TAKING COVER
As I type this now, I am using one hand to type, and the other hand to grab my armor.
I fully know that this is going to spark a heated debate BUT!!!! Before we lay into one another (or before we start calling names and insulting the level of intelligence of say... me! hahaha) Can we just talk about it?
Can we? I would really love to!
BOTS.
Ok, I already see your eye twitching, but let me just present some nice bots that we all know and love. Gina. Yes... that's better. Look your eye has already stopped twitching and I see your lips curling into a smile. @neander-squirrel's little foxy cyborg!
What about the lovely new @dustsweeper? Yep. Signed up for that the other day and all i have to say is THANK YOU @danielsaori and @davemccoy !
Even just recently, @twoflower introduced me to the bot that he helped create. Quite a nice little surprise on my comment - it's called $upcom. Similar to dustsweeper - but different! Equally beneficial! (Don't you love that creativity sparks creativity???)
So now that your blood pressure has started to come down, let's just keep talking calmly, shall we?
We can agree that there are bots that are designed to be more beneficial, and some that are designed to allow for abuse. Voting bots fall into this category. It's a grey area because it's an automated system for rewards that probably would not be used otherwise. I think they started off with good intent, and then - as usual, people abused them.
Here is what we can also agree on. We will never be able to mandate morality. There will always be someone there to take advantage. We can either offer passive resistance to go up against the bots (which doesn't really help) or we can aggressively attack people who use bots (which doesn't really help) or.......
I avoided the issue. I ignored what others did. I minded my own business. I HAVE seen people use bots for "advertising" purposes, and they've done this in a way that I think has been the most ethical use of it. We have seen that there are Steemians on trending that have bought their place there - but they STILL have great content.
We have also seen Steemians buy their way there who do not.
If every day, someone put a handful of coins in the community playground, and left them there for whoever had the initiative and motivation to take them, would you take your share? Or would you leave it for a few people to take everyday?
You might think this sounds like,"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"
I disagree.
If everyone gets a piece of the pie - we have leveled the playing field.
I think it's more like...
"If you can't beat 'em, negate 'em."
What would that look like? If we ALL used the more ethical voting services and started to level the playing field.
I'm just putting it out there to talk about it. I'm not promoting it. I'm saying - what if?
I think one of the questions I foresee is : Well, what about people who can't afford to buy votes? What about countries that are less fortunate?
This is already an issue. People talk about how any Steemian can succeed with determination and hard work, regardless of their station in life. Possibly, but the deck is already stacked in the favor of someone who can actually afford to buy Steem and add to their wallet - bypassing sweat equity.
This is the system that we have. Would it make the divide greater? I'm actually not so sure. I have met a lot of Steemians from all over the world that have used voting bots on their posts. They have had much higher payouts than me, and it had nothing to do with their station in life or the quality of their posts. It was only relevant to the fact that they had purchased a vote. My point is : I think that if we all began leveling the playing field, I think it would spread throughout Steemit - regardless of socioeconomic status.
Or would it?
I'm super curious as to what everyone thinks. All I can say is, I never thought I would consider this until @edicted opened up the conversation (and actually tested it out with success) on his own account. He has some really interesting points about how to make it more fair, profitable AND spread the money around. Check it out, if you dare. lol
And now? I'm super intrigued. I'm all about keeping things as fair as possible, and it seems like our passive resistance is only helping to line the pockets of people who don't have the same intent as our own.
Thoughts? (ducking under my shield now)
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