Curie and the Case of Two Whang-Ods

_{Image courtesy of @legendarryll and @dioncrediblehulk.}

Hello Steemians!

_{Tips and Tricks to Get that Most Coveted Curie Upvote}
I have been drafting my next post when I remembered something. When I made a post about the Tips and Tricks to Get that Most Coveted Curie Upvote, I mentioned that I will post case studies that would help you in making your curie-worthy content. I already contacted those who are involved and they were so generous in letting me use their contents for this post. But because I was occupied with other things, the idea of making a @curie case study slipped out of my mind. Until this morning, when I saw that @julsmlz sent me this:

I was overwhelmed! I mentioned in my previous post that I will upload a case study if that post will be successful. I measured the success of that post not on the reward it gets, but on the amount of engagement it gets from the community. For someone to personally thank me because of those tips, I definitely made a success out of that post! Thank you @julsmlz for reaffirming that my tips were indeed effective.

Aside from @julsmlz, here are some comments from the post that are worth mentioning:










I hope that there will be a lot of other steemians who will strive for a @curie upvote. Of course, with the aim of achieving quality contents. Monetary reward is just secondary and will always follow after.

Now that I have laid out my inspiration in writing this post, let's move on to the next part. This is more on the reason behind all of this. The reason why I strive to continue honing my writing skills and post quality contents.

---

CURIE_{A Meritocratic Curation Community}

---

_{Screengrab from @curie's blog page.}
All of you might have known @curie already, but for the sake of those who don't, this is for you. For a better understanding of what @curie is all about, please read the Curie Whitepaper and the Expanded Guidelines. These two posts will basically give you an idea of what to do once you have decided to push for a @curie upvote.

Quality is defined as the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind. It can also be defined as the degree of excellence of something. In essence, there must be a standard as to where will you base your judgment of quality. When it comes to quality content, there must be a reference content of similar kind that could be used to gauge the level of exceptionality of that content being judged. This is where @curie comes in when judging the quality of posts here on steemit.

Although there are other curation communities that aim to discover quality contents, I would say @curie is exceptional. I'm not saying that other curation communities are feeble as they have their own merits. What I'm emphasizing is the standard of excellence that @curie has set when it comes to exceptional contents.

Quality can sometimes be subjective, depending on the one who was tasked to judge the content. This is true for all curation communities, but @curie aimed to be more objective in their judgment by setting guidelines that are strictly to be followed. Another thing I observed as I followed @curie, the level of commitment to transparency is exceptional. Their aim is to achieve zero corruption and they have developed proven mechanisms to reach that aspiration.

_{Image from pixabay.com}
Although this all about @curie, I would like to mention a steemian who became a figure behind @curie. As I scour through my feed of steemit posts, I stumbled upon The Steemian Series by @wadepaterson entitled "20 Questions with @donkeypong". In that post, I learned that @donkeypong is one of the driving forces that created @curie to counter the imbalance of steem power distribution. I realized that @curie was created because of concerned individuals who thought of making steemit a conducive place for everyone.

To be honest, I just realized that discovering quality contents is just a method of @curie to achieve its real goal which is to even out the distribution of steem. They really exist just to level the disparity of steem power distribution which is worth all of my admiration.

Since I've already presented a glimpse of what @curie is all about, let's discuss the case study. I used the term discuss because this post is made with the intention of discussing @curie related matters. As a disclaimer, the following points below are based on my opinion and understanding. I don't claim absolute certainty about these ideas. If there are points worth calling out, feel free to comment below.

Here we go!

---

THE CASE OF TWO WHANG-ODS_{@dioncrediblehulk and @legendarryll}

---

This is a dissection of two posts of the same subject. I will try to compare and contrast these two posts and try to tie them up to the basic @curie guidelines. Again, I have asked permission from the owner of the posts so all photos were used with permission. Of course, all credits belong to them.

