[The Uncomfortable, Convenient Truth.] "Don't You Like Me?"/"Pls High Vote." [My Voting Truth]
The Title Says It All...
I have been given a "bag of money" and I'm trying to share it with as many as possible, but I'm often being treated like a "millionaire" with an endless amount of money to give. And some people are more desperate than others. In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know, and probably things you don't need to know too.
Fellow Steemian.
I am not talking about money, I'm talking about VP (voting power) and SP (Steem Power). My "bag of money" is the awesome delegation I've received from @fulltimegeek along with the invitation to the #StewardsOfGondor. So meanwhile I'm talking about nothing more than numbers and percentages, some people are acting like the whole world is going under due to my voting behaviour. I promise you, it's not the end of the world if you get a 6% vote instead of 21%. And I also promise you that you're not alone. How I vote or the content I support, is for me to decide and that has nothing to do with you personally. I'm just trying to spread as much wealth, love and positivity as possible... But I do it my way.
Another Steemian.
I would love to give everyone 100% votes.
With the awesome delegation from @fulltimegeek, my votes at 100% is worth ~$1.70, and I would obviously love to give that to all of you. Honestly speaking, I would've loved the opportunity to give away that amount 324 times per day to all of you... But in reality, it's impossible and that's not my fault so please, stop acting like I ruin your day due to my low percentage upvotes.
Ever since I got this delegation from @fulltimegeek, I've been a "Legend Upvoter" according to @abh12345's weekly #StewardsOfGondor reports. Each week, except the last week when I missed it by 6 votes. The "Legend Upvoter" is for those who reach no less than 1000 upvotes per week... And with that said, you should be able to understand that it would be impossible for me to cast ~1000 votes per 7 days with 100% of my VP. I would be down at 0% VP in an instant and I would never be able to give anyone a single cent.
That's not what I have in mind while I work my ass off to pay it forward and to accomplish great things for Steemit. I have delegated all my own Steem Power to a group of awesome people and we've formed the @asapers, which strive to make a difference in young Steemians lives and to help them make a difference on Steemit. That's my way of saying Thank You! to @fulltimegeek for his generosity, but it is also my way of saying "thank you" to all of you who've been supporting me. The @asapers wouldn't exist without you, and I would never have had the opportunity to create something like this without all the support. I am truly grateful for everything.
However, I didn't create the @asapers to spend all my VP and my Steem Power on these 6 individuals in the team. I didn't start this project so that I could waste all my voting power by careless and reckless voting behaviour. I launched the #asapers because I truly believe in Steemit as a community, but I also felt that we must do something to help, support and motivate others around us. I can't do that by draining my VP. I can't upvote every single article I find with 100%. That would be foolish.
I am trying to accomplish good things here, and I would love to have your support further on too... But I also require something from you. - That you either appreciate my votes, no matter the percentage or that you tell me straight up to not upvote you ever again. It's fine by me.
I am not forced to upvote certain content and if you're not satisfied with the votes I give you or how I vote, just let me know and I'll make sure to upvote someone else, who'll appreciate the gesture more than you. You are not entitled my votes. You cannot claim or request upvotes from me. I'm a human. I do things manually... And, you're not paying me.
What I do, when I do it and how I do it is for me to decide. You're obviously free to have suggestions and I always appreciate input.. But you'll never be able to steer my actions.
Yet Another Steemian.
Time Is Limited.
I just as you, don't have unlimited time. It's impossible for me to spend 24 hours per day on Steemit. No matter how much I want it, I can't spend all that time on Steemit because I have a life outside of Steemit too. I have recently sent an application to an upcoming education that starts in March. I haven't heard anything yet but I'm crossing my fingers and I wish they will accept my application. I have not paid off by previous Student loan yet, and before I do that, I will not be eligible any new Student loans... So even if I get in, my financial situation will be terrible and I will not be able to study if I cannot get new student loans. Things like this are literally eating up all my energy and my time, and that's just one part of my life. Even with my real life situations and conditions, along with my anxiety, panic attacks and my depression, I do everything I can to launch the @asapers project successfully.
I do everything I can to commit myself to the #StewardsOfGondor to make @fulltimegeek proud and satisfied with what I do and accomplish and I do everything I can to put tons of time on my own articles and to respond on each (at least almost) all the comments I get.
