Should you delegate to an alien? A thanks to @stellabelle and the other brains behind this, I am honoured to be on the menu :D
Imagine my surprise when I was just puttering around on the PAL discord yesterday and someone posted @stellabelle's latest post: here
I had been contacted the day before on discord by @lexiconical so this didn't come completely out of left field. I knew something was brewing! I was asked if I were to receive a delegation what would I do with it? To be honest I didn't have to think for too long, I have thought incessantly about my vision of the platform and the need to keep content creators happy and engaged and the ultimate need for community building and human connections. Since we are on the blockchain and are all about transparency I figured I would put my answer out there for all to see.
How would I use a delegation:
The question was posed to me "with a delegation what would you do to help "fix" what's wrong with Steemit, more specifically retaining new and quality users and rewarding underpaid posts.
Issues
To begin I will first discuss what I think is wrong. Many users are drawn to Steemit primarily for the monetary aspect, as the first page of Steemit says when not logged in: Money Talks. We have a second group who are desperately looking to get their content seen because they are content creators/artists at heart, and those users often consider the financial incentives to be secondary. Herein lies the problem, currently to be seen one must recieve significant votes from whales/dolphins, so users with both intentions may very well turn to bots to get paid upvotes or leave the platform when seeing a lack of engagement with their content. As we all know this is probably one of the most contentious topics on Steemit right now, but many new/minnow users feel they do not have a choice otherwise.
Combine that with many high SP users autovoting the same group of authors to the front page and selling SP rather than curating and we have a pretty nasty cycle here and it can be hard to break into the "old boys" club and get noticed.
I applaud the many initiatives that search out minnows and new users (namely Curie) to help welcome quality users to the platform and give them some recognition and a nice head start. On the downside is many users, myself included, quickly hit the 52 rep (I hit it after a few weeks) and fall into that middle class limbo that lacks support.
The final problem I see with Steemit is the need to build communities. People need to feel that they have connections and support or else it all seems too overwhelming and advancement looks unattainable.
Solutions
Since joining myself about 6 months ago I instantly tried to find my people. I searched for the creatives and the users with similar interests. I joined contests, and made an effort to comment and curate others in my niche. My goal has always been to form connections and I feel like that is starting to pay off as I have found many friendships with people on this platform that has resulted in making me more invested in posting and curating here even when payouts were dismal.
To ramp up my interaction I have started my Art Explosion contest which is currenlty on it's 18th week and has really helped me to find awesome artists to curate and helped many artists to meet each other also. The ability to give them a nice prize on top of my vote certainly incentivizes people to come out of the woodwork and get a bit more social! I recently added to this a weekly curation post: Ocean of Art which is in it's 9th week, where I feature some amazing artists on the platform and try to give them additional exposure (I also invite them to the PAL discord in an attempt to get them more connected). I try to aim this project towards those with high quality work/posts but who do not generally have many followers and overall low payouts.
If I were given a delegation I would use it in several ways. Most obviously it would increase my ability to curate artists in both my contest, my weekly curations and more broadly across Steemit. Combined with the ability to resteem truly exceptional posts through the MSP accounts would go a ways towards showing these users appreciation and also giving them more exposure. I also feel like rewarding very interactive users who leave excellent comments is something I would like to do more of. At my current SP level I feel that my ability to give rewards is small and best saved to reward posts but comments are an equally important part of the Steemit platform and are what ultimately gives people the drive and motivation to stick around. It pleases me immensely to see interaction in post comments, to see users dicover each other and make friends. I don't know if I would have stuck around as long as I did if it were not for the amazing connections I made in my first months here so I feel it is crucial to retention.
We need to reward the human aspect of Steemit, the social part.
I would not only focus on curating completely new users but as mentioned above help those who are off the radar of other groups such as curie. I believe that many of these people have proven themselves to be net positive to the platform and deserve some recognition for that, after all they have worked hard. As we onboard new users this will become the dominant category for those who stay.
