Manual Curation Digest #1

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Audio Transcription of blog post "MCD #1" on Steemit,
to read it in text format - please see full text below.
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As I've explained in my previous post, I decided to make some regular kind of "Reader digest" of my own, renaming that into "Manual Curation Digest" (or MCD).

Therefore it will be MCD #1.

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Alright, I'll start with commenting on post I've read recently: The consumer simplification, which caught my attention because I have also recently been writing in similar terms of "Consumer / Creator / Provider / Reseller". I made brief comment there and the rest decided to write here, as continuation.

On Steem, this concept of being paid to view and vote on content is even more incredible if you consider that the 'pay' is coming out of the pool, which is essentially thin air, something from nothing...

My reply was:

not exactly from "thin air" actually, because value for those generated new coins can only be given by more users who Invest more into the project, otherwise ... "nothing remains nothing", i.e. has no value.

Explanation:

Those newly generated STEEM coins actually ADD to the "Circulating Supply" and thus "dilute" (= inflate) the value of coin if its "Market Capital" (or Total Value of all produced coins) remains the same. so, even to keep it the same, what to speak increase - there must be constant steady Inflow of the Capital: in other words, more of these Coins must be purchased by using BTC or whatever other Cryptos - which anyway in the end all pegged to USD. so, even though DPOS (and from FAQ) may sort of produce new coins "out of thin air" - the VALUE to those coins is given by MORE BUYERS! In this regard, all those Stake-Holders / Investors into STEEM get their ROI ONLY if more new members come who can "Consume" and can afford to PAY for purchasing more Steem coins, then convert them into "Steem Power", which means Invest into this platform for a certain period of time.

Later author clarified in his response to me:

The coins come regardless and yes, the value comes from buy/sell pressures but what is drawn out f the pool is from nothing. Which is why I think I also said that at some point, it has to connect to real world areas to back it.

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That is right: main value is driven by TRADING of Steem coin on Exchanges and potentially (not much currently) its usage as a "utility token", storage of value and perhaps payment method alternative (as for example on some websites with online games as SteemMonsters ?) Not sure though how and why would Advertisers be interested to use Steem coins to Advertise - but will come back to Advertisers later...

Reading that post further:

Who doesn't want to get paid for consuming what they are going to consume anyway?
... it is also very attractive to the advertisers as if a userbase is incentivized to be here more, advertisers have more of a captured audience to target, there is a lot of data flowing through the system which being on the Steem blockchain, is highly accessible and freely available. Once the network grows large enough, the information that can be extracted is highly valuable but, doesn't really need to be sold.

Well, actually Consuming IS Paying : before being able to Consume something one has to pay for it first. Nobody pays anyone to Consume! Because those who SELL something to Consumers are interested to MAKE MONEY from their Consuming of that Product, which costs to Produce, Transport, Store, Advertise, Sell, etc. To cover ALL those expenses + get some extra as a Profit that Product is being SOLD to Consumers, who PAY for it before Consuming. If Product is NOT sold, i.e. Consumer does not PAY for it - then there is no way it can either be produced or any of other stages in that whole chain of process to be accomplished. what to speak about: if instead of Paying for Product - Consumers will be Paid for Consuming it! Unless it is some sort of a clever marketing trick, which convinces Consumer into believing that they indeed sort of "profit" or "earn" from their Consuming, for example are given some points or coupons, etc. or some discounts - while actually ALL those expenses (for seller) are already included into the price, thoroughly calculated and adjusted accordingly, which Consumer PAYS anyway, thinking that he is "incentivized". 😂
or otherwise some total junk is given for "Consuming" - which anyway is also being paid by Consumer one way or another.

Then there is also some contradiction in usage of words:

1. "get paid for consuming" Vs "captured audience"
   Advertisers target only that audience which would BUY / PAY for their Product! they do not try to capture those who want something for Free (or especially who wants to get paid instead) - because those do not need to be "captured", they will rather rush in themselves (in bigger numbers and hurry than on those "Black Friday" sales offs 😜 )

2. "freely available" Vs "highly valuable" - how can something highly valuable be available for Free? 😲
   unless again, either it is some worthless junk pushed as "valuable" or it is not really "free".
   value is measured in money, while "free" implies "without money".

Are there Consumers on SteemIt ?

There are few other points in the post which I feel needs to be addressed:

The Consumer audience here is a vital piece of the Ecosystem and one that we tend to not focus on heavily enough...

To be more correct, there are no actual Consumers on Steemit at all! And that's precisely because there is no ANY focus on actual Consumers - what to speak of "heavy focus"! Because real Focus of this so called "Ecosystem" is something else entirely...

