I never pay or bribe people to follow, and don't persuade them to do so, I only want people to follow me if they interact and feel my posts are of value to them. As a result most of my followers upvote my posts regularly :)
Since you typically pay for your larger votes and since those larger paid for votes contribute to raising your reputation score and since you neglected to mention any of this in the post, I'm flagging it. I disagree with rewards. You're paying for this reputation score but seemingly acting like you're earning it.
You stated you "never pay or bribe people..." yet you paid for votes to mislead people into thinking your blog is popular and deserving of free votes when in fact you typically pay for a spot on the trending page then act like a popular and successful blogger.
At the end it says, "Thank you!" Who are you thanking? Yourself?
The amount of dishonesty within this post is appalling. You don't need to answer this, but I truly wonder if you actually believe your own bullshit? That would be disturbing.
Posted this blog into the Blacklist discord group the other day and spoke with another member about the concern for people buying these bot votes and boosting their content without addressing their underlying values.
You hit the nail on the head with what is wrong with this and I hope @markdeheide considers your words and thinks what this type of dishonesty could do to the platform as a whole.
Just to add, a 1-minute video and some rehashed information from self-development books is decent content at best.
Please tell me, how long does it take to make these posts?
also..
Yes, vote bot whales.
Apologies to go full on about this, but I think this is crazy when you haven't even learned about the platform before boosting and throwing yourself up onto trending. 27 days....
@calumam thanks for your remarks, as you know I'm really new on this platform and learning a ton about it especially by replies like this.
So first of all, I spend around 2 hours per post creating outlines, recording and editing my video and writing my actual post.
I've looked up tons of videos on how to do well on steemit and most of them advised up vote bots which is why I have used them, and as far as I can tell this has worked.
Now I notice a lot of resentment and people that don't like the bots. So this is something that I will take into consideration in the future.
I hope you can explain to me though why these bots are on here if you 'are not allowed to use them for promotion'. Or why it is being frowned upon so much to promote your post? Because I see people promoting their posts all the time yet no outrage in the comments.
Well, I dont think anyone has the right to flag you for this....that is the system here, if u have more money u bend the rules to your needs else you remain stuck like us...I write quality post everyday but not even a fly comes to vote for me...if I dont pay bots to vote I will earn 0.07 on my articles. Most of those complaining have delegated out their steem power and they yet they claim to be angels. Man!, do what ever works for you, after all, there are no rules.
If you dont like bots get rid of them completely.
@ehmkannde yeah thanks. I think if people use bots, and then they get flagged. Well, I mean, let's get rid of the bots altogether then. Then it is fair again.
I used to use upvote bots but after looking at the mathematics, I found it contradictory to espouse on decentralization when upvote bots seem to promote recentralization of wealth. So far though, the wealth seems to still be spreading, just a little more slowly with the bots. Being new here I can understand the confusion.
Yeah @zoidsoft. When starting out on steemit of course I looked at videos and people giving tips on growing quicker. That's how I discovered the bots. But apparently with the higher steem price (as I learned on a comment this morning, from someone who actually explained how it all works) it doesn't really help anymore. I would therefore suggest, let everybody be free to use the bots without being a little bitch about it, or get rid of the bots altogether.
I'll give you the simple answer regarding the bots. This is an open market. Therefore, you get what is most profitable. Bots are profitable to the bot makers, or they wouldn't make them. That's why bots are here.
It is a delicate balance between the use of them and the abuse of them however. Some people have zero money to put into the platform, they do not have quality or valuable content (according to the market, not them), and they get upset over the use of bots.
Frankly, I don't give a damn about trending or hot. I don't even look at them, so using bots to get into those categories doesn't matter to me. Some people with lousy content use bots. Guess what? They never go anywhere.
Yes, if a person with the money wants to, they can make a joke/crap post and get it into trending, etc. to prove a point. What point is that exactly though? Did someone force that person to pay for the bots? No, they did not.
I have no control over what people upvote.
I have no control over how much people put into their Steem Power.
That's how it should be. If a person doesn't like the content, just ignore it. All the drama about the current system is hurting this platform for everyone from low to high SP.
A lot of people seem to think the answer is to control how people with SP and SBD are going to spend their money. Uhm, if you add those types of controls to steemit, people with SP and SBD will leave.
Yes, Steemit is about voluntary charity and supporting the people you want to support directly, but it is also about making a return on your investment.
great way to respond...face it you can't please everyone. I applaud you ... great job!
