Manual curation
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/2rowB2A.jpg)
Do you read me? Is this thing on? Tell me you are seeing this..
This post may consist of ones and zeros, but this is a real person relaying thoughts on top of the invisible layer of technology everyone is so excited about. They say Steem is different than any other blockchain out there. Why? Because of community, people from all around the world, you. The decentralized social media extraordinaires that can’t be silenced or censored.
When I first joined Steem, I knew next to nothing about it and the immense potential it has. I saw people creating and sharing their thoughts. I thought that was beautiful and immediately, it felt like home. I also felt the need to give back to the people who gave me so much joy, thought material and courage. So a couple months after joining I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to become part of a group of people who do just that nearly every single day @ocd.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/UaIWeL2.jpg)
We are trying to encourage newcomers who create content that is thoughtful, creative, unique and authentic to who they are. We often say quality, but how one defines quality may differ and we each have personal preferences, but at least we are people, not ones and zeros, senseless code. We read, see, ponder and feel through your blogs. You make us think, are you for real and shut up and take my vote!
Maybe brightening someone’s day every once in a while seems like a tiny drop of water in the ocean, but it is much better than other options right now. Wasn’t that the initial idea of Steem anyway? A community growing stronger together, through supporting each other, building and making wonderful projects into reality. Manual voters and curators are a crucial part of the Steem ecosystem, they are the eyes and ears.
You have to ask yourself. Do you want to be heard? Do you want your content to be read by people who care and wish to peek into your world? Or, are you here only for profit and rather have your content voted by bots? What happens to a community that does not care and does not listen to each other and are here only to profit short term, to feed the greed?
Instead of engaging with community (that of course is hard work), it is a lot easier to be selfish and order a bot to vote on your content no matter the quality, authenticity or anything really. What does it say about you? What does it say about bot masters? Maybe you will find excuses that all you did was for visibility and building following, but in reality your weaknesses were exploited and your lack of knowledge about how the entire ecosystem functions is taken advantage of, for even more profit that is taken away from rest of the community that also works hard and hassle each day. What kind of following are you hoping for then?
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/5KcIZYI.jpg)
No matter how tiny your stake is, Steem Powerless and insignificant you might feel in comparison (never compare), you can still inspire and encourage people to be awesome and your two cents or no cent votes you cast after reading someone’s thoughts and sharing yours, they make a difference! (unless it was “nice post” one minute after posting or “thank you for this wonderful news”, then go and be ashamed in the corner!)
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://i.imgur.com/GHwslhN.jpg)
In case you are looking for ways to give back to the community or give a nudge to new Steemians, @ocd appreciates your support through delegations and voting on our nominations, resteems and daily compilations you can find on our account, @ocd. OCD also has a witness now @ocd-witness. Who knows, maybe a lot more coming as the project grows ^^
Song of the day: Aviators - Open Your Eyes
You had me at that sentence! As someone who's only been on the platform for a couple of months, I've tried to post content that I would happily show someone else. But in these months, I see others who joined at the same time as I did simply soar through the steem ecosystem.
I learnt about bots and their voting but never really felt the need to try one of them out. Sure, looking at the post payout numbers influences the way you look at the platfom and several times I ask myself WHY content that communicates nearly nothing is worth a hundred dollars.
In that vein, reading this part of your post is the best thing to hear.
My hope is that people don't give up even when it seems like their growth is slow, that they would look for ways to engage with community. There are so many projects and groups out there that are supporting their members and not just with curation, but also just learning everything about blockchain and so much more.
The bot situation right now is not the best. Specially because lot of them don't care where the votes land and often it isn't the best content. It takes away from those who don't use them and try to grow organically which is usually taking a lot more time and effort, but in the long run is better for you, because you build connections and your content.
Agreed. At the very least, people can use this time to learn more about how the blockchain works. My interaction with the blockchain so far has been like knowing to drive a car but not knowing the mechanics behind it. So it's a good time to read more into it.
I think one of my goals on steemit is to NOT use bots. I want to see where I'll go without using any. Thanks for the encouragement @m31! Much appreciated.
it's so encouraging to read post that without thinking they fill with tranquility..
In my case, I listen day by day to the idea that we must all generate quality content and I always think about the subjectivity of that phrase... now I find myself with the following message...
This phrase has permeated me! I could feel bad all this time for not having quality in my post (that's what they always look for), but now I can feel better with your advice, the quality is subjective, it's from each individual, so the best thing we small fish can do is to show our original side, creative and that makes us happy, I applaud the projects of manual curatorship, they do a job full of love, I usually read 40 or 50 post daily and it is not easy to choose a winner, for you my respects, go ahead, for my part the Hispanic community supports them! a hug
Excuse my poor English, I use a translator.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment @melvadg! :)
I really think that the most important part of Steem journey is really just exploring who you are and being honest and the most authentic self. Through that you will find it a lot easier to connect with people and grow in organic way.
For my part it is not an easy job, I think the great majority of steemit use English and are not attracted by the Spanish language, but at least you try and make the attempt and friends who come are welcome.
I think that when communities finally gets implemented there might be enough change to draw some of the larger manual curators back, at least to have a look.
I really like this whale too.
And I would like to use a quote to illustrate it:
"good whale color purple"
I am really excited for communities and to see how it will impact the Steem ecosystem. I am more hopeful now. Some of the issues will be resolved one way or another ^^
Thank you for liking my good whale color purple @tarazkp!
Very interesting. I hear the word curation come up alot on here and dont know too much about it - probably something I should learn about. I have had a few upvotes from curators - I guess as my account grows I should be giving back to the curators?
DO you know where I can go to learn more about curation?
@conradt nice to see you around :)
Curation basically means upvoting content. You curate too and receive curation rewards for it. There are also a lot of curation projects out there such as @ocd Groups of individuals that combine their Steem Power, resources, time and effort to curate content.
