e-Quality...Knock Knock....What & Where Are You?

in #writing6 years ago (edited)

I saw a post by @whatsup in my feed entitled "I'm Not Going To Work On a Post For Hours.. (Ever)". The title sounded a bit like feet being stomped and pouting cheeks being puffed out 😂. I stopped by to take a look and see what might have prompted this.

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Whatsup wasn't really throwing a tantrum of course, not her style. In spite of the fact that she is the Queen of dRAMA, she is not herself a dramaqueen. I have seen her keep a remarkably dignified and stable head when around her others were losing theirs. Whatsup has been around the blockchain and 'IRL' is someone with considerable experience in marketing and high-level planning/organisation. She appears to be a very practically minded person with the ability to spot subtle and overlooked aspects of any given Game, as well as the skill to draw these out into the open. I like Whatsup even though I may not agree with her POV on certain things/issues.

In this particular post, Whatsup seemed to be expressing a certain frustration with folk who push the idea of 'Quality content' - the word, the concept, the notion of Quality - as if it were Holy Blockchain Grail.

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I don't see the issue as Whatsup having a problem with Quality Content itself (ie 'Good' content as subjectively determined by her) - far from such a simplistic notion. Perhaps the issue is more to do with discussions around the idea of / desire for 'Quality' at the expense of the 'Thing in Itself' (talking about 'Talk' and not doing)? Perhaps there may be some frustration with the insistence on 'Quality' having to conform to a certain type, style, format etc? This is all very valid IMO, for I do not see how 'Quality', being subjective, can be measured in any meaningful manner. Additionally, throughout history the concepts of 'Quality' and 'Elitism' have been considerably conflated in society and they continue to be! For example, many would consider a meal which is served in a fancy restaurant with silver-service and fancy cutlery laid out for each course to be of 'higher quality' than one that is served in a simpler eating space, even if the simpler meal eaten with a spoon (or fingers :) be superior in taste, nutritional value etc. Everywhere in society - in adverts, films, human conversations etc, many aspects of what are considered to be luxury/elitist/privileged lifestyles are considered to be 'Quality' when really these are merely status symbols for something that is (or seen to be) relatively scarce or desirable. What then is 'Quality' here if not a synonym for emulating or aspiring to the habits of the elite in order to look the part or feel in some way 'aligned' with the power and riches associated with such lifestyles ('snobbery' by another name :)? Appearances - hollow and misleading as they are, are often mistaken for the Substance of Reality. Look at some of the associations with the word itself, taken from Merriem Webster.

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Bringing this idea closer: does a post on the blockchain have to look like a slick magazine article or be written in the language of academia or the style of classical literary works in order to be considered 'Quality'? Surely not! Reading between the following lines, Whatsup, tinging her words with some fine literary sarcasm, doesn't seem to think so either:

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I speculate: it seems that Whatsup may have been triggered by statements challenging her current habits and implying that she should/ought to vote for 'Quality'. Perhaps this came with the sense of a wagging, judgmental finger being pointed in her direction and the notion of 'Quality' as some mixture of the above discussed, rather than content that she herself may determine to be of interest to her :

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She goes on to elaborate and then concludes her short post with:

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Nice, I do pretty much the same!

I felt like commenting on her post and did so. She liked what I said and requested a post out of it. This is it, thanks Whatsup 🔆.

Below is the comment that prompted this post. I had thought of elaborating, but I'll leave it as is; what can one do but waffle when faced with the ineffable lol? You can read the comment over here or in the image below:

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Thanks for reading 🔆
@barge

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It's irrational to spend hours perfecting posts on steem... unless it's part of a competion or marketing campaign -

I might have to write a.post about why - in short yr much better off putting all ur best content on yer own website because people are more likely to find you, you can structure it and you can tweak the most popluar items later.

Steem's better for yr content that has very low market value - it's a not generally a place where quality is rewarded objectively - it's a patronage system (I think of it as feudal-capitalism).

You get rewarded 'cos people like you, if you've got a healthy SP (money follows money) you're more likely to attract votes from others with similar SP (if they like you).

If you attract a Lord (whale) or two, you can earn more!

Posted using Partiko Android

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haha!

I'm not opposed to Quality Content, I guess, I dislike people using the term to intimidate new users and make it hard for people to feel like their post is "good enough".

In truth, I've never heard of a website that wanted to stifle use, instead of encouraging
it.

:) Per usual, I love your art.

I can't imagine anyone being opposed to Quality Content (it being subjective). I see what you're saying about the term being used to bash new users over the head with [:)] resulting in their losing confidence and feeling inferior. I would be quite happy to let go of the word itself. Quality Content will remain, regardless of the subjective perceptions of others as to its 'Quality' and regardless of whether it adheres to any external definition of 'Quality'.

Perhaps it would be healthier to focus on authentic self-expression ie finding one's own voice, rather than looking for ever more sophisticated ways in which to mimic or copy the voices of others through regulation (insisting that 'Quality' is this or that). I would love to see this kind of self-expression encouraged and in many ways, the decentralised self-responsible (own banker, no password reminder, cut-out-middleman) paradigm of the blockchain supports this at some basic level.

Thanks for encouraging the fun @whatsup 🔆

Yep, it is all about the word and the impact it has on stifling users.

Instead we should tell people engage, engage, engage.

!dramatoken

Where's Markus when you need him? 🙄

Last I saw of him was here :D

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Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


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If language has us all confused, then I suggest we sit down, eat some cake, and love each other!!! -Your helpie friends.

Is not all content quality? Good quality, bad quality, average quality, mediocre quality, artistic quality, morbid quality...?

LOL and so it is :)

And the same content can be all of those things to different people at the same time, or all of those things to one person at different times.

Subjective AF is this mysterious entity 😌

One man's trash is another man's treasure. 🙂


You've got DRAMA. You are going to be a Whale!

To view or trade DRAMA go to steem-engine.com.

Hi @barge!

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