My comments and my upvotes are my way of saying "Thank you" for your effort. It's my way of showing gratitude towards each Steemian I interact with or discuss things with. It's my way of spreading the wealth and my way to improve the overall experience on Steemit. And I do all of that, along with a bunch of other things... Just like most other Steemians. The time is limited and I will never be able to achieve exactly everything you want me to do... But I do my best to please as many as possible.
And There You Have It.
Everything You Need To Know...
And Probably Things You Don't Need To Know.
Note:
This whole article is based upon multiple DMs (direct messages) I've been getting lately, so I figured it was about time to let everyone know.
I think part of the problem is how Steemit looks like easy money, so when someone is used to getting upvotes all the time, they feel betrayed when they don't get an upvote. I really think it's disingenuous when someone complains if they don't get upvotes, as it shows that they really don't care about their audience and content as much as some other creators.
Yeah, I think you're right... Which is sad. Steemit is not the easiest place to earn money and you will not become a millionaire or be able to buy a new car in three days. However, Steemit gives us a superb opportunity to have an impact and to earn something from out contributions. Each cent is more than we would have earned from Facecrap, twatter or youboob but I also think that is feeding the greedy behaviour.
I don't think anyone should complain about the reduced voting as long as they see same more or less equal return with respect to the earlier votes.
When you are trying your best to support more and more Steemians, those so called complainers(if at all you really have someone) will feel more happy if they join you to support in their own way.
I wholeheartedly wish you hear on this soon and succeed in what you are planning to do. It's not a secret that many of us are going thru such situations that we try our best to spend more time on Steemit, but we do have our own life and family to support and unless we get some support from others to help our cause, the effort we spend to help others sometimes gets us into anxiety and depression.
This is something I totally agree with you and I also reckon that apart from enabling us helping other Steemians with these activities, to some extent it benefits us also to earn something to support ourselves besides helping us to reach top spots of curation leagues of @abh12345.
This also sparks an idea of setting up a curation trail to support #stewardsofgondor's posts to provide them some help and appreciate whatever they are doing to Steemit through their payback or pay it forward movements. Even a 1% reward from each of the SOG's will be of some help to encourage the #stewardsofgondor. Do others feel the same as me?
Once again a superb comment @coolguy123. I love that your comments are as long as some authors articles. :D
I do have people who complain about how I vote. Not because I vote on several authors or multiple articles. The things many of them are complaining about, are either the vote percentage I upvote their articles with or the fact that I missed one of their articles. And I think it's a shame, because many of them are still getting more support than many others.
That is very true. The education I'm after is for something called: "behandlingsassistent" in Swedish and I think the word for it is "treatment assistant" in English. I want to focus on teenagers who suffers from mental illness, and the true passion for that came through my own mental problems.
Even though I find this interesting, I don't know if that is something we should be doing with the stake of FTG. Did you just came up with that idea or is it possible for you to elaborate a bit? :)
Oh, thank you, I felt like expressing myself these days and previously I wasn't reading the complete articles and hence wasn't responding to the posts.
Nice to know more about your education programs you have passion for and I appreciate you for that. Without taking out any respect for you, I feel we can try helping on something in a better way when we have experienced that.
About the curation trail, no, I just got this feeling just after reading this article from you. Some of your expressions in this article are about the struggle you go through and the struggle to support yourself financially.
Because of that I mentioned about that. To some extent, I agree that it's against the stake of FTG,
but some assistance, as mentioned a 1% from each combines to a bigger one. But, it's just a thought in the interest of many of us like me who are not even of a minnow status without the delegations of @fulltimegeek.
I hope this doesn't demotivates others, there are more experienced guys whom I have always approached for advice when I got such questions to myself, may be they will be able to guide me in this matter also.
Nothing bad intentional behind this, just a thought...
I lost my father when I was 27 years old. He died in late December 2012 and I've suffered from panic attacks, depression and anxiety since late 2013, when I couldn't shut out all the emotions and all the feelings anymore. It was like being hit by a brick in the head. It came from "nowhere" and in an instant. I've been talking to terapists and tried a bunch of different medications and I've done literally everything one can think of... Without any major results.
However, I never had any real meaningful support from someone and I had to act tough and strong for the sake of my mother. Well, I didn't have to do that, but I wanted to. It felt necessary. Due to all of that, and now, years later when I've finally been able to handle things a little bit better, I want to be the support I never had. Hopefully, I'll be able to help someone to live their life to the fullest, even though they suffer from mental illness. At least I want to try and help them. That's my long term goal. And that's the true reason for me to longing for this education!
