You might have noticed that people have stopped posting as much lately. I had a quick look and figured out a few reasons why. I have also been affected by the same thing - in fact, most content creators on here have been affected.
Is it worth posting these days or should you wait ?
Me, on one of the most dangerous spots on earth
Many of us have a lot to share. Whether it be travel, food, skills, political commentary, photography, music, or whatever, the Steem blockchain has been a fantastic place to share our passion and get rewarded for it.
Lately, thought, it hasn't been so amazing, truth be told, and here are some reasons why;
Lower Rewards
The crypto price crash across the board has contributed to the lower dollar value of post rewards. However, I think what has had a greater effect is the way the fixed reward pool is being distributed at the moment.
If you look at the Trending page, you will see what I mean. Not even the SPUD potato and Burnposts are making it on there anymore, let alone we lowly content people. Instead, the page is awash with posts from witnesses, ex-employees of STINC and other such figures. The posts are almost all about the ongoing drama with Justin.
Because of this, most of the rewards are going to those posts, leaving a smaller piece of the pie for regular content creators.
It's understandable that people might be discouraged to create content for potentially much less rewards that usual. People may be holding back that amazing travel post, for example, until the situation changes and we're back to normal.
Uncertainty
We are at a critical point in the life of the Steem blockchain where some major paradigm shifts are possible.
We could fork away from Justin, in which case, we have no idea what will happen concerning exchanges. There have been some smaller and more decentralised exchanges that have made promises to the community, but people that are heavily invested in Steem are not necessarily comforted by that.
Some people think we could give in to Justin and be assimilated by Tron. In this case, what will happen to the Steem blockchain as we know it? Will the rewards work the same way? Will our Steem tokens be swapped for TRX? Or whatever? It's hard to judge what would happen since Justin has shown himself untrustworthy. His word means nothing at this point.
A third option is for the exchanges to vote again and enable Justin's fork, at which point the Steem blockchain may potentially break. There are no experienced devs left at STINC, and Justin has proven not to understand this chain at all. Will he be reckless and break things irreparably?
THE CASE FOR POSTING
I can't speak for anyone, but I'm a compulsive content creator. These days, I post mostly on the Steem blockchain, but I also do output exclusive stuff on a bunch of other platforms. I really do enjoy it, and I love the reward system on here the most. I have options to create content for way more money than I make on Steem (which is arguably zero, considering how much I've lost investing in Steem), but I love the freedom here. I can write about pretty much anything I want, anytime I want.
I remember when I was under retaliatory attacks from a whale for months last year, I posted even more than usual, churning out 3-4 posts a day haha. Anyway, that's just me.
I think the main question you must ask yourself is why you're here. If the main thing is to make money, then by all means stand back and recalculate your strategy. Perhaps there's somewhere else on the Internet you can put the same posts for more reward. I'd like to know, I can't find any other place apart from Steem.
Otherwise, if you're here to share your passion primarily, with the money being secondary, then there's never been a better time to post actually. We have a lot of eyes on us right now with all the publicity we're getting. You have a better chance of getting your stuff seen today than this time last year.
Peace and Love,
Adé