I know that there are many posts that get good payout without having to buy votes. This is what the good curation groups/teams do here on Steemit and I have seen a very good example of this recently:
https://steemit.com/classical-music/@tin-tin/music-life-a-little-bit-of-cellist-hell-with-canon-in-d-and-some-sleepy-time-with-a-vivaldi-concerto
I think when you hit a sweet spot of being able to write something that is personal + educational + entertaining then you have a very good chance to getting spotted by the curators.
I guess to people who are skeptical about the integrity of this project, it is certainly something that anyone could do if they wanted to, and I think at least you are being upfront about what you want to get out of it and that's not something you can say about many of the other accounts or schemes out there.
Of course, not suggesting this doesn't happen. I get $100 payouts several times a month. I'm looking to be at the top of trending. It may or may not be possible, but we're going to find out. If anyone questions my integrity, they are welcome to contact any of the dolphinschool students and see what I did with them, how much time and energy I poured in, with almost nothing in return. I'm not here just for myself, but if I'm going to spend my time helping others, I still have to eat.
I had a look at some of the content on @dolphinschool and it certainly deserves more in return compared to people who earn payout through less valuable contributions to the community. But I wouldn't say that you got a lot of people who are willing to vouch for you and the value that you have created, which I think is worth a lot more than the SBDs that you can earn.
I think it is an interesting question to see what is required to get to the top of trending, but it is another question to know whether it is worth the time and effort. But I do think it is worth finding out :)
You're looking at the new profile I started for dolphinschool about three weeks ago. Search #dolphinschool bootcamp and you'll have a much different take on the project. Sorry it got so busy that it overwhelmed my personal blog and required more space. I haven't done a ton with it in the last week or so. I'm working on upgrading my entire presence here. I took almost two dozen students through a ten day course on content marketing and blogging and I think you'd find that they all would vouch for me, along with many others over the two years.
I think with the number of people on Steemit now compared to before it will be important to establish a presence and work with people more closely than before. The material you have will be good once SMTs come into play and the bugs/issues are worked out, but I think it is a worthy cause like how @pennsif is trying to teach a course on Steemit as well. I will add you to the list of people on my Steemtopia Network of Learning as well!
https://steemit.com/makesteemitgreat-again/@fibrefox/the-steemtopia-network-of-learning-update-more-fun-and-games
Great.
Minnow Votes Project team, check out this link for today's promotional challenge. If you have other ideas, let me know. Thanks.