Thanks @imaboss :)
Well said!! Just throw some $$ at some bots and all the sudden your the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is just sad really.
He hasn't responded to your dishonesty comment. I wonder why.
lol...literally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've read several posts like his today; and, it seems there's a new dump of marketing 'ads' to bait users to join.....Now, who could be the target for all this foolery. Oh, yeah, the naive person who doesn't know he BOUGHT his rank....lol.....gotta' love it!
And, for making me lol, you get a tip!
Peace.
Hi @massrefugee! You have received 0.1 SBD tip from @spiritualmatters!
more info here.@tipU is looking for SP delegators: pays out 100% of profit to all investors -
Hey, so the reason I haven't answered yet is because I'm probably on a different time zone then you.
So here's the thing, I use bots to promote the post and get it more visible. I don't see what is wrong with that, as long as the content is good.
I also never ask people to follow me, or pay sbd, do follow competitions etc, which is what I mean with bribing people.
The same happens on Facebook, people promote posts and it is shown to more people, which will make more people like it, I don't see what is wrong with that, it is just an option. If you don't like to use the option don't use it, right?
I think investing money in the platform is very good to all users, and then using that money to promote posts and get your content visible is a way to start up quickly.
I'm relatively new on the website and as you can see I had a discussion with someone about where the rep score comes from because I didn't fully understand it until yesterday which is why I didn't mention that.
Anyway I hope you will have a good time on steemit and make a differentiation between people using up votes to promote bullshit posts and actual posts that have been created with the purpose of helping people!
You published a post bragging up bogus accomplishments. You basically went out, bought a bowling trophy, took it home, shined it up real nice, put it on the shelf, invited everyone over, showed off your new bowling trophy, "Best in the world!" Your friends might want to see you bowl someday though. That's the part you don't get.
So whatever, you're "helping" people by pretending to be the best bowler in the world though you've never bowled a game in your life. Here you sit, bragging up your shiny trophy, defending your actions.
"I think investing in bowling trophies is good for bowlers all over the world! They do it on Facebook, which just so happens to be one of the most depressing and useless pieces of shit ever invented, so we should do that here too!"
Moral of the Story: Based on your response, you actually DO believe your own bullshit; and that is disturbing.
It's like Trump and his presidency. Farcicle..
@nonameslefttouse I don't get the whole point. If up vote bots are so bad, why are they allowed on steemit. I mean, I've been here a short time, everybody with reasonably big followings on youtube or here say, invest some money in your account, use an upvote bot to promote your post. That's what I've done, and I get responses from real people actually commenting about the posts.
If this is really so horrible, then why is this still allowed here on steemit? I mean don't get me wrong I don't want to do anything unethical here, but as far as I know, or at least until some people posted here about the bid-bots not being good, I thought that it was simply a way to promote your posts. Like you can also promote posts on facebook.
If that is not the case, please explain it to me because I don't understand the whole concept of being able to promote something, yet when you do people get mad about it?
It's not about the bots, it's about the bullshit you wrote ... you bought the upvotes but wrote that you attracted some big whales ... so the people don't like that you are promoting lies.
And we all know that you totaly know what you are doing
Well @dera123 yes of course I promoted the posts with bots, you can see that on the post, and also thanks to @transparencybot but I didn't know that the SP was also involved in the reputation score, I've edited that into the post right now. But yeah I get that point, because apparently the SP does influence rep score as well.
So because most of these bots have low rep scores I didn't think it would influence my rep score if they voted.
The majority of your "reputation" was purchased. That's not an accomplishment. It's like buying a goddamn trophy and being proud of it. Who does that? LOL. You.
.
Mark in all due respect your Content is NOT that great. I am being just sincerely honest here. I have watched your 50 second videos and it's more or less fluffy commonsense Content that bring little "new" info. to people. Sorry Iam not trying to be mean. It is what it is.
It's just NOT value from what I have seen. However, I do think you are capable of putting out good stuff. Your delivery is excellent :) But this stuff about being "selfish with criticism" and other videos like how it's "alight to take shortcuts" etc..etc.. is just not groundbreaking.
Your just getting by with Marginal Content at best and then pumping yourself up with inflated Votes with the Bots. And pumping yourself up with a inflated undeserved Rep, Followers, and Rewards etc..etc..
Please look at this as a learning experience and heed your own advice ( in one of your videos you talk about being selfish and utilizing criticism from others). Take a step back and do a self inventory.
I truly think after you have been here awhile you will see this is just flat out wrong all the way around.
