How New Algorithms Could Save Steemit
I read this post by @yabapmatt:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@yabapmatt/what-if-we-got-rid-of-the-trending-page He had a great idea! Get rid of the trending page. I took the idea a little further in the comments and suggested using algorithms to determine who gets to the top of trending of any given tag.
I thought I could elaborate on this a little bit more in a post! 🙂
The dictionary defines algorithm as such:
"A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer."
Wikipedia says: "In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems. Algorithms can perform calculation, data processing and automated reasoning tasks.
An algorithm is an effective method that can be expressed within a finite amount of space and time and in a well-defined formal language for calculating a function. Starting from an initial state and initial input (perhaps empty), the instructions describe a computation that, when executed, proceeds through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing "output" and terminating at a final ending state."
I think we could use some of that automated reasoning that Wikipedia spoke of, don't you?
At the top of the hot and trending pages, we see the posts with the highest pending payout. The problem is, the payouts are often so high because people are spending hundreds of Steem and sbd on bidbots.
Our current trending and hot pages may turn off a newcomer, or anyone really, from exploring these pages. The same goes for our hot and trending tags. Our current method keeps many high quality posts in the dark. I believe if Steemit changes its current algorithms, it could improve the integrity of our beloved site. Granted, I'm not a computer whiz but I understand basic concepts. Let me explain.
Before a post is considered for trending or hot, it would have to meet certain criteria first (regardless of the money signs attached to it). For instance, if a post has a photography tag attached to it, an algorithm would first determine whether or not it's copy/paste, determine if the poster has already posted, say, 3 times that day, and make sure there is a description of at least 50 words. Under the blog tag, or the fiction tag, a post would need to be free of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors. It would need to be at least 150 words long, and not be flagged for copy/paste. Even if the post made $1000 with bidbots, it would not make it to the trending page, unless it went through the process of determining it's quality. Really the possibilities of using algorithms are endless.
The benefits? This would give the little guys a chance! The ones spending hours on a high quality post that only make them a few pennies. People would also enjoy the most excellent content when visiting their favorite tags! Investors would be impressed, and lazy bloggers would have to improve to be noticed. Witnesses could vote on the specific parameters for each tag.
Some potential problems:
There are people who write compelling stories who don't know how to spell worth a damn. There are others who have very interesting blogs, but, say, English is their second language, so the grammar is off. They would have to learn and grow, or maybe have their work checked in The Writer's Block on discord first, in order to be seen at the top... I still think this outcome would be better that the richest being at the top!
Those in charge of maintaining these algorithms must be people of integrity and they must be held accountable. There is potential for abuse and back scratching here as well, but I don't think it would happen, as least not to the extent that it is already.
What are your thoughts on my idea? Comments welcome!!
Love, snowpea ❤
Image from Pixabay
I love this idea, but one problem with any type of 'Trending' categorization is that everybody is looking at the same list. This 'centralizes' viewership to the people ranking at the top. I'm not sure that model will keep working if Steemit is to scale to millions of daily users.
Instead, I would love it if there were like a dozen of different algorithms and listing methods, perhaps even implemented in such a way that there would be no 'default' setting, meaning that people's attention gets spread out much more because everybody's lists and feeds get compiled differently.
Decentralizing the trending page, basically? With the added benefit that if you dislike the current Trending results, you can always switch to a bunch of different alternative algorithms to compile it in a different way to yield other results - perhaps finding even more quality content than before.
A more personal experience for everyone, and spread out the reward pool more. I love it! :)
Hey friend. I still am figuring things out here but one thing is true about me, I never look at the trending pages. I don't really know how to use them anyway. I am just trying to keep up with my alliance friends. I am mainly focused on forming real relationships with real people and hoping for the best. Peace.
It's a nice idea to find friend, I follow the people i like their post, so I make use of my feed where I can easily follow their post and upvote them. So I don't use the trending page much
Many new people start there because they aren't following very many people yet...I look at it sometimes. Although since I joined #thealliance, I'm finding posts under that tag most often, also reading the posts of anyone I add to GINAbot (which reminds me, I should add you!! You're a very talented poet!) Glad you're part of the family! 🤗
Hey Darlin'. Lord another bot. :) I'm kinda old and feel like I'm doing another degree learning my way around. Thank you for the compliment, Makes me grin like the little boy I really am. Peace.
Well this bot will tell you when you get upvotes, comments, resteems, and mentions, also you can be notified of whenever a specific person posts, and more. Might be worth looking into... If you're interested I can link my post about her that contains instructions... (it's over 7 day old, not looking for upvotes haha).
Not that mine would make much difference for now. So with me it really is the thought that counts. :) Send it over.
Here you go! 😊 https://steemit.com/ginabot/@snowpea/ginabot-is-on-fire
Thank you!
You're welcome! :)
Who reviews flags for copy paste and what is a flag for copy paste?
Right now cheetah takes care of many copy/paste instances. It could be a collaborative effort.
That's the point though, it would require an overhaul of "authority" keyed into an algorithm. Such an overhaul would be counter to decentralization and that position of power is open to centralized control, and obvious censorship, it's counter to the principles steem is built on.
I still think it's a great idea, perhaps only in a world without corruption.
In a world without corruption, we wouldn't have people corrupted by greed, or any need to deal with corruption, maybe we wouldn't have decentralization because all our leaders would be self-sacrificing and with integrity.
I only respond to my followers or resteemed articles. I do not follow paid or trending blogs. I did when I started out but have moved past it. Thanks @snowpea
There are many people just beginning their Steemit journey, and don't know where to start. I imagine many are turned off by what they see.
The problem is that for an article to trend it needs upvotes, and even if you put all those different criteria to work it doesn't mean a good article by someone with low VP would get any votes, much less trend.
All I know is there must be ways to intervene...there has to be a better system than what's in place now...
I always did extremely well in English, and my posts have tons of spelling and grammatical errors. People who have English as their second language do even worse in the majority of cases. That does not mean they do not make quality posts, however. I have upvoted quite a few blogs where the English could best be described as poor, but they were still quality posts.
You of course already touched on this.
To require them to check in a forum before even post is impossible though.
It might be considered to try to reduce the level of copypasta on here though, but to do so would not be easy. The developer for cheetah goes through an extreme amount of effort to make his bot as good as it is, and it's still not foolproof. Occasionally it makes mistakes.
There are also photographers that are not good at writing, at all. Some even have developmental disabilities. Should they not deserve the chance to get a post in trending, just because they let their art speak for itself?
I think your ideas would be best implemented on another site that tries to focus more on higher quality written content.
A far easier solution would be to simply attempt to find commonalities with posts that tend to get flagged, and move them down a bit in the rankings. In this way, people flagging content that is abusive would have a multiplying effect.
The guidelines I put forth were only examples of what could be done. Your points are very valid and it wouldn't be fair to make people with developmental disabilities write out a paragraph every time they photograph. What's happening currently isn't fair to us either. Right now, 99.9% of us don't ever get into trending as it is, this would just increase the chances.
Perhaps it might be better to meta-curate articles based on upvote strength by curators who curate work with a specific tag. A one size fits all trending page is next to useless when people really want what's trending in their interests.
Maybe a trending page algorithm could look at the tags on posts a user upvotes, figure which tags are most informative and then built a personslised trending page based on that.
This is an excellent idea @eturnerx!!
I think the Free Market can solve this problem...
Steemit.com is not the only front end to the blockchain.
the list is only limited by someone's imagination.
I couldn't tell you the last time I looked at the "trending" posts. Most are only there because of all the frickin bots and the circle of whales. Just my .02