I'm not saying this is necessarily the case for you, dear Reader, but just one of the questions we need to be asking ourselves when our work product doesn't get the attention we believe it deserves is: Are we suffering from The Dunning-Kruger effect? For those who aren't familiar, here's the description contained within the "List of Cognitive Biases" Wikipedia page: The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.
Maybe you're underestimating your ability. Maybe you're overestimating your ability. You're probably not estimating it perfectly. One of the ways I try to get around the DKE is to ask myself, "What am I telling the audience that they didn't already know?" Every bit of my information which is already known to them is a waste of their time. I can't expect to gain an audience by wasting their time. Of course, using common knowledge to bridge a gap toward a new concept may be necessary, but this is essentially the only justification. This, unfortunately, is not fool proof. I could, for example, be far too incompetent to even conceive I might actually be incompetent. For that determination ... I look to the vote count.
Update: @maximkichev made a good point in the comments. He said, "I'm a fool! And it's cool!" I think that's another good way to at least ameliorate the DKE. The more open you are to the idea that you might be out of your depth, the more likely you are to realize it when you are. Then, of course, you can do more research, refine your analysis, ... make your stuff better.
Good stuff. Also important to note that communication of ideas is actually made of two parts: The ideas and the communication. Having a great idea is only half of the formula. Gotta be able to make them accessible and digestible as well.
Good point.
I am trying to help out people who have good ideas in their posts, but haven't been able to get them noticed. You can check out my post: https://steemit.com/post/@timcliff/a-second-look-group-train-post-to-get-your-post-in-front-of-more-people
I am just about clever enough, to know how dumb I am... :-)
CG
HAHA hopefully! You're awesome :)
I think it is awesome that a person actually came up with a Dunning-Kruger effect themed post! I have been fascinated it with the Dunning-Kruger effect since I first read about it a few years ago. It explains a lot. Thanks for spreading the knowledge.
This helped open my mind a little bit. My posts haven't been going anywhere lately and I think it may be because I'm overestimating the quality of the content... Thank you.
No worries man, I've been there. If you ever want some help feel free to reach out to me on slack. Honestly (since you're commenting on this post I'm going to assume you won't find advice condescending) after a quick look at your blog I can tell you that, in my opinion, your titles need work. That's a good thing! Titles are easy PEAS to fix :) Heuristic #1: What would Donald Trump name this post? Heuristic #2: Is there a precedent or superlative in the title? What focusing on precedents and superlative force you to do is focus on the original information within your post. If you can't find a legitimate precedent or superlative to describe your work, you might want to go back and refine the content a bit more. I think a good title may very well be responsible for as much as half of the value of a post. I think people probably upvote content with good titles because they assume it will get lots of eye balls which will lead to more upvotes giving them curation rewards. I think if they recognize the content creator and believe them to be a consistently quality producer they are even more likely to upvote quickly. But look, traditional media has known the importance of titles forever. My final heuristic is, "Is this clickbait?" Obviously I want the answer to be "No." But really, you do want your titles to be as sensational as possible without being clickbait. That's definitely a tough one to gauge. For that I look to the flags. Personally I don't want ANY flags. One tops. If people flag my post I'm going to assume that I somehow mislead them and correct any error which might have done that. Thanks for the great comment!
I appreciate any advice coming from anyone. I'll try produce more catchy titles from now. I really thought I already was. Guess I was clueless. I'll definitely jot this down in the Steemit memory bank. Also, I don't think I have a problem with flags, I think the most I've had was 3 for a post where I swore a lot and was drunk. But meh. Anyways, thank you again. Hopefully my next Trump-esque titles help me in the future.
Not getting any flags isn't necessarily a good thing. You might not be pushing your titles far enough. Not that the goal is to get flagged. You're not clueless, you're just struggling like we all are. Just do your best, learn from your mistakes, and try to find something you enjoy doing. BTW you inspired my latest post. Gave you a shout out: https://steemit.com/smallpost/@andrarchy/how-to-create-a-compelling-title-smallpost
Thank you friend.
Steemit has become a place to express myself in writing creative or other. This platform offers a perfect way to practice while receiving feedback on the quality of my writing (I know that there is a drastic amount of room for improvement). Regardless of the love my posts receive, it is for improvement of my own skills than to hit a bench mark set by others.