I see. Well, the fact that I struggle financially, is more about me than anything else. And I would never rely or count on Steemit or Steemians to help me out when I needed to. I manage just fine most of the days, but if I'll start to study, I'll need student loans. Otherwise I won't afford to study. And to get the student loan, I need to pay back my previous loan first. And that is what I'm trying to do right now. However, Steemit helps me a long way on the process, so hopefully I'll be able to do it.
But first thing first. I need to be accepted. Once I am, I'll start to focus on the other part. :)
Well, I know more about you by now and I would like to extend my support on any activity you need some help in any way I could be of help.
I think you are already accepted by many and as we spend more time on others posts, there will be better exposure for ourselves. I think it's a matter of time.
I wish the best in whatever you want to do my friend.
Likewise @coolguy123. It's pretty cool to see how one can share and get to know each other, just by making replies with a few words here and there. Social media is pretty awesome that way actually. :)
Yes, totally agree with you. I was once a vivid follower of facebook, but now, I don't even open that as I am pretty busy on this platform and I feel happy that I can do the same activity here.
I hear you. I haven't been on facebook for more than 2 years now. I had stopped being on Facebook long before I found Steemit, but once I found Steemit, I deactivated my facebook account immediately.
Hmm, what a piece!
Humans are different in behavior, hence don't expect everyone to be appreciative or supportive. You are doing your bits and best in the steemit world and that is why you gained recognition in the midst of many from @fulltimegeek, so don't let anyone make you feel otherwise.
You are a nice person, and if I haven't told you before, let me tell you now; my journey here on steemit became unique since the very day I visited your blog! You became a mentor to me here on steemit and you can also tell from my articles that I have grown🙈 better than before, because of the encouragement you give.
Don't worry about what people say (because opinions will always differ) Just continue being good.
#asapers
I can't help it, but I love being called a mentor! I've never considered myself being a mentor, but it's really cool to be called one. :)
And yeah, you've definitely improved a lot and you'll do even more with time! :)
I think likes in general is a tricky thing - I normally don't go rund and give a lot of complements as the likes could be an equivalent to. When we invest a lot of time and energy we get a disharmony if the likes/upvotes doesn't reach our expectations. Steemit is a huge experiment in that sense - mixing likes and money. I think it is interesting and have lots of potential for people to co-create and bond but I think the system is bound to create a lot of unhappiness a jealousy too. Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic!
It certainly is. I joined because I saw the insanely high potential rewards on the trending pages. Sure, it was 21 months ago... But still. People need to realize that Steemit is about money, but it's not all about it. Once they understand the true potential, they'll also be even more successful in the long haul. At least that's what I believe.
well said! :)
Hopefully calling it to others' attention your inbox will slow a bit. I can only imagine the messages you as well as the other people with a higher rep and vp get. Lol I am fine making my few cents here and there, no need to get greedy. I say use your vote the way you see fit just as you have been doing and maybe those who do not receive the votes will look into what and who actually get votes, I am sure the pretty flower picture that the person dm'ing you is in fact a pretty flower, but one can only vote on so many flowers. Not that there is anything wrong with pictures of flowers, but it seems like the better the substance of a post the better chance the vote is given. I don't even know how I got to this post but I am glad I did. I see the stewardsofgondor are all over the place!! Keep steemin the way you want to and spread your vote when and how you please!
I am so glad for this platform, why? Because the fact people can speak their truth as they see fit!
Thank you very much for your awesome comment, I appreciate it. I know that some people (established Steemians) are only upvoting people who upvotes their content. So they support each other so to speak, like a team, but I cannot endorse such behaviour because I think it's an act of greed or at least selfishness.
I upvote as many authors I can, no matter if they support me or not, because I believe in the "pay it forward" motion. I think that more upvotes equals an overall improvement to the community... But it wouldn't be wrong to focus on just a handful of authors either, in an attempt to build their accounts rapidly.
That being said, I have found myself upvoting the same authors multiple times per day, and I have decided to reduce the percentage on each vote, because I don't think it's fair for them to receive a much higher percentage in total only because they're very active.
Imagine this scenario:
We have 1 author who gets a 7% vote, and this author only publish 1 article per day.
Then we have 1 author who publish 6 articles per day. I personally don't like to take away percentages from these authors, but at the same time, I don't feel really comfortable giving them 7% votes on 6 articles per day either.
So I have reduced the percentages a little bit, so now they might get 7%, 3%, 2%, 5%, 4% and 6% instead... And that's because I don't want them to get "all my VP" meanwhile others gets less.. And it still gives me the opportunity to support them.
