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For me as a beginner it's sometimes hard to understand why some posts get upvoted so heavily while other stuff is pretty much ignored. The inner workings of the voting system are not yet very clear to me. Hope to get a better grasp on it soon.

Bottom line is the distribution is not spread out wide enough yet for the "whales" or people with large voting power to see everything.. Then once a "whale" up votes a post all other follow them and up vote as well.

So it's basically a matter of perseverance and luck to be recognized in the first place?

Yeah I would say more perseverance over the long term.. But yeah initially some luck would do you good. I was lucky enough for bernie sanders to see one of my posts and earned a couple hundred $'s. . All my other posts earn around 10 - 20 cents because of my followers. So getting followers also helps.

becoming involved in the community is important too... commenting on posts etc. Your comment on this led me to your page and your excellent photos. I'm now following and have up voted a couple already.

Except time.. I know I only have enough time to read 10 - 20 posts per day before I get fatigued. And I am sure the whales are fatigued as well. But yes I agree and I try to up vote everything that comes through my feed that I think is good content. - Like this article.

Let me be the first to pop you an up vote :)

@pierce-the-veil: Understand your pain @freeyourmind. A number of users have brought up similar concerns including myself.

We are doing something about it every week: https://steemit.com/money/@pierce-the-veil/bring-out-yer-dead-a-steemit-graveyard-edition

Upvote for you, to cover the emotional distress.
Consider joining our efforts to fix this problem.

When quality authors start getting the recognition they deserve on here I'll be like:
commercial photography locations

Well said! I mean upvotes are nice and all but people should still enjoy posting content so at least their voice is heard. Even if it is to only one person. Just my opinion.

Upvoting only followers and friends so early on is risky for the future of this platform.

indeed. It's called circle jerk. And will fail us all if will continue this game.

Totally agree!!! Also I have a lot of problems in starting an Italian community on steemit

Thanks for this! upvoted

The problem is in the Steem Conveyor Belt System itself. There's too little time for posts to be seen.
Here is my idea for the solution to the problem. Maybe it breaks some laws and rules but I'm sure it's a good point to start.

Upvotes are like FREE HUGS. Don't search for a masterpiece. Quite the contrary, it is better to find hidden talents and to upvote them at least for motivation. It is more fun and satisfying :)

I have posted a similar post trying to getl members to check out the new page and upvote those writers but seems members prefer to check out the trending page where they have more than enough

HERE HERE ! As a newcomer it's so comforting to see that even if you just started, your not one more insignificant drop in the bucket. Thank for speaking out @freeyourmind !

That was a great post, you were one of the first ones to comment on my first introduction post, cheers. Also I need to stop voting so much lol, I have 80 votes in my last 24 hours and that is going to kill me lol.

Great post. We need more rants of frustration fueled by the desire to encourage one another to keep posting and stay positive. Us all, the majority of steemit users, can promote one another and level the playing field a bit. In order to keep this platform alive we must constantly contribute and upvote one another in order to bring about the changes we want to see applied. I'm on the hunt for new posts from any and everyone and will comment and upvote when I can. This is important because we all deserve recognition and acknowledgement for our efforts and creativity.

Love your "Upvote often" ideology. Agree. :D

That said, another reason posts get neglected is coz Steem lacks some of the "Discovery Vector" mechanisms that other social platforms have.
(They help content get discovered. )

Some discovery patterns on other platforms:

  • prominent notifications (both badge-ish on site/app, and email... I don't even know to peep a new follower's posts because it's not obvious when I get a new follower)
  • reshare gestures (retweet/repin/reblog)
  • suggested/related/recommended content (YouTube great example. Medium not bad, either)
  • non-buried Trends/Trending feed (steem does have a trending feed, but it trends individual posts as opposed to themes/topics. Upsides and downsides to this.)
  • prominent feed informed by social graph
  • other suggestions informed by social graph
  • better search w/more structured into in SERPs

For anybody lurking this thread and finding it interesting, I recommend checking out the world of "mechanism design" (part of world of game theory). I'm just an amateur reader about it, but I use it all the time w/I think about social platforms for work stuff.

I'll post soon about this stuff on my steem blog (which is mostly about social platforms and media distribution).

I read an upvote numerous posts daily. I believe that my content is good as well, but barely anyone upvotes my posts. I know the feeling.

Upvotes are a popularity contest.

This is my opinion also.