In defense of finding value on Steem

in #steem6 years ago

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What Steem is and what it will become is a topic which is garnering some interesting debate recently. It has always been discussed one way or another but in this moment the possibilities seem to be both closing and opening in ways which a least feel a little newer than before.

This is largely due to the continued proliferation of apps built to integrate with Steem. These apps use some part of the Steem blockchain to realize their goals. Note that it isn't really right
to call nearly any of these "dApps" or distributed apps, because they are in fact centralized. They are also not really "apps on Steem" because no code runs on the blockchain. I recently discussed this and jokingly coined the term "dAppish" which you are free to use :D But then again, this is so much nitpicking so I'll move on.

Conversations so far have focused on either lamenting or rejoicing in the demise of Steem as a blogging platform. While I have every respect for Steemit Inc., they have failed to offer a modern and compelling blogging tool in steemit.com, and alternate offerings have been blinkered by the example they set. With the rise of non-blogging apps using Steem many see it fit to call Steem-as-blog dead.

On the flipside there has been slowly growing excitement about the new apps, as well as the usual conservatives reminding us of the fable of Icarus in their own way. It's a point that needs to be made, but I think we can indulge in a little excitement from time to time. There are some really great products out there and as they cut their teeth and make or break it, I feel like we're entering chapter 3 of the life of the blockchain. See chapter 1: those first in; chapter 2: early adopters.

But you probably know all this already. :) What I really want to discuss here is the things that will not change in all the weather and tide changes we find ourselves in: finding value on Steem.

The fallacy of quality

In @taskmaster4450 's recent post, they dismiss the practice of prioritizing quality articles as snobbish, hurting adoption and stifling innovation.

There's one thing I definitely agree with about this position, and that's that new people are often told "the way it is" by existing users who claim some authority on how stuff is supposed to work here. In other words, they lay down rules and say "this is what we all do" without admitting to the diversity of action and opinion on Steem. We are conditioned to accept a homogeneous culture as it's what we find on Facebook, Twitter, Redit, etc., so it doesn't seem odd to newbies. But it causes quite a lot confusion. I've tried to do my part to encourage new users to look around at what people are doing for themselves.

But the real bugbear for me is the claiming that writing and reading high quality articles is elitist. Immediately this accusation smacks of the kind of anti-intellectualism that has gained currency in a world of highly processed media.

On the one hand it often comes from a place of anti-authoritarianism, specifically against the fallacy known as "Argument from Authority". That is: trust me, I'm an expert. I support this criticism. If I accept someone's ideas I try to do so on the face of the ideas, not on the status of the speaker. I expect other people to take the same liberty.

However on the other it claims that no one is to speak knowledgeably about a subject, and that anyone doing so must be "talking down". I think this betrays an insecurity on the part of the listener.

Perhaps it has more to do with the kind of speech used. For example the kind of speech I'm using here and now is the kind I use when I'm trying to be specific and meticulous. It could definitely sound a bit haughty. That is a cultural issue and a difficult one. It's hard to change how you speak, and hard to change how you hear speech.

IoP, the Internet of Preferences

What is the relationship between Value and Quality? I think that there is no one answer for this. There is however a key difference in consequences, and that is this:

Value is a language we all speak, whereas Quality may not be.

Value may be related to quality and it may not. In many ways quality is subjective and so is value. But value is an emergent socially agreed upon property of objects, quality is an imposed socially agreed upon property. This is especially true for objects with have no essential utility, and Steem posts fit into this category.

The founders of Steem wanted to have it all, and for us to share in that. High value and high quality. In the last few years though we have discovered that value is all that remains.

Here's another maxim I've observed:

Value is fundamental to the Steem blockchain, whereas Quality is a function of the interface.

What that means is that value operates on the lower strata of the infrastructure, it is recorded and we interact with it using actual blockchain operations. We "agree on it" by our usage of it and the usage the core blockchain code enforces.