I totally agree with your points of:
Going against you vote, I vote you kind of activity and support as many as possible without expecting them to vote out posts. In the process, we may get some of those people's attention to get some support and that will be a bonus. When @fulltimegeek has done so much without expecting anything from us, I feel it's our duty to take that forward without expecting the rewards from those guys whom we reward.
Upvoting same authors, this I have also observed. I started supporting some of the guys when I saw their posts are of good quality and setup a fanbase to reward their posts whenever there is a new post. But some people started taking advantage of that and started posting many low quality ones and that provoked me to revoke the fanbase for them. Having said that, there are guys who value the votes we cast on their posts and are grateful for even tinier of our rewards.
Looking into your views, I feel we have so many similar points and same thinking.
Thank you very much for your awesome comment @coolguy123. It sure looks like we have the same type of mindset and goals in many ways. :)
That's why I don't want to auto upvote anyone.. Even though I know more than a handful of Steemians who would never start to publish low quality just for the sake of rewards... But it feels better to manually vote on everything. However, that also makes me miss out on a few articles from time to time, which is a pity.
I really hope those people are excited to be getting those votes 6x a day! I agree with you there it is definitely about greed and selfishness, but again hopefully people who are feeling a bit perturbed over how you use your vote get a bit more understanding of why you vote the way you do. I know it must be aggravating to know that people can be this way, but unfortunately it is that way sometimes! Just know even tho you and your team are just the little guys you are making an impact here on steemit, otherwise the stewardsofgondor would have never called upon you to share the wealth. Keep doing it the way you are and the outcome will be huge later, not only for you but for those who understand where you are coming from! Enjoy your night/day and I look forward to seeing more!
Hey hey, take it easy with the difficult words. I'm from Sweden and not native in English! :P
The voting pattern above was just an example but yeah, that's pretty much how I've been doing things. I also don't care about curation rewards, so I upvote content even if it's not within the 30 minute window people are talking about and whatever. That doesn't affect me at all. What matters to me, is to upvote content so the authors makes something more than they would've done without my vote. That's how they will grow and also how we will grow with time. At least that's what I'm striving for.
LOL....Sorry about that!!
I think you are doing it right, just from what I have read here today. I am helping with the newbieresteem group and just now learning about all the curation and such, but it sounds to me like you have it down! I am glad I found your post, it helps to understand a bit on other people and how the community will grow I wish you luck in all your endeavors, not too big a word lol, thank you for helping me understand just a bit more on the steemit ecosystem! Much appreciated!
Haha, thank you very much for your awesome comments. I'm actually familiar with endeavors. So thanks for using words I can understand without google translate :P
I'm also glad you found this to be interesting and something you could learn from. :)
I have to chime in here if someone is posting 6 times a day, isn't that considered reward pool rape. I was always told by whales that I have had conversations with that you should post more than 4 times per day or you were raping the reward pool.
I would say both yes and no. It could be reward pool rape, but this is basically "the old way" so to speak. Even though some people still follow that.
Ever since the SBD spike before Christmas, many well established Steemians started to produce more and more articles per day. I know a handful of established Steemians who started to produce anything between 5 and 10 per day, all due to the SBD spike.
The sad part is, that I wouldn't mind them doing that, in case they did that prior to the spike too. But prior to the spike, they published 1 or 2. Perhaps 3 things per 24 hour, and as soon as SBD spiked, they got very active...
And that's an act of greed.
Sigh Sad to say until I get my slider I am always trying to stay above the 80% or suffer days of not voting at all. And like you I do have a life off the internet so I am blessed/lucky to find a few minutes to try and catch up on what those I follow are posting. Some days it is a hit or miss on catching folks.
Don't let it get you down, stay blessed that you have that extra to spread around, there are many who do understand the challenges... (((Hugs))) You are working so hard for the entire community, just remember that!
As always @weetreebonsai, I truly appreciate the support. You're an awesome Steemian who've been given me a load of encouragement. I'm thankful for it!
As if people actually complain about the percentage of a vote you give them, it's a problem with many in society these days that people seem to think they deserve everything whilst offering very little. I am still fairly new to steemit and don't have much SP and still getting to grips with finding followers etc but I'd be pretty pissed off if people tried dictating to me about what percentage of a vote they should get (I obviously don't have that problem yet). I'm interested about this project you have built up and will look in to it more to see what it's about. All the best @dan21050
I have followed you and the @asapers. Is the @asapers basically a project that resteems others posts to help them along in the community or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
Thank you very much for your comment and the follows. I appreciate it!
