It's a good hat to shit in by all accounts.
I don't think it necessarily means being dumped by autovotes either. I think a lot of it has been amplified out of proportion. Some people have found a way to justify not voting others. It's not new, it's just what people have always done but a new reason. In fact not even that new as I remember a big whale went through a phase of downvoting people for that before. Which is far worse than a no vote!
Things do get twisted out of shape. To be expected.
The root of the problem is the general lack of interest in supporting content creators. It's treated like a chore and turns into people taking shortcuts to get out of doing work.
And of course, it's also a lot of work to clean up the mess that creates.
It's a feedback loop, creating undesired results.
The solution has always been, simple. Attract real paying customers. Any other platform that combines paying contributors and attracting a real paying audience actually makes money. A lot.
Here, if someone were to attract 10000 paying supporters all with 2 cent votes, people here would freak out. They'd tell the content creator they're earning too much and demand the 10000 become content creators so they can build their stake instead of buying it. Then they'd tell those 10000 people to automate upvotes and get paid to be absent. And this would help create the mess people love trying to clean up here. Then everyone is happy again.
I think tho that rather than people telling the 10000 to become content creators the 10000 tell themselves that they could do that and decide to have a bash.
It's always been a pronounced problem that because everyone can earn everyone thinks they should earn and do the others down in the crab bucket scramble
I need to find, the data. Observations are never enough it seems. That 10000 in this scenario. That would be similar to a content creator having 10000 supporting their patreon. Of that 10000, I doubt even 1% of them are content creators themselves. Or, of a group of 10000 who commonly tip streams, my guess would be roughly less than 1% stream and collect tips themselves. A group of content creators receiving tips or support on patreon, the money totaled up, I'd guess less than 1% of that goes into supporting patreon or tipping streams.
Similar pattern can be observed here. Of the 10000 content creators, I'd say on average less than 1% want to be content consumers. This is why, using my post as an example, there are less than 100 views. Since the odds are stacked against me, I don't stand a chance of building a community of 10000 people around my work. All of our followings are made up of content creators that quit years ago. It's clear content creators don't want to consume and support, due to majority wanting to either sell earnings or automate votes.
If I had the ability to reach outside and gather 10000 with 2 cent votes each, their added earning potential would be in the comment section. There would be 10000 and of that 10000 maybe 1000 would be earning on a regular basis in the comment section alone. Rough estimates. Just showing what's available to them and more suitable for their common behavior. That's a community of 10000 supporting each other.
Now, if 100 people reached out with the goal of 10000 supporters with tiny votes, we'd have a paying audience of 1000000 lurking around. So if 1% of those 10000 did attempt to be content creators themselves, they'd have a far greater chance of succeeding when compared to what the current approach offers. But not just them, everything these devs are working on. They'd have a massive consumer base to tap into.
Keep in mind I'm keeping the numbers small and round just to show what a small effort can do. Knowing what people want to do, knowing not everyone is the same, then giving them the opportunity to do what they want to do, creates a feedback loop offering desired results.
I know. I know. "Whatever, nonames." lol
"Whatever, nonames." lol
I did 😀
Ultimately for me I don't think we will ever see those numbers at least in the traditional blogging sense of the platform.
In about 2012 I created a sink in my work because they wanted to introduce... A blogging element to our intranet. It was sent as a way to share information and boost morale. I was part of a group say up to assess how amaze it would be.
I got in trouble because in one meeting I loudly declared guys, this is pointless, blogging is dead. It's been dead for years.
I was right then and I'm right now. That's why the bloggy aspect of this place isn't taking off and probably won't take off to the degree some people desire. It will always have a niche and that's fine but if people want this place to blow up they need to be looking at other ways. Like threads and ecency's thread like thing. And video, moahr video. Short form video.
Reading is for the olds 🤣🤣
I am actually happy with small numbers and small growth. The platform is bigger than blogging and could take off in many ways. Till then, I will keep on writing and shooting the shit.
Was my approach over the span of several years, "blogging?" No. It was the stuff people usually pay for in books, magazines, comics. Or at least that was the intention, more often than not. I just used the platform to publish arts and entertainment, mostly. Some articles as well. I know it's solid for that stuff and I think I did enough to prove that point.
Well run communities could attract outside support, for example, if they actually realized they're not trapped inside a bubble.
I think streaming has a good chance of attracting outside support.
I'm just looking at the payment system. That can be tied in to all forms of content and this place can provide that. Paying supporters would only support good stuff they want, and they never screw that up. However, if that element, "the paying customer," is always left out and neglected, even frowned upon... it'll never happen. We're dealing with money and creating products. That's the most important role. We even offer them a really good deal.
Sure it's fun shooting the shit, sitting on the crapper, waiting for something to happen.
I've grown bored of all this though and know things can be so much better. Sick of feeling like I'm only one. Can do threads and video, short form video, sure. We have that, in practice by following the same approach as usual, look. No consumers. No money coming in the door. And it'll just carry on like that with every offering.
Anyway. Back to business as usual.