Steemit Is Changing... How It Affects... Well.... Me.
This is essentially a response to an article I read... because yes, I actually do read some stuff here. I am responding to the following post by @happymoneyman titled Steemit Is Changing - How It Affects You.
It's a good read, the video is informative and it did help me to understand some of the changes I have read about in other posts, but mostly complaints.
My Experience
I got involved with Steemit a couple years ago now... short version is I walked away a few months in out of frustration and came back to dabble once before this recent bout of interest. I didn't lose faith in what Steemit could be... but maybe more in the users and humanity in general. I expect the worst from people, and I saw enough to support that.
It's always going to be that way, belief dictates reality. If I think I see a broken system... all I see are the things that don't work and support my belief. Funny how we make ourselves blind to the other details and facts.
Anyhow... My Response
So @happymoneyman I feel did a good job explaining the future. I had a few good posts "back in the day"... some were paid well, and some weren't... but what was the same each time was it didn't really feel like it was being truly weighted. I felt a decision was being made.... was it "articly" enough.... good picture, good format ,original content etc etc. But it never often felt read or discussed. Just voted on and skipped over, not even knowing the full post was opened... or possibly just voted on right from the feed.
I can completely accept that content will be what drives steemit... and I love how it was described in the article linked as a human algorithm (helped me to think of it more as something evolving and maybe not entirely knowing what it can could and will become). I just could never get past the thought that as valuable as our content providers are, their contributions are nothing without eyeballs to see, and how could an active comment section not be just as valuable?
I think this is what I understand is being looked at. I am happy to see.... I find it unfortunate that I could not have stuck around to help it get where it was. It was a flaw in me and I am hopeful I can avoid running into the same situation where maybe the thing that keeps me from enjoying myself here is myself.
I am going to end this here. I hope you read it, would love to hear from you... and @happymoneyman if you read this... thanks for YOUR post sir!
I think that is the general change curve of steemit.
You jump in, pretty excited about the platform. Over time, interest wanes as it becomes a bit difficult to be successful. And then, you return to once again 'dabble'.
I followed a similar pattern when I first joined. I'm still bullish on the platform and realize improvements take time.
Yeah.... do you think it will stick this time? I am hoping so for myself.... not really interested in the "four posts a day" formula that was important once upon a time. But it is a nice practice to put your thoughts together in an organized way that you are then presenting to a large group. I feel I had to dig a little deeper and work a little harder... but the work was a little better as well.
I am just hoping I am able to not focus on the flaws and enjoy the part I enjoyed, with time I am freely giving and not hoping it turns into cash..... ya know?
True that, I would guess 90% of posts get upvoted by autovoting systems and very few humans actually read and respond intelligently and critically to posts.
Yeah.... that was the part that was hard. If you worked hard on something.... It was nice getting a good payout for it.... but that part always bugged me a little bit. I just felt there is a lot of value in the discussion of a post through comments as well.