Steve, my friend, thank you for saying out loud (some of) what I think...
I would personally value a PM system. My biggest "need" for this has come when I belatedly discover a gem of an article, find myself deeply desiring to compliment or question the author, only to discover that due to its age, comments under the article are closed and frozen. It would be wonderful at that point to be able to click a "PM" button...
What I have done as a work-around, is to visit a recent post by the same author and comment there... However, there have been times when there are no recent posts! :(
Another aspect of this is the time element - I'm already spending way too much time on Steemit, simply because I'm a Steemit Junkie... and if I were to join in any Real-Time chats, I would be doomed. I know that this has not been "good strategy," and that I would likely have a better following if I spent time in the chat rooms, but... Oh well!
LOL Great article!
I'm not sure having chat being integral to the system would change my aversion to chat, but you have brought up an important point in regard to the usefulness of a PM system
I KNOW that the nature of Steemit is NOW, but we do lose some of the value of past content in that
Yes... I find myself still wondering about the "long term value" of posts here.
I've read several references and comments in that regard, but have not yet taken the time to research the topic. I'd like to think that becoming an uncensored record on the blockchain would provide permanence to the work done here.
I've created my own Topical Table of Contents to help my readers and followers access my older work. But I'm still unclear on the "if and how" authors may be rewarded, long term, when others read and respond to older posts?
Anyway, glad you enjoyed True Confessions of a ☁️Steem Junkie☁️, 😄😇😄😇
the value of old posts is in their content ;>
especially for fiction by chapters!
that NOW component of Steemit's attention is on the financial reimbursement side; as opposed to the archival side of old posts...which can gain you followers...which can lead to more upvotes on the NOW posts ;>