Should There Be MANDATORY Accountability Partners on Steemit?
The short and simple answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Did you notice the all-caps answer? I was yelling at you. Sorry about that, but I needed to yell.
So here is the thing. For me, Steemit is about the community, the idea of self-governance, and an opportunity to make a difference in the world with a small twist of defiance.
I feel that you have the right to pursue an accountability relationship on Steemit but should not required.
The complete, well-rounded response:
I do not think that we should make anyone have an accountability partner on Steemit, but I would highly recommend it.
Wouldn't it be great if our culture was so strong that we can continue to develop visionary leaders, capable mentors, and relationships with one another so that we stay accountable to each other?
Accountability with another person or a group of people is crucial to living a balanced life. When we allow others to hold us accountable, we allow people to speak into our lives when we are getting off track. I will not speak for you, but I get off track all the time.
- Do I want Steemit to force you to be accountable to other people? Not really!
- Do I hope that each and every one of us chooses to be accountable to others? Absolutely!
What is accountability?
For me, accountability is giving someone or a group of people the freedom to speak into your life (especially when you are getting off track). This freedom is granted because of deep relationships that are being built and requires grace, patience, and honesty.
@SumatraNate's Code of Conduct
Here are some rules that I try to live by on the Steemit Platform and in the Steemit community:
- Use upvotes to bless other people. I try to use 90% or more of my upvotes on others.
- Rarely (which means almost never) upvote one of my own comments.
- Try to upvote every post that I comment on.
- Write comments that prove that I actually read the post I am commenting on.
- Try to upvote every thoughtful and engaging comment that is written in my posts.
- Try to send a reply back to every thoughtful and engaging comment.
This is not my all-encompassing list of rules that I have in place for myself. And by the way, I reserve the right to change my position on these topics.
Final Thoughts
Let's continue the conversation in the comments section.
- Do you have a Code of Conduct that you live by on Steemit?
- What is one rule that you will not break?
- Do you have a mentor or accountability partner that helps you live by your code?
- How do you deal with people who act differently than you do?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/rules-word-cloud-word-cloud-agency-1339917/
Sounds like AA. ;) lol
I have never been to AA, but I support their efforts to provide accountability to others.
This entire article is what you might find at and AA meeting, except for there would be no discussion. In AA, YOU GET AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER. No choice. :)
Hello @sumatranate, it is such a great lesson especially for me. I do have my own code of conduct.
Thank for this good read
Regards
@el-nailul
I do ask for upvotes from all my friends.
I produce content that pleases me, no care in the world for the readers.
I don't get many readers, thus no critics, but I don't care much about what others have to say about my content.
I don't read many posts and thus don't post many comments.
Hmmm, I self-upvote with bots, so I share this point with you. Since I don't expect anything, I can't complain when I don't get a reward.
Thanks for sharing @el-nailul! I really like your code of conduct. Keep up the great work and keep Steeming!
You're pretty darn good at writing a catchy title (the entire post, truthfully), but the title made me click. I was thinking to myself, oh wow! what an amazing idea if we all had accountability partners! But I can't believe @sumatranate would actually want that kind of governance here?!?!
And then you got me. And then I was chuckling to myself cuz ya got me. And then I was like I knew I liked him!
My code of conduct took time to figure out and will likely continue to change, slightly. For example, someone said if you don't give yourself an upvote then why should anyone else? So I upvoted all my stuff. And, I didn't feel good about it. So I stopped. But that took time for me to feel things out here.
My Code of Conduct:
Leave the platform of Steemit better than when I came into it (through writing quality posts, leaving life-giving comments, upvoting good content, etc.)
I will never ask for upvotes or follows. I will never speak hate or disparage or manipulate others. I will, to the best of my ability, never be fake and never judge.
I am building relationships with people who I admire who appear to live by these qualities; however, none of them are mentoring me or holding me accountable. This is actually the first time I've thought through what is my Code of Conduct.
I am a non-confrontational person, which is not always a good thing. So, someone who acts differently, I try to see from their perspective or at least how they may have that perspective, respect that they are an individual with their right to their opinions, accept them for who have they are, and try to connect on our similarities.
Thanks@sumatranate for challenging me to think through and clarify my CofC. This made me a better Steemian.
I don't see myself as a rebel. I do like structure and rules, but I don't appreciate it when people say that we have FREEDOM and then don't allow us to live in that freedom. I guess you could say that I will operate in the box, but will keep pushing the edges of the box to see if they continue to grow.
Glad I could make you chuckle!
In regards to our codes of conduct, you bring up some great points:
And to be honest, once you think you have it figured out, they might change again. I do not think that I have wavered on the code of conduct that guides my life, but I have gone back in forth on self-upvotes and other important Steemit issues.
I really appreciate your thoughtful and genuine interaction with my posts. That means a lot to me!
Steeming according to a Code of Conduct is really important. It's the wild wild blockchain and there are no 'laws' governing, except the power of words and upvote/downvotes. If everyone adopted some basic 'rules of decency', Steemit would become a much better place.
I especially agree with this one. We can check ourselves and others using steemreports. Nothing is hidden on the blockchain: http://www.steemreports.com/outgoing-votes-info/
I use Steem Reports all of the time to make sure I am staying at the 90% level or better. I don't always meet that mark, but that is the goal I am trying for.
You are correct. Nothing is hidden.
Ditto on your code of conduct @sumatranate - I am time and again surprised at how few bloggers up vote well pondered, time consuming replies to their posts. I am loath to chide them for that though, not knowing the possible reasons for their reluctance..or would it be negligence?
It is hard to say what the reason is. I know that voting power is an important metric and it impacts how big of a vote we can give people. When I try to recharge my voting power, I tend to get off Steemit completely.
Thanks for the comment and adding to the conversation. Much appreciated!
It 's sound an ideal way on how to be accountable to others. I follow some of your rules, however should my voting power is too low, which is the usual case in me, no matter how much I desire to give upvote , I can't do it. Commenting/answering replies is good, but one should know how to ended it, for there are so many users we need to engage with, so many post to read, plus the fact that as a non English person, it took how many hours for me to make one post. I need to balance my time and the time with others here. ;)
You bring up some great points.
Keep Steeming!
Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue # 60 (3/1/18)
The STEEM Engine is an initiative dedicated to promoting meaningful engagement across Steemit. Find out more about us and join us today!