What Can We Do About the Steemian Newbies That Ask or Beg for Our Support?
I, like many of you, get bombarded with new people on Steemit
asking for upvotes and support everyday.
Some come in the way of a comment on my blog, others hit me up on Steemit Chat. There seems to be some sort of misconception that those who have spent months or even years of their life investing in creating value on Steemit, owe financial support and recognition to those who have only just begun.
I think sometimes these new people aren't aware of the vast amount of energy put into creating a reputation and a valuable vote - as they often want to trade upvote for upvote as if they were equal. They also may not recognize that we were all (at least most of us) were in their shoes once too, and have created our own realities through hard work, dedicated focus, commitment, consistency, and excitement for creating a valuable community for us all.
There are times when it gets really frustrating having people begging, especially when they do it on my blog. I often throw out a little comment to see where their energetics are about really wanting advice, help, and what their desire is to really bring value to Steemit, or on the reverse, are just fishing for free upvotes and exploiting the good nature of others.
I do believe it is valuable to help new people on Steemit, and though I don't really belong to any particular initiatives to do so, I take steps to engage new people, giving them encouragement and opportunities to get involved. As a matter of fact, some of my favorite people and greatest participants and supporters have come through the new crowd, looking for their niche, and I'm exceedingly grateful that they have found me and are now a part of my everyday life.
I know this asking and begging has been a topic of many a conversation here on Steemit with many people just wanting to shut these people down--as none of us seem really interested in building a community based on expectations. A gift economy, however, indicates that we give because we want to, and we do it because we find value in a person's true desire to be a part of this magnificent platform. Helping each other to thrive is really ideal--but with what energetics we do it is of the utmost importance to me.
I thought to share with you an exchange that has happened on my blog over the past few days. I'm grateful that it's becoming a more common occurrence that my short request brings forth more conversation. When a new person responds to my replies, instead of ignoring or running away, I can tell they are worth my investment.
I hope you'll all stop by and give muhammadhelmi92 (28) some encouragement and support.
Here are another few responses I have given over time, that seem to weed out those who are trying to take advantage, and those who truly are trying to understand and be a part of this community with us.
I think it's great that you are excited about engaging in Steemit. And I think it's great to experiment with ways to market yourself and your posts. However, I believe the best way would be to write engaging posts, chiming in on people's blogs, commenting, upvoting and resteeming, earning yourself a reputation and a reason for others to follow you. I get many requests every day from new users to upvote and follow them. I use my voting power on those who have something of great benefit to share. If you are one of those people, I will be glad to exchange with you, but feel there is no real value in just swapping upvotes, as your vote has very little value. Many blessings on your path to a powerful Steemit experience. I hope to find your posts a great contribution.
And btw, many users consider this kind of a message spam, and some may even flag you for it. Earning your reputation and your followers on Steemit is what brings value, not just begging for the upvotes. Also remember, that all votes are not created equal, so if you want your votes to be valued, they must be earned.
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Hi ______, just a little heads up...most people do not like being solicited for votes. Votes are EARNED on steemit, not asked or begged for. If you want to improve your reputation, you may want to focus on commenting, visiting other people's posts, and providing posts valuable enough that people will want to upvote you without your asking. I see that you are new here so maybe you are unaware of the general sentiment about these things. Just want you to know so you don't get yourself flagged or turn people off to sharing with you.
I hope your experience here on Steemit is a rewarding one and that you build yourself an incredible following. Blessings on the way.
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Just a head's up - Established Steemians, who have worked their way up the reputation scale, generally do not really take kindly to people asking and begging for votes. We have all been in your shoes as beginners and have done our due diligence to provide valuable content that others are inspired to support. Vote for vote is not a fair exchange when your vote counts as literally nothing. When people realize you are private messaging or spamming people's posts for votes, they are likely to ignore your requests and your posts, or even flag you for soliciting. You will not be successful on Steemit if others are not inspired by what you share or are annoyed by your lack of adding true value to Steemit, but begging for attention and a hand-out instead.
I hope you find a way to contribute something of value to this Steemit community. Making your own way on your own merits is the only way to gain respect, a powerful reputation and a good sustainable following. I wish you luck on your experience and hope you take into true consideration my attempt to share perspective. Blessings to you.
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If you want followers and voters, it would be wise to invest your time in providing US with something to upvote and follow!! Begging is considered spamming, and you may find that others will flag you for such activity and ruin your reputation. Hopefully we can inspire you to step up to the plate and contribute to make Steemit an even more amazing experience for us all.
Most everyone has started at the bottom, with low reputation and very little voting power. As you contribute to Steemit in some way, your reputation builds, and your vote becomes more valuable. Many of those who have started at the bottom earned their way toward the top by bringing value to Steemit, by creating great content and getting people interested in what they have to share, by engaging the community through upvotes, thoughtful comments, resteeming, supporting and following others.