As a content creator myself I try to find new and innovative ways to steer the platform in the best possible direction. My boyfriend and I are releasing a film on Steemit in January, though this may not be a wise decision monetarily, I feel that it could bring some new eyes to our platform and inspire other content creators to release their projects here where they have complete control of the final product. From what we can tell we are the first to release a feature film in this manner so we are quite invested in the future of this platform!
Lastly I feel like the main problems we see on Steemit have solutions that are strongly aligned with the PAL mission and values. If I have increased influence on the site it will aid me in recruiting more users to the Minnow Support Project where we aim to build communities and give people a reason to stick around. We also aim to coach and train users to better understand the platform and make better quality posts which results in a better retention rate.
To boil it all down to a TLDR:
- Show both new and somewhat established users more appreciation/rewards
- increase curation among content creators, both broadly and specifically within the networks I have created
- Encourage community interaction and bonding in comments sections
- Aid in recruitment to PAL to further help train users how to get the best out of Steemit and increase post quality
I am thrilled that you have given me a chance at this opprtunity and even more pleased to see that this has been offered to several other PAL moderators. We would all love to be able to support our flock a little more but with the large number of members we are all spread a little thin and I think these delegations are an excellent step towards making a better Steemit!
Thank you,
Julia K. Ponsford
So there it is, if you managed to read it all!
I have no idea if any whales are going to take notice of this, or what is going to happen, but the fact that the idea is out there and knowing that users are thinking about how to solve these problems is a great step in the right direction.
As a closing statement I would just like to reassure you that I would treat any delegations with utmost care and for the benefit of the humans floating on this spacecraft we call Steemit. I promise not to give preferential treatment to my alien kin (except maybe @isaria) and probings will be kept to a minimum :D
Julia I have always liked your contest and interaction. I will delegate you some out of my pocket if you get skipped over on this chance to help a very forgotten section of steemit.
Aww that is a super sweet offer that literally makes me feel fuzzy :) Guess what? I just went to upvote and I saw my vote was worth more than usual. So it looks like someone has given me a delegation :D steem stats hasn't updated for me yet though so I am still awaiting confirmation of who it was! I appreciate your comments about my contest and efforts here, cheers, I hope you have a wonderful evening ❤️
3739.241 in delegation should be in your account in a few seconds it's yours for 30 days. No hoops, no begging and no need to thank me. Just do what you do. Enjoy.
Steem and SBD are also on the move so a little goes much farther now.
This is also true, hopefully it will continue onwards and upwards!
I just feel bad as it appears people are making you beg for delegation publicly as they pat themselves on the back for letting you write this post to prove you deserve it. They already said you're worthy they should just delegate you. Not make you do this post to publicly reward themselves as good SP lenders.
0_0 I'm a bit at a loss for words, but thank you for your generosity. I just want to clarify that just after I replied to you last I was able to verify that Stella was kind enough to give me a delegation to get the ball rolling! Nobody asked me to make this letter public though, I mostly did it because I'm assuming a lot of people saw Stella's list and wondered why certain names were chosen so I felt I should perhaps explain myself a bit. I am truly bowled over that you are offering this. My inclination is to give it back to you because it's too much and your account is not gigantic either but I don't think it's possible to give delegations back. If you change your mind and you want to take it back I certainly won't hold it against you. ❤️❤️❤️ Steemit is making me a bit emotional this week but in a good way 😢
Kudo's to @stellabelle in that case, I just viewed that public post as a pat on the back type post, most good deeds are not done so publicly.
Hell no, I don't want it back. I have given away over 100% of what I have earned on steemit. This is an experiment in giving not about what I can make off the place. That is the only way this place will take off is if everyone becomes givers. I did not get into cryptos for their fiat value. Crypto's are about breaking the system and the hold it has on all of us.
Just promise me you will be extra kind with your votes this month and not just upvote the same crap everyone else is upvoting, try to find those gems or those you can tell put in effort but need to work on their skills still. Practice giving, you'll be amazed at what doors open and what comes back to you.
