Using Steemit to "Reblog" Old Content: Yes, or No?
In the course of several decades of writing, I have published somewhere north of 10,000 blog posts... maybe more. Some were added to long defunct web sites... some are (amazingly!) still floating around as 20-year old content.
Although I consider plagiarism a major no-no, I increasingly find myself reaching for some of the "old" content from my past... especially when I feel a bit at a loss for words.
Fall leaves on our beech tree
And "copying yourself" isn't exactly cheating... since it was yours to begin with.
Update it First!
One of the effective ways to reuse old content without too much trouble is to seriously update what's in the article. I am just considering beginning the process... and I've already noticed that my writing style has changed considerably over the past 15+ years.
I won't necessarily claim that I am better, but I have definitely gotten better at making my points and moving along... I used to be incredibly long-winded in providing background information and reasons for every single word.
That quickly results in a needlessly long article.
Improve the Layout!
The next thing you can do to give old content new life is change the layout.
Fall leaves on our Japanese Maple
If it's a really old blog post or article to start with, odds are it predates much formatting on the web... I have lots of content like that.
Add some paragraphs, add some nice photos and suddenly that old post will "look a lot more 2017."
But if you're using anyone else's images and have any links in your content SO make sure you have current information... nothing sucks more than linking to... a dead link.
How About YOU? Do you ever update and recycle old content from way before Steemit existed? What do you think of reusing/repurposing old work by updating it? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 171116 17:11 PDT
I love recycling old unused ideas. I usually do this when creating music.
Oh, I definitely do so with UNused ideas... I have many folders full of those, and partially developed ideas. That's actually some of my favorite material to work with and create from.
But I also like to use stuff I previously published that was "good" back then, but since then the web site went TU and the content could use a good update, too... that's the kind of stuff I've been looking at, recently.
When I was newer to the platform, I did share some of my classic content. I think there's a right and a wrong way to do it.
The key to repurposing content in any context, and especially on steem, IMO, is to create some original content around the re-posted stuff. For example, if I am sharing an album I recorded a few years ago, I can write 2-3 paragraphs talking about the experience of making the record, how the fans liked it, etc etc...
Because steem has the financial incentive of upvotes, it's important to me to see some element of original and new content in any post. Personally I avoid upvoting anything that is just a repost, even if the user posting it is the owner of the content.
I agree pretty close to completely with that.
To the degree I am going to repurpose anything here, it's mostly going to be stuff from now "dead" web sites that I plan to rewrite and polish up... and then reissue with a footnote that "an earlier version previously appeared and this-and-that web site in 2003." So whereas it may have been somewhere in the past, it's now only posted on Steemit. Which is mostly just testament to just how many dead blog sites are (not) out there...
Ah yea that makes a lot of sense! The blockchain is theoretically forever so it's like future-proofing all that content. :-)
I agree.
as long as my old posts on Steemit cash out,
as long as there is no long tail
as long as I don't derive any income from old posts.
I'll continue to repost them from time to time.
As long as you approach it responsibly... and it's fairly evident that you are not just trying to exploit the system.
As you've said yourself in the past... it's going to be "new" to many people.
I think it's ok. One of the features of steem is that you get rewarded for your content. If you didn't get a chance to get rewarded for some past content, because steem didn't exist, then I think you are entitled to use the opportunity now that it does exist.
In many cases, the content I am working with was once published on sites that are not even around any more... so the only place you could find it would be the Wayback Machine. And that's not a place a lot of people browse "just for kicks."
I am entering a busy time of the year with my "day job" so this would be a reasonable way to keep the flow of content going here without having to create all new posts from scratch.
Yep, I agree. I have about two decades of blog material to work with. Luckily I had the foresight to save most of the posts as txt files on my computer so I have easy access to most of them. I see nothing wrong with reusing old material, but I fully agree it should be updated and maybe even re-written. That's not even a should with me... it's a "can't prevent myself from doing". When I reopen old posts I feel an urge to rewrite everything because I always feel like I can say it so much better now.
Incidentally I have this same problem when I republish old photos. I always feel the urge to go back and reedit them again, even for photos that have won awards and sold for a lot of money. There is just always that nagging feeling "I can do that so much better now".
I dunno... maybe we are the victims of perfectionistic tendencies. I am much the same way... almost *compelled" to make changes and make the old seem new.
I think many creative people are the same way. JRR Tolkien was revising Lord of the Rings until his dying day. About a decade ago Stephen King completely rewrote the first Dark Tower book. Editing and redoing our old material is a tough urge to resist.
Great question, i've been meaning to bring this disscussion up and out there too.
You seem more or less on the right train of thought with it.
I'll add that Since this is a new platform (for info/content) i'm of the mind that if it's good, share it with the Steemit community regardless of whether it was blogged elsewhere on a different site. Maybe we'll find it helpful and will never see ur original post on blogblog.net or whatever.
Probably ppl would frown upon reposting a blof u postsd on Steemit peeviously... depending on the content i suppose as well n the context.
Also how did u format the text beside the picture? Please share if possible. I really like that look!
Jb
For the moment, I'm not really planning to re-do anything I've already had on Steemit... it has only been about ten months since I started here... but anything else from past blog venues is pretty much "open season" as far as I am concerned.
As for the image formatting, I create all my posts directly in HTML-- here's a tutorial from a few months back:
https://steemit.com/steemit-help/@krnel/how-to-align-images-in-steemit-posts-left-right-and-center
I think it's all good then.
And Sweet thanks for this!
Completely agree with this one!
If they are your ideas which you took the time to write, then why not reuse them if there's nothing similar already on Steemit? In the end, it boils down to your reputation and how valuable people perceive your content. If you've already got a nice backlog of content that could easily make waves on Steemit, then kudos to you! I would do the same.
However, how do you feel about pushing out content simultaneously across multiple platforms?
e.g. via Steemit, self-hosted blog and Medium
@soul-thru-da-ink
Decided to put this question out there for the Steemit community too, as I want to see what people think.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@soul-thru-da-ink/can-you-put-the-same-post-on-steemit-medium-and-on-your-private-blog-feedback-wanted
I haven't needed to yet, but must of my old content predates the web. lol I din't see anything wrong with using your own material. But updating is an excellent idea to avoid the plagiarism bots.
One of the things I always notice when I am looking at old writing of mine is that I would often "do it differently" now, 10+ years later. Which is as it should be... because hopefully I have 'grown' along the way.
I think that's a great idea. I was on another blog platform before steemit. I usually add to my old post and edit it in some way and sometimes add more photos.
So far, I have only used republishing in a very limited way... but to the degree that I have, I have substantialy rewritten each piece to such an extent none of the plagiarism bots picked any one of them up.
I don't think there is anything wrong to update old content since just becase it is old doesn't mean it's no good or nobody will benefit from it.
I myself don't have old content since I'm pretty new and still have lots to learn how to write and become better at it, but if I did have old content I would definitely share it especially if it can benefit someone by learning by my good and bad experiences.
Agreed! The content has to be pretty "worthy" to begin with, or I am not going to bother with it... mostly, I want to share stuff I think someone (at least a few someones) might find useful.