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I mean: "Pure" Consumers, who really come for Good Quality Content, ready and willing to pay for it - not those who come for chance to Earn from "Curation", i.e. hope to GET PAID for that action rather than PAY, which is actually quite a huge difference.

According to basic definition :

Consumer - a person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
synonyms: purchaser, buyer, customer, shopper; user, end user; client, patron;

More clarification:

1 A purchaser of a good or service in retail.
2 An end user, and not necessarily a purchaser, in the distribution chain of a good or service.

In other words, the last one in that chain of Supply-Demand, who will not re-sell it but will use it for himself only or for his family. As further explained and stressed elsewhere:

An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or resale. A consumer is someone who can make the decision whether or not to purchase an item at the store, and someone who can be influenced by marketing and advertisements.

Important are highlighted words: BUYS i.e. PAYS for it with money! also "for personal use" - ONLY! and although he makes decision himself (not some Auto-voting-bots or Leaders of "Curation trails" :D) - actually that decision can be and in fact usually IS greatly influenced by those Advertisements all all sorts of marketing tricks and techniques - which often "Sell a comb to a bold man", i.e. convince that "decision maker" end-Consumer into believing that he absolutely MUST purchase that Product, because he needs it very much, because it is "The Best Deal", because it is time-limited offer, etc.

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On SteemIt though so called "Consumer Audience" are in fact people who does NOT buy anything, i.e. doesn't pay any money (or Crypto) to get that so called "Product"; they mostly even not interested in it at all as in actual Product which they would "Consume" or use personally - thus they do not even Click on the post itself, supposed Product, to really View its Content - neither in the sense of "Viewing it as Advertisement" (of an actual Product or a Service) nor in the sense of Reading or Viewing it as Digital (virtual) or Intangible Product in itself. Why bother if actual goal is Earning ROI, not the Content or Product consuming? That's something what Bots can do much faster and more efficiently and those who are "Curation Trails" leaders know better which posts by which authors to upvote with which Steem Power, when, at which precise moment, at which precise Voting Power minimum, etc etc etc! Anyway have to compete with all those Bots and Gangs (which also use bots). Therefore people who have no choice but Upvote "manually", i.e. personally, without using bots - because they can't afford to invest into SP, into Bots or CTs, - they eventually will also start to employ "Bot-like" almost automatic voting to one degree or another. In the sense that they'll also stop opening posts before Upvoting them or open less of them.

Is Content the main or actual Product on SteemIt ?

Content and its ability to attract and retain Consumers is going to be vital as it will be they who will end up being the draw card for investors ...

This statement is correct by itself ... provided there is real Content as Good Quality Product, not some substitute or counterfeit. So far though under name of Content / Product there is generated a lot of various junk for mass-consumption and then copy and plagiarism of that junk - sort of "2nd hand Junk". Such "Content" can hardly attract or especially retain Consumers.

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While genuinely Good Quality Content also still present, it is undervalued or ignored entirely, disregarded and dismissed in favor of "Trending" posts. Thus its Authors get discouraged and either leave or adjust to the environment accordingly: eventually change themselves, i.e. "bend" to the reality. That reality thought is such that there is neither actual Consumers nor enough Good Quality Content to "attract and retain" them. Therefore can't convince real Investors take it seriously. Even though basically everyone is expected to be a so called "Investor" here as a Hodler of Steem Power - but serious Institutional or even private Investors unlikely to pump in their capitals. In fact most probably majority of those "big fishes" (dolphins to whales) have made their stakes from early days, not invested their own moneys into it (or otherwise might have invested some Crypto out of their profit gains from speculation on exchanges, from lucky and timely participation in some ICOs, etc)

What interests Advertisers ?

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Advertisers are going to want to be in their eyes and staked users are going to want to support those who bring in and retain a Consumer base...

Frankly speaking, real serious Advertisers normally are NOT interested to Advertise actual tangible goods (well, services too) on any Investment or Lending or HYIP platforms! especially since there are too many other places to Advertise - with much bigger audiences, more variety and better quality of Content, higher traffic and more favorable conditions - and yeah, easier / simpler / user friendly too. besides, SteemIt always being proudly praised and promoted for that very thing: that it is "Free of Ads" ! 😋
Which leaves it at the same status: that main or only source of the Inflow of new capital into the System is from ... NEW MEMBERS! or Re-Investment of revenues by already existing members. and that is .... quite "ponzish" or "pyramid-schemish" in fact! a la "rob Peter to pay Paul" style.
(for example, yesterday I have been listening to Live streaming of "Steem Witness Panel", where 1 one the main discussed questions was precisely that: How to Increase number of new Users and how to keep them interested to stay in the project? and related stuff)

Conclusion: are Community efforts sufficient to be a solution?