Stella gave a few delegations already to a few of my fellow moderators so I have faith in her intentions. I will 100% continue upvoting the content that I love here and use this to the best of my abilities :) I rarely visit the main trending page other than to look for news, I figure most of those posters don't really need my help. I will certainly be paying this forward when I grow enough to be able to do so!
@juliakponsford, I am happy that you just got yourself some delegations, found you while I was going through @stellabelle's comment and I think it is really a great idea she has to help grow the steemit community. I really do hope that the Nigerian community gets help very soon. Congratulations on your achievement once again.
I know a lot of people in the Nigerian community and they have some interesting projects going on so I certainly hope they get some delegations as well. I too think this is a fantastic idea and I hope it starts a cyclical spirit of giving that continues on!
that is the spirit........
I will vouch for you. Julia is one of the kindest and most helpful people I've had the privilege to meet through steemit. She is extremely talented and by far my favorite alien woman (I don't have to pit you against Isaria anymore since she's a cat woman again). The art contest and curation you do is great and I hope you get a delegation. :)
Thanks for the kind words clay, your every bit as deserving as are so many other people. It would be pretty amazing if this became a thing, bigger users delegating to smaller users for a while to help them grow. I would certainly love to be able to do the same when I have enough. Could create a great chain reaction :)
i can also vouch that you are kind
It's gonna take some time for Steemit to truly find it's place I think - but you're absolutely right that ultimately its success will be directly related to the communities which are involved with it. I think that as long as people like you who actually care and are actually involved keep up your efforts then it will always be a worthwhile place to be! Personally, I'm blown away by the communities that I've stumbled into on Discord and ultimately have had a good experience. I hope that I can also bring some good to the platform as time goes on and get more involved myself.
thank you for your efforts!
Thanks for the kind comments :) Steemit is definitely still finding it's sea legs, we probably have a ways to go yet, but yeah community seems to be the key. Human connections will keep people here regardless of rewards :)
Julia has my full support for a delegation. She already has an established record as a community builder and a further delegation will empower her efforts further. For the past few months, I have worked with Julia on a contest that she organises and so can vouch for her reliability.
Thank you for your vote of confidence eturnerx, since I made this post yesterday two people have been kind enough to give me delegations and I am over the moon. It has been a nice week on steemit :)
It looks like you got some really nice delegation. I'm glad things worked out for you.
The universe has been kind to me this week, I will try to pay it forward as much as I can :)
Yaaaaay! Happy to hear you got a delegation lovely! Well deserved ❤
Thank you sunravelme! This has been an amazing and surprising week, maybe because it's your birthday?
I must be a lucky charm 😉
very good article, motivated me to be like you, I am not native speaker and my english in not as good as your, but I think that I am also doing well on steemit, after reading your post I feel that you deserve that deligation from whales, me too if someone will support me I will not desapoint them, tell me please how to get deligation from someone ?
I don't have any perfect advice for you on how to get a delegation but I think if you network and meet lots of people and try to bring value to steemit people will. Notice your efforts! Are you part of our discord at PAL? We have more than 5k members it a great place to meet people! https://discord.gg/8EmeX5
I'm of the opinion that power networks need a good razing, or a shake-up from time to time.
Its much like the forests, where dead trees and other burdens are cleared away in a large fire from a lightning strike.
Steemit is rife with parasites, and unless there are considerable changes to this, I don't see how it is going to be a viable platform in the future.
Well if people started heeding the advice given in Stellas post it would certainly shake things up! I suppose the only way to know the effect would be to try and run the data, we shall see :)
Giving a content creator the power to curate the types of things they are interested in would be a great thing for the Steemit community!! @stellabelle had some great people on that list!!!
They certainly did make some nice choices, I know most of those people personally and I know they would all do fantastic things and already are with what they have! It's a nice sentiment right before the holidays as well :)