Dear Redfish and Minnows
I am going to Burst your Bubble with this post. The sad truth is, your upvote holds no value.
What do you mean? I have a penny to my name now. Of course a penny is of value!
No, your penny worth really has no value if you use it to upvote comments. It’s a truth I recently found out from @timcliff’s Proposal to make spam less profitable. Any that may not know who he is, Tim is a witness here on the STEEM blockchain. One of the fellas and gals and corps running this Steemit platform of ours.
I learned from Tim’s post that the “dust threshold” for an upvote to count is $0.02 SBD.
Here is a snippet from his post:
Here is the section of code that is currently checking the "dust threshold" (0.02 SBD). If posts/comments do not reach this threshold, the payout is rounded down to zero.
Another snippet of the defining code that sets the 0.02 threshold:
I understand basic coding. My profession is in the IT field. I don’t particularly enjoy reading or writing them because that too is not my cup of tea. (Still trying to find out what IS my cup of tea. Perhaps it's not tea and is coffee.)
What everyone should get out of Tim’s post, even if you don’t understand the technical details behind the operation, is that any upvote below that $0.020 SBD threshold is deemed “dust” here on Steemit. Think of it as being lost in La La Land, where anything of value deteriorates and gets forgotten in time.
I Want My UpVote to Count!
My suggestion to any newbies, those are the redfishes and minnows on here, stop upvoting comments until your upvote is worth that minimum $0.02 threshold. I understand the heart is there and you want to show support to the individuals that stopped by your post, but your upvote doesn’t help either them or you. It goes off to the Steemit world of rewards dust.
Save your upvotes for a post instead. You may be able to earn some curation rewards and you will also be supporting the author. Any redfish and minnow whose upvote worth is not yet at that magical $0.02 threshold, I would recommend to upvote comments ONLY if you want the comment to be visible and be on top. It’s a way to give your respect and to also have others read the comment(s) you deemed important or helpful.
My Penny Experience
I started Steemit in December, 2017 on my personal account. It was a pitiful existence. My posts made nothing to pennies. My upvote value was not even worth one penny. My time on Steemit was limited enough so I wanted my voice to count by having a penny’s worth attached to my name. Only way I knew how was to buy STEEM, which I did. So I invested in the Steemit platform. I actually did a little jig at work when I saw my first penny given to a comment. Had I known the lucky number is $0.02, perhaps I would have bought a little more STEEM to reach that magic figure.
Importance of Stopping by the Witnesses’ Blog
For many years, I was an ostrich with my head in the sand. Sure I followed the news, but only events of importance to me. I heard chitchat about cryptocurrency but didn’t care for it so I never bothered to learn about this up and coming game changer. I didn’t even know about Bitcoin until it reached $7k.
So I decided to stretch my ostrich neck up, strong and proud, and take some time to learn about this new world.
Here is why everyone should make it a point to visit the blogs of the witnesses you support.
I learned from visiting Tim’s post that the minimum threshold for an upvote to count is currently at $0.02. I also learned that he is asking for feedback on IF the minimum threshold should be set to $0.10 or even 0.25 or 1.00 SBD as a method to combat SPAM.
Why YOU should care about a change in the minimum threshold!
Simple. Look at your posts payouts. How many of them reached $0.10 or even 0.25 or 1.00 SBD? Let’s say the minimum threshold is set to $1 SBD. Remember, a minimum threshold of $1 SBD means that any comment/post not reaching that value would be considered “dust”. You would NOT get paid!
How many posts have your written that received pennies? Have you reached $1 SBD yet with your posts? How long would you continue to write if you stopped receiving those measly penny payouts?
Here is my two cents to you:
Be aware and informed of what is happening on the Steemit platform. Stop by the witnesses’ blog to see what changes they are proposing, their reasons why, and express your thoughts on the matter.
YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
There are witnesses that truly do care for the community and will listen to your comments. Do your research on the witnesses you would like to support. Our team did our research and are supporting the witnesses we feel have the community's interest at heart. There are many more to be added, that’s for sure, but we would like to make time to do our due diligence before adding others.
Thank you for stopping by! Have a BEE-ATIFIC day!
Image Sources:
Shock,Dandelions, Two Pennies,Ostrich
Beeyou image by@seaslim
Newbieresteemday image by@amariespeaks