SteemMag – Steemit’s Weekend Digest #23: Of User Experience and Niche Communities: Chats With A Full time Steem Dev (eSteem, SteemPoll)…….. The Steemit Culinary Challenge… and lots more

Wow. It’s been quite a while. I’m delighted to welcome you to yet another edition of SteemMag, (the twenty-third edition), a weekend digest for Steemians.

Every week, I take a look at some of the most important topics and have a chat with top Steemians who have expert views on such topics.

In case you missed it, here are links to Issue #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , 5 , #6, #7 , #8, #9, #10, #11, #12 , #13, #14, #15, 16,#17, #18 , #19 , 20, 21 and 22

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IN page 1, SteemMag had a chat with @englishtchrivy, the steemian behind the Steemit Culinary Challenge. I really had fun chatting with her and I’m sure you will love her in-depth, fun answers.

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In page 2, I disccused with @good-karma, the Steemit Witness behind a number of great steem blockchain apps – Steem Monitor et al. I also had chat with a couple of Steemians on the Steemit roadmap

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A Chat With @englishtchrivy

SteemMag: You've been running the Steemit Culinary Challenge for months now… What inspired you to start?

@englishtchrivy:
It was the old food challenge which was the very first cooking challenge in Steemit. It helped me get noticed when I was a newbie here and I won 4th place which was sponsored by knozaki2015 that time who is sponsoring 5th place of the recent SCC. When I was joining I just wanted to get noticed cause my posts were getting 0 and cents. I started with zero and it hurt cause my 1st post was really cute I think. With clear pictures and easy tutorial on how to take pictures of insects using your smartphone - it wasn't a food post.

When I was doing this in fb I had lots of likes. When I authored a travel post here I was getting 5 while some were getting 5 digits so I was heartbroken cause I had several badges in trip advisor - am an expert there and here I was - like - ignored. I know how that felt so I thought - other authors would experience this, too. Without the help of others of challenges like the SCC, SPC, open mic and the collaboration contests hosted by other authors - the newbies will have a hard time getting noticed the more the community grows. The bigger we become the more difficult it is to even curate and read a post whereas with weekly contests like this - the easier it would be for curie and the whales to find good authors to support.

At that time food posts were not very famous but thanks to that food challenge many of us got noticed - @gringalicious, @meesteboom, @amy-goodrich and @celebr1ty were one of the people I remember who joined and were actively doing food posts and still are - although I don't know about celebr1ty anymore, however her folks or in laws - not sure about that - they are posting again and joining the SCC on almost a weekly basis.

When the food challenge was put into a halt, the food posting kinda slowed down. So I asked @jamtaylor to ask his wife to take over it - she was active too back then, in fact she was the one who discovered me when I accidentally tagged one of my post with SPC - but she has a baby and got busy in the end so jamtaylor said - why don't I do it instead so I asked him to help me approach @smooth since jamtaylor was the one who encouraged givemeyoursteem to run the food challenge back then.

That time I have a different impression of @smooth - I was scared of him cause I often see him on whale posts commenting "flagged for blah blah blah" so when I asked him I wasn't sure he would reply and I almost peed my pants - typing drafts on what to say to him. jamtaylor tipped me to go straight to the point - no drama and so I did the same with the other sponsors - razvanelulmarin, instructor2121 , @wingz. I had to wait for weeks and actually forgot about it though I saw that during those weeks that there was no food challenge many of the authors stopped posting like kenjiby, asdes and the others who joined the food challenge back then. After a few weeks, smooth sent me a message - saying he'll support it so I launched it a week before Halloween. These days I have a different impression of smooth he's not what I thought he was though of course I don't know him well still.

I launched it cause I wanted to give back to the community, I dont have much SP nor SBD nor Steem at that time and my voting influence is not really giving much when I cast my vote cause I was hitting 36 - 27% back then. So, I launched it to help newbies specially and somehow it has fulfilled that. When I was new and doing food posts I saw that there are food posts that are trending and most of the authors are chefs from the West and I want to encourage diversity of food post here cause in order to thrive we need to be worldwide and make some noise worldwide so I thought with the SCC we could achieve that - having a variety or worldly dishes would mean - a variety of authors and I also believe that it's not just the chefs who could pull off something that is unique and out of the box so I thought the SCC would give people a chance to show the world what they can do given a short time and a limited theme choice and it worked.

As you can see on themes like smoothies and burgers - several authors showed out of the box recipes. I find that amazing to have several versions of a certain food which would cater to vegetarians, vegans, carnivores and health buffs or any foodie. I thought if the ones posting in other platforms see that here, the recipes are rewarded not just being given a thumbs up - they'll transfer and we could grow. If the community grow then we'll have more investors and possible ads cause - in cooking - the wares, dishes, plates etc - those are all necessary right? Imagine Tefal coming into the scene sponsoring a user or a certain supermarket asking a cook to make something out of their product - like that - I thought of stuff like that. During the Steemfest I heard we're heading to that direction and I thought - Halleluja!

