25
@azircon you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @abh12345!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
I must confess, I had no idea about @me-tarzan, and I have been here for a bit. Actually it was so surprisingly under the radar, I must say its a work of art! "Terrible, oh yes, but great!" (thank you Olivander, the wand maker). I just wish I have more time and knew it earlier. Well that's that, better late than never, I guess.
Now @dobartim & @flysky I know; I have known them for a while. I keep a very close watch on them and their extended family. I think Asher, you are being polite and optimistic about those two, and you should be, because you are a gentleman. Fortunately (or unfortunately for them), I am not. I don't think there is any hope for them. At this point in time, I have no intent to verbally engage with them. That time has come and gone, and we all tried. Now it is just action.
Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.
PS. on related note; please do not forget to remove all remaining rewards from @me-tarzan; I am a bit occupied with the Korean community ;)
Hi @azircon
Thanks for the comment. I also think you are a gentleman but as you say, you have spent more time with the aforementioned than I, and have likely tried long enough to promote a change.
It’s unlikely, but if they were to speak of change, and then act on their words, I think it would be a good thing. I understand if others don’t have that faith though.
I’ll check in on Tarzan shortly, I think pending rewards will be removed over the course of the week.
!BEER is also like milk, but different!
Milk in the morning, Beer in the evening :)
I've had a month off the latter in January, looking forward to the end of the week, cheers!
!ENGAGE 25
@mcoinz79 you have received
25 ENGAGEfrom @abh12345!View and trade the tokens on Steem Engine.
I get what you’re saying and i agree we cant force people to be constructive or what we see as constructive with their stake but the way i see it the stake moves from weak hands to stronger hands when they leave to people who want to he here and contribute
As for those who stay and take and retaliate with votes as more constructive stakeholders are built up over time they will be crowded out and either have to leave or become constructive
Its part of the reason why ive also been motivated as prices go down so i could grab more of the inflation to become more influencial
As for the selling i dont see it as too kuch fo a bad thing we have so little liquidity if anyone wanted to make a big purchase on say Binance of say 50k steem the slippage would put them off
@socalsteemit, @freewritehouse and @mariannewest are great examples of keeping on in the face of evil doers doing evil. Freewritehouse in particular is much stronger now and will not be defeated.
I'm trying to get the bigs to support this effort, but even if they don't, all of us little guys will stay strong and come out the other side.
https://steempeak.com/hive-161155/@ntowl/supporting-freewrite-house-and-sbi-giving-away-75-sbi-shares
Any ideas you have to help us, @abh12345, will be so gratefully appreciated.
I've thought a fair bit about steembasicincome and the pro's and cons, and I really don't have a strong opinion either way.
I've 'purchased' a fair amount of shares for myself/others in the past but as with the change of opinion (although some of us never really changed our view) on buying votes / bidbots, this is essentially what is happening when you buy an SBI share.
I understand some people/communities have invested a large amount into SBI, and it is a shame to see those that are doing good on the end of downvotes, but the landscape is forever changing....
I don't think you can ever change a takers ways. If there is a way they will take, if there is a means they will take. They will never change, they are the takers they are the ones that think the world owe them, that the world revolves around them. They will never change, they may leave, but more likely come back when they can not find a place to take from as easy as they had it here, maybe new names, Dragnet, old American TV show), "the names have been changed to protect the
innocentguilty".It's a fair option to start afresh, but different actions are required or things are likely to repeat. I'm ever hopeful that people can adjust to the changing times.
Yeah, I would not hold your breath...
but that aside - a senseless option chosen by them.
I have exhaled a few times since the post, that's mainly because I've been working out trying to shift this booze belly!
Hahaha... well, sounds like a win win!
Oh, for someone with that amount of SP to throw their weight behind a community like ours! I do think that people who behave that way aren't likely to change, though we can live and dream. Can't say you didn't try to gently nudge them sideways though! - @riverflows
Yeah wouldn't it be great to have that much SP to grow a niche you love. Best wishes for https://www.naturalmedicine.io/ !
Totally appreciate your support x
Personaly, I don’t have anything against them.
I have nothing personal against them, but don't think the network can thrive if you post, selfvote, repeat x 10, and do nothing else.
Let him leave. He's been leeching off Steem with no real community engagement. He will leave more rewards for the rest of us. Of course if he is willing to change his ways and actually be a part of this thing then I'll leave him alone.
Yeah I'm not going to beg, just feel they are missing out on helping this place grow, which will in turn help them.
We all gain if Steem is a better experience so people stick around. Still too many people just taking all they can with no interest in helping out. This guy has enough SP to do a lot of good whilst still earning well. Definitely Old Steem attitude.
Agreed.