Just to give a little insight on me, I am 35 years old and have 21 year old twin daughters who are about to graduate from Syracuse University. I am married to a wonderful woman who is a Navy Veteran that served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. She was a Corpsman who was stationed on the closest medical facility to the war during the Shock and Awe campaign. They helped anyone who was injured, friend or foe it didn't matter. I have so much respect for her .
For the past 3 years I have been lucky enough to serve as the Marketing Director for a multi brand auto group. My previous experience includes 10 years in the restaurant business, over 10 years in the music industry as a producer and engineer, a few years doing graphic design and a couple years doing reputation management and branding.
I am for the most part self taught. I have never really been good at school, I dropped out at 14, got my GED when I was incarcerated at age 16, funny thing about that is I didn't take any of the GED classes and I finished 2 hours early and scored in the 98th percentile, I tried college for a couple weeks and found it was not for me. I love to learn but I do it at a very accelerated pace. I have never really put much thought into the things I do, I just look at things in very simplistic way, you either can or can't and most things you can as long as you don't over complicate it.
When you truly analyze most things you can simplify the pieces and easily understand them and because of this I truly believe anything is possible. I have a hard time understanding the concept of limitations. I also have a hard time believing in certain types of scientific facts, as our technology advances and we evolve intellectually we disprove what was once known to us as facts, so if a fact is no longer a fact was it ever really the truth?
The whole point of all that background is to say that I figured I could add some unique content to Steemit hoping to be able to make a few bucks so I could go back to pursuing my passion of music and I did a couple of test posts just to see how they would do. I posted a tutorial about how to roll a joint with a filter tip, I posted some up close and under the hood shots of the brand new NSX and also did a mock up design on one of the pics for a Steemit wrapped NSX, that one actually got down voted.
The down vote is what got me thinking I might not continue with Steemit, only getting two votes stung but the down vote actually hurt my feelings a little bit. It's awesome to see how Steemit has changed some peoples lives, allowed them to share their stories, pursue their passions and live their dreams. I don't think this will be the case for me. I can say that this site has inspired me to get back to pursuing my love of music. I made the decision to leave the music for a more financially secure career when my daughters entered high school. Now that they are about to graduate college I feel that I can get back chasing my dreams.
I've been broke more times than I've had money, I have had a little successes here and there along the way, the biggest of which are my kids. I have smoked a joint with Snoop and shaken hands with the President. I have taken over 100 hits of LSD in my lifetime. I was raised by a single father who passed away when I was 19 and had a mother who was a homeless heroin addict, when I was in high school I would visit her at the metro where she panhandled, some times I would get her a hotel and food for a couple of days.
Anyway I haven't decided what I am going to do yet when it comes to Steemit but it's late and I'm tired so I think I am going to bed for the night. To those who read this thanks for listening.
Sorry you're experiencing this :(
This isn't just you and your writing, this is a much larger issue impacting the entire community. Good content is just falling through the cracks. I've seen a lot of people recently that have written great posts and get very little attention. They will get 5-20 votes, but all of inconsequential weight (meaning they get no visibility). Sometimes bots even end up downvoting people and killing any positive weight they had gathered from real users.
It's not a simple problem to solve and I think we're seeing improvements already (with the change to the homepage and with reputation), but it's still got a ways to go. I'm sure over the next week as I browse through the new posts, I'm going to find even more that will just slip through and not get the attention that they deserve.
Hopefully with...
All of these problems will get better.
I'd say that if you're going to leave, make sure to come back in a few months to see how the sites evolved. It's got potential... it's just very much in beta right now.
Well, I have recently posted my sharing of my holiday trip with genuine content. Yes, it may not be good content, but at least I think it is interesting to share your experiences and may be helpful to some. I have to agree that it may not only just fall through the cracks, but we, usually the newcomers may easily get destroyed by those in power, the whales solely to stop you from even starting, thus gaining any visibility. Yes, can be bots like you mentioned.
The current system is flawed, unfair and easily abused, whereby those in power can simply click a button without any restrictions and able to condemn you, stopping you from getting any attention and rewards.
To be honest, this is how social media works, content do fall through the cracks and got buried, everything is about popularity. But with money involved, you will see many evils that try to bring you down.
