As the most popular person on steemit (and then I woke up, what a twist!), I feel I’ve come across the same questions countless time, especially by new members, as well as less successful older members. Primarily, these questions arise in various Discord groups, or in real life (what the hell is real life?) conversations with other steemit members.

Here’s an example:

[random_new_user_69] Why doesn’t anyone upvote my content? My stuff is good. I had that one good post that paid out a crapton of money, then nothing.
[negativer] Yeah, that’s kind of how it works. You got the magical Curie fairy. Her touch is whimsical and fleeting, often never to be seen again. It’s not a measure of good content, really, it’s a representation of chance and luck and timing. Don’t expect it. It’s a fluke.
[random_new_user_69] So….what do?

And thus the common litany of suggestions is offered. Comment often. Respond to comments. Socialize and be seen. Get yourself a nice introduceyourself post. Get more followers. Get breast implants. All of that and more.

However, this misses a major vector of how steemit upvotes work. Since that is what it’s really about for new or struggling users, right? Upvotes? Cash money? Or at least crypto money? Don’t say no, because it’s true. You’re not fooling me.

The most important angle to getting upvotes:

Guilt.

That’s right. Guilt. The most useful...and unhealthy...part of any relationship, whether it be real life or virtual.

How does that work you say? What do you mean, you cry? I like ice cream, you scream?

Here’s what I’ve found:

Creating a bond with fellow mortals is more than what steemit.com is capable of. Critical things are missing, like realtime chat or easy ways to identify common ground like religion or interests or age, or even simple ways to follow the people most important to you and filter out the lame people that you’re inexplicably still following for some ungodly reason.

That bond is necessary to create guilt (as well as other useless things like love and happiness).

That bond is what gets you upvotes.

That’s where the magic of Discord comes in. Once you start hanging out in a Discord group or two with fellow like-minded steemians/steemitizens/steemtits, you start to know them. Their silly little usernames you see on steemit.com actually become attached to a real fleshy person, but without the strings of money attached. You chat with them because you want to.

And so you chat. And you get to know them. And they know you. And you share common things, and everyone runs across fields of flowers in slow motion while sappy music plays.

Then you upvote their stuff on steemit.com. Because you know them, and you like them, and you recoginize their names in your feed. And then you comment, and say something witty or insightful, because you want to impress them.

Aha! And they respond back on your comment with more witty and insightful things, and maybe even an upvote on your comment too.

Then you can imagine them thinking hey, have I upvoted this guy’s stuff lately? I don’t remember seeing them in my feed.

Guilt.

So they go to your feed, and look at your stuff, and toss upvotes and clever comments around like cards at a poker table.

And you, being the sneaky peeping tom that you are, keep an eye on things using steemnow.com or steemworld.org. You were waiting for that interaction, and there it is. You mark them off on your mental checklist of people you’re going to interact with again, since they have that silent agreement to do the same with you.

The unspoken follow for follow, the under-the-table upvote for upvote.

The guilt.

The upvote.

And the cycle begins anew.

---

Disclaimer: I love my interactions with everyone on Discord and steemit.com. This is not meant to mock anything or anyone other than normal social behavior. Don’t flag me.

Photo credit: Pexels

Join us at The Writers Block on Discord.
A great community of writers there, helping each other get better at what they enjoy doing.