What will aid the Consumer class drive will be the simplification of user interface...

Honestly, I do not think so! Although "user-friendlier" interface is better than "unfriendly" one or no any at all - it is not the main thing which interests and attracts genuine Consumers, those ready to Pay, not expect to be paid instead. That essential required thing is Product of Good Quality, in big assortment, at competitive prices! Other accompanying things such as warranty, buyer protection, security, convenient payment system and all related service, efficient and caring - those also help, for sure, but as long as there is that Main Good Quality Product. Without it - all those other things are irrelevant! Including user interface, be it simple or complicated.

RCs are a try-before-you-buy possibility for users and then it is up to us as a community to keep those who try here and since they aren't necessarily coming in with the incentive to earn directly, it will be the content and relationships that do the work.

Oh, but they are coming here with one of or even the main goal - to EARN! And to do that by simply clicking on that tiny round "upvote" button, preferably or ideally without even need to open and read that "Curated" Post, in other words in total "Content Indifference". Community can't do much to change that, because, well, it consists of similarly minded or focused individuals - who mostly interested to Earn, effectively and profusely.

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Therefore Community can only explain and try to convince that in the long run can Earn more than in short-term; and that "Investing helps to make it sooner and more efficiently". Perhaps provide some Support on their own, although personal and limited, as many already do so - because in one sense it is also another form of "indirect Investment", aimed at improving personal chances to Earn more - if the whole project develops and thrives.

Nevertheless, whatever it may be called or however considered, whichever forms take - after all it boils down to ... necessity to bring in more new members, who if not would become an Investors (i.e. Stakeholders) into Steem coin and prop its price - at least can become sort of expected "Target Auditory" for Advertisers, who supposedly may provide additional capital into the "Ecosystem". Although again: without Product of Good Quality and real Consumers who can afford and willing to pay for it - Advertisers themselves would not help anything, because they are not interested to do "freebies" and "giveaways", but also to EARN.

More talks about "economic fix" and
debates about changes of Curation Rewards

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So, with whole Community consisting of all 3 types (supposed Content producers, its supposed Consumers and expected Advertisers-middlemen) focused primarily on Earning - it is hard to expect that things may change on Steemit.

In this regard it is relevant to provide a confirmation of similar thoughts from another recent post by @trafalgar titled "Help Fix Steem's Economy!" :

Under our current Economy ... it is roughly 4x more financially rewarding to participate in content indifferent voting behavior (eg. self voting, vote selling) than content reflective voting behavior (eg. curation)...

We need to devise and implement a new economic system that rewards the behavior we want...
You get the behavior you reward the most on here...

So, as I think similarly too, that first of all there are some fundamental inherent flaws within the System itself, which conditioning and "bending" its users accordingly, encouraging, rewarding, "incentivizing" first of all those who are efficient in using this system for better financial results - not those who are Content Creators. That article is worth reading fully, there are more strong words used there which disillusion one further about present state of affairs.

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It is the System which is made in that way, encouraging that kind of attitude: "content indifference", which is more financially effective. And as long as it remains that way - it is difficult to expect that this platform becomes "content provider of value". Because it is Investment platform focused on "dividends providing" (ROI) first of all (or only?) and "encourages" that. While "Focusing on UI or communities as a solution is like..." (read there the rest) - it doesn't help much. Although a lot of opinions and ideas expressed about Community's role, here is one example.

Well, there is a long discussion under that post. This particular point I think is important to understand the VERY ROOT of the whole issue, the reason why System is made so, and the one which so far I haven't noticed others to mention at all:

You assume STEEM is just a Content Monetization Platform when in reality its a Token Distribution Platform.

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This I have already expressed earlier above in some other words: that in fact it is an Investment Platform, which main or only concern is itself or more precisely the support of its Steem coin Cryptocurrency, to ensure its price / value. It is simply being propagated and promoted as a "decentralized social network" or whatever else. In reality though its business model aka "Ecosystem" (more trendy "cool" word, mostly just a gimmick) is more like of some HYIP on blockchain, somewhat more "techy" and nerdy in terms of functionality, but hardly any different or rather even less efficient and professional (in terms of "economics") than average traditional HYIPs.

