A couple of months in, the problem I see with steemit
So I have been on steem for a couple of months now and my perspective has changed somewhat to the platform.
I started with the heady infatuation for the platform, putting in big effort writing on one of the subjects that is dear to me, programming. Things started off slow and then boom, a few big posts that really took off. This pushed me on to keeping up the effort and I carried on pumping out my work. Chasing that next big post.
Recently though I have noticed things that have made me doubt the long term viability of the platform. Looking back I realize that when posts take off they are not really tied to the actual content. Many times the vote count totally out paces the view count, so what is going on?
I believe the problem is how the reward system is structured. People chasing curation on posts they feel will take off and hence do not actually read what they "curate". If the title and image appeals they will vote without actually looking at the posts they vote on. On my "big posts" this is painfully obvious.
Recently I have run some experiments on this and started a series of posts on "Must Listen To Albums", when the album has been from a high profile band I have hit 50 odd votes yet the view count has been in single digits. When albums that are more out of the fringe then not real votes.
I am going to test this theory and make a post where all the text is garbage, the classic Lorem Ipsum post. My belief here is as lobg as the title and image match and the leading text visible on the wall reads well I will still be able to get the votes.
I will post the follow up findings when the experiment is complete along with the link to the post.
I do have some loyal followers that I interact with as much as they do with me and to those I am grateful. But I am coming around the the realization that many are here to game the system to see how much they can make for the least effort possible. This can only have a negative impact on the system :(
If you have got this far, thanks for reading. What are you views on this, have you noticed the same?
Woz
Welcome to Steemit.com
Welcome to family :)
It is frustrating, but there are people reading and enjoying posts, sometimes you have to wade through lots of rubbish to find something that inspires or entertains. The more people using steemit the better it will get and the curation votes will be a welcome bonus rather than noticable ignorance to the content.
Definitely agree with this comment. There are a lot who really read posts that they find interesting.
And I agree with your post too, too many accounts are part of a voting trail.
Yep, I get the feel there are many vote bots running. Some are obvious as they also comment but sure other remain silent
To offer a different perspective. I propose that virtually no one is chasing curation rewards. Curation rewards on this platform a fucking joke. What's most likely happened in the past is you caught some whale votes or large curation trail votes. If I curate a post you can be sure I read it and there are many others that do too, but many of the people with enough steem power to earn decent curation rewards are not earning curation rewards outside of their group of friends that vote for each other or else they just upvote their own content and comments to pay themselves to use the platform. Obviously I'm not speaking about everyone, but the odds of you getting a double digit payout doing what you suggested is slim to none and more than likely going to get your post flagged. Just my two cents.
I nolonger up vote my own post, vote for content that is content. I will also do it for those that comment on my posts. I see it as a way to promote real content. And reward those that are here for good content.
Yep, actually interacting with people is worth more.
That is why in my test post I made an obvious link to this article, to explain why I had made the post :)
This is not my normal mode of operation. I just wanted to test a theory really.
Here is my test post. Must Listen To Albums - Metallica - Master Of Puppets
My other posts were albums I actually reall like. But I noticed that on the "big" albums I would get like 5 views but 50 votes. None have earnt more than a few $ but I wanted to understand what is going on.
I am like you. I only vote on what I actually read, pointless to do otherwise.
I have seen the sort of whale in voting you speak of. A set of posts with the same 3 posts each earning the same $20ish.
Is an issue that seems to be hoarding this. I thought that curated content was going to clean the content to something more important and with greater quality. But seems that people only search the reward. I'm still hoping to get rid of senseless post and publication to a more thoughtful content. If you get software/coding/programming content I'm gonna like.
Yes I have to agree with you. The post I have put up with just a picture of my beer. Saying basically end of a long day. Made more than my bee video.
Another thing is voting no longer pays after, so I have been told my friend who's motivation is money. Not that getting paid is not a part of the equation. The money helps fund new content.
I some of the problems are related to how most perceive money. Most see it a an entity in itself. Instead of solely a medium of exchange. The other is steemit.com is built and marketed as a replacement for facebook.com.
Using these two items as a benchmark I think steemit.com is doing well. Users need education to shift their thinking to voting for content rather than fluff.
It's short comings and old fashioned philosophy leeds us to how to move to the best parts of the system
I have for many years looking for a method of rewarding participation in my own web application. Integration with steemit.com may be the answer to that need.
Been beyond my programming skills. Till now.
I've had this on my posts many times.
There are cases where the first reply comes in "way too fast" after I post something. It is the usual I upvoted and followed you, follow me back (quid pro quo Steemit meme thing). There is no possible way you read the post in less than a minute!!
The issue with the monetary aspect is that it creates waves of crappy content. And even if I follow some people for good content, doesn't mean they pump out too much uninteresting stuff too and sometimes I find myself unfollowing people I actually like, just to keep the home stream clean. What I like is that I often have the feeling that there are intelligent people on the other end. I was never impressed but apart from the forced positivity and the high ratio of low quality content that's here as well, it's quite okay.
Yep, know the feeling. And I have almost given up looking at the general new post feed. So much crap gets posted with very little thought.
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Wellcome 2 steemit