Quality is something we can only get from an interface. Blog posts are the simplest case. I mean you can read the text (though it's mostly markdown and HTML) straight from the chain but 99.999% of people are going to want that presented nicely. But when things get any more complicated, with games, product hunting, videos, music, etc., we can only perceive the quality through the interface.

Doubling down on quality: a Steem magazine

I'm currently developing a project called Gleeming. I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be yet, but some kind of magazine. My focus is on:

  • Bold and attractive presentation
  • Externally facing (i.e. not the Steem in-crowd) packaging
  • Archiving the best older posts of Steem
  • Soliciting great writing
  • Renewed support for authors (evergreen) without hacks

I strongly believe that casual high quality blogging on Steem is coming to an end in it's current formation, it's time to do something about that ourselves.

What inspires me and what has always kept me here is the depth of thought that my favorite writers bring to their posts. Of course the rewards tap into your primitive incentive response but really is it reading insightful words that has been my favorite part of the journey.

If this sounds interesting to you get in touch, and get involved in what comes next. If I do it alone there won't be much in it!

Final thought

Should we happily marshal in the torrents of selfies, cat videos and gibberish dAppish encoded data on the Steem blockchain?

Absolutely!

Should we reward it or even down vote it?

That's up to every account-holder to decide and as long as Steem is Steem, this fact will remain.

Image source

I actually searched for "terrible stock art photo" to try to get a juxtaposition going on but I ended up stumbling across this image which actually really fits. Go figure.

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I don't think it's coming to an end per se. I came here two years ago to write fiction. Since then I have written both blogs and a considerable number of stories. It's why I will continue to come here.

I also write shorter stuff and I do agree that different techniques are coming into play. However, I think quality writing will always be number 1.

I write fiction as well. Unfortunately, I’m still relatively new here, so I’m still trying to figure out how all this works. I admit, I haven’t posted much, but I’d appreciate any advice you could give me.

I could probably throw out about 20 to 30 pages of advice. However, if you want you could probably look for me on discord @jeezzle and I can answer whatever questions you might have. I might even have a few questions of my own.

I think the steemit use of upvoting bots of damaging the interest in original works

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If we want mass adoption we need to be more like @surpassinggoogle's idea of @ulogs where people are asked to post about their life. Following in the footsteps of Facebook. Facebook connects people to people by letting them be themselves.

Another large internet presence is those sites connecting people to information. Search engine powerhouses that serve up nothing but links. So along comes dappish sites like dlike.io...

Another large group of internet users like sharing photos at sites such as Instagram. So along comes dappish sites like steepshot ...

For steem to increase in value we need all these options, drawing on huge numbers of users and then the key happens... Large advertising and marketing types realize we have millions of eyeballs. Something they will pour money into trying to coax a few people to try their goods and services.

"Quality" content is certainly a piece of the puzzle, but steem will never reach the moon without all those other pieces of the puzzle that bring about mass adoption.

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That's cool, somehow I missed @ulogs . For real there can be many awesome ideas for ways to use the content focused nature of Steem for some specific purpose. The magazine idea is another such idea and I don't think any idea needs to be as comprehensive as Facebook or whatever. We'll have the bigger projects but my person interest is in the niches. Niches can be good too though. In a way a newspaper is a niche and look how well they have done historically.

Renewed support for authors (evergreen) without hacks

What do you mean by support for evergreen authors. If you are interested to publish a digital magazine on evergreen articles on Steem blockchain, how about monetize it through Ads. The interface will support ads (e.g. Google Adsense). The revenue from the Ads can be used to buy back SMTs. Authors will earn SMTs for ever based on their popularity of their article. Hard to judge the popularity, perhaps earning from Ads can be parameter.

Bottom line is evergreen articles should be rewarded forever based on popularity (e.g. visits), however, it is possible to reward them beyond seven days in Steem blockchain. Perhaps an SMT with Ad interface can help it fly.