Yes hopefully there are improvements for better exposure.
It does feel good to share stories, engage in conversation and experience adventures through other peoples lives, part of the interest in coming here was monetary but I think a bigger part was just being involved in something new and different. The engagement that this post has created is truly amazing, not so much the votes but the actually conversation. It is truly humbling.
Very well said...tried to explain both sides of the coin :)
They need to just make a flatter voting system now. And I mean A LOT flatter. I also don't think flagging/downvoting should affect the payout, just hide it for you.
I think a bigger issue is to reward people voting good past content/posts. Once the 30 minute mark is gone, any great post falls into oblivion and only a whale could dig it up days after that and give it prominence (and there are very few whales with that power).
My last post got 7 downvotes (so far). Don't sweat it.
The meaning of downvote has to change to "I don't want to read content and ensuring discussion like this". It needs to be a personal relevance tool, not a globalized ranking. I am working on this change.
Dude, my best post so far got like 30 downvotes... and knocked close to $3k off the reward minutes before payout. Am I still here? Yep. Am I going anywhere? Nope.
You know what I did right after payout? I gave away two or three hundred steemdollars one at a time to fellow Steemians. Check my blog. That's how we roll.
I will definitely check your blog, I think that's really cool, I will defiantly make sure to put some of the post earnings back into the community.
Awesome! It's great to give back, and the people here are so much fun to hang out with it was like buying a round for the whole bar. Highly recommended! Hope you decide to stick around, and good luck!
bro, i need to read more about you, don't quit, it seems to be that depressed people like me need to read about you. i mean you 35, and your kids are 21.
To see that there is someone who wants to hear more is really awesome, thank you for that. My kids were born when I was 15 and I started taking care of them full time when I was 17. Their mom signed up for the Navy and dropped them off with me two days before she left for bootcamp ( she had a pretty tough upbringing so I don't blame her). When my father passed 2 years later it was just me and my girls.
Wow.
Your post got voted down by 2 very low power bots and one level 7 plagarist spammer called vato. the bots were dealt with by the rep system, I am posting about vato in the steemit abuse chat channel
uh all you guys upvoting, maybe hit the flagged post too.... a couple more votes will at least bring it back
wellcome
I upvoted You
You got more than 300 USD for taking pictures of a car. Seriously, that's totally insane and you complain about steemit.
Don't give up!
I am not even trying to make money after a while of being here. I'm just happy to be a part of this. Nothing like this has been done before, I want to see how it turns out.
What needs to happen is a change in the culture. Good posts fall through the cracks in reddit and also other social media, but with reddit things voted to the top of subreddits you're interested in are usually posts you will find interesting. Imo steemit should be working exactly like reddit except that you get paid when you get upvotes. But this is still the wild wild west phase so we'll see what happens.
Don't take it personal. No one in Steemit here knows you. So times there are trolls that down vote but when it's consistent try to think of the why. Maybe it is the content that does not fit to Steemit. Try to be creative an post different topics so you get a feeling what's gives value to the community and what doesn't
Best luck and hope to keep you here
I will definitely spend some time in the feed and see where I could possibly add value that fits in to the communities interests.
How ironical, leaving steemit in your introduction post.
don't leave us!
stay with that great community dude @highlite 8]
I am in the same boat as you, I have been providing original content here for about a week and it wasn't getting read, I wondered if it was the subject matter so I asked another writer and he liked it. I then asked the Steemit community if they wanted original content and still no reply. so I have to assume that only a few posts each day are getting read.
This is sad because I really like steemit, but I feel that I am doing myself a disservice by publishing my work here when there are so few people that are actively reading other people's blogs.
@highlite you have actually done very well here, none of your work has fallen through the cracks and you seem like a fun guy.
I almost left steemit this morning too.
After waking to negative reputation and (-5), it was a roller coaster 6 hours before bringing it to (4) and then (5). Not a good day for I NO robot.
The motives behind votes can be complex and obscure. Try not to give it too much thought, though I totally appreciate how demoralizing they can be. Just keep producing content if you are enjoying it and connecting with people.
Well, ask yourself this: Considering that you have lived on the fringe for so long, did you come on Steemit and expect things to somehow change and you transform into someone "mainstream"?