Perfect
Second time I have come across the 'your post that you loved isn't getting any love because it isn't good' sentiment in less than 24 hours. I think you're on to something.
It certainly feels better to blame the bots, or the whales, or the time of day, or the day of week, but I for one am just going to assume that if I write something that doesn't get the attention I thought it would it is because of the writing.
I agree. I figure that all of that stuff kind of cancels out. I'm certainly not going to rule out the possibility that I've been very, very lucky. I mean the story of my life is being very lucky. But I'm just promoting my work like anyone would on any social platform and leaving it at that. All of that computer science stuff on the backend is far beyond me and understanding it would redirect bandwidth away from what I believe to be my real advantage: creating good content. Thanks so much for the constructive post. Feel free to reach out to me on slack. I don't just commit my upvotes blindly, but if you send me something good, or you're willing to listen to my advice about how to make it better, you'll get my upvote. And to be honest, so far anyone who has had the presence of mind to contact me has always wound up creating content that deserved my upvote. At most I help them with the title :)
I finally know the name for this! Thank you.
Good advice you got out there @andrarchy. Im pretty sure Im one of those guys who longed for upvotes but always fail. Not mention that I only made few posts which make me look like a fool. Really admire what you said about what kind of post a person should be posting. I have now the idea and my next problem is I'm not a good writer. Hope I can come up with a good reintroducemyself in the next few days.
If it makes you feel any better, I am only pretending that I don't feel like a fool when I create my posts. I do that because I know nobody wants to read anything from someone who clearly doesn't seem to have confidence in themselves. But it's an act I do for the audience. We're all fools really. Feel free to reach out to me on slack if you need any help. Write about what you nerd-out about. Write about what you understand better than most people on this platform, and always be honest, sincere, and transparent. If you follow those rules, you can always count on my upvote :)
Thanks @andrarchy you're the first person that give such advise to me and I really appreciate it. By the way, how can I find you in slack?
By the way, I have question about converting a steem dollar to USD. What are the steps to take to withdraw steem dollar to real USD? What platforms should we use?
the vulnerability and authenticity that consistently comes through with your material is a real strong character point - which definitely contributes to the value of your posts, and serves as an excellent leading example.
Yes, you have touched a very difficult question ! I feel like a fool , and it's cool !
Yeah that's a good point. I think being at peace with the idea that you're a fool (by which I mean me) is another good strategy for ameliorating the DKE. I'm gonna add it to the post!
I think there might be some collective lessons on the fool archetype in effect these past few months - especially with Trump at the forefront as US president...
How about a new post titled "Why your comment isn't getting any love: the dunning kruger effect" :P
Everyone is now writing posts about how others should write on Steemit.
We are trying to teach one another how to go from amateur content creators to professionals. It's a learning process. Witness how the crowd moves and ride the wave or get left behind :)
It's the path to easy money currently. Whales vote up this garbage instead of actual content.
Jeez man, I posted this because people ask me for tips all the time. I didn't expect it to get any votes. I wrote it for the people who like my stuff because I sincerely believe it to be useful. In fact, I know it to be useful. How about a modicum of respect for our shared humanity? I'm not saying you have to like my garbage, but maybe don't poison it with your negativity? I'm sure that's far too much to ask.
I wasn't saying your post per say was garbage. It was more a general theme to the sorts of posts discussing the "why your post isnt getting upvoted and such."
Because it's excellent clickbait.
Manipulation 101: Play on people's frustrations.
It's amazing how posts are evolving and users look for ways to "sell" their content to others, this is what is the most fascinating thing for me about Steemit.
Started from the bottom (tits n travels) now we're here!
says the guy with a dozen high power likes within like 30 seconds of posting.
I have an idea, why don't you post some of your great ideas and valuable content (becasue thats whats being rewarded, right) under a different account name? maybe expose some of your own cognitive biases and get a real idea of how accurate your estimation of your own ability is.
I suspect that without a load of whale bots to upvote your posts, you'd be no more successful than the writers at whom youre directing your condescension....
I'm sorry you found it condescending, all I can say is that it wasn't meant that way. I'm just doing the best I can man. Also, I posted this not expecting it to get any votes. It was meant for the people who have reached out to me specifically requesting advice about their posts.
You really didnt think it was weird how much money your long video posts were making within 60 seconds of posting? OK maybe you didnt check fair enough. I was blog stalking you and you get the benefit of the doubt in my book because you're a bill burr fan.
