So for the first time in a long time I was reading through comments on Steemit and was inspired into writing on some idea that popped up into my mind. This idea isn't mind-blowing or life changing, but it does perhaps give a plausible explanation and some insight in the decline and withdrawal of the community in recent months. And this time I don't really think it is the money's fault. Well, it is the money's fault, but not directly.

The content on Steemit for the most part sucks. But it's not Steemit's fault (blame the algorithms, but if you think about it isn't their fault either). Of all of the subreddits I occasionally check up on, the crypto-related ones contain the least substance and are generally the least interesting. And people post there for free (although some may have ulterior motives).

The problem is the type of content one experiences on Steem. It's heavily based on selfish desires and the thoughts of the author rather than catering to the desires and thoughts of the audience. The content is often sacrificed in order to reach some goal (make money) rather than make the content something admirable in itself. Good content makes the audience think and great content invokes deeper feelings. I often feel nothing when I read here.

I picked this picture because it was interesting

Take a look at the image that I stole above. It differs from the type of photographs I usually select in that it has zero relationship to the actual content I'm presenting. But the aesthetic framing and lighting invoke feelings and makes the picture quite an interesting one to look at. As opposed to a large majority of images which are selected merely to give an article more visual appeal with little attention paid to the actual depth available in the visual medium.

And I'm guilty of using images just to use images. It gives Steem the feel of some lazily put together generic fest of half-assed articles and isn't very appealing to look at and that's only the beginning of the problems. Because writing is often done as haphazardly as the selection of these visual complements.

Writing is often dry like an essay that you would write in grade school because you had to. Which can be fine at times if you have interesting ideas (although I would argue that you should at least sound like you are excited or intrigued by the ideas you are presenting). But often a lot of writing isn't done for the audience's sake.

Look at the trending page (or don't). Inspirational talk about Steem or why Steem is the future or getting hype about SteemMonsters or blockchain advertising. All these forms of content are done to some extent to further the viewpoints or agendas of the author rather than provide something interesting to the audience reading the content.

Now granted, every author has a right to share their ideas and shouldn't be relegated to simply being a performer, but good art mixes audience appeal with a meaningful message. And Steemit is lacking good art because there is too much attention placed in one's personal objectives than their followers' wants and desires. And that's why the user retention is so low. Because a relationship is never really crafted.

People are too busy trying to do their own thing among other people trying to do their own thing. And often any conversation is rather shallow in that people communicate to serve their own needs rather than consider the piece of content in front of them. All twisted by some interior desire for wealth, fortune, and fame.

So, I want to apologize. I'll try to be more interesting in the future. And hopefully others will join in this pursuit. We need to stop complaining and fighting about the platform and focus on the one thing we will always be able to influence. Our content. And we need to get over ourselves and realize that if we want this whole idea to actually catch on, we'll have to do this for something more than ourselves.