RE: Help! Pay It Forward - Contest Theme Ideas Needed
I've not read through all the comments, but here's my take:
I have a lot of trouble finding even three quality posts to curate every week - undervalued bloggers I haven't featured before, are below 50 rep and such. I think a theme could easily make it impossible for some of us to participate.
Another way to mix that part up is to say that we should have three different categories of post. So, rather than three photography posts, you have different types of posts. Don't set the types though as you can easily get too narrow in categories and miss out some awesome posts that don't fit. You could even challenge us to find one non-English post every week... Lots of ways to mix it up, I think, I just think that theme could be too narrow.
I do like the idea of a scavenger hunt - or something... which rewards us for reading and reacting to the curated posts of the other entrants. I should probably spend more time on these posts myself, but as I'm usually running fairly low on VP by the time I've made my post, I often don't put that extra effort into it.
I am sure at this point that if anything is done with themes it will be a bonus type of a thing as it's clear that it might hurt the contest which isn't what I was going for. Just want to make sure everyone is enjoying doing this while benefiting as many newer steemians as possible.
Now I was thinking one theme might be a week of featuring your favorite witnesses. Why you like them and a link to any tools they support or other initiatives they support. So might still go with this one, but make it a bonus that is completely optional.
I would appreciate a feature-your-favorite-witness bonus. I have votes left because I don't want to bestow them on just anyone.
I did a lot of research before picking my witnesses, seriously probably 40+ hours worth. If you are looking for some to research feel free to look at my picks. Some will probably overlap with your list, but you might find a couple more you like.