After using Steemit almost every day for 1,5 years, here is my earnest advice for a fork of Steem.
Steem's biggest problem, is the lack of incentive to flag
It can be solved by making a curation reward for flagging. The problem is that it can be profitable then to bully people in groups, I am not sure how to make a mechanism to account for this, but we need some kind of incentive to weed out the crap on this site.
I am a flat earther and watching a person (@fredrikaa) working for a space agency making ~$4000 pr day, create a lot of pain in my Steem heart. Also many of the top trending posts are not interesting in my view. It could be that I am just having the same preferences as the majority, but I think that is not the case, but instead there are lacking incentive to flag trash. So right now it all depends on who you know and who you collude with. I have seen this problem since the start, and it is still there, even stronger today.
Here is my free tip for the Steemit inc, freelance Steem programmers and the witness's.
Steem on!
Lasse Ehlers
https://bitconnect.co/?ref=lasseehlers
Lasse Ehlers - Anarcho capitalist and holding a Master degree in economics from Copenhagen University, Denmark (M.Sc. in economics) with special expertise in the market of crypto currencies.
Lasse Ehlers - Anarcho capitalist and Crypto expert - I always know which cryptos to buy and hold.
My Discord channel for Anarcho capitalists, Crypto talk and Flat Earth conversations: https://discord.gg/ykSkACW
Is there a dis-incentive to flag? I mean other than a lot of people just don't want to be negative or judgemental. I see so much "garbage" but it does seem better and easier to ignore it. I do not want to lose the social media aspect of Steemit to system gamers and opportunists. Is there harm in looking the other way?
I'm in agreement with you @windrockswater regarding the ignoring part, even if I have to wade through all the stuff I don't want to see. I'd rather have more filters, or just play in the tags that interest me, than spend my time flagging "garbage."
As far as your last question goes, I've been asking myself this—what constitutes gaming the system, or being opportunistic?
My conclusion? Nothing. There aren't any hard and fast rules that I've seen (so if, there are no rules, how do you game them?), which is why all of this is more of a battle of minds over what will still be in the end an unwritten code of conduct (even though many posts and comments have been and will still be created on the matter). Furthermore, this code of conduct, for lack of a better term, can and will be followed or not, depending on the individual user's preference.
Something baked into the system like incentives for flagging would seem to help solve the problem of "bad content," but it might not, or there could be unintended consequences. It might change the game for those wanting to flag, but it doesn't necessarily help those who aren't inclined. And it would seem to give the whales more of an opportunity to bring in even more for themselves, since they're the ones with the most SP and thus with the most weight that currently matters. That, too, is considered an ongoing concern for the rest of us.
And really, what constitutes good, quality content is and always will be, in the eye of the beholder. I admit, there's a lot of things that appear in my feed that don't appeal to me, but then, those posts are all coming from the people I've chosen to follow, so what does that say about how I'm choosing to follow someone? I still have options there. I can unfollow. I can even mute and still follow.
As of right now, we still have the opportunity to make a lot of decisions on our own, as a single user, as a group of likeminded people, and as an entire community, as to how we will try to conduct our business here. I like that idea, more than the idea of someone else making the decisions for me.
That's one of the underpinning tenets of Steemit. So, do what you think is best. Try to convince me, if you want. I'm willing to listen. I will honor your choice, but I will not necessarily agree or follow. And you can do the same. Or not.
It's up to us, and in the end, to me, that's the best way, even if it is filled with some frustration at others' opposing views or their "garbage" content.
Appreciate your thoughtful reply. This level of conversation and dialogue is in fact the true value and can't be quantified by the amount of an upvote. Not disparaging the financial aspect, on the contrary it's integral to Steemit. A big reason we have this wonderful platform. I agree; it ain't broke. Be safe, be well.
Your suggestion is good lasse.. I also wonder sometimes how some posts earned thousands of dollars and others same like them are at zero
Yeah its been like that since the start, its all about if your friends are Steem Power... sorry to say it, but it is true.
Dont know much about it.. Coz i am new here.. But hopefull about future
I was curious if there are safeguards in place that would keep a small group of people from just continuously posting and upvoting each other to boost their SP. As I read it right now flagging just uses your SP, but there is no benefit. Being new though I am sure I have posted some stuff that would be flagged. shrug
Well, flags can be used to censor plagiarism, inappropriate content or disagreement on the reward, only problem is that right now, there are no positive incentive to be a good flagger.