There are almost 300 comments of Discussion under that post, even Ned (Steemit CEO) has also participated in discussion, he provided the link to the chart by @cervantes which shows the list of Witnesses according to their opinions to proposed Changes. I'll not post it here (this post is already long) - those interested please read it there in details and explanations (and also almost 300 comments).

Another related post by @hitmeasap :

... it will definitely hurt the overall quality of the posts. As there are no guarantees whatsoever, to recieve more votes, true content creators will suffer. This will ultimately lead to more automatic means to earn and it will lead to more garbage... curators will continue to curate, and not interact... it's also a good way to make even more users on Steemit passive...
How about trying to come up with a sustainable solution to get people active instead of trying to figure out ways to fill your own pockets even more? All in all, a good way to make the rich even richer and to bring even more greed into the playing field.

So, I wasn't the only one who thought of "Parable of Talents" repeating itself here again.

Here though some quote from another related post titled Wholesale witness voting changes, due to some important points voiced:

While Steem advertises itself as "proof-of-brain," curation rewards are almost entirely tied to stake. They're essentially useless for anyone with a low amount of stake... The content drop is an emergency...
This is not a path to becoming a thriving social system with diverse voting patterns, it's a path toward giving rewards to a few privileged authors while boxing out everybody else...

few more from comments there:

This scenario seems more about putting more rewards into the hands of the largest stakeholders to compensate for the loss of the bidbot profit machine they were using before...
This change will make sure that those coming in leave in higher numbers as the higher curation on low stake is laughable, those who spend long hours putting together their posts will think twice about how many hours are put into the posts, if they are made at all...
Definitely this is a money grab to shift the pool more to those with higher stake...

Well, what this person says is quite astutely relevant to me: because this current post I have been preparing, researching, formatting, etc. already for almost 3 days! so, yes, there is a big degree of DOUBT: whether or not it worth it at all, to put on such efforts, spend a lot of time - and after that in the end, who gives a fart about ALL this work? which I take seriously. naturally some thoughts occur: may be instead follow the throng and post some basic stuff, just for the sake of appearance of "posting" aka "Content Generating", aha, yeah. In fact all the things I do research so thoroughly and then share in my posts - are first of all for myself. Because I try to figure out: is it really worth it? or may be better and easier just "do as everybody else", as System encourages us to do... Therefore many other things which @practicalthought has mentioned there (will not paste them all here) - are very much on my mind too!

Another good explanation:

This "economic" fix ... rewards correctly predicting what other people will vote for... Increased curation rewards don't make it more rewarding to find good content. They make it cheaper to run a bidbot service... Upvotes are not curation, unless they affect what people pay attention to.... Instead of being rewarded directly, you have to hope that enough people's upvotes on the articles will increase your curation share enough to be worth it...

Oh, that aggravates the situation further! Besides the facts that most users are not real "pure Consumers", that Content largely is of not sufficient quality, Advertisers are non-existent, upvoting is sold-resold and "content indifferent" or blind - now it is also evident that Curation is not a real Curation at all! isn't it just fucking GREAT?! :D

Revelation:

the ACTUAL goal of the whole "Ecosystem" is ....

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And "cherry on the cake" is revelation from Pfunk's comments there, that actually it is "Steem Power" which the most important and central focal point of the whole "Ecosystem". Well, my own assessment expressed above was close, almost to the point - that it supporting the value of Steem coin what constitutes the main and ONLY concern of the "Ecosystem" - not Content or its quality or the "curation behavior"! :D
Now it is clearer, it does make sense: because Steem (and SBD too) are easily convertible / exchangeable and sell-able / dump-able. While Steem Power though ... "is less liquid", according to definition! In fact it is not liquid AT ALL, because it is not a coin / token / cryptocurrency - It is just "a measurement". That's just freaking BRILLIANT! Even Lending Platforms couldn't come up with such genius idea of making up some sort of "Crypto-er version of Cryptocurrency": something more crypto, i.e. virtual, ELUSIVE than already totally intangible virtual thing like cryptocurrency itself AND more Valuable than it - because it not only measures the value of Steem coin, but in fact even stores (sort of keeps) it.

So, that's what is all about, the whole "Ecosystem", talks, discussions, debates, ideas, proposals: about ensuring that Steem Power value is preserved as

primary focus of Steem's economy because without valuing STEEM Power, Steem's overall value will fall to pieces... So giving value to STEEM and especially STEEM Power is important...

Because it is what holds everything together and keeps liquid Steem in the System as Staked investment. It is like that .... Force in Star Wars which Permeates and Influences everything !

May the Steem Power be with us, Always!

Forever More Steem Power

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