Feet on ground, head in cloud

in #steem6 years ago (edited)

Browsing through my Saturday feed I came across a Wordcloud post by @meno which uses a feature on Steem reports to produce a picture like the one below on most used words by an account. You can find the tool here.

I had never used this on Steem but, I have used the wordclouds for teaching purposes to show how much people repeat words and what kinds of words get repeated. People are often quite surprised by their range or lack thereof but mostly, by what it tends to tell about them.

I don't know how far back it looks but it says at the most recent posts. Here is mine:

wordcloud.PNG

As @meno mentioned:

if there is someone you don't appreciate on this platform, someone who you believe would benefit this blockchain by leaving it, it might be valuable to see if their language has similarities to yours.

The vocabulary people choose really can tell a lot because for the most part, people don't choose their words consciously, even when writing them. Also, because their are gaps in time between posts, there is generally a lot of overlap in the expressions used as most people's language works on habit.

What may be a surprise in the view given by mine isn't the words that are there, it is the words that are not. Considering what I tend to write about and from which perspectives I approach them, there is very little representation of negative, it is almost exclusively positive. The top 7 words might betray the direction of my mind.

| People | Community | Steem | Life | Better | World | Future |

 
It seems that even though I find a lot of challenges and negatives on the platform and in life in general, I tend to be positive about the future and its improvement. this is good considering this is what I am working toward with each step, a better position, not only for myself but for all others too. I am not saying I am actually capable of making a significant difference on a global level but, I do think we are capable together.

This sounds like a lot of positive Steem shill but, six of the seven words I use near daily in my IRL work life and, it works. Focusing on the right people builds strong communities and it is through this that healthier communication tales place, more cooperation and by default, improved life. Slowly, the world really does get better in the future. What slows us down is rewarding the wrong people and not discussing what needs to be discussed.

We tend to avoid the difficult discussions that lead to a better world but the problem is that the people willing to have those discussions are the ones who should be incentivized to keep going as they are the ones who will build the community infrastructure for change. Instead we turn our focus and reward the people who take our minds off of the challenges even though they are rarely the ones who are willing to get their hands dirty and build bridges.

People talk about misaligned incentives but, our own processes are not aligned with where we want the future to be. We ourselves as individuals are not incentivizing the right people. Not everyone is the right person to build a community around them but, everyone is the right person to support those who do build communities by either through gathering people or, removing the roadblocks to gathering people. Supporting the network nodes is going to raise the network.

I used to think autovoters are bad for the environment but, I have changed my mind under certain conditions. If stake is used to back a community builder who is not going to become complacent or entitled, then do it. If Rancho had backed ten invested community dolphins every day for the last 6 months instead of one poor trade analyst, this place would look different. If the circlejerkers had done similar, this place would look different. If Steemit delegated more to manual curation teams, this place would look different.

It looks the way it is because of who people have chosen to support with their stake. Even the bidbots could have been a positive force if they were more discerning with not only the content they voted, but who they voted upon. At this point, they don't care much about the first and nothing about the second.

The problem is that the wrong people are growing because the community builders see the damage being caused. The irony is, we could have had more influence if we had been part of causing the damage from the start. Now it is a game of catch up or be cut down whilst waiting for The code to change.

There is so much complexity to this platform that it is impossible to continually make the right moves to both satisfy personal goals and needs and support the community growth for future strength. Track record is a pretty good indicator though as to how someone is likely to act in the future. There are new platform/coin shills who have always shilled, ther are maximisers who ahve always maximized, circlejerkers who have always operated in that way and scammers who have always scammed.

The issue is it is the community builders who have always built community who are being left behind on a platform that is reliant on a strong community. It is they who are left filling hands, pockets and wallets while their own opportunities to grow go begging. The people the community would rely on in the future, will have very little influence in that future as they do not have the stake to wield and make a difference.

But, like the wordcloud indicated, there is positive to be had and the community is not lost. It is just going to take a change in who is, and what they are incentivized for. The future of Steem looks bright but it is going to be the community that supercharges and stabilizes it in the future. What is going to really make Steem very valuable in the future isn't just SMTs and all the applications that will arrive, it will be that those that hold it, just won't want to let it go as it is their investment into the community they care about.

We are where we are, the code is what the code is, do your best to earn whatever way you can but, don't lose the long-term benefits because of the short gains. The future is in the community you are a part of and your place is to support it, not harm it. Cross your fingers that the community builders and supporters power up and, the extractors keep selling. The price will be down because of it but, once they are out of stake and cut off from the community, Steem can fulfill its potentials.

Just like the words you use, choose those you support carefully.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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I agree with the idea of creating community to achieve greater success in steemit.- I am also aware of the importance of voting to reward certain publications, more for their sympathy than for their quality. I agree and I welcome the idea that the community must reorient itself to grow successfully. Thanks for guiding us!

Yes, imagine that I do not speak much English, and to write your good publications I must use a translator to analyze everything you say and express. and If those 7 words that you comment, with sane with you. Yes, we will be together and we will build a forte community and an improved life little by little while the future is going on. It is best to avoid discussions when one knows the subject.

