If you've been on Steemit for at least a week, you've probably noticed something that something is a little off. I mean, this is supposed to be a platform where great, original content is created, found, shared and rewarded, right? Theoretically, the good content should bubble up given the way Steemit is set up, no?
The Problem
Simply put, there is too much poor content that gets featured and it honestly turns people off or away from the platform. Minnows have to put in too much effort to search and find the good content creators before they can really benefit from learning, enjoying or interacting with posts they see on Steemit. At the moment, in addition to good content, Steemit rewards:
- Early adopters
- People who used to post good content but don't need to now
- People who use bots
Maybe I should think about using bots, but it doesn't feel right to me at this current point in time. In any case, the ones that are currently ahead of the pack don't have to do much to get rewarded handsomely for posting. It's like the top 0.1% get the vast majority of the rewards while the rest of us really have to fight to get the remaining amount. There is a lot of pandering to powerful whales, which makes be believe the balance of power is too skewed. There are a lot of whales or veterans that continue to post good content and I commend them for making Steemit really awesome, but there are a lot of people with power that simply post things that really muddy the waters. There are also a lot of users out there that put in a lot of effort to write fantastic posts but they don't get the reward that they deserve.
The Solution
My proposed solution is simple - Only Upvote Good Content. This will really encourage users, beginner or veteran, to put in effort to create great posts. If we do this, the following things should hopefully start to occur:
- Those who deserve it will get rewarded. High effort will equal high reward.
- Steemit’s overall content will improve
- Steemit will attract even more great content creators
- We won’t have to wade through tons of bad content to get to the good stuff
Websites such as Reddit, Imgur and YouTube have better content because upvotes are not influenced by money. They are upvoted because people genuinely like the content and are willing to donate a simple mouse click on a little thumbs up icon (nothing more). If we're all a little more careful about where we upvote, we should get better collectively as a platform! If we don't, we run the risk of being a platform that tried to be great but could never figure out a way to get there.
The Takeaway
In the past, I've equally been guilty of upvoting for my own financial interests. Now, I'm making a personal commitment to no longer do this. I am making a personal pledge to only upvote posts that I believe make Steemit more awesome than it already is.
Save your upvotes! Don't throw them away!
Make. Your. Upvote. Count.
Besides, we're only as good as our worst content!
Get the word out. Please Resteem this!
I totally agree and I also think the huge majority of Steemians would also agree, hopefully over time we'll see things shift but one thing that remains true is that consistent effort WILL pay off. It will just take longer the later you joined the platform. I also feel your dilemma with bots, it's something I've gone back and forward on myself. I had about 20,000 words in about 9 or 10 articles that just got completely lost, after that I decided to boost the articles I spend time on. Can't say it feels great, but at the moment it's the only way to get them out there.
I don’t blame you whatsoever @skiesandsports. You really pour your time and effort into your posts and you deserve to be rewarded for that. Sometimes, I lose the drive to post after getting pennies for a post that took me hours, but I do believe that good content will be rewarded... eventually! It has to, or else Steemit will collapse in a heap of crap layered on crap. You definitely lead by example! When I get more time, I’ll post more thoughtful posts.
Absolutely, that's my hope, and that's why I only bid up the posts I really put the time into. Obviously I put time into all of them, but a real article! That said the whole upvoting thing is a bit of an experiment for me, my wife isn't upvoting hers and at the moment she's coming out way on top just by doing it naturally. Lower weekly payout but she's not paying for votes! I'm going to give it a week and reassess!
Always a good strategy to reassess often! Congrats to your wife, she's really killing it with her travel posts! She's another example of someone that puts in tons of great effort into creating excellent content. I love the vintage photos that she's been posting lately!!!
Thanks man, I've majorly upvoted my last article and I think it's a pretty definite loss on that one. Looking forward to sitting down and properly assessing this weekend but I think I know which way I'll side. Good to know really as the bots not working should mean that people don't bother for too long! Although if less people bother they will start to work again....the irony!
At the very least, your reputation is probably a bit better because of it! Would love to see an article about your assessment on it. I agree, the less people use bots, the better.
I agree with you ! Steemit failed to reach his main goal to promote good content ! The worst is may be Dmania what a poor content
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I haven’t yet checked out Dmania, but I’ll look and see what’s going on there.
True @duranc. I'm fairly new here to Steemit but have already noticed various issues with the platform. Kind of frustrating when you search the categories and find a lot of useless articles that are getting most attention. At the same time I see potential here and want to stick with it. I think it's about consistency and making good content, in the end the cream will hopefully rise to the top. Might take a while though. If we make a commitment to stick together and upvote quality content then we can hopefully swing the system a little, just like you said in your article. Upvoted and followed :)
Thanks for agreeing @oen! I really hope consistency will pay off. It's been a tough slog so far but then again, I'm probably being impatient as I've only been using Steemit regularly for about 25 days give or take. We really do need to stick together on this and I believe Steemit has the power to bring people together. I'll be sure to follow you as well!
I think we need more bandwidth training for new users.