I don't have investment right now, in fact, I'm struggling in my life to make my life better, as far as not powering up and holding, well I need money for my Mum operation and it can be needed at anytime :)

Inst it the best accomplishment of bidding bots the exaltation of this debate? I mean, why to power up or buy when the actual gains of bidding bots are rewards in SP, so actually is a win-win situation, you get exposure and "more money" but in reality you are investing in the cycle of getting more SP, in the long term this makes that the money held in SP in the entire platform gets more time to get the valuation as whole up.

Hi @Crypto2cryto

I like to create as better, but this ambiance can be mantle.

I just brought power a little while ago. More Steem!!!!

I'm expecting to get hammered for being blunt, but SteemIt is not a very good investment - for most crypto traders or people looking to get a good return on investment. It's an interesting experiment in Social Media & cryptos, and it has achieved interesting results. But, most Steemians will never get wealthy due to making investments in Steem Power. Many of the posts on the Trending and Hot pages are only there because the authors have spent $250 - $500, per post, to promote their own content. So much for "good content being rewarded." I'm not saying it can't happen for some people, some of the time, because it does. But, if you're "too successful," and figure out how to beat these whales at their own game - then you're going to become a target.

SteemIt is a wealth-generating machine (upvotes). But, it is also paired-up with a wealth-destroying maching (downvotes). That seems sketchy to me. Downvotes, Mulitple/Fake accounts, and Bots should be done away with in the next Hard Fork, but I doubt witnesses and whales will allow it - unless they impliment some other way to maintain near total control over the distribution of the daily rewards pool. People who make a lot of money don't usually just up and decide to give it all away to the less fortunate. They may give some, if they really like you and you do/vote they way they want you to. Otherwise, they'll undermine your ability to profit from their system, because they're too busy taking profits themselves.

I understand your position. It's a bad one. Here you're a bit late to the game, power up a bunch of Steem, and come to find out that the earlier adopters have already perfected the art of raping the rewards-pool (through various, round-about means - multiple & alternate accounts, gambling apps, voting-bots, etc.) while hiding/masking their activities. But, if you do some research, you do find that many of the Witnesses and Whales are all involved in one giant circle-jerk: trading votes, etc. And, if someone new comes along and uses the established SteemIt rules to make a profit (i.e. haejin), they catch hell from the whales, because it's eating into their profits. Then these same whales turn around and accuse haejin of "raping the rewards pool." I discovered this hypocrisy early on, and it has prevented me from powering-up any significant amount of Steem Power. (I try to keep mine around 100 SP.) Why would you "invest" with a bunch of people who pay lip-service to "peace, freedom, non-violence, free-speech, and anarchy" when they turn right around and downvote your rewards via nefarious tactics, financial abuse, alternate accounts, and peer pressure???

I stay around SteemIt for the news and the learning. Some people criticise Dan Larimer for leaving SteemIt. I think he moved on because he realized he had designed a flawed system, and trying to "fight" the original investors' greed became a losing proposition at some point along the way. Or, maybe he ran his scam, took his profits, got out when the getting was good, and has moved on to create his next scam? I'd like to think that he's actually trying to develop EOS and SteemIt 2.0 as an improved version of this platform - but that still remains to be seen.

Truth be told, if you're not dedicating your life to becoming a professional SteemIt blogger/vlogger, you're better off powering down and investing in other alt-coins where you don't have to wait 13 weeks to get your money out. SteemIt is sort-of like romper-room for newbie traders. It's a great place to dip your toe in the water and get some experience and knowledge under your belt. But, if you're looking for big ROI, get out there and trade some TRON, NEO, OX, or something else where your ability to create wealth is not subject to the whim of SteemIt trolls, and can not be destroyed by downvotes from big whales - because they don't like your politics, interests, or the fact that you're eating into their ability to take profits.

The most satisfying thing on SteemIt, for me, is taking a big downvote & replying by posting a picture of my stack of physical silver and gold. "Downvote This! I'll check my stack in the morning and see if it got any lighter." It usually shuts up the trolls pretty fast.

Thank you for pointing some of the innacurate expectations. Im all for the movement of expanding the steem platform and growing the community so it benefits everyone who is involved, but im also looking to be compensated for my time.  
I need to make a profit to make the activity on the site be worth the time spent. I do this because I like to write, but I need to make money also.

Congratulation crypto2crypto! Your post has appeared on the hot page after 16min with 3 votes.
 Thanks to @souldelas.

I honestly changed my mind a little after reading this. You're right about the fact that lots of people complain for a bunch of reasons that they could solve their selves. And if they want the same they should invest also a material amount of fiat money. On the other hand you could argue that if they would have been here 1 year earlier, things would have looked differently. But we all have a choice. So we rent the apartment? Do we stay on Steemit?

I think most of the people that complain now would act the same as many orcas and whales do right now. I bet that if they become rich Steemonians they also become greedy. Only now they are poor that don't admit this.

I just have fun and see where it goes. Let's enjoy to be part of this amazing first crypto based social media platform!

Pay no attention to the entitled people, the daily Steem reward pool is only worth something because of people like us who have invested and kept FIAT money in the platform.

I thought the people that ask for an upvote and dont give one are bots? Or are they just people who are idiots ?

