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A r e

y o u

c h e a p ?

Come on, don't beat about the bush, we haven't got that kinda time. No, I don't mean are you an easy type of person, that's perhaps for another post. What I do mean is - are you a bit stingy?
You can tell me, we all are sometimes. We all have one point in our lives where we figure we need to save some cash.

So, no worries about that. But what about on Steem? Are you being stingy with us?
The other day, I was reading through someone's post and I liked what I was reading, but I hesitated before giving him an upvote.
After Steemfest, I've been interacting a lot more on this platform (an excellent development, no doubt) and with a lot more people, which naturally means that my VP is going down a lot quicker.
And being at quite a low VP already, I thought maybe I shouldn't upvote this person, even if I liked their content. I can't afford it.

And then I realized how ludicrous that sounds. I'm being stingy about 7 fucking cents that aren't even technically mine - seriously?!
What kind of logic is that?

Well, one that a lot of us seem to have, as everyone is very careful with their slider and keeping their VP at a decent level. Which I get, in part, you don't want to end up at 20% VP and have to wait 3 days before you can give a decent upvote, do you?
It makes sense, but at the same time, it's stupid. How is this community supposed to thrive if we skim and bicker for a few cents?

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I enjoyed your content. Or maybe I didn't, who knows? Maybe I just like you as a human being. Those few cents are my way of showing that. Little by little, of helping you build. And that's what Steem is supposed to be about - building together.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm terrible at using the slider, especially in this bad market. Where a 30% upvote would've been acceptable before, now it's pathetic. So I find myself voting a lot of people at 100% or at least at 50%. I can't help it. It seems so shitty to give someone 1 cent (or nothing) when you had the possibility to give them more.

And for what? What am I gaining by giving you a small upvote? A higher voting power?
That's precisely what it's for - voting. It's meant to be used and depleted.

But I suppose it's one of those petty constraints that have carried over from our "real" society. Remember the good ole days when you didn't even have a cent to give (or a slider, for that matter)? You had nothing to worry about.
But come into the tiniest amount of power, watch that value go from 0 to 3 cents and you're already more considerate, always calculating how much you can afford to give without losing....

Losing what? Nothing. That's the point. You lose nothing but imaginary voting power that replenishes. And yet, you're doing it now, considering if you can afford to give that upvote.

Well, if you can't, the community is already fucked.

Thank you for reading,