RE: An Open Letter to the Steemit Powers that Be
Thank you for your thoughtful and researched piece. It's touched on a concern that's been brewing for me. I've had a few articles do delightfully well (I know, it's all relative - but they surprised and encouraged me) - and many sink with a thud. Fine - I'm mostly writing for the joy of getting to write what I want to instead of always just for my clients. But here's where the concern has crept in - I've encouraged all of my students to get onboard, to use Steemit as their creative release (rather than always, only writing about HVAC, for example), to stretch their writing muscles, to create like the wind!!! If we all continue to create content for the joy of it (reddit?) - wonderful! But I don't know if I'd feel as justified in indulging the luxury of creating for creation's sake if the prospect of getting paid a bit (as a sign of appreciation) became unrealistic.
I can't begin to understand the complexity of building and growing a platform like this. Man, it's taken me three weeks to grasp the concept of the blockchain! But I do hope - and believe - that the powers that be will gather a board of advisors around them that can steer this steamship through the channel that lies ahead. We're onto something good here - and it will be wisdom that protects it.
Thanks for the comment and the upvote, I do appreciate it.
I think in many ways this comes back to the marketing message and the mechanism of reward. I agree with you about encouraging your students and people here, the site is an excellent place to write simply to release creativity and try something different. The same could be said of Tumblr, or Facebook, or a multitude of other platforms which have larger user bases and more proven business models.
The message which has been sent is this is the place where good content will be rewarded and authors have a true shot at receiving compensation for what they write. I don't feel the promise was that every author would earn something from their content. If that is the expectation of a disillusioned minnow, I would say that is unreasonable. I d believe their is a responsibility to give them a fair opportunity to be seen and upvoted. The reasons I listed above in the article as it relates to voting periods do not give a fair opportunity to all.
My hope is that the powers that be realize, just through the churn alone and adjust course.