I have noticed in the past week or so that votes are getting harder to come by. At first I thought I had just worn my content out but decided that no, it's still pretty decent. I posted an article about the drought of votes yesterday and was kindly educated by a good soul about how all this works now with the recent changes brought on by HF19 (I am mentally retarded sometimes, bear with me). He explained that with the limited number of votes we have now and how quickly they diminish, people tend to be much more careful with their voting now. I thought of what he was saying and quickly realized he was on to something.
Before HF19, I would upvote most everything. Cute meme, check. Nice story, check. Beautiful picture, check. Clip art with one word sentence, check. Nowadays I find that I carefully scrutinize where I place my upvotes. While I would love to spread it around, I just can't do that anymore. So, I look through my feed and find the work that people pour their heart and soul into and that's what gets my vote. I had the answer to my own question all along and was too blind to see it. Just like me, people were beginning to get really picky about where they place an upvote.
I was reading a post by one of the popular rah rah guys on here earlier. You know the kind I am talking about. The ones with 10000 followers that makes 5 posts a day basically being a cheerleader saying "STEEM to the moon!" and "Let's make this journey together!"....you know what I am talking about. Well he has no doubt noticed that his payouts have declined and he was chastising his followers for not upvoting his articles like they used to. He even began forecasting the end of all life on earth if they did not get down and toe the line with upvotes for him. Okay, that's an exaggeration...you got me there. What really got my attention though is that he was feeling what I was feeling just a day earlier and like me, he just was not getting it. When people are forced to choose between his rah rah hype and an article that touches the hearts and minds of people, he comes up on the losing end. Now before we get to feeling sorry for this guy, remember that even his worst article is going to generate 10-20 times more money than our best ones.
What I have been forced to accept that this is the end of easy Steem. If you are going to waste one of your precious upvotes on anything I do it will be because I have earned it. I for one do not see that as a bad thing. I enjoy writing even though I am no good at it. It is relaxing. It tickles my imagination. I feel alive when I am telling a story. I enjoy reading others work that takes me to places I can't go. Sure, this will make climbing the ladder a little harder I think in the short term, but it could also be much more rewarding for us when we reach the top.
So if you have ever upvoted anything I have done, I thank you for it.
Wishing you the very best.
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