RE: User Authority, Resteems and the Drop-off. Stop your friends from trying steemit.
One thing that is weird (and unique) about Steemit is that most people here are sort of forced to be content creators as well as content consumers.
At this point, Steemit is kind of analogous to life here in Los Angeles versus just about everywhere else I've ever lived.
In most cities, for instance, if a band goes and plays a gig at a club the entire audience are simply spectators. If they like your music, they can buy your CD. They might decide to become a fan and even look you up, and go to your next show. Here in LA, a band goes to a gig, and everyone watching the show is also a wannabe musician. No one is there to be your fan, they are just there to ride the wave of your influence, or move on if you don't have any.
I don't really know what the solution is, but I feel like in order for this platform to truly grow, there needs to be an incentive to participate as a normal spectator. Someone who really doesn't have the wherewithal to be a hardcore content creator.
I mean, I do see that there are a lot of people who are just curators and have not really made any posts themselves, but those are the equivalent of the 'A&R' guys in the club that everyone is butt kissing and trying to get on their good side.
Just my 2 cents from someone who most mostly a lurker for the last couple of years and only started posting over the last few months. I definitely agree that the comments are where the followers come from. Comment sections of posts are the meat and potatoes of this platform. All that said, I have high hopes for Steemit and am looking forward to seeing where things go over the next few years!
@nuthman, you address a problem which I find also very interesting.
I also have the impression that there are many doers but few spectators. The content providers themselves can hardly interpret, criticize, appreciate or applaud the many things done at the same time if they seriously pursue their art.
I don't know if this is going to change as for every newcomer counts: the moment he enters this realm the moment he becomes a creator and does not stick to a pure consumer status. Maybe that is why the talk about SMTs is such a hot topic (as far as it is understandable).
Here, I think, the encounters between audience and artist are determined by the very nature of the digital realm - it's the speed in which providing and back feeding can take place. It's fast and often furious.
If one would treat a comment like a hand written letter, putting it in an envelope, writing down the address, weighing it at the post office, putting a stamp on it, than superficial commenting would not take place in this high numbers. But as the effort is little, comments get retarded a lot. Guess, we must live with it. As well with a much more massive amount of superficial content and "providers". Selection becomes really a task.
Sometimes I comment on months old articles but the interest in doing so is not being encouraged because again of the speed. Which wouldn't hold me back, personally - but the bad structure of the blog itself is killing it.
From a Zen perspective one can learn here to let lose of old content and not being ashamed of repeating oneself. Funnily, though the content is blocked in the chain its nevertheless long "lost".
I am really curious about steemits future.
@erh.germany you make a fantastic point, and I love the comparison to hand written letters. I agree 100%.
On one hand it is great that we can quickly and briefly exchange ideas, but conversely it opens the door to a lot of laziness and carelessness.
I myself am constantly striving to improve my writing and grammar skills, as well as expand my vocabulary. The age of the internet, somewhat ironically I suppose, has put these arts at risk.
@schattenjaeger makes a similar point, he'd even like to see a reversal, where the author only gets 25% while the curators share 75%.
Make curation great again :)
lol.. I'd probably get rich if that happened!