But the main reason I put it up is to help new authors get noticed, have the exposure they need to show what they could cook, what they could do and at the same time discover new dishes that have never been published in the net. In some of the SCC entries - that happened when haphazard-hstead put out a salad made from what we think are weed. Yes, now we can afford to eat cake and delicious food so we don't think stuff like that but in case an adversity comes - I think it's good to know which greens you can eat or how to prepare a certain meat and stuff like that to survive.

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SM: What are your favorite entries so far?

@englishtchrivy:
Honestly, I don't have any cause it's not my style to have such. It's more of which entries have impressed me the most and it was the homestead food, the flourless cakes and sweets, the beautifully plated food that are healthy and the gutsy liver dish. I'm a health buff so I like food that's been cook to taste yum at the same time with ingredients that don't harm our health but that's just my perspective and I don't bring that in the challenge.

I live in the principle live and let live so when the SCC was starting I didn't have a guest judge at all - I had to do the judging which I hated actually and made me feel sorta regretting putting it back but I just thought hard on how I'll approach it and somehow the 1st food challenge has helped me find out how I could prevent plagiarism and keep the participants amicable with each other cause we want to grow not be divided.

I don't have any favorite entries - no not at all but when the entry has beautiful walk through I can't help but fall in love with the authors work cause that reflects dedication so it pains me to watch the SCC trending page and those kind of post that are wowzas are getting cents. At that time especially when the SCC was starting, I wished I was a whale - I wish I have @blocktrades voting power or @dan's or @ned's voting power but then come to think of it - there's a prize money and it’s a challenge and just like what my husband said when I was having a hard time choosing winners during the 1st week - in a competition with a certain number of places of winners - the more entries means there would be more works that would lose than win.

When wowza entries come out I can't help but be grateful to the author because that means they're taking this seriously as well. We're not running a joke anyway

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SM: How have you been coping with difficulties/challenges you face running the challenge?

@englishtchrivy:
I just let it out to whoever concerns which part of difficulty am experiencing. I don't sit on it - I'll voice out to a certain participant who has a complaint or shortcoming on their entry or to the guest judge. Many times, I asked several chef authors to take over it but I got no luck and I'll be honest that for so many times I really want to stop it - specially when there were weeks wherein it's the same people that's joining - I was feeling like - the SCC was not achieving its purpose cause of course those same people are no longer newbies and it made me feel like we're just milking smooth but he is resilient himself so I just focus on what I want anyway - it's just during the weekend I want to help newbies so I thought okay then go comment on food post authors that are newbies and invite them.

We did extend it these days but I'm used to it so it has somehow become a routine. This week it was tough cause the theme is pretty new to everyone - for me it was easy to execute it and give a sample because I grew up with Paleo diet though I didn't know that its called Paleo plus i cook mostly fresh goods. It's not that famous of a diet but thanks to Steemit - it's the star for this week's theme and it taught the many of us in many ways. I have to say this theme has made me more matured in terms of dealing with the participants really.

It's not just me although coping and finding peace is an inside job I must admit that those entries that authors like @woman-onthe-wing, @iliana.duarte, @rebeccaryan, @steved haphazard-hstead and @pickoum puts out there - when they join ...those kinds of entries with unique and sometimes original recipes with very clear - high quality pictures lift my fighting spirit up. It shows that I'm not alone in here and it's not just the sponsors that support me but also the voters, the commenters -it's a team work really. When authors like kus-knee shows their support to the challenge or when you see an entry and find gringalicious encouraging the participants cause somehow she's an icon when it comes to food pic quality - when you look at her food posts you get hungry right? I'm not a fan of cakes but when I see her pies or cakes sometimes I crave sweets.

When you see the participants encouraging each other, complimenting each other, one of the entries getting recognized by food trail or steemtrail - I can't help but feel happy because it's fulfilling the SCC purpose - all of those are fulfilling the SCC's purpose.

More so, when an entry gets upvoted by a whale - that to me is like a huge relief cause it pains me when those entries are earning cents. So I think I just look at the bright side - and don't get me wrong I do whine about how hard it is sometimes or how annoying it is that a participant did not do the must do or write the ingredients - we had such back then I whine about such stuff and let it out cause if I keep it inside I'll definitely stop but to be able to pick myself up I just get back to the 1st goal.

Why am I doing it actually?
Is it helping newbies or encouraging other food post authors to outdo entries? check - okay then go on.