I do want to see you around here but sometimes it is necessary to be honest with ourselves and make changes for the better :)
Sincerely,
Robert
Hey Robert, thanks for a proper presentation of feedback, you see this is something I can work with.
First of all, you are completely right, it is totally not ground breaking, and it is very basic. Yet, this is the kind of information that I notice a lot of people around me don't even know of. Therefore I decided to start with this 'generic information'. Of course, if you have been developing yourself for a while and have been reading books on the topic this must be common sense to you. However, if people haven't this might give them the opportunity to start thinking about stuff differently. That's just a niche that I'm trying to explore, introducing people to self-development :)
I hope that, as followers grow, comments come in etc, I can start to touch more in depth topics, hopefully based on concrete questions coming in from followers, but I will have to see about that.
In any case I fully agree with your opinion about it not being ground-breaking.
When it comes to the bots, I honestly did not know it influences the reputation score, but I do now. I have therefore decided to cut way back on them. I want to use a couple to resteem my posts to get more eyeballs on them. I will though, stop bombarding the posts with votes.
I guess I was mainly influenced by bot owners who gave '5 tips to grow on steemit' or stuff like that, promoting bot services and showing it can help you get traffic. Yet I didn't realise it gives an inflated look and 'undeserved' reputation score feeling to steemians.
So therefore, I'm gonna cut back on the bost and will restrict my daily spending on them, if any, to a minimum.
I'm also new to this niche of doing these types of videos, so I expect to learn a lot as I go along and hope that the value will start to rise above just the 'beginner level' of self-development. I'm mainly strugling with making videos not too long and boring. That is a point I'm concerned about when diving deeper yet I have yet to explore how I can do this anyway without boring everybody to death.
I hope I will learn a lot here and develop myself :)
Mark
Thank you Mark. Yes, I understand as it is a growing phase here. Really the curve of learning is pretty steep here. Iam still learning a lot myself.
I do not think what you did was intentional. I think the fact that you seem really driven and also open to listen says a lot about you.
Also the fact that you are taking criticism and embracing it and using it for your own improvement really gives you a lot of credibility. As you are definitely heeding what you preach ( in that video about being "selfish " with criticism). It's good to see someone not just "talk the talk" but also "walk the walk"
So that's really excellent to see. Thanks and I am sure you will do really good here :)
Thanks Robert, I mean I make huge mistakes all the time, but what is the point if I cannot learn from them. I really felt that bots is just what the people do here, but I now understand more about why it is bad.
I'm going to wait a bit for steem to come down compared to SBD, flowing most of my SBD to STEEM and powering up as much as possible. Since I won't need the SBD for bots anymore. :)
This line sums up everything.
BTW, it's crazy, it took more than a year and about 3000 comments for me to reach the rep. of 61, but hey, I could have got 62 in just 27 days.
Not only trending page but reputation is also compromised!
I like the part
Sure, that's why he bought upvotes from 10 different bots to upvote his posts xD
Nobody watches the videos but who needs views when a bot can bring in rewards ;-)
:( This post was the first time I realised reputation was ruined too.
Yepp, it is!
Is it any better than a whale could simply spam upvote a bunch of their friend's posts to do the same thing, worse actually, than purchasing bots? That would also quickly raise a person's reputation. There is no easy and simple "fix" for how reputation works.
It isn't just bots in other words that cause the problem.
Also, a reputation even in the 40's is a good sign. It means you've been doing good things. Yes, a person can get into the 60's or even the 70's very quickly depending on who is upvoting them, but would they stay there if they are doing bad things? I don't think they would.
The entire history of their reputation is all there for us to see too.
No they wouldn't stay there if they are doing any bad things, but there are things that are neither bad, nor good.
Would someone care if one isn't doing any good?
There is quite a difference in whales voting someone and bid bots upvotes.
I am not entirely against both or anyone either, I just don't support the idea of bid bot upvoting oneself.
Bid bots would be better if someone gifts a big upvote to others.
I'd rather have bots than control people. I like the full disclosure bot for this (the one that replies to posts that heavily use bots with the report showing that use).
lol
It is definetely awesome how he avoided to answer this comment while replying to the many others. He thinks that the investment in voting bots is a cool idea after all...
Thank you !!!Just posted a whole Post on my blog two days ago about this new Steemian and what he is doing.. This is what really brings down Steemit. 'Pay to Play' and then people checking our Site for the first time see this on Trending and don't realize this was ALL bought for. It sends the wrong message and was NOT what Dan had in mind when he founded Steemit :(