Steemit, Community, and the Power of Guilt

in #community7 years ago (edited)

As the most popular person on steemit (and then I woke up, what a twist!), I feel I’ve come across the same questions countless time, especially by new members, as well as less successful older members. Primarily, these questions arise in various Discord groups, or in real life (what the hell is real life?) conversations with other steemit members.

Here’s an example:

[random_new_user_69] Why doesn’t anyone upvote my content? My stuff is good. I had that one good post that paid out a crapton of money, then nothing.
[negativer] Yeah, that’s kind of how it works. You got the magical Curie fairy. Her touch is whimsical and fleeting, often never to be seen again. It’s not a measure of good content, really, it’s a representation of chance and luck and timing. Don’t expect it. It’s a fluke.
[random_new_user_69] So….what do?

And thus the common litany of suggestions is offered. Comment often. Respond to comments. Socialize and be seen. Get yourself a nice introduceyourself post. Get more followers. Get breast implants. All of that and more.

However, this misses a major vector of how steemit upvotes work. Since that is what it’s really about for new or struggling users, right? Upvotes? Cash money? Or at least crypto money? Don’t say no, because it’s true. You’re not fooling me.

The most important angle to getting upvotes:

Guilt.

That’s right. Guilt. The most useful...and unhealthy...part of any relationship, whether it be real life or virtual.

How does that work you say? What do you mean, you cry? I like ice cream, you scream?

Here’s what I’ve found:

Creating a bond with fellow mortals is more than what steemit.com is capable of. Critical things are missing, like realtime chat or easy ways to identify common ground like religion or interests or age, or even simple ways to follow the people most important to you and filter out the lame people that you’re inexplicably still following for some ungodly reason.

That bond is necessary to create guilt (as well as other useless things like love and happiness).

That bond is what gets you upvotes.

That’s where the magic of Discord comes in. Once you start hanging out in a Discord group or two with fellow like-minded steemians/steemitizens/steemtits, you start to know them. Their silly little usernames you see on steemit.com actually become attached to a real fleshy person, but without the strings of money attached. You chat with them because you want to.

And so you chat. And you get to know them. And they know you. And you share common things, and everyone runs across fields of flowers in slow motion while sappy music plays.

Then you upvote their stuff on steemit.com. Because you know them, and you like them, and you recoginize their names in your feed. And then you comment, and say something witty or insightful, because you want to impress them.

Aha! And they respond back on your comment with more witty and insightful things, and maybe even an upvote on your comment too.

Then you can imagine them thinking hey, have I upvoted this guy’s stuff lately? I don’t remember seeing them in my feed.

Guilt.

So they go to your feed, and look at your stuff, and toss upvotes and clever comments around like cards at a poker table.

And you, being the sneaky peeping tom that you are, keep an eye on things using steemnow.com or steemworld.org. You were waiting for that interaction, and there it is. You mark them off on your mental checklist of people you’re going to interact with again, since they have that silent agreement to do the same with you.

The unspoken follow for follow, the under-the-table upvote for upvote.

The guilt.

The upvote.

And the cycle begins anew.


Disclaimer: I love my interactions with everyone on Discord and steemit.com. This is not meant to mock anything or anyone other than normal social behavior. Don’t flag me.












Photo credit: Pexels

Join us at The Writers Block on Discord.
A great community of writers there, helping each other get better at what they enjoy doing.

Sort:  

Brilliant!
Can't argue with your logic buddy.
I remember the frustration before Discord/MSP came to rescue me back in June. There is no better place to get your audience, plus it's a great crack.
Voted, commented and awaiting interaction 😃
FYI, screw guilt I vote for great work and folks who are really trying to put out 'their' best work. Bollocks! Who am I kidding I do throw around the odd guilt vote!
Damn you @negativer

Oh crap. Pressure is on. Witty comments, don't fail me now. Um....

Nice post! great colors on your photo! check out my blog @negativer

HAHA it's awesome the guilt power... I love it!!! I liked your reflections so much I upvoted with 100% (guilt) How's Morodienne didn't saw here on my stuff for a while (guilt) That's make me think I should check what she's up too (guilt -1) Do you guy know Julia and I just released our first feature film on Steemit (guilt+involvment of many users in the discussion I am already improving the technique) the first release of this kind (+1 gp (guilt point). Brilliant!
I had a good laugh with this as usual good writing
(finish with a compliment +.5 gp)
I am killing it right?

Damn man, you just leveled up. I'm impressed by how much guilt you packed into one single comment.

goes off to look at the latest post....ooo...soundtracks...love your music

After 5 minutes I heard of this thing I am already a master at it (showing your ego -1gp damn)!!
Anyway I loved your answer so much I upvoted another 100% (gp +3)
Glad we chatted as your always so insightful (compliment right!)
KILLING IT!!!!!

Random whale drive by -3 area of effect radius kill. Back to the grind.

Dammit. You got me. Revoted, upsteemed and pedantic banter added to the thread. Crap. I almost got away with claiming it got buried in my feed, too.

