I really thought hard about whether to write this post as it gives someone publicity they do not deserve, but my motives have been questioned and I have to stand up for myself.
I do not even remember how it originated, but user @pocketechange set up another account @pocket-change for which they were buying votes on junk posts. These were zeroed out by @steemflagrewards and I helped with that as I have in many other cases. Since then they have stopped posting apart from updating their last post to slag off various people and sending many transfer memoes calling us 'scum-bags'. It seems they do not dare post for fear of their reputation going down, but I would not flag anyone for venting opinions unless they are being really nasty to people. I mainly downvote to remove unearned rewards.
They claim that delegating for profit is a 'sin'. Well why do they think most of us are on Steem? I do aim to do good, but I think I can expect some reward in the long run. I do a lot of what I do to try and make Steem a better place for those who add value and want it to prosper. That includes downvoting those who seek to abuse the platform. That is how Steem was intended to work if you read the white paper. The free downvotes we got last year incentivise us to downvote more.
They asked why I have delegated over 8000 SP and who profits from it, so let me tell you.
You can see one example above. The @exhaust account upvotes runners and I help increase their vote. For that I get a very small amount each day. I reckon I get less than 10% return on my 250 SP. I could get a better rate elsewhere on Steem, but that is not my priority. The few dollars that makes me each year might buy me one beer.
As with most things on the Steem blockchain my delegations are public. You can see them on Steemworld
The biggest by far is to my @tenkminnows account that automatically votes up a set of small accounts I have chosen to support. Some are already minnows, but I try to help others get to that level. This account has earned nearly 750 Steem from posts and curation. I do not intend to take that for myself. I am thinking that when we eventually get to 10,000 minnows I will power it down and distribute the Steem to selected small accounts.
I delegate to @steemflagrewards as I see it as being an important project to keep abuse of the Steem platform under control. It would be overloaded with crap without them. SFR get a lot more delegations from others. I do get some SFR tokens for downvoting people that I can use to buy votes. I mainly buy them for posts by others that I think are under-rewarded, but I may buy the odd one for myself. That is likely to gain me less than a dollar per week. Considering the hours each week I spend on Steem that includes dealing with abuse my hourly rate is pitiful.
@runningproject also supports runners. I was delegating to their @isotonic bot that gave me a small return, but I thought it was being abused. They have stopped selling votes, but I will keep supporting the main account.
@giftgiver gives delegation to those who need it and I offered to help increase their votes.
The rest of my delegations go to other projects that do not pay me and to individuals I want to support. I created some of those accounts for people and they need some delegated SP in order to operate.
So I would like to ask @pocketechange to give me their thoughts on this. Am I such a bad person to want Steem to be better? I could have cashed out when Steem was several dollars and I would have done well from it. I did sell some Steem ages ago to go to Steemfest and buy a few things, but in the last couple of years I have not powered down and have hardly self-voted. I have bought several thousand Steem. If Steem should achieve a much higher price then I may sell some again to treat myself, but for now I will keep powering up so I can do more good.
If @pocketechange comments on this post I will not downvote them unless they do something silly like buying votes or start threatening people. Let us keep this civil. I want everyone to have the chance to earn on Steem, but it should be based on the founding principles of community support and we should treat each other with respect. The positive responses I have had in the past on this topic make me think I am on the right path.
