Revisiting BidBots : A Necessary Evil?
bidbot·@buggedout·
0.000 HBDRevisiting BidBots : A Necessary Evil?
I don't much like BidBots. There is something about selling votes that seems to run contrary to what I believe was the intended spirit of the STEEM platform design. Yet once again I acknowledge that maybe I have just been naive or ignorant to human nature to hope things be better. I've been here for long enough now to realise that BidBots aren't going anywhere. Many of them are run by powerful witnesses with substantial stake behind them and while there have been plenty of flag wars and controversies surrounding Steemit and proposed forks.....taking substantive action against BidBots has never really been on the agenda. Thus content creators are faced with a choice - Quit the platform or Accept that BidBots are here to stay..... <center> [Source](https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/everyday-tech/vampire-power.htm)</center> Now I'll admit that I've been negative on STEEM for a while at times and there have been plenty of genuine content creators who have already given up on the platform. Whether that's because of some of the practises going on (such as vote selling) or whether it's just because of the Crypto Winter I won't speculate as it's a little bit irrelevant to what I want to talk about today. I have thought about Quitting the platform a few times and realised that I value the relationships I've built and the communities I've engaged with here to persist. I like blogging and while I've explored a few alternatives, nothing has jumped out at me as being better than STEEM so I have reached the point where I am accepting that BidBots are here to stay and that's just the way things are going to be here. So what now? <center> [Source](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit-in-crisis-what-now-dxtgnqt77)</center> The next question to ask myself is - Should I use these BidBots? When I first started on STEEM I bought into that great lie about BidBots helping new authors get exposure and thus get started on the platform, so I jumped in with both feet. The first thing that I learnt was that the whole "Get Your Post Trending" thing was mostly a waste of time. Most serious Steemians and communities rely on their feed and/or specific tags for content rather than the Trending pages which are often full of rubbish. Then after months of diligent, regular content creation and involvement in a couple of good communities I got a couple of thousand followers. I thought surely now I could consider myself established and exposed so I could rely on those followers to support me and I could stop using those BidBots..... <center> [Source](https://dubsism.com/2014/09/22/an-open-letter-to-indianapolis-colts-fans-its-time-for-the-delusions-to-stop/homer-simpson-delusional)</center> Well here I am almost 2 years on the platform and I'd be lucky if my posts get a payout of 80 cents unnassisted. Are my posts rubbish? Or is this just the way things are now? Well I like to think that I'm not writing rubbish and even without getting paid I would probably persist with my blog anyway, so having already accepted that the BidBots are here to stay I thought I would have another look at them to see if there was a case to keep using them. As I often do, I started writing out the Pros and Cons. _____ <center>**Pro #1 - Rewarding My Regular Curators**</center> There are a number of people who upvote my stuff regularly and maybe those upvotes only add up to 80 cents but regardless - I DO appreciate them. By giving them a chance to vote on my content and then boosting it with BidBots afterwards that gives them a greater curation reward and I do like the idea of supporting people who support my content. <center> [Source](https://news.get.com/news/norwegian-reward-now-pool-points)</center> _____ <center>**Pro #2 - Some Increased Exposure**</center> While I already debunked the "Get Your Post Trending" thing earlier there can be some benefit to showing up with a payout on a specific tag - especially if it's a community tag. New users are more likely to have not learnt the "Trending is Crap" lesson and are more likely to be scanning for new people to follow if they have specific interests. So there can be some marginal benefit picking up new followers with some modest bids. <center> [Source](http://sthelenscelebritynews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/190907656873598a766cb0e7026fe6c2230ffe7.jpg)</center> _____ <center>**Pro #3 - Profit From Arbitrage**</center> Many of the BidBots have put profit caps on their services to try and prevent abusers from exploiting this, but if you keep an eye on steembottracker.com it can be possible to get a tiny profit from arbitrage if you bid smart. At the moment I might average 5-10% so if I boost a post with $50 in bids I might get $55 worth of upvotes. Sure that's not much either but making $5 on a decent post I've put solid time into is better than making 80 cents. <center> [Source](http://www.meetpenny.com/advanced-penny-pinching)</center> _____ <center>**Con #1 - Feeding Vote Sellers**</center> It kind of feels dirty to be supporting an industry that I believe is contributing to the decline of the platform. I do believe a lot of genuine content creators have left after realising they've been sold a few lies and that good content often goes unrewarded here. In many ways it feels like we're in a race to the bottom here on STEEM and there are people selling out and trying to extract every last dollar they can right up until the end. Maybe I am even becoming one of them though at least I'm still here and trying to add some value with content..... <center> [Source](https://www.musicalvienna.at/en/schedule-and-tickets/schedule/production/183/Tanz-der-Vampire)</center> _____ So how does it add up? Perhaps surprisingly I think the Pros outweigh the Cons. I might have to put some of my ideals and platform loyalty to the side a little bit, but at the end of the day the realist and pragmatist in me usually wins out over the idealist. It has been painful to see the value of STEEM drop by something like 95+% over the last year but I am hopeful that Crypto Spring is just around the corner and if STEEM can survive the Winter then this is where I'd like to be for the Spring. So if BidBots are here to stay then I guess I need to get with the program. <center>**What about you? Do you use BidBots and Why?**</center> _____ <center></center>
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