Announcing My Participation in the SteemTrail Project

If you haven’t heard about the SteemTrail project, then I would encourage you to read the introductory post from @instructor2121 and the two follow-up posts from @steemtrail this week. Please familiarize yourself with this project, as I believe it will be a bit of a game changer here on Steemit in a variety of ways.

Why I’m excited about this particular project

When I first saw @instructor2121’s post about this, I immediately knew that it was something right up my alley. Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a detail-oriented guy and that I continually try to find ways to organize such details, no matter the type or topic. Some people would say that I’m even obsessive-compulsive. What they don’t understand is that disorganization drives me crazy – and that I can’t focus my energy on anything else until I can find some sort of order amongst the chaos. So, what do they know anyway? Perhaps more than I thought, as it turns out.

Regardless, since my first days on this platform, I’ve felt that the tag structure and complete lack of any categorization or organization of posts really does a disservice to the users here. So, when I heard about SteemTrail’s goals about curation – and organization – I knew that this was the project for me. What I particularly find exciting about it is that it’s a ground-up approach that can truly encompass users of all levels. The curation will be carried out by category-specific groups of users that not only upvote quality content, but also encourage and advise users about how to improve their posts for those related categories and tags.

The influence that curators in these groups will have will also be based on the merits of their work within the categories. Each curator will be responsible for not only evaluating and recommending posts, but also evaluating the other curators in their groups. Each group is essentially a decentralized meritocracy. If you don’t recommend good content, help advise other users, contribute to the established goals of your group, or simply fail to perform at all, then other curators can step up and take over and your role will likely be diminished. The project should inspire the participants to up their curation game and to encourage, advise, and promote new users in order to attract and retain them.

Users that have been here for a longer period of time can also benefit by participating themselves, or by taking cues from the curating groups where they currently post content. Combined with new user interface features still to come, there can be an extremely beneficial outcome for all Steemit members. At a time when the platform appears to be struggling on a few different fronts, this could be a welcomed shift from the current path – especially on the user attraction and retention side.

My role with SteemTrail

I’m an entrepreneur who works in the food and beverage industry and I also travel internationally for business. In addition, I have been a life-long writer and an avid reader of everything from classical literature and world history to modern political philosophy, economics, and science-fiction. Since those topics are my real-life interests, I have decided to curate for the food and beverage, business, travel, and writing categories. I encourage everyone to read these – my “credentials” – to get an idea of my work and what I present to the Steemit community in these areas:

Make Your Coffee Great Again! (A six-part series into my world of coffee)
Make Your Coffee Great Again: Finding the Perfect Cup (The sixth and final post – previous five are linked in it)

How to Set Your Rental Car on Fire – The Prologue
How to Set Your Rental Car on Fire – The Conclusion
Living with Regret: Thoughts I Should Have Spoken

My statistics and plans as a curator

I joined Steemit on August 7th. Since that time, I have recorded over 820 posts and over 1450 votes at the time of writing this. Over the past month I have tried to hit an average of 40 votes per day. Other than a few days where we experienced some bad weather here on the east coast of the United States, I have mostly hit my targets for curating and have stayed on track for achieving that average. As a SteemTrail curator, my goal will be to maintain that daily 40-vote average going forward.

For my role with SteemTrail, I plan to dedicate at least 25-50% of my daily votes specifically for posts in my categories. I mostly give 100% voting power to all of my upvotes, but if my voting power gets too low or if I’m finding a lot of good content, I may lower the percentage. However, I do not intend to vote on any blog post with less than 50% voting power. I have recently started upvoting comments with 10% VP or less so that my votes on blog posts will carry more weight, relatively. I don’t have enough Steem Power to give rewards for comments, so it’s better for me to save that voting power for the blog posts instead.

To receive an upvote and my recommendation for SteemTrail, I will be looking for posts that meet the following criteria:

1 – Original Content: Run-of-the-mill fluff that can be found pretty much anywhere else on the internet will not be my priority. I want to see creative work or unique content. I like to be intrigued, so intrigue me! Of course, anything plagiarized will be referred to the appropriate groups and will certainly not be upvoted, if detected.

2 – Proper Categories and Tagging: Posts that are properly tagged will be considered above those that are not. However, curators will be assisting with this, as this is part of the SteemTrail project – to help better organize content and improve user experience. If I feel that you could use better tags for your posts, please don’t take offense if I leave a comment about it. It’s for your own benefit to be recognized by SteemTrail and to be a better-equipped and knowledgeable user.

