I'm currently quitting smoking, so I'm having a serious case of nicotine withdrawal, which is why I'm in a terrible mood, and figured I'd use the energy to make a rant.
Ever since I joined Steemitover a year ago, one meme has been persistent throughout the entire duration of my Steemit life.
No, I don't mean the incompetent development team, though that is a strong and persistent theme, as well.
I'm talking about Thanks for sharing!
Why am I bringing this up?
I'm bringing it up because nothing underscores the fakeness of the Steemit community more than morons by the thousands commenting "thanks for sharing!" on other people's posts.
Not because there's anything wrong, per se, with being nice, but because of the fact that it's not real. No one ever says "thanks for sharing" while being sincere. Do people comment "thanks for sharing" on Facebook posts? Reddit? Twitter? YouTube? Anywhere?
No.
If one reads a post and wants to comment on it, great! But "Thanks for sharing" is just the mantra of what is still Steemit's biggest flaw: it's so absolutely fake.
Instead of being what it's advertised to be - a social media - Steemit is a hollow platform where people try to make a buck, and nothing more.
People spread the "thanks for sharing" nonsense on posts like cancer because it's the easiest, most unimaginative thing that one can comment on a post without even reading it.
The intent?
To get upvotes and followers.
Upvotes for posts that serve no other reason than to get upvotes.
Let's play a game, shall we? Imagine Steemit without the rewards. What do you have? What's left? Not a userbase, that's for damn sure.
We're currently in the middle of of this vote buying/delegation drama, which, to me, begs the question why is it that on Steemit users need to be bribed to be a part of it.
People don't need to be bribed to be a part of Facebook, they don't need to be bribed to be a part of Twitter and Reddit. They are a part of those sites because it's fun, it's engaging, it's hooking.
Steemit is not.
I guess the devs thought that hey, people can make money on Steemit, so there's no reason to work on functionality, usability, or any of that nonsense, since people will come here for the money.
Yeah, except there's just one slight problem with that.
Sure, free money does attract people, but it attracts the scum of the earth: the scammers and beggars of the world.
There's all this talk about getting more people to Steemit, but it's not more people Steemit needs, it's better people. People with something to give, something to say, something to contribute. Not spammers who litter blog posts with crap like "Thanks for sharing" in a transparent way to get ahead, and nothing more.
Not people who happen to get an autovote or two locked in, and then shit post all day long to make a few bucks.
I've said this for over a year now, and will say it again: the right way to go would have been, and still is, to design Steemit in such a way that it's attractive and fun to use even without the money.
Then when you add in the money, you have a winner.
Posting on Steemit often feels like posting for robots. Sure, I get the votes I get, I make pretty consistent rewards, yay, but I'm often left missing genuine conversation, actual engagement. Discussion, jokes... Socializing, goddamnit. It's a fucking social media. At least theoretically.
Not to mention the fact that summer high of $2+ showed me that the quality of the content on Steemit is inversely proportional to the price of STEEM.
Most of the stuff here has always been pretty terrible, but I did find it easier to find good stuff during the days of 7 cents, as opposed to the summer of $2.
That, to me, tells that people attracted to the money will come here to post and spam shit, and generally annoy the fuck out of at least adequately intelligent people, which is why I'm opposed to luring people here with the promise of rewards.
A real life story.
My girlfriend loves photography and art, she does both herself, a lot. She's also very, very talented at both. She's also interested in sharing - hah - her stuff on different platforms.
However, she's not really into money. True story. She makes enough selling her stuff to get the stuff that she wants, and that's that's just how she is.
So, I was thinking about getting her to Steemit once, but then really stopped to think about the fact that making extra bucks just doesn't interest her, so what else is there for me to use as a selling point?
There was nothing.
I could not come up with a single selling argument to use as to why she should join Steemit - if she's interested in the money.
"So, basically, you would post your stuff. Very few people would ever see them. You'd mostly get comments from either robots, or people who spam 'thanks for sharing' in every single post without even reading them. The UI is terrible and confusing. The site itself looks like a wordpress site from 1997. And most importantly of all: no one cares about anything you do, every interaction that anyone has with you is just a way for the other person to get over. It never has anything to do with you. But you should definitely join, it's fun!"
And I know I'm not alone thinking this way. It's just that people are afraid of criticizing this golden goose, since for a lot of people here this is the only way to make any money. Also, being branded "TOXIC" can essentially kill your account because it drives people away, as they are afraid of supporting you anymore, even if they agree with you.
Steemit has this weird culture of positivity fascism almost - if you allow me to bend the definition of the term "fascism" a bit, as is fashionable these days - where realism and honesty are frowned upon, and only masturbating in a happiness circle and ejaculating smileys is the correct way to go.
And my God, the ass kissing that goes on.
Hey, trending page regulars, sorry to break this to you, but no one really likes your content. They're just kissing your ass, and most likely aren't even reading what you're posting. You can make the exact same reads by posting one word per day, so why don't you save yourself the time and trouble?
Too few people on Steemit have the balls to say stuff out loud.
The enjoyability of Steemit has nothing to do with the math, it can't be fixed with hardforks, and no seminar of workshop at Borefest will tackle the actual issue, which is that Steemit's brand has attracted the wrong kinds of people to the platform, and as a result the community sucks, and most people of intellect don't find it fun to be a part of.
That's what needs to be fixed if Steemit ever wants to be a social media giant.
Though I don't think Steemit, INC. is at all interested in this. But I'm just sayin'.
Re-Steem if you agree, and all that. If you have the balls.
Community Liaison FullHQ