I'm Boycotting Dtube... And Here's Why
Why I've Decided to Part Ways with Dtube... For Now
You've probably made it to this post because you asked me why I use YouTube to host my videos for Steemit. In fact, that's exactly why I made this video because I know it's inevitable that I'll get the question. So in today's video (which is freely hosted by YouTube) I will explain why I've decided to boycott @dtube until some changes have been made. I eagerly invite @heimindanger (Dtube Creator) to share his thoughts if he happens to see this. I would be extremely gracious for your feedback.
Learn How Dtube and other applications on the Steem blockchain collect your rewards to fund the growth of their platforms, and see how much each one takes by reading this article.
Two Changes I Would Like to See Happen:
Dtube drop it's fee from 25% to 15% by using other methods to raise funds. I've left a couple of suggestions in the video above but there are numerous ideas to crowdfund your project... especially here on Steemit. Simply posting a weekly @dtube stats report would draw many upvotes from the Dtube community. You could also have a monthly expense report that lists where all of the reward funds are going. I'm sure we would all be happy to see the expenditures and would gladly upvote the report.
Add some notice or TOS to your platform (or even on the about.d.tube page) so that users of Dtube are aware that you're taking a portion of their rewards to fund the platform. Transparency goes a long way.. probably even more here on a blockchain. Users should not find out 3 months down the road from some blog article here on Steemit.
UPDATE 3/15/18 - I reached out to @heimindanger on discord but couldn't get a response for why there is no notice on the website about this fee. I'm really not sure why that question was avoided... twice. But he did mention that they're wanting to create an SMT (ICO) for Dtube which will fund the platform's growth from that point on.
UPDATE 3/16/18 - A big thanks to @movievigilante for bringing up this question again on the Dtube Discord chat. And also a thank you to @heimindanger for his response. Not only did both questions get answered, but they're now both listed in the Dtube FAQ as seen below...
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I am with you 100% 👍🏼
Except for any dapp should not charge than 5% initially. However, I ‘d suggest they take scaling portion e.g. ok let them start with 15% as max for little vote generating posts and the more income come of a post their fees should gradually go down the road to 5 % or less. ( in this way Dapp developers still guarantee an income and encourage small bloggers to grow more .. the more bloggers grow and benefit , the less developers fees ( but will be greater in total big posts) .. and sharing bloggers success .
I welcome to any other suggestions too. But I wish developers keep ears open before it’s too late and new developers start a similar but more fair Dapp that would make the community flock away from them
I've heard that there's another version of Dtube in the works but haven't confirmed that yet. Should be interesting to see what a little competition injected into the blockchain does. :)
I like that idea. I'm not sure how easy (or if) it could be worked into the algorithm as I think they're limited to what the blockchain offers. If that is possible then it should be implemented. People really need to be incentivized to use Dtube, especially when it all links back to Steemit anyways. You know what I mean? Why use Dtube for your Steemit crowd when you can use YouTube absolutely free to host your videos? After polling everybody yesterday I learned that probably over 95% of my followers really follow me on Steemit anyways, not Dtube. But I guess it all depends on what you're trying to do here.
Wow! Thanks for pointing out that Dtube takes a 25% cut. That seems way too high for what is supposed to be a heavy volume use platform.
UPDATE: I just received this reply when I asked @heimindanger about it.
I guess it took a couple of people asking. He knew we weren't going away, lol. Thanks for the update and I appreciate you bringing it up to him again. Nice work!!
Edit: I also updated this post to reflect the changes.
I also asked him about maybe explaining how the 25% is used and he basically said that it's all public which I assume he means you can check his wallet.
He explains it in more detail in further replies on Discord.
I salute you for bringing this up first of all, and second...I hope the change you speak about is taken into deep consideration.
I definitely give every app on Steem the benefit of the doubt right now, just cause they are so new...but I'll tell you this. In my years of being online....Off the blockchain apps always make the fatal mistake of not listening to their early adopters....They ignore them to try to cater to the big fish and it always back fires...
Blab.im is a perfect example of this. They tried to cater to the big boys and completely ignored the original adopters and original community....Blam.im doesn't exist anymore.
