The Efficiency Of The Fisher Bird

I saw a very interesting video today that made me think a little bit. I also read virtually all the comments and comment replies, and found them all mostly enlightening - with the exception of the spam and troll comments.

The video was an analysis of how this individual distributes upvotes. For them, it wasn't about what the piece of content was or it's "quality", even though they curate manually. The criterion was if the post was "likely to do well".

"Curation for efficiency"

The post made me think of this bird I photographed fishing for food on a lake

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I think this video rubbed some people the wrong way, including my self at first, but after reading through the comments and replies, and giving it some thought, I no longer feel the same.

First of all, a person is free to upvote, or downvote for that matter, anything they see fit. As a decentralised community, it is their right. Likewise, the community is free to agree or disagree with their choices and act accordingly.

In this kind of system, different social ideologies are bound to form. You will have those that believe that the best content should get rewarded the most. Others will believe that they themselves should attempt to maximise their own income on the platform. Other's will attempt to do both - because, of course, they're not mutually exclusive things.

In an idea scenario actually, in the perfect world, both would be one and the same. The best content would be the most highly rewarded, and those curators would achieve the highest efficiency in their curation.

We don't live in an ideal wold, however, so things don't quite work that way. There are several things that will continue to make this a challenge on Steem as well. One of which is - who decides what the "best" content is? The consensus model we rely on is subject to bias.

Another problem is discovery. I keep seeing creators here posting amazing content, but they aren't seen. Or perhaps they are seen, but it just isn't efficient to curate them.

There are efforts by several projects, including some ex bid-bot accounts to throw some altruistic inefficient upvotes their way, but these are still few and far between.

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The fisher bird

Oh yea, the reason why the post reminded me of the photograph above is this. People that care a lot about curating efficiently are less likely to care about, or even notice any of the background things going on with upvotes and downvotes. They're very likely to deliberately stay away from what they might perceive to be "flag wars".

They are probably too busy seeking out potentially lucrative posts to curate, than being interested in countering what they may perceive to be unfair downvotes by bullies for instance. Likewise, they're likely to totally keep away from downvoting posts by larger accounts than theirs for the fear of retaliation - even if they disagree with the post rewards.

Basically, they are likely to opt out of being in the community and just do their own thing, for the maximum possible income.

So like the bird, they burry themselves in the process of seeking food, while being blissfully unaware, or apathetical, of what's going on around them

I think that's what's annoyed some people in the comments, but as I said earlier, I think this is a beautiful thing. Everyone is free to do what they think is best on this platform, and that is one of the strengths of Steem.

I'm off again!

So it's Monday, and I start working on another offline project tonight that will take away a lot of my free time - which is when I get to sit down with a cup of coffee to write these ramblings.

It means I'll be relatively MIA again for about a week, maybe two.

This is music to the ears of my newly acquired trolls - especially the ones frustrated about the fact that they can't really do anything about their hate. Sucks to be you. Keep reading though, and keep sending your insignificant flags and hidden comments. I read them :)

Sadly this means the human shield will be dropping again for a while, so the village idiot will be charged enough to hit some of you again.

For now, I'll see you in the comment sections of your posts.

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Peace and Love ✌🏿
Adé

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