Witty comment noted, upvote verified, and resteem confirmed. Token upvote given.

The system works.

Teem work makes the steem engines work. ;)

I gave you an upvote. Insert something witty that causes you to feel guilt and upvote me later.

Well.....okay. You've earned some upvote credit. For later.

Insert obligatory comment - because you're my husband
upvote4upvote - if I ever post again, you owe me big time
resteemed - just to spread the salt a bit further on Steemit

Excellent. Maybe someday when you post again, I will be there to upvote you.

You'd better, or I'll be devastated.

if I ever post again

Yer in real trouble then mister!

So this is probably the best time to admit that I don’t actually follow neg on steemit. So, if it wasn’t for you I would never see anything of his. His really lucky to have you! :) am I playing this guilt game right?

WHAT!

heart shattered

Like a pro ;)

You had me at implants.

I tell you, it would enhance your steemit career. Look into it.

Who needs implants. I just need keep drinking pseudo estrogen laiden IPA's and they will be oh-naturel.

Darn...........
Guilt.... It worked...
I know I should say more often but damn I like your breast implants! They look so fluffy!

xxx
Snekky

Thanks snekky! :)

The implants do indeed add an extra...dimension to my life.

Good thing for that disclaimer. Ha ha! But in all seriousness, this is a really great post. I am not sure it's all about "guilt" for me, but that definitely plays into it. I want to do my part, help the people around me, and be a part of that big beautiful love fest you so perfectly described:

And so you chat. And you get to know them. And they know you. And you share common things, and everyone runs across fields of flowers in slow motion while sappy music plays.

I actually have a lot of different things that motivate me to visit, comment, and upvote, not the least of which is that it's actually quite a lot of fun. I'm also always evaluating if I'm doing all the stuff, and if I'm doing it all the right way. In fact, I'm sure I'm not, so you have to throw a dose of neurotic fear in there with the guilt.

Oh, and I really like people. I should mention that. It's really neat to find so many great people to banter with. Am I boring you yet? Okay, I'm done now!

I'm glad you noticed the disclaimer, @jayna. I definitely didn't want anyone to get salty at me for my minor observations.

Some folks have different motivations and reasons than others, and it sounds like yours run the gamut. I think at its most basic level either guilt or gratefulness drive the actions on steemit, but if you're getting your own pleasure out of the 'game' aspect of it, or meeting people, etc, then you're probably more well-rounded than some others :)

Thx for your insightful and interesting commenting, as always!

I see what you did there! We were talking about the meaning of the word “salty” on Discord the other day. Thanks for using it in context so I can learn how to use it.

Yes, I do think it’s a mixed bag. I don’t have as much experience on Steemit as you do, but for some reason my blog doesn’t attract many useless, spammy comments, and very few gratuitous ones. So I have blissfully ignored all those issues.

One thing I’m struggling with is the percentage of upvote to give various comments. For a while I was giving posts I like 100% and comments I like 3%, given that it can take hours to write a post and seconds to write a comment. But then I felt really stingy about comment upvoting; people should feel rewarded for visiting your blog, upvoting and contributing to great conversation, right? So I’m updating my whole strategy. Welcome to the weird, reflective, and somewhat obsessive little world inside my mind.

I think anytime anyone gives you a well thought out comment on your blog, showing that they read the article and actually care to contribute value to it, then they should be rewarded with a decent upvote. So I'm going to practice what I preach and upvote your comment...especially since this is my brother's blog!

Nice to meet you, @mattphilleo! So, it runs in the family then, this Steemit blogging thing? Which of you recruited the other? And do you all use the word “salty” in your family? So many questions.

Well I don't know what to say to that, since I feel guilty.

I don't do a lot of upvoting of comments. Well that's not completely true. Sometimes I go mad and end up with next to nothing votes worth 0 and a VP of 25%.

Then I withdraw from the fray to recover.

Then I upvote myself (oh the guilt, the guilt) thinking that this will help others in the long run because once I get to 500 SP I'll be able to upvote willy nilly to my heart's content. Well at least it will be a lot more than I do now.

And it is true to a certain extent. Right now I am more interested in SP so I can upvote better, than I am in earning money that I can take out of the platform.

My dream of course is to be able to do both one day.

And now I feel guilty for airing this in public.

I'm going for a walk on the seafront so I can ease my suffering soul! 😢 😢 😢 😁

Nothing wrong with a little guilt. :) It makes the system work.

I'm definitely not trying to MAKE people feel guilty. It was just a mild observation on my part that guilt plays a part in social interactions (whether on steemit or elsewhere), but on steemit it becomes more important because money is attached to those actions.

Thanks for the comment, and I always look forward to seeing your comments on my stuff (when you are able) and seeing your photography in my feed (when I catch it!) :)

Is it also possible to feel grateful?

It is! Maybe that's part of the mix too. The guilt makes you feel bad (or makes you feel like you ought to feel bad), and the gratefulness balances it out so you don't just spiral down into utter despair every time you upvote something.

Thanks for mentioning that! :)