Please please please...All you guys and gals in charge of the apps on Steem...Never forget to listen to your community! We will be your biggest fans and tell the world about you!
That's true. And there are no written rules to abide by. When you use Google Ads or Facebook Ads, they make sure that you have a Terms of Service. If you apply for a merchant account through a 3rd party merchant to take payments on your website, they make sure you have a privacy policy, TOS, and Terms and Conditions. There are no rules here regarding that. And I personally don't think there needs to be. But some common sense would say, hey we need to let people know that we're taking 25% of their rewards lol.
Hi @brandonfrye - excellent article - well done. A whole group of us are heading to "Viewly" which is such an exciting new platform. Here is a short video of some of the creators on View.ly
Their public ICO is happening right now and almost at 80% sold out. Only a few more days left. Just followed you and will be checking out your videos today.
Really enjoying your videos! I have learned a lot from you and followed much of your advice and have gotten great results. The bots are still tricky as its hard to see what you actually make...ie the author rewards don't match the totals paid to the wallet. Als, can you point me in the right direction to create my own upvote bot. I can't find any references online. Would make a great video (hint hint) lol! Anyway keep up the great content and I want you to know it's making a difference for other's out here on the steem blockchain!
Hey @ground2feet, thanks. I'm glad my videos have been helpful to you! And actually I looked into that a while back. I didn't get too far though, lol. I'll look into it again and see if it's even possible to create a walkthrough video or a "point you in the right direction" video for that. ;)
Ok got you, thank you! Glad to know it's not just me lol. If you figure it out and want to partner up with someone I'd love to have a conversation to see if you we can create an opportunity!
the 25% won't last. Once SMTs are out, DTube will launch it's ICO and get all the funds they need for operating and growing their business. Right now, I'm not against 25%, the price of Steem is volatile and having a reserve when we hit a buttom may make the difference for it's survival.
Thanks for chiming in @cryptoctopus, I appreciate it. And I thought about that too. As Steem prices dip, server and hosting costs don’t lol. It must be strange and somewhat complicated doing decentralized business in a fiat world.
Sorry as I am about it, I must admit that you are perfectly right.
I would love to see Dtube growing, for it is a great idea. So let's hope it won't take them too long to catch up with diskussions like this one. All we ask for is a professional business conduct. This is not asking too much.
Exactly, I really think it's common sense to list this "reward fee" on their platform. Thanks for your comments!
I don’t think the amount matters. It’s just about disclosure. Transparency (god, politics have made me hate that word) implies honesty. Integrity matters. And people don’t like to feel like something’s been ‘pulled over’ on them.
By the way, thanks for the SBD. I feel a little luckier when I win SBD when it’s down so far. :)
Great points. And you're welcome! Yes, it is already going up, up, up!! :)
I will begin by saying that it doesn’t matter where you post, the followers will find it and support your growth. Regarding dtube taking 25%, I agree that at the least they should be transparent and disclose this to the content creators whom are the value creators on the platform. This would support the blockchain culture of decentralization which is the future. However, as they intend to grow, they also need the funds to foster their technology needs. Therefore, I would say they should put forward a roadmap that maybe begins with 25% but reduces as adoption increases and overhead decreases. If they are transparent about it, it would be easier for content creators to make informed decisions on where to put their efforts. At the end of the day, we all want for the Steem blockchain to grow by increased users and applications to drive value realization.
I like this idea. At a minimum be transparent about your expenses so that we can properly judge whether 25% is too much or too little. I've heard from several people who say, "But they need 25%". Well, if you're not part of their team then you really probably don't know that. It could turn out that they need even more to take on the things they're trying to achieve. But we'll never know unless they share their expenses with the community.
But I like your idea of a roadmap for what they're trying to accomplish. And knowing that there would be a decrease in "fees" over time would probably inspire more of us to continue on with dtube. I personally would love to say that I was a pioneer for decentralized video hosting but I'm afraid I can't do it at the rate of 25% indefinitely.
This post has received a 7.69 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @brandonfrye.