I think it is great to see some very random but decent posts in the Trending section and that Antarctica post deserved some attention.
and these guys think so too:
On top of that, it highlighted another factor that has often come up, get paid to consume. I saw the post come through my feed as a resteem and voted on it at 50 minutes after posting:
I consider that not bad, and I am assuming the person that resteemed it to me did much better than that, as they should.
When it comes to ball-licking activities, I know nothing about that however, I have successfully built up some relationships through my posts and comments. For those who care, it is all on chain and the only things I do off chain are chat and plot how to take over the world. Oh, I do that last one on chain too....
I saw that post at about $40. That didn't stop me from voting, late. I found it on the trending page. One of the coolest things I've seen there in a long time. I saw the Boom up there today as well!
Getting paid to be entertained is how I put it and yeah, somehow, miraculously, since I don't really try hard to 'maximize', I earned over 15 STEEM in curation rewards from whatever happened a week ago yesterday. 15 in one day and for the most part, I'm throwing votes around at random, whenever I run into something I like.
Yep, it is a very cool idea. For the first time, a day or two back I added a couple autos on a small handful of people that I read as I wanted to test the differences. Since 95% is manual still and generally I vote mostly at the end of the day, not as they arrive so I don't think it will change anything.
At least through my eyes, this place is looking better and I am discovering content that I wouldn't have a few weeks ago.
I forgot to add, what I like about voting at this point is even though the curation return for me is less, I think the return for the author is higher as the vote value increases due to the curve. This means that each additional bit of attention is more valuable.
Even though it's less, late, it's still more than before. I didn't need a hardfork to change my voting habits. I would have voted anyway, as I've always done. Sure! It's nice to stumble into a post early and you damn right I'll try to get my vote in if the stars align like that, but whatever though, it's still more than before. Voting late does give the producer more as well, which is cool with me! I could be doing this another way, where I donate and that money is gone forever, then I have to donate again and again and again. Why though? That's the old way.
In your other comment you mentioned how the place is looking better. I agree. Still not perfect but obviously moving in the right direction now and I suspect things will only get better.