By evergreen I mean continued rewards after the 7 day mark. But it's not clear to me what the exact best way to structure it is or how to fund it. I have a few ideas which I'm chewing on but the thing that's clearest is that it's needed and I think it's solvable in some way.

I'm 100% against using Google ads in any capacity. I'm not against ads per se but definitely not by a third party. I have an idea for a Steem based ad network but that's another story ;)

You have a good idea. I've been webmastering since around '95 and all the gurus have preached find your niche. Something I really was never able to do. haha I have a hard time focusing on a single tree when there is a whole forest to explore. Perhaps that's why I still work for a living... haha

  • I'm really amazed that hard print magazines and newspapers are still around, but they are. They most all do have an online presence. Some more than others.
  • Interesting stats from https://www.statista.com/topics/1265/magazines/
    Each year $75 million is spent on the 7216 magazines which are read read by 95.33 million people to see $14.43 billion of ads. The biggest advertiser is L’Oréal SA, a world leader in the beauty industry.

Interesting stats and analysis. Thanks, I'm encouraged by this.

Interesting stats
And analysis. Thanks, I'm
Encouraged by this.

                 - personz


I'm a bot. I detect haiku.

The truth is spelt. Thanks

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You make an interesting argument. I don’t see value in Twitter or Instagram, but millions of other people do. Maybe we should ease up on the policing of content.
I guess the main issue is people getting butthurt about someone being more successful than them for doing less work. That would be a hard sell to many users, even if in the long run it meant the platform grows.

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Very interesting, I'm noticing many users of Partiko lately. Appending the Partiko link to comments is a great idea.

That's ultimately what the issue is. I've trawled through many a post about people complaining about "reward pool rape" but offering only the fact that memes and certain so-called low-quality content is more successful than their own posts, which they've spent hours on. I think spam should be roundly demolished, but posting memes is something most of us do on a regular basis. Yet there are plenty of people on here who think memes should never be rewarded.

One thing that I really appreciate about Steempeak is its Guaranteed Steem Minimium Income Tool. It averages responses on your last posts and gives you a projected baseline income for the month and how many posts you make during that month. I say all that to say: people need to temper their expectations.

I had a big, long fight with a guy who didn't understand that Steemit isn't Steem, so I think a little introspection on the part of everyone is a healthy thing.

Yea, i do sgree

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hahaa "butthurt"

People who get upset about stuff like that must not have spent any length of time in the real world. :)

QuoteBut the real bugbear for me is the claiming that writing and reading high quality articles is elitist. Immediately this accusation smacks of the kind of anti-intellectualism that has gained currency in a world of highly processed media.

Yes. I have an issue with these kinds of sentiments, I’ll leave my thoughts perhaps for an article... although I think my antagonism towards anti-intellectualism are a not-so-subtle undercurrent in my own work 😉.

Count me in with your project. I’ve also been thinking along similar lines. You can DM via Discord using the same name (Petah Raven metametheus).

Glad to have found you!

This awsome post shows how value can be represented by much quality of the content inside and not the visual quality of its layout and formatting. And I see also a value for the blockchain in your article.

Your usage of the word emergent is really fitting to the whole value/quality topic and like you have said it: quality and value are subjective.

And extremely relative to the situation, consument and context of the content (in relation to other content).

I also agree with you that we need these catvideos, selfies and mass consumption content to grow and to see what is quality for us personally.

The usage of steem power is up to everyone on its own but developers on their side should concentrate on future save applications with good UIs for nice readable content. The ideas of the dAppish sites are nice and fill in big niches of social media but they are not innovative at all. The applications right now are just implementing already existing concepts on a low level of integration of the blockchain.

Your projection about "steem is in its 3rd step" is nice and I think it is a good stage for the level of usage of the blockchain we are into right now.

But I really really hope the 4th will be here very soon and will target to make the existing tools / editors / sharing-possibilities better and more user friendly.

Steem is pretty UI-oldschool and really needs a rework.. I mean - I am commenting on my smartphone right now and there is no possibility to make the comment text field bigger. And this is just a simple example.

