Staking a claim on the Steemit homestead
A long-term mentality pays off in the long run.
I've had a few posts on Steemit that have earned me a fair coin, but I was starting to get frustrated after some more recent posts only earned me a dollar or two.
It seems like if the article doesn't hit its peak within a few hours, it might become worthless. So it feels like if I make a mistake and put the wrong image, the wrong title, the wrong lead-in sentence, my article might never get the attention it deserves.
However, if this system continues to function, as we hope and expect, then we could be receiving payouts years from now. The large payouts initially were driven by those few who had thousands of dollars worth of Steem Power in their wallets, but the since the first payout, that power has suddenly become more distributed. The minnows of yesterday are the gropers of today.
Staking a claim
If this site continues to grow, then it will make sense to see new life breathed into old articles. People will go back in time, searching for timeless gold, so they can upvote it and share it, promoting it anew, to provide themselves curation rewards, and to reward the author for their excellent work.
That means, it makes sense to stake your claim now, write high-quality posts with a degree of longevity, potentially creating a revenue stream which will last for decades.
Reputation
Even if we assume that nobody will return to those articles, or that the algorithm of the site favours new content, it still makes sense to take a long-term approach. Even though the "follow" user system on the site doesn't seem to be well-developed yet, you've probably found yourself returning to a certain few user's pages to see what ideas and stories they're cooking up and serving out.
By dedicating oneself to creating interesting content, with heart, you build a reputation which will pay off with time.
Make good art
I remember years ago watching an awards show and hearing Sting say "It doesn't matter if you perform for an audience of 10,000, or an audience of one. If you make music, it will delight your heart and uplift your spirit." I considered his words, but I also thought it was easy for him to say that, having already made his millions. But as the years went on, I realised how true his words were.
When I first start posting on Steemit, I thought it was great, because it gives me an incentive to write, and even if the site collapses before a single dollar is paid out, I will still come out on top, because I will have the articles I wrote. However, after the first payout, my eyes turned to dollar signs, and I got caught up in the idea of being a writer for a living, losing my focus in the process. Now, I must return to Earth.
Writing is its own reward. Creating something and expressing ourselves is one of the most sublime things that a human being can do. In the act of creation, you reveal your own divine nature.
Well sometimes a crazy reader finds old posts and learns a thing or two. So yes, creation is gift. You exercise your brain as well as inspire someone like me.
Writing and creating for their own reward leaves you feeling fulfilled and that's what makes us happy, however, it would be helpful if you didn't have to be hungry from 0 dollar posts. I think, starving artists make angry content more often than not.
Yes, agreed. Well, we can always look to our patron saint, Saint Bukowski for our inspiration.
I don't think old articles get payment. I think Dan said that once the payments were fixed and paid, that was that for that article.
Hm... well, that kind of sucks. But I thought I saw an old article with a few cents on it.
I just confirmed it, I think. I went to this 4-day-old article from @stellabelle and pressed upvote
https://steemit.com/nikola-tesla/@stellabelle/nikola-tesla-was-the-hottest-man-on-earth-here-s-why
You can see it has a single cent on the post. Maybe it just displays and doesn't pay.
Yes, that will happen. A payout of 0. May be changed though, it's causing lots of (valid imo) complaints.
That is not true but the problem is the curators have no incentive to vote for old articles which is the real problem. You still get paid as a content creator but no one will vote for you because there is no incentive.
It's a shame about 'old' articles, because there is some great stuff that I don't even see for days. I have commented recently even if an article is old, but I haven't actually figured out if I got anything from that.
I think that it would be worth it to be able to have a long-lasting conversation in some cases, or to re-new a conversation on a post because of new information that has come to light, for example. And it would be nice if the content creator could still earn as well as the poster or 'liker'.
I am on a local social site (not as gardenlady) wehre the threads go on for weeks and weeks- the political conversations are particularly long. And some people for instance blog a whole house or kitchen renovation which is a process that lasts months. The readers LOVE it and are constantly commenting. Of course it's not on blockchain and you can't earn, but it is a very good feature that would be nice if it could be here on steemit.
Well, people still press like on Facebook even though the only reason is to show that they like it. So, I guess it's still possible without a reward. But it's definitely better if the incentive is still there.
Facebook, Reddit and others have millions or billions of users. In that scenario there are plenty of likes to go around and likes might be worth enough on Steem that it might not matter. At this time Steemit is small though.
I haven't upvoted old content because I don't get anything for it. So this needs to change. There needs to be the same incentive to upvote
maybe the thinking that it doesn't get you anything must die here. incentive or not, we first want to write good stuff and like better stuff...i think :)
I agree; writing is its own reward. Do it if you enjoy it, and this is currently the best place to write, in my opinion, because of the community and the possibility of earning something from your efforts. But mainly, write because you want to.
Thanks Kenny