Blurtbooster has changed!

The purpose of this post is to raise awareness of changes to the Blurtbooster curation bot, and give my analysis and opinions about the potential effect on Blurt content creation.

I would like to compliment the team for posting these changes publicly, and giving some detail about how it actually works. I think this is positive for a few reasons, including that it allows community feedback and valuable discussion. A decentralized platform that isn't built for and by the community isn't one I prefer to be part of, so I'm thankful for the chance to give my assessment. I'd also like to acknowledge Dan, a human who did a great job managing the white list (until we outgrew it).

Summary

The first part of the post is more or less an advertisement for loans (delegations) to the Blurtbooster account. 85% of the rewards are handed over to the delegators. Then a few paragraphs on the history of Blurtbooster, followed by details on the Blurtbooster curation bot. To have up to one post per day automatically voted by @blurtbooster, get on "the white list" and follow these rules:

• you "must post original content, free of plagiarism"
• any media or text not created by you must be marked as such, and a link to the original source must be provided
• you can't post "old content without adding a significant portion of new content"
• your content "should consist of at least 50% original text"
• you can't use unrelated tags
• you can't break any community-specific rules or post in the wrong community
• you must follow other accounts
• you "must make meaningful comments on other authors' posts"
• you can't use "any service where you buy votes or you get votes based on a delegation to the service" (like @UpvU)
• to get on the white list, make at least 5 posts over a one month period, then include the following text on its own line in a comment:

(Please inform me if I have misunderstood the rules - I will update this post as necessary.)

That's a lot of rules. And yes, participation is optional, but there's something to be said about the potential for this to be used to shape how people create, and how they behave. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be. That said, they aren't too onerous... although it's possible (likely) that lists of rules get updated as time goes by. Just because you make changes to be compliant now doesn't mean you will still be compliant (without additional changes) later on. Just something to think about.

Another thought... will it be possible for bot accounts to use the updated Blurtbooster? If they make 5+ posts over a month, then a comment with the magic words, won't they be added to the white list? And if they post within the rules, won't they be boosted? Hopefully not. I can imagine hordes of accounts, taking the majority of the Blurtbooster rewards. I think this is the opposite of the intention here, so I have to imagine someone is watching out for this possibility.

Regarding digital intelligence (chatbots, text generators, image generators, etc)... I don't see any clarification. This is probably something a fair number of people are wondering about right now. A lot of the rules revolve around content originality, which I think is a good thing. Is content automatically generated by software considered to be "original"? I don't use such tactics in my content, but I think a lot of people were probably wanting some guidance here.

Overall opinion

It's nice to have clarity. It's apparent somebody put some thought (and time) into drafting them up. And the rules themselves aren't too bad, aside from the concerns noted above. I believe the intention is to reward (ie: encourage) human-created content on the Blurt blockchain. That's a good plan. I hope it works, and doesn't just become "Blurt Universal Basic Income" (BUBI), encouraging low-quality posts. This bot soaks up a lot of delegations from various sources, representing a decent chunk of the rewards pool. For it not to be allocated responsibly would do major harm to the platform, and would set a poor example for the community.

Personally, I don't think I will have to change any of my behavior in order to remain on the white list. I'm interested to see what size vote I get on this post. I've been getting about 6% lately.

I hope this raised awareness of the Blurtbooster changes, and provided a starting point for further discussion. Thanks again to the team for being clear about the rules and receptive to constructive criticism.

DRutter