3 – Aesthetically Appealing Content: No, you don’t need to find ten pictures from Pixabay for every post or overuse headers and italics. But if you can find ways to dress up your posts based on the topic, I would encourage you to do so, even if it’s minimal. A single content-appropriate image can go a long way to help your readers visualize the message you’re trying to convey. A header, block quotes, or dividers can also help with organizing content within your post. A few simple Markdown or HTML codes can make a huge difference in your presentation. I will also give suggestions for this, or you can head over to the #steemprentice channel in RocketChat, where @sykochica and others can assist you with a variety of visual aids.

4 – Links and Citations: If you’re using images, even if they’re free from Pixabay or Wikimedia Commons, just mention that at the bottom of your post. If they aren’t public domain or otherwise free-use, cite the source as the original creator has requested. We don’t want Steemit to have a reputation for ripping off other creators and getting paid for it, even if you disagree with intellectual property laws. If you’re quoting someone else’s work in your post, provide the link to it so that your readers can dive deeper into the subject if they want to do so. It’s a good practice to provide additional information and the added links can help with SEO and bring more potential value to your post.

5 – Low Payouts: This isn’t part of the SteemTrail guidelines, but finding lower-payout posts is something that I want to focus on as an individual curator. There are already other curation guilds doing a lot of curating, so I don’t want to double-up on posts if it can be avoided. I won’t purposely avoid these posts if I believe they are worthy of upvoting, but if I have to choose between a post that has already been upvoted by @curie or @robinhoodwhale, I will likely go with the post that has not received their votes. Again, this is just a preference – it’s not a rule.

Users who already meet this criteria will have a leg up on everyone else. If you’re looking for ways to improve your posts and be recognized, then let this be a guideline for anyone who may find themselves in my curating categories. As stated, I’ll be sure to leave comments if I think you can benefit from advice on any of these topics.

If you find any of this to your liking and want to lend a hand with your own voting power, I have set up a trail on Streemian.com that you can join. Please be advised that I will still be curating other content outside of these categories with my personal account.

As things stand right now, each curating group will be planning on posting a weekly update for their respective categories. The details are still being worked out, but updates on this process will be posted as the project unfolds and more information is gathered.

My call to the “dolphins”

I have read a few posts lately where users in the mid-level range of Steem Power have become a bit disillusioned with curating and payouts – that their votes don’t really matter. I’m here to tell you that they absolutely do! No, you may not be able to click a button and add $40 to a post, but if five, ten, or twenty of you can upvote a post and add $0.20 to $0.30 each, it certainly does make a difference to the authors of those posts. If you’re not sure where to vote or don’t have the time to search through hundreds of posts, then join a curation trail for the categories that you like – or follow @steemtrail itself.

A group of dolphins can be just as good as a whale vote. You worked for your influence, so don’t let it go to waste. If you’re voting power isn’t being used on a daily basis, then figure out a way to put it to work – for other users and for you. Don’t forget that you’ll be receiving curation rewards. That’s no small thing when you’re joining forces with other dolphins and minnows...and possibly whales who follow behind.

The same goes for minnows. You may not feel like your 200 Steem Power makes a difference, but in large numbers, it helps. Just getting the votes is encouraging for many users. Make sure you’re engaging with those users as well. People want to know that their content is being read and enjoyed. A few words of encouragement can mean the difference between a user wanting to post another story or simply giving up. Time is valuable. Let them know that you appreciated their time which made your time more enjoyable. Dolphins and whales should be doing the same.

Time to wrap things up

I know this was a bit lengthy, but I wanted to be sure to give everyone a clear picture of what I envision for this project and how I will be using my time, expertise, and my voting power. Let me know if you think there is anything else that should be considered. Feedback is always welcome. I fully expect that the other curators and the Steemit community in general will be evaluating me. I encourage it. We need to keep each other honest here, give constructive criticism, and strive to make this platform what we had hoped it would become when we joined.

So, with that – you may now upvote and share this with everyone. I look forward to the comments and discussion. If you’re a curator for SteemTrail in any of the categories in which I am involved, please let me know in the comments or find me on RocketChat – ats.david – and send me a message.

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*SteemTrail logo courtesy of @instructor2121. Dolphin image is mine.

This is a 100% SP post.