So yes there are problems on the way it's not a smooth road and it gets into my nerves hosting it sometimes but looking at that and focusing at that would just make it worse so I let it out and after letting it out I calm down again and if it arises again I let it out again - and calm down. Sleep on it ...but surely if its a problem - in my experience I should just solve it - face it sooner and deal with it then it's okay sometimes its not but I don't want to be hard to myself and stress myself out which has happened in many weeks you feel like its work and I don't like work. When I took up teaching I took it up cause its fun so going to work felt literally like play - but the SCC is different - it's an unknown turf for me so I'm still learning. I just adhere to the principle of pronoia - everything shall work for my own benefit and most of the time it turns out to be so.

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SM: What should Steemians expect from you in the coming months pertaining to the Culinary Challenge?

@englishtchrivy:
Sounds more of a question for politicians - what to expect from me - please don't. I'm not a fan of "I expect you to do this" - who are we to expect on people? I won't promise anything - we'll see. For now, just enjoy the ride and have fun. Keep it amicable - we're all adults - I would like to encourage more of let's lift each other up - so we could all grow and if you happen to grow faster than the rest don't forget those who helped you get there cause without those people you won't make it up there either.

SM: Food blogging is a big blogging niche. How can we attract more food bloggers to Steemit?

@englishtchrivy:
Well, I'll give a tip that works for me - cause I already see that it works for me. I tweet all my posts be it gardening, story , art, food post, photography - I tweet all of it then I post it on my other social media and that's in Korean it's not facebook my fbuk is pretty dormant these days. If you look at some of my posts they get liked by authors from pinterests, bloggers, too and so on. I tried to spread the words to my friends but they just signed up and stick to fb - I havent stopped really but so far what works for me is the twitter. I tweet the SCC post link all the time. \

Pimp your food post. From the title to the end. What does your food post offer? Only recipe ? There are so many free recipes in many platforms - how can you make your post come out of the search engine? The title takes care of that. Think that when you're writing - it's not about you though its about your experience. When I author a food post I take - vegans specially into consideration - would they eat this? Or ..a vegetable in season - and I look around how is it commonly eaten in my place (Europe) what something new can I offer so people would appreciate and eat it specially if its a health bomb.

It's not about me being able to pull that off - its about what would the reader benefit from reading this and if they decide to do it too. I always think that I'm catering to a certain group of reader - could be a fish lover, kale lover, fruit buff, a reader with lactose intolerance, a Korean dish lover who would want to learn how to cook it - like that. All of my recipes reflect that.
I suggest that they step it up. When I started my pics were - so so. I find ways to improve my pics and walk throughs. I try to entertain sometimes. I step it up cause we have to progress, check the trend go with it or start one. Just do your best and have fun - it'll come out naturally.

I think it would also help if - the food post authors would be properly rewarded. I understand that each whale has food preferences like... I noticed that some whales like bacon or meat dishes or Chinese or Asian dishes and we all respect that they cast their votes to those though some are randomly voting.

I wish people would think of putting their shoes on other people’s shoes. How would you feel if you were the author and you know you did your best to make your food post look mouthwatering, wrote a creative and clear walk through with pictures so even those who don't speak English would click it and be interested on it and would want to do it - that adds to your view outside the platform. That adds to spreading the word about Steemit. That adds to motivating the author to keep on producing content because they're properly rewarded.

How would you feel if your food post has clear pics and the one on top of the trending has whatever picture and walk through on the post even the whale who upped it won't probably eat it he was just randomly voting.

On the other hand, I also try to look into that scenario this way - if the food post author outside Steemit sees that - even posts with unclear walk throughs and pictures make it to trending here then, they'll join and yes they may start with mediocre low quality posts but who knows - perhaps later on they'd grow too and step it up. That's also another possibility.

Don't get me wrong am not complaining, I'm just expressing my point of view because I don't really have a birds eye view on what works here - I only have hopes that this platform grows and I wont mind letting people leverage on my time because in every way I'm benefiting from it too. Therefore it's a win win win situation. The newbies win, Steemit wins for growing and I also win if it makes its biggest breakthrough so - I focus on that. I'd like to focus on that and if this project helps make that happen - then it's going to be everyone's success isn't it?

Steemit is still a baby so whatever works for now may become obsolete later so we'll never know - things keep changing for the better these days. That's what they're promising and there are many groups like curie, steam-cleaners, virtualgrowth and Steemit in twitter plus the curation team who are helping authors on how to do things around here properly

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Wow! See, I told ya! I really had a great time talking to @englishtchrivy. It’s very clear she’s got a deep passion for what she does. Thanks so much for taking the time to have a chat with SteemMag. Best of luck!

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Check out page 2 for more interesting chats and features Thanks :)
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