It is considered spam to be promoting your posts on other people's blogs, and fishing for upvotes. Many people will even flag you for it. If your content is of value, people will find you, even it it takes some time. Patience is a virtue.
It is valuable to consider why you are on Steemit. If you're here for the money, you may get discouraged at first as it generally takes some time to find your niche. If you're here to build community, you will make lots of friends, have lots of support, and enjoy a potent experience that rarely comes around. What goes around comes around, so if you build community and support others, so shall it be for you, and the money will come because you earned it, not because you asked for it.
You have a lot to gain by giving your best to Steemit. It's a great opportunity to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
I hope your experience here on Steemit is amazing!
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I see by your reputation that you are new to this platform. It is generally looked down upon, even considered spam here on Steemit, to be requesting or begging others to vote for and support you. Many people will flag you for this type of comment on their blog. The way to gain followers is to provide valuable content, to interact in support of others and the content they are generating. Bringing value to Steemit is the way to build community and to get others involved in what you are sharing. I hope your experience here on Steemit will grow to something you enjoy, and that others find excitement with your content to support.
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Let's be real...If I would of put a few bitcoins towards steem when it was $0.07 I would be more popular now...oh well...One step at a time. First goal is to get to 1000 steem power, then 5000...then 10000....will take time but I believe in steemit and the steem blockchain.
If you didn't believe in it @ssjsasha, it would be quite silly for your to be here. Sometimes we have big leaps, and sometimes we have to take baby steps.
some are here purely for the money...thats why this place is flooded with copy and pasted comments playing the numbers game
That is true on many levels. And people get disillusioned quickly when no one supports them and their rewards don't start rolling in. We just all need to be diligent, vote and give attention to those people who are of value. If no one supports the copy/pasted commenters, they will not last long here on Steemit.
thank you very much @everlove for your advice and guidance, i'm really happy to hear it.
May god bless you
Thanks for being brave enough to stand up and just ask for help. Many people get offended or want to blame Steemit for not giving them the experience they had created in their mind, meanwhile not giving anything back or making a personal investment. I'm always grateful to help you though I'm most inspired to see you make a true presence here by building this great platform with us, being a vital part of the community, and truly bringing your best to Steemit so we have great appreciation for your presence..
Infinite blessings back to you, @muhammadhelm92.
yes @everlove, you have helped me so much that I am excited to join and give the best for this community, even though I have just joined, but I have learned a lot here, which indirectly I have met great people like you even though I have not met face to face with me, but this should be grateful, so I can be more confident and keep working and wish me success like you @everlove, thank you very much...
I'm excited to hear that @muhammadhelmi92. When I met some of these amazing people at Steemfest2 (November 2016) and Steemfest3 (November 2017). I was astounded at how much they felt like family. Though we had come from all over the globe, I could tell these were my people. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to build a community, and support each other in living the dream. You made it to Steemit, so you may as well do something magnificent with it. I hope to see a lot more of your inspiration flowing through here on Steemit. Thank you for being here.
I am very grateful to hear this all @everlove, I am very grateful to you who have helped me so much and motivated me all this time, and I want to write a story about this, to be a lesson and inspiration for beginners in this steemit community. thank you @everlove
You're very welcome @muhammadhelmi92. I think many people come for reasons that don't actually bring them satisfaction. When we come for community and in support of each other, we all win. Thanks for asking the questions and for being so open to advice. I truly appreciate you.
If you do write that story on your blog, please come back and share the link with me.
yes @everlove, I will send you a link of writing, I really hope your guidance and improve where there is a mistake in my writing, because a beginner like me, is very much a mistake, and I apologize to you if you find a mistake on me, and for everything, thank you very much @everlove
No apologies needed @muhammadhelmi92. I'm excited to see what you share and I'm sure your writing will be great to experience for many.
Stalkers.... lol
You’ve got a lot more patience than I do. I rarely respond to vote for vote / follow for follow posts. Ignore or flag, lazy man that I am. I suppose we’ll just see more and more as the die grows.
You used a #steemfest3 tag, any idea where or when it might be?
I don't always respond to vote for vote or those types of requests. Sometimes I just feel that it is worth engaging, some time not, and only follow it up with more engagement depending on the next reply.
I didn't intend to use #steemfest3, but #steemfest2 instead (because the pictures are from SF2). I wish I knew where SF3 would be....alas, I suppose the excitement needs time to build!
Thanks for the comment @preparedwombat.
Great post, and great question! There are so many ways to deal with this.. and we can see them all on display on Steemit! Im totally against being 'unfriendly' or posting lengthy comments as it gets in the way of the whole feed..
These days I just say something like
The ecoTrain wrote on this topic a few weeks ago and there are some beautiful gems in there.. WAY to much to read all of it, but a treasure trove of heartfelt ideas and feelings for minnows and people unaware of how to make Steemit work for everyone including them!
