What Makes Your Post Quality? | Summary of the Open Discussion about Content Quality

_{An image from Pixabay}

Last week I conduct an open discussion on quality under Steem Sri Lanka Weekly Picks and Open Discussion about Content Quality topic. It went successfully, many members joined to ask questions and also to gave answers to filling gaps about quality.

This is a conclusion of what we all discussed under the topic. Questions were raised about the following areas.

1. What kind of topics we can write about
2. What are the measures used to determine the quality of a post.
3. Using copyright free media
4. How to use images appropriately
5. Using markdown properly

What kind of topics we can write about

This is the first question that came into mind of any newcomer to the steemit platform. This important question raised by @anusha96 and the following points were highlighted by @cryptokannon and @madushanka as a reply.

• We can write about our own experience with suitable photo clicks [ref]
  _{ex: A function you attended to, A work you did, a food you made or eat, a place you visited, the thing you saw, incident you faced that have some value}

• Content should be found helpful to readers and should add more knowledge to them. This is called "value". [ref]

• The content is called as a "Value-added content" when your content is purely original and readers can't get that knowledge from elsewhere.

• The content must be free from plagiarism.

• Must clearly indicate resource link to things that are not came from you. [ref]

• Reading maketh a full man. So read and review other's contents too

What are the measures used to determine the quality of a post?

It is important to estimate whether your content is quality before you post it. To answer this question @steemcurator01 supported. He pointed out the following things which is very crucial for good rewards. Let me quote it as it is to avoid any mistakes from my side.

In terms of quality of posts many of the guidelines we put out for the Diary Game apply to posts generally.

When we are curating we are looking at a number of factors including...

✦ presentation and layout
✦ quality and appropriate use of photos
✦ structure of the post
✦ quality of the writing

Perhaps most importantly we look at interest and utility. Who is the post of interest to, and does it add value to the blockchain?

This value might be through informing, educating, entertaining, inspiring...

What is the intended audience for the post and how are you giving them what they want!

[ref]

That means, your reward depends on the usefulness, creativeness, visuals, structure, language, and meaningfulness. So make sure to spend your valuable time making valuable content.

Using copy right free media

This is also raised during the discussion. The full scope wasn't covered during the discussion and need more research. Until that, it was suggested to use royalty-free images from websites like,

• Shutterstock
• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Freeimages
• Freeimages

And further @cryptokannon suggested to refer Achievement 3 : Content Etiquette which is a good guideline about best practices on citations.

How to use images appropriately

The question raised by @praveenw96 about images, @anroja who is an expert at using images also joined the discussion and suggested some important facts about using images. The following are the main points highlighted.

• Always try to use own photos

• Relevance of photos is important

• The images of large scale can cover the screen unnecessarily, so it's good to resize them in a proper manner.

• Using horizontal images makes the content more neat and pleasant than adding verticle images [ref]

• Make sure to describe the image as possible

• Don't put an unnecessary number of photos and make sure to add at least one photograph in your post.

Using markdown properly

@sandupi and @damithudaya raised questions they faced during markdown. Markdown is very important to create a proper layout for your post. It is good to practice and experiment with different markdowns to make a proper layout for your post.

• Achievement 4 : Applying Markdownby cryptokannon is the best all in one resource for markdown. It is good to use it as a reference when applying proper markdown.

• Use your creativity when formatting your article

• Keep it simple, neat, and readable

• Avoid very large paragraphs

• Make sure to keep space between paragraphs

I must thank everyone who joined the discussion. They raised may important and practical questions and almost all questions solved except question about copyright-free videos.