I've done it. You've done it. The entire Steemit community has done it. When you go out to eat, do you ever wonder why all waiters and waitresses seem to never stop smiling? Because the more they smile, the more money they get tipped. Sure, the smile is pleasant for the duration of your dinner, but it's not real. The second they walk away from your table, they're a completely different person, muttering obscenities under their breath about everything and everyone. They simply put on a pleasant facade in order to make as much money as possible, often times without even realizing it.
It's no secret that money is one of the most powerful influences over human behavior, often times even surpassing the power of love. It's not with malicious intentions, and most people don't even realize that they're doing it, but the fact remains that the human psyche will conform to appeal to the masses if it will make more money than by being their normal self.
Steemit differs from Reddit in that Steemit users have a very real, very enticing monetary reward for engaging with the community. The result is an overwhelming amount of waiters and waitresses, and I'm sure most users don't even realize you're doing it. I stopped using Steemit because I couldn't get engaged in the fake conversations that took place in the comments. Even arguments seemed far too polite to be real. I tried writing interesting articles, I tried writing provocative articles, and I even tried blatantly shitposting to try to draw a reaction from people. In the end, I came to a conclusion that I should've realized from the start: everyone is just here to make money. As a means of distributing cryptocurrency, Steemit is great. But as a social network, Steemit is inherently flawed.
Now I'm not trying to disrespect the Steemit community. I firmly believe that there are plenty of great people on here. The purpose of this article is to point out how when money acts as an incentive, human behavior changes. And maybe my experience with Steemit isn't typical. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the platform, and I am completely open to any disagreement or criticism. I'm not sure what enticed me to write an article after several months of not using Steemit. I'm sure this article will just get washed away with the hundreds of other articles written by people who have struggled to gather a following, but if you're reading this, look more carefully at the behavior of everyone in the Steemit community.