Come on. If you just wanna be heard then stay and keep posting. Maybe you will establish your own cliche on here if you stay long enough.
Definitely didn't come here looking to become "mainstream" or even as a catalyst for my music. I think it was more to share stories and see what kind of uniqueness I could add. Thanks for taking the time to read what I wrote and for the encouragement.
Maybe the title is a bit harsh in your case , but read this !
" Bottom line : Too many people regret the things the have NOT done, don't let Steemit be one of them."
Stick around, post a little, watch your steem power grow. :)
You have to roll with the punches man. There are ups and downs. We've all been there, trust me, but we kept going and the reward is coming. If you have the time, stick around. If you don't, like @jesta said, be sure to come around once in while to see how things progress.
Get that good night sleep for a couple days, get your neurons at 100% and take a step back to evaluate the entire thing and make the best decision for you. We all have a place around here, being it posting, curating, commenting etc.
Sorry for the NSX downvote, it was not meant to be discouraging.
I think I may have taken it a little too personal, it's just typically when you flag something it is for the admins to remove it. It seems on Steemit it is just a down vote meaning the content isn't interesting to the user and there is nothing wrong with that.
Actually I don't flag posts that I'm not interested in. I flag SPAM, useless crap and posts that just try to get votes without bringing real value to the table.
nice story!
There is an old saying that has the ring of truth to it. It goes like this "Quitters never prosper" I have the website I have been running for years. It gets traffic but it hasn't paid the bills for years also. Did I quit? Hell no. Someday they will call me an overnight success. I just have to wait till that happens.
Uhhh, you buried the lead.
Im new here too. You may be too upset to read this post but it shows my feelings: https://steemit.com/steemit/@orsonkartt/welcome-to-the-future-an-introduction-to-the-anarchic-world-of-steemit-from-someone-who-got-here-recently#@orsonkartt/re-msjennifer-welcome-to-the-future-an-introduction-to-the-anarchic-world-of-steemit-from-someone-who-got-here-recently-20160801t131524563z
Don't give up.
cheers up man
I don't get why anyone would down vote your other post and I just had a "discussion" about how destructive down votes are - especially when done by someone with a lot of steem power. It needs to be changed because I agree it is hurtful.
But you are not alone in this feeling and it's just beta. So things need to be tweaked still.
Experiment that's all :) Don't take it personally. Besides from you have wrote here you are an incredibly strong person. I've posted some experiments on here while I was trying to find my groove. Some of them were just plain stupid. But I was experimenting LOL. I'm still finding my groove but I'm doing all right. I imagine my writing will continue to evolve who knows to what. That's the creative process :) Welcome to Steemit I've been here a couple months now. I love it and i hope it sticks around. Hope you do, too :)
Why would you quit steemit just after posting 5 or 6 blogs and using it for 5 or 6 days.. Do you think its worth quitting?
I don't know why anyone could get frustrated not even trying and experimenting stuff until they had enough.
I think you are really high man!!
You need to stay focused. Do not quit. Creativity is key. It will pay off. Thank you for your service.
stay
Thank you for sharing. I know it can peek a little at your self-esteem when you put something out there you really feel is worth contributing and it's not relayed back as how you thought it would. I myself have been through that and I think most of us have. All I can say is don't let those things get in your way of what your ultimate goal is. Keep sharing and feel good about the fact that you alone are an actual contribution to the steemit community :)
Hey, sorry for your expirience, I've had varied expirienecs here, in many cases posts that I thought would do well, did nothing at all, while other less serious ones did well.
I say - don't give up, continue posting your stuff, some will get more attention than the rest, and thats ok :)
Dude, I feel your pain, but this is REALLY early in the game to be calling it quits. I have also posted regularly here. Replied plentifully. All original stuff. But I haven't caught a good wave yet. But keep at it, just like I will. Eventually we WILL have the success we deserve. Cheers!
Dude, you got a better reputation than me your sitting at a 6 and I'm at a 4.... I'm not quit'n playing on Steemit is not about the money.
Hey mate,
I'm not a whale chaser but let me tell you I will do all to motivate my fellows. Thank you for your note. Will take an eye on you and support you where I can
❤️❤️