Im working on profiling bots, and As a tip, in case youre interested, you lost out on money from this post because some of the follow bots recognized the pic from another post on steemit.... (nothing wrong with it in this particular case, but some of them just ignore reposted images)
and on this one either because there wasn't enough text or because the title was too similar to one of your recent posts... based on who and what voted for your other posts, you probably would have gotten in the 500-1k range at least.
Hey man, I appreciate how knowledgeable you are on the behind the scenes working of things, but I don't know about this stuff. I post my content and hope other people appreciate it. I stand in front of a camera for 30 minutes to an hour and ramble into it hoping someone finds my perspective interesting or valuable. I assume that they will not. I'm glad that you did. I inform every single person who expresses interest in my work the moment I post because the follow function does not ... function. I am aware that many of them upvote it long before they consume it. I hope they are doing so because they assume that good content is contained therein and it will get upvotes which will give them curation rewards. That's as far as I've taken my strategy for gaining upvotes and I have no plans to waste any more time on such strategies. I say what I'm thinking and I do not care who or what upvotes it. I'll take every single upvote I get. I enjoy creating content. I am not a computer scientist. If you don't like what I do, please don't consume it.
I actually 100% feel you. All I can do is promise that it wasn't meant that way. My motto for all my content has been: honesty, sincerity, transparency. I put my face and my name out there. I have a real life, filled with real people. It is very important for my online presence to represent my real identity fairly. I think other people with more anonymity on this site can afford to be a bit more shameless about the type of content they create. But all of my content is personal. It's good to learn that I might be putting out stuff that could be interpreted a different way. Hopefully after this exchange we might be able to have that conversation in a civil manner? I mean, you saying you "didn't mean to come off harsh," is at least as ridiculous as my claim that I didn't mean to come off as condescending. If there are errors in my videos or posts I will GLADLY add corrections. That would make them better. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping me better frame my content.
Fair enough... i didn't mean to come off harsh... there's been a deluge of CL posts lately from followed bloggers who promote their post on the slack about how easy it is to write good content and get paid a ton for it... and most of them know exactly where their money is coming from. Your post felt like that, but maybe i was reading too much in.
Before starting to doubt one's own self-worth based on how much one is making, let us all remember that some great authors, painters and innovators had to first die before the world recognized their brilliance - decades or centuries later.
Assuming one is a genius, he could be posting something so profound that few are able to process it and therefore have his article "tank" in terms of rewards due to being out of phase with the audience. But that's to be expected.
...or maybe everyone else is stupid. Yes, thats the solution! ;)
Please explain how a post with a Youtube video of a fox jumping in the snow is currently making 3K+ dollars in the context of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Is it the smart people that don't think dumb enough, thus making them dumb, thus... wait, where am I going with this?
Or maybe this place isn't what it says it is yet, and it's mostly circle-jerking and getting upvoted by your whale friends.
exactly, educating is the key here, share what you know and youll get rewarded for it. its a solid ground to write on
Ditto.
I believe that this post will get back to the top ! , @andrarchy
It is an interesting effect and very difficult to understand the question , @andrarchy
Well said. Attention span can count for a lot too.
I like your post. It contains some truths. But I don't think all the truths. Sometimes it also just depends on whether the right person liked your post. Every person struggling here, has had people voting them. They were only unlucky none of them was a whale.
Great read, Steemit may fail but it's already worthy in terms of being glimpse of the not so distant future and possibilities for this generation.
You also need to consider that the power of a big upvote is important. Here's some musing from me about that. hope you enjoy it https://steemit.com/steemit/@razvanelulmarin/bad-news-power-cuts-are-coming-good-news-it-won-t-affect-you-just-the-steemwhales
your answer is too complicated, really it is more simple, something like not to have whales support
I don't think I have seen a "successful" post that has not mentioned Steem except for a picture of weed. We shall what happens when more users jump on board and there is some content.
watching your vid where you're talking about the vulnerability of putting yourself out there as an artist, not knowing what may be received well or is of value to the community - totally connects into this...
it IS tough sometimes, battling the inner voices telling us what to post or what not to... that some ideas might seem brilliant - though could also be obvious to everyone else... could be massively insightful - or kinda stupid... and sometimes gotta make those mistakes and fuck up a bit to get the feedback to get on track.
man, this one is doing my head in. :-)