You don't have to give anything back to curators. Just as a member of Steem community think about it as investment in people. The more you invest in community, the more community gives you back.
There are lot of posts about curation out there. Here is just one example:
https://steemit.com/toolkit/@sndbox/earn-steem-by-upvoting-how-curation-rewards-work-on-steemit
First of all i really want to appreciate your work because you understood the pain of newbies who are working in and out to earn something but still many are under looked and under rated, and you said right, temporary greed will not inspire anyone and one day you will get that feeling, as you said the real engagement and conversation is really important because that will drive the community and in turn an organic growth will take place and organic followership will increase and thanks for letting us about the OCD and i was unaware about it and in my opinion it's sounds really great. Thanks for sharing and wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂
Thank you for stopping by and commenting @chireerocks! :)
I like that you say organic growth. It really should be that way. I think there is something missing once people get on Steem. It is hard to figure out on your own at first how things work, that building your account takes time, building following takes time and lot of engagement with community. Lot of people come into this thinking of it as cash cow, easy money and fast, but it really isn't the case.
Great day to you too ^^
Welcome and thank you so much. 🙂
Me encanto mucho el dibujo, estupendo se notan mucho los detalles y muchas horas de trabajo, Saludos :D
Gracias. Sí, tomó muchas horas de hecho :)
Lo imagine amigo, te salio estupendo :D
I'm so very conflicted now.
For a few weeks, I've been using the @smartsteem service. They have a whitelist and sell votes. I've been buying votes steadily for each of my posts, after giving a few days to see how they do on their own first. In this way I've been able to build up my account to over 60 Steem Power.
I've asked various people and most say that as long as I'm not buying votes for poor quality posts, there's nothing wrong with doing it.
But I've still always felt a little like I was cheating somehow.
And reading this post from you, the Steemit user whom I admire the most, has made me want to stop using the service immediately.
Please be honest with me... Is what I am doing wrong, do you feel? I mean, I'm not using bots that upvote just any content... I'm buying votes from a system that has a whitelist and that also blacklists abusers. But even still, is this harming the Steemit ecosystem? I honestly don't know enough about the system to say for sure.
Aviators are telling me to .. "Wake up now and see the truth, I'm here to show the world to you, the way it was meant to be, so follow your destiny..." ... Hehe. Such idealism! And Steemit, blockchains etc, are beacons for some people, representing a more ideal world. If I'm being part of the problem, hindering such a vision, I want to stop immediately.
Also, good whale color purple =)
She really seems like she's falling, reminding me of the whale from the HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy. Though that one was a Sperm whale, not a Humpback.
I am not familiar with the service you mentioned, but whitelisting/blacklisting sounds good and also there is nothing wrong with rewarding good content. However, the idea of just ordering votes in general is harming the Steem ecosystem, because it means that lot of people will abuse it for quick gain and don't focus on long term vision of Steem, building connections. Most of them cash out and never invest/power up and give back to the community. If you buy votes and power up with the thought that you want to grow your account, influence on platform and being around for the long run it is a little bit different, but most of the time people are greedy and don't believe in Steem enough. Also the ones that are running the bots are profiting mostly and not the community. They take the big cut and feed scraps to people that use their services. Most of them don't even check where the votes land. I wish there was a solution to this, but bots are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
I am more for organic growth, but at the same time I find it unfair that good users don't get curated and some greedy people take away from them via bots and abuse.
I can't say what other people should or shouldn't do. It all depends what is the idea they have in mind when they order those votes. All we can do is to keep in check with the morals, ideas and common sense we each have.
Hehe, I actually have never seen the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have heard of it a lot though. Maybe it is time to finally watch it :)
Thank you very, very much for this reply.
So, first, please don't watch THHGTTG ;P ... The movie is sub-par. You absolutely have to read the books though. Douglas Adams was a genius. I promise you, they'll be the funniest books you've ever read =)
About the vote buying... My aim is exactly as you say... To grow my account. I have 64 Steem Power now, and about 25SBD ... I started from scratch so I feel good about my progress (been on here for 3 months now). My goal is to reach a point where I have enough followers that I don't need to buy votes anymore to increase my Steem Power. I feel better about it because they do keep a check on abusers.
Also, your occasional upvotes on my posts haven't gone unnoticed. Thank you <3
@mandelsage have a look at @tarazkp latest post -
https://steemit.com/steemit/@tarazkp/10-little-idiots-trying-to-answer-or-if-everyone-delegates-to-bidbots
See also comments.
Thank you Jolanta =) I've read it and left a comment there. Just to be clear: I have never used a bidbot before. I buy votes from their service, from real people who sell their votes through their service. I've decided to stop doing even this though... Until I am 100% of whether it's damaging to the system or not.
At least I no longer run into bandwidth problems! (Although that might only be because steemit traffic is way down right now).
I first thought "Wow something is really wrong with @gotmeens " as the whale looked quite normal.
I love this painting though, the whale is extremely nice looking.
Lol, I also thought something like - what will @gotmeens think of this one?
Thank you @apsu ^^
This is so awesome!!! Really liking the color you picked out for the whale, being so different than you normally see them it works so well... love this one!!!
Another awesome paintings of yours, i've missed these :) Been away from steemit for too long, but your post are always lovely to see. The color blending on this is even greater than usual, but it might be due to the palate, which fits really well with the motif :)
Thank you @emilclaudell! ^^ Hope you are doing well? Busy times?
I recently was looking through the pile of works I've made so far this year and the ones from last year. There is definitely some visible growth and it just made me so happy to realize.
good whale color purple
Thank you @angeltirado your comment really cheered me up!
ohh really welcome 🤗😉