<3
Great comment @eco-alex. Most of the comments I've written above were my responses on Steemit Chat. I do feel though that if someone like @mulhammedhelmi92 comments more from my short statement on my post, then it is worthwhile taking up some space in the comment section. Perhaps some other person promoting their blog will catch a glimpse of it and learn a little something.
The eco-train really does have some great topics. So many treasures in there---oh so much to share. Thanks for engaging my post. I appreciate your being here.
I think you have a nice balanced approach to all of this. I bet there are many accounts made by people who know that this type of behavior is frowned upon here, but they are using their bots to control hundreds of accounts and posting tons of begging comments fishing for the occasional upvote. But there are also many people who are excited about the opportunity and try desperately to get some attention the wrong way.
Responding with a message that explains to them what is wrong with that approach seems like a really good and kind way to deal with it. And while some will not take the free advice, I'm sure some will and some will even become successful on the platform because they were told the right thing at the right time before being labeled a spammer and leaving the platform in frustration.
Thanks for that thoughtful comment @naydenova. There are indeed lots of spamming bots. We don't have to give any of them our upvotes or our attention, which will make them eventually go away because they aren't getting what they want. Those people don't actually ever answer or come back asking how they can improve.
When someone does ask, it really makes me feel grateful I have taken the time to help them. It can be a very frustrating beginning, depending especially on their intentions of getting on Steemit in the first place. It's really rewarding to feel when I have made a difference. We all know it can potentially be a bit hard at the beginning.
Great to have you here. I appreciate your sharing on my blog.
It's a real pleasure, so I'm happy and grateful to be here! :)
Yes Bless!!
Those of us here long enough know how we work hard and be patient. You can help ine or two but We cannot save the whole people. People got to find ways to learn themselves.
Just like you can take a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink! Simply providing opportunity is often the best we can do. Glad to see you here @ace108.
Glad to pick this. Been busy on so many work here. I ran some stats query for collaborative art 2 weeks back but got side track.
Your new time is now @ace108!
https://steemit.com/collaborativeartjourney/@everlove/invitation-collaborative-art-journey-wrinkles-in-time-no-32-this-is-your-invitation-to-collaborate-whatever-your-expression
I believe you can lend a hand, though if you sometimes feel like saying No. It's also okay. I believe most whales here or people who are doing well invested alot of time, efforts and money into this. Some even bought steempower. Most of us can do the same,
I think it feels good to give help to people who deserve it rather than those who seem to need it.
For the growth of our platform because this is just the beginning. Otherwise thanks for helping most of these people, it's hard to find such polite people with good heart.
I agree @tesaganewton. I have flagged a person or two over time, and have ignored many. I don't give them votes or attention if I am aware they don't really care about anyone but themselves. I think if we don't support them, their stay here on Steemit will be short. Low reputation, little to no voting power, no upvotes, followers or supporters would take a lot of energy to maintain on no rewards.
I'm grateful that some of those I have helped have given back to this platform.
Thank you for your comment @tesaganewton.
Sooo... For years I've said facebook needs a specific "sarcasm" font. Maybe a idea for Steemit? My saracsm button gets pushed every time I read a post like this, I want to comment "plese follow and vote my blag" lol On a more serious note, finding a post like this was like an "aha" moment for me and Steemit. When you're new, and see other people commenting "follow & upvote me" and you don't really understand reputation scores and you're just posting content and using tags and not engaging other people with comments, it's not hard to make the assumption that maybe that's the way to go about it.
A "sarcasm" button!!!! That would be a fun one!!
When I started here on Steemit in August 2016, this asking for votes was not the case. But then, all of the sudden, it seemed there was a rush of people asking, then more asking, then more begging, then more more more. I believe it became the example of how to engage Steemit, because so many people were doing it, and the new users didn't really know any better. So I think it is important that we share how it can be done, and help them to see the true benefit of belonging to a community like this. There will always be takers and givers. It would be great to tip the scale in favor of the latter.
I'm grateful to provide an "aha" moment, and I'm grateful you found your way here.
Awesome!! Can I use some of these? I have tried to engage as well and some have been open to learn but others want to argue which drains me emotionally. It is exhausting and I know important also to give a hand up to those who are genuine.
Thanks for putting into words what I have been feeling for a while now. I appreciate it @everlove!
It can be really draining if others just want to argue or make excuses or keep doing the same thing. I simply give them no attention and ignore all of their requests. I don't give them my energy as I have better things to do.
I would be happy to share any of those quotes, or any version thereof you wish to make. I'm grateful to help in anyway I can. Thanks for your comment and interest in helping @countrygirl.
Thanks soooooo much! I am grateful that you posted this. In keeping with your gratefulnessvibe tag - I think :)
Living a life in gratitude really is a much more joyous experience. If they don't bite at my offering of assistance, I have lost nothing and I just move on. And if it peaks their attention, we are both generally blessed to have made a difference and upgraded Steemit. A few loses, a few ties, and moving toward many more wins for everyone.