Steemit creators this is THE BEST "feedback" you can get: Go undercover for a week as minnows
They say "put politicians on minimum wage and see things change".
This is a similar proposal.
I initially wanted to conduct it myself, and write an article about it ("Going undercover as a minnow for a week" - kind of like ...investigative journalism among the minnows) but then I got a much better idea:
Steemit creators / administrators should try posting as "newbies" for a week. In this way they will see, first hand, what isn't so readily apparent when having a high-rep / high-SP account. At that moment, they'll know exactly what to change to make the platform work better for the lower-ranking users and decrease attrition rates.
Alternatively, if they don't have time, they need to use some relative (mother, brother, sister, etc) to do the same and get (at least) the second-hand experience and feedback from people they know and trust.
I'm pretty certain the insights gained will be invaluable.
I think the developers already know about all the problems you mention and more that are not visible to you.
The changes will come eventually. Steemit, as expressed in the White Paper is a very ambitious massive project requiring incredible financial and technical resources.
Post the very best content you can consistently and you will be contributing to creating the platform you hope to see in the future. Just my two cents today!!
Yeah I'm sure the spectrum of problems they are aware of is pretty wider than I can think of. However some times immersion into a situation and getting the first-hand feel of it can still be very enlightening...
Undercover boss meets Undercover minnow. I like it.
Simple, brilliant.
Good! I'm definitely for experimenting more than for just theory - at least it'll give you some results to analyse.
I like this idea, but I doubt it will happen. I think you should try to pull it off yourself though, I bet it would make a great article!
I thought so myself too... but while it might be better for my ...pocket, the impact it would have would be less than the devs/creators/admins seeing things for themselves and correcting the issues.
"Undercover Minnow" Sounds like a good name for a reality show. :D
Indeed :D
Oh, after a month the problems are super visible. The White Paper tells you nothing (just checked), but right now Steemit is an amateur blogging platform (except for pros on the very narrow subject of crypto).
If I have one hour/day to read about politics, finance, sports, tech there are great writers out there that have built an audience over 10-20 years. These guys have written classic books... and are on 6-7 figure contracts.
In relative terms, amateur blogging is a low value no man's land that tweaking whale bot algos won't make competitive. It's not about "feedback"... it's about analyzing your competition.
Pretty solid view of the situation... although I'm quite confident that the high levels of attrition in new members can be reduced if some of the issues are resolved.
It just occurred to me that Steemit is VERY similar to Seeking Alpha, a site where both pros and amateurs blog about financial markets. So it can be done, but you have to target a competitor and TAKE their market share. It won't come to you.
http://seekingalpha.com/
I was looking at their stats, http://seekingalpha.com/page/about_us ... wow, 4mn users... didn't expect such a strong user base...
Sorry so late to this ... noob here, getting caught up on good reads ! Have you ever read Jack London ? Fitting quote (imo)
"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog."
One of my favorites books by London is "People of the Abyss "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_People_of_the_Abyss
Which is "in Line" with your post ... A reminder that not just sympathy is needed, but often empathy is needed to remind us all of how we treat others and to remind ourselves of the disconnect that we become oblivious to.
Thank You !, Very good post !
No need to apologize for late comments - one sees it when they see it :D
Thank you too - indeed, it's something like that.