The @asapers is not about resteems, even though it looks like it at this initial phase. This project is very new and there are still many things to figure out before we're able to go full speed so to speak. The @asapers is basically like OCD and other similar curation teams, but even though there's a handful of superb curation teams out there, I wanted to do something differently and I was striving to do more than I've been doing. - Which is the reason I launched the #asapers.
The #asapers are 6 people I have delegated my own Steem Power too, (5, as one of them already invested in Steem Power!), and none of the team members are huge dolphins or whales. We're just "the little guys" with great motivation and similar beliefs, and we will strive to help and support newcomers to make a difference on Steemit. We want to encourage people so they will stay instead of eventually leave Steemit in despair. And I (we) believe that we can improve the overall experience on Steemit by focusing on the newcomers. Which we will be doing in similar ways as other curation teams, but we will also do things differently... As my initial thoughts are to do something unique.
Sorry for the vague answer, but I cannot reveal to many details regarding this right now. We will shortly make an official announcement. :)
That's brilliant to hear you are all for helping the newcomers (like myself). I think with so many established steemians here it can be a minefield for newcomers so anything that focuses on helping them will ultimately benefit the community as a whole. Thanks for taking the time to reply and I will be keeping an eye for your future developments. I shall also resteem this post as many of my followers are new to the site (it's the easiest way I have found so far in getting people to see my own blogs etc) in the hope that others will see what a great project you are starting to build. Thanks again, @dan21050
My readers are my most valuable asset and I would be nothing without them. Truth to be told, most of my readers are either newcomers or minnows so the best thing I can do, is to educate them and to pave the way for as many as possible. That's how I believe community building should be done, and I also believe that this will lead to great things with time.
Thank you very much for your awesome comments and I appreciate the Resteem too!
OMG are people seriously complaining about the % you upvote them. That's super rude and presumptuous. Your doing great things Rome wasn't built in a day, you are only one human so just keep being as awesome as we know you are and stay the course. Ignore the naysayers as who needs any more negativity in the world.
You wouldn't even believe how many messages like that I've received if I showed you. People have been sending me messages for a long period of time but things got out of hand after I got the delegation and when I mentioned the @asapers project. I guess it comes with the growth of my audience.
Change always brings about challenges @asapers is new and still developing itself. Its good that people love you enough to take the time to message you if we are looking at the positive, my guess is at that stage they think they don't have anything else to lose and they may just get the attention of what they consider to be a god among steemians and to be honest that's how some dolphins and whales and even minnows seem to us planktons. Some will do anything to get their attention even risk losing it altogether.
Maybe I’m just a rat bastard, but I would be more likely to flag someone asking for a bigger upvote than give them what they want.
Yeah, I’m a rat bastard. So be it.
Haha, thanks for making me laugh. But yeah, I agree with you actually... But at the same time, I don't like the thought of flagging people for being ignorant or having been taught the wrong things when they joined. I'd rather try to share my insight, knowledge and experience and by doing that, teach them and pave the way for them, so they will do the right things further on. :)
Well.... thats one thing not to look forward to while growing. You are completely right to make your own choices and I think it is commendable you make sure you honor the steem delegation you got.
Do you think I help you to go study with my 0.01 vote? But seriously: I hope you get in! It is a great chance to go study and expand your mind. Maybe steem can help you a bit along the way with the earnings?
It is stressful, I know, and you probably already know all the tips about eating without a lot of money so I just wish all the luck you need.
And these people, they probably needed this reminder to see what they were doing. I think you will see change and if not you can decide what to do.
Each cent makes a difference and means a lot to me. So even though it was a joke, I still appreciate it. :)
And yeah, Steemit is a huge help for me and I think I'll have a decent chance of paying the loan back actually... Which means that I will be eligible new student loans if I get in!
I'm nervous and excited at the same time and I'll get my answer within just a few days from now!
The combination of excitement and feeling nevrous is totally normal! Although I think it feels strange, such a strange combination, it tells you how much you want this and what it means for you to get in.
If you remember tell me when you know more, I will cross my fingers for you (which is a bit funny because we don't know each other). Good luck and sorry my upvote is zero now
Thank you very much! Well, I might not remember to tell you about it in person, but I'll definitely publish a new article when I have some news! :)
I will see it somewhere in my feed!