Apo Whang-Od

_{Apo Whang-Od and her tattoo paraphernalia. Image courtesy of @legendarryll}
Apo Whang-Od is the legendary tattoo artist from Kalinga and the last of her kind. She was dubbed as the Last Mambabatok of Kalinga which makes her a National Living Treasure of the Philippines. Local and foreign tourists alike, will flock to her house at the top of the mountain in Buscalan. Many would spend a night at her village just to get a chance to meet and get tattooed by the living legend.

Whang-Od became the subject of the two posts: one from @legendarryll and the other from @dioncrediblehulk. The Case of Two Whang-Ods is really not much about Apo Whang-Od, but more on the two posts that made her a subject. Both have showcased a different perspective of the subject which prompted me to write about it.

Comparison of Two Posts

Before you read further, please take your time in reading and scrutinizing these two posts. This will give you an idea of what I'm saying about below. Also, you can point out if there are areas in my dissection that you find difficult to agree. Here are the two posts that are worth perusing:
@legendarryll: WHANG-OD: The Last Traditional Tattoo Artist of Kalinga
@dioncrediblehulk: The Day Apo Whang Od Inked Me and Grabbed My Crotch

One Was Curied and the Other Was Not

This not a derogatory remark of one, but a praise of both. @dioncrediblehulk's post got curied because it has all the requisites to be curied. @legendarryll's post was not curied simply because he had a pending payout that was greater than $25. His Singapore Art Scene was curied in that week, so it made him ineligible for another curie upvote within that week.

_{@legendarryll's Singapore Art Scene which was curied 22 days ago.}
Does that made his post less exceptional? No. His Whang-Od post was exceptional in its own merit, which I will discuss later, but @curie's guidelines are to be strictly followed. On the other hand, @dioncredible's had every element which made made his first curie upvote.

That's the only reason why the other was not curied. Both deserved to be curied which is the main reason I decided to dissect them. From now on, I will highlight the strengths of both.

One Is A Traveller and The Other Is A Photographer

When I reached out @dioncrediblehulk to ask permission for this post and showed him @legendarryll's post, he said: "Di hamak na mas maganda yung pictures nya kaysa sa akin." (His photos are much beautiful than mine.) I agreed with him in that remark because @legendarryll is a photographer, a professional one and a league of his own. But I emphasized that he should not compare the photos because they're different; @dioncrediblehulk is a traveller.

_{@dioncrediblehulk with his travel buddies.}
In this context, I put stress more on knowing your niche and capitalizing on them. You don't have to compare yourself to others because you have a different perspective. In this case, both have the same subject, but told the story based on their own perspective.

_{Scenes in Kalinga that was captured by @legendarryll.}

One Focused on the Scenes and the Other Focused on the Experience

The main difference between the two posts is their perspectives. @legendarryll's post focused on the scenes around Whang-Od's place, as well as the view going to Buscalan, but the experience was also integrated in the overall vibe of the post. @dioncrediblehulk's post focused more on his experience while being tattooed by Apo Whang-Od. He stressed more on the crotch-grabbing tradition of Apo Whang-Od which added the sense of uniqueness to the post.

While reading those two posts, I felt that I have been in Buscalan and been tattooed by Apo Whang-Od. The two complemented each other and made a holistic experience. It gave me an overall idea about the whole journey. When I can get a chance to travel to Buscalan, those two posts will be my reference.

Both Emphasized Quality

You will really have to read the whole post, from start to finish, in order to appreciate the effort in putting their post together. They never compromised the quality in their work. They have set a benchmark for us to emulate. As a support, I would like to quote @bycoleman in his post, entitled:
Where does all the money come from on Steemit fully answered -- Can it continue? -- Absolutely yes!

Steemit is growing and will continue to grow as long as the quality of content is maintained. Quality and quantity are both factors, but quantity is of no value if it has no quality.

Final Words

I was inspired by these two with their exceptional contents. Until now, they always put quality first in their works. Please follow them both: @legendarryll and @dioncrediblehulk.

---

_{I would like to thank @dioncrediblehulk and @legendarryll for allowing me to feature their posts. I extend my deepest gratitude to both of you.}