Yep. We're not incentivizing the right people nearly as much as the exploiters are. This place will be a lot different if people actually cared to think about its original purpose and its future

There should be large amounts of support for some and smaller, regular support for many, many more. The thing is that this is what would happen if the right people got the large amounts of support as they would use it to support many more. A few hundred community-oriented large dolphins and orcas would change this place massively.

My world cloud reflected the threesixtyfives I'm running. Not very informative in my case. You don't do those and nearly all your content is original so you never write things like "Image Credit". :D

I'm really looking forward to HiveMind being released and laying a foundation for communities being built on a much more ambitious and larger scale. Whatever community has been built here on steemit.com feels a ephemeral in that sense. It would be awesome for Steem the blockchain to go mainstream in the coming years to form the data layer of services used by hundreds of millions of people. I'd be there waiting for the people who refused to join in 2018 when I told them about Steem and urged them to join as there was an opportunity to earn cryptocurrency without putting in nothing but what you're doing without compensation already on other social media platforms. It would be priceless to see the faces of the naysayers at $50 STEEM with everyone and their dog telling people to get a Steem account.

Speaking of bots, I got this comment a few minutes ago from a service:

"Hello markkujantunen!

Congratulations! This post has been randomly Resteemed! For a chance to get more of your content resteemed join the Steem Engine Team"

Something tells me upvotes will not be overflowing even after that resteem. lol

Yep, there is the potential for two very large bangs as steem booms and those that didn't join or squandered the opportunity shoot themselves en masse. Thos e who just couldn't find a way to post occasionally and engage well for a few steem a week will kick themselves at the ease they could have become comfortable in life.

I am guessing the post is already near the top of trending...

I am guessing the post is already near the top of trending...

A couple of strange comments did appear. One from @jehovaswhitness who said something very generic but did upvote. Another came from @dailyxkd and was almost immediately flagged by @cheetah. Do these bot owners really think I'm willing to pay for that shit?

In Steemit there are really wonderful people who are friendly, intelligent and wise. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of idiots. liars, and bastards here too. Just like anywhere else in the world.

You can make money on this platform. Making money is hard work on this platform like anywhere else and lazy people can't do it. However, lazy people will blame nonlazy people for their success. Just like anywhere else in the world.

Writing good content is important. People don't like or trust you almost as much when you don't do quality work. Just like anywhere else in the world.

People will try to help you succeed here whenever I try to help you succeed or benefit in some way (emotionally, spiritually and financially). Just like anywhere else in the world.

Friends and networks matter! Relationships and trust matter just like anywhere else in the world.

As you can see, Steemit is not a utopian paradise where we all present ourselves by publishing some thoughts, sing "Alleluia" and get paid. I know we were told that it's easy and quick to make money here, but it just isn't. It's a place like any other place in the world. The only difference is that the rules of the game are slightly different.

There are large communities in Steemit and within Discord to help us improve at Steemit and grow our accounts. There are also communities that will absorb your time, energy and life while promising a lot of nonsense they cannot keep. In many cases, they are no better than you in the Steemit world, but they want you to let them be your mentor.

This material is of my authorship and if you want to enlarge it you can see the post here.

I have said often enough before, Steemit is a microcosm fractal of the real world. The difference is that all of the poor behaviours are more visible here. This means that those who don't have a wide view of the real world are going to be shocked at the poor behaviours they witness here.

Hi Taraz. i do agree with you that this place would be way different if some of the bigger players got their hands dirty and supported the community. I have had my thoughts on it and just maybe the big account backed by the whale is a business arrangement. Why else would it happen?
You've mentioned the changes that will come in the future a few times before. Do you have any idea what direction they will take the platform in? What I mean is will it bring the community closer together and grow the platform. Tall order I know but one must hope.

I have had my thoughts on it and just maybe the big account backed by the whale is a business arrangement. Why else would it happen?

Definite arrangement.

What I mean is will it bring the community closer together and grow the platform. Tall order I know but one must hope.

Not as we are gathered here I think. I reckon it will bring more people in through fragmentation. At the moment, this is a catch-all but with new niche interfaces and apps, there could be many millions using steem and never needing to see each other. Kind of like an instagram user and a facebook user. Pretty much (excluding facebook scam business) the only way they could meet is if they use both. Most of the time, they are going to be very independent. But, say a platform like @dtube could host a mass of various content like youtube and people will filter throughout it.

It will look quite different with 100 million people. that would be 1 billion accounts though :D

That would surely push the price of Steem up then and maybe Steem Dollars as well.

We must always be humble and give our best to get the best.

This is the part that I like the most

The future is in the community of which you are a part and your place is to support it, not to damage it.

Not everyone is the right person to start a community, but not all of us are bad enough to start a community and help each other. regards

Thank you for posting this. Most people I spoke with are still trying figure out how to make money with steemit platform and how to get ahead with crypto, and sadly the community is the last thing on their minds. I think eventually it will play a bigger role and folks will care more about the quality of their posts.

@tarazkp you are such an inspiration and a prolific writer. The word cloud stuff looks really cool. I will give it a try. Keep writing, man. I really admire you.

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