Awesome post! for all those crypto and tech enthusiast: I made this image with the 3D Steem logo so you can use it in your cryptocurrency posts! here's the [link to my post](https://steemit.com/art/@denisgo/3d-steem-quality-logo-for-your-cryptocurrency-post)  
images are clean and completely free! just make sure to upvote! have a nice one!

![STEEM SBD.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmcYDW23P3DNsycL4EFiNztgUTDmKgiCdvMHczKHCqqz9d/STEEM%20SBD.jpg)

first time upvoting your post, i agree with you about 80%, currently you do share about 5% of the love, it's much better than nothing.

now having agreed with you, you came in May 2017, didn't you buy Steem when it was $0.20, and now it's like $2.7 today, won't you be considered by the vast majority the 700,000+ accounts who came in after you as an early investor?

if i'm mistaken please correct me, if your average was an extreme like $2 due to the peak in June 2017, please put me in my place, and do offer any guidance, at what price would you sell as you say to "recover you original cost  first"

$4, $5, at former peak $8, say to take out the original capital to "break even"?

I am in it with money, time and passion. So i dont focus on what others are doing. I think in any play eventually the better one wins. Fair play wins.

Bass guitar is always +10000

It is a long term game with this platform. The short term players will not do that well

I am with you on this one. 

I had bought most of my steem myself.

And while I am happy to help minnows and projects I think are good I always have in mind I need to make my investment back. 

With the lack of liquidity I cant easily take profits from those spikes.

I want to be a part of this and dont mind lifting people up but I am not willing to break my back for this

I believe the potential that Steemit has just need a bit more time to shine. As long as community is growing we don't need to worry. Let's just wait for upcoming features because they will change the game and could be revoultionary for our beloved platform ;p

Very well said! I'm of the same opinion.

Linear rewards and delegation screwed the platform.
It was done to appease the greedy.
If we had made the platform @dan created work for everybody, not just the greedy, we would be doing much better now.
You werent here to know the difference, this is your normal, and the longer it goes on, the less likely it will be fixed.
All hail, stinc!
We wouldnt have to buy rewards.
Instead stinc bent us over so the greedy could have their way with us.
Bring back the n2 and the whale experiment and we can go back to being a content platform rather than an early adopter money grab.

good point.

Good arguments. I find it annoying that people will ridicule anyone who self upvotes (as this is enriching yourself and not allowing the best content to rise to the top), yet the majority seem to have no issue with delegating to bits which does exactly the same thing.
The platform needs to decide what is allowed and what is not, code that and stop judging others who use the platform in a perfectly correct manner but just not what they personally agree with!

Great job my good friend. I love when people lay it out as it actually is or they just tell it how they feel it. I agree with you, there's no difference between here and any other Investments that you would make in life. You should want to protect and grow your investment first and foremost.

Investments are good if you work hard with it afterwards

I have seen many posts about how steem is so awesome and how we have over one million accounts - but for me personally there is one key question - how many of those accounts have actually invested some of thier own money to power up, I dont mean slowly powering up from payouts earnt from blogging but putting your hard earnt into the system - I have a strong suspicion its painfully low. Maybe someone can provide these stats?

Without being funny - most new accounts are from third world/developing countries..And why not steem can have MUCH more purchasing power for them than someone from a wealthy country..But how many will buy steem? 

I do fear that steem may get to a point where there just isnt enough people powering up and too many people just blogging for rewards, surly the price would eventually collapse.

Thank you for your perspective.  Like you, I paid for my position and will likely do so again.  To me, the beauty of this platform is how much it mimics our modern capitalistic society.  That means it isn't necessarily fair and it is most definitely not always philanthropic.  All it is meant to do is provide opportunity, and with all its flaws, it does that.  Each one has an opportunity to post something so marvelous it goes nuclear and pays out tremendously, much like a "nobody" (minnow) with an amazing talent might be "discovered".  At the same time, reality dictates that is unlikely, so you might have to suck a dick or two, or bribe someone, or learn how to promote your work.  **(Please pardon my vulgarity, I couldn't resist, lol.)**  The point is, this is capitalism.  NO ONE should be telling anyone how to spend their time or money.  I think I have good ideas and I'd love to be a positive influence upon the world, but I don't do other social media at all and I'm not interested in increasing my popularity.  I am okay reaching those who wish to listen/read and growing my following organically.  My motivation is evenly split between growing this platform and growing my profits, because in a capitalistic society, your best chance at positively impacting others is by being successful yourself first.  I am here because I don't want to be the product for some evil multinational corp.  If I am to be the product, I want to be paid for it.  Regardless, I believe It is always good to review opposing viewpoints, and take from them what you can.  Steem on brother!

Bravo.

 Finally, someone tells it straight.

>Last you have a group that have come in and invested a substantial sum of money and are in s precarious position of wanting to recoup their investment as quickly as possible

Since when do “investors” want to recoup their investment as soon as possible? Maybe speculators want to do that, but investors have a longer time horizon. As for myself, I plan on not powering down for *at least* several years.

I like your article i am new to the steemit plattform still in the learning process I invested in steem after reading about  its socail media platform i am interested on how i could use it as a visual artist thanks for the informative article  it will help me with  approach when interacting on this paltform
Peace

Like the article.  Following w steem voter now so I will be reading all your posts.  Look forward to seeing more of your posts.