Thank you for writing and inspiring my friend! I am happy that I read your post and also used a translator to get all words right haha (a translation service would be awesome too ^^)

Oh ehm and your project sounds really interesting ! I would like to help you with something - if you need help with I don't know what ^^ I can script python a bit, programming c# make graphical stuff and so on and I am active in some discords / can promote and test and what ever.. so let me know hihi

I think, you are right

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I think, you are right

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Returning to the platform after a significant time off I noticed that I could no longer expect ~$20 for a quality post. My most recent scholarly article (that has exited it's payout time) garnered a measly $4.57. I don't know if this is the result of my long absence or some disappointing new trend in the platform. For example, I notice your post has a slew of "pay to upvote" bots pumping up its value. While this doesn't break any rules, it certainly violates the spirit of the platform.

Regardless, I welcome the idea of a slick "SteemIt Magazine."

By the by, I'd like for the "academic" tag to get more use. My intention is for it to be used on articles of high enough quality they could be submitted at the university level—or, in my case, actually are papers I've submitted with some images added. This to distinguish it from other "education" posts.

Bots have taken over steemit and are what is what now unfortunately, has been for a good little bit. Proof of Brain has become Proof of Bot Use. Actual quality posts go by the wayside never to be seen while stolen content, stolen memes and shitposts roll in the bank.

Things have definitely changed but in my experience they were always changing, one month to the next. Remember the whale experiment? That really threw a lot of things out. There have been eras.

However yes you're right, today writers of interesting stuff don't get rewarded as well. The focus has shifted more to return on investment that curation. We have to roll with it. So there comes this idea for a magazine.

I'll go into more detail next time but it would have sections if done right. Academic / scholarly might be too narrow, can you think of a good parent category for that that doesn't dilute it?

Upvote bots are damaging the community

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Quality is somewhat part of playing the game here I think. It isn't needed but, it is an approach that can attract a different audience. I am pretty sure that if I had posted memes and selfies instead of what I have done, I wouldn't have had the opportunities I have had.

Not everyone can do the same though which creates barriers to entry and a competitive advantage for those who can. The audience may not be as large but the audience who enjoys it find enough value in it to reward it. It comes down to tastes and preferences as well as perception of what holds value.

It sounds like an interesting project and I am keen to find out community reactions. I do think that Steem needs to start facing outward though as there is a lot of internal marketing but that does little for adoption.

Right, so that's why specific bApps / dAppish apps can help to keep the dream alive. We can just expect the main feed to become like what it looks like if you were to aggregate everything Google transmits to a single stream ... our feeds are likely to trend towards chaos. It won't be long before front end interfaces stop using it.

We shall see what people make of Gleeming. I'll do a little demo release soon I hope that people can play with.

It won't be long before front end interfaces stop using it

I am surprised they include it at all in the UI. It would likely be more beneficial for them if instead of including all Steem trending, they filtered it to be Trending posted through their particular app. This would mean that those who use it would have more chance to appear in that Trending section at least.

Keep it coming

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Keep it coming

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All I really want is readers.

I recently wrote this to @minismallholding:

"littlebitfarm (55) · 13 hours ago
I was posting somewhere else that it would be great if there were topics that we could choose to have our posts bubble around in for a length of time. I'm not sure how to construct that, but maybe some sort of time constraint. So say you choose homesteading, then your post will bubble in the homesteading section for say 48 hours. So it's like post juggling through some sort of algorithm. Perhaps you could only choose one or two posts a week to bubble, or something like that! I think of it like the balls in a bingo game, bubbling around. I don't know, but there has to be a good way to make it more effective. I'm not suggesting in anyway that I have all the answers, lol!"

Bots don't read, and respond! I have one account. I actually write my own poetry, fiction, and non-fiction for. I also post my own art, and take my own photography! Yet I cannot get anybody to read, because my posts sink to the bottom like a stone! It's very disheartening! It caused me to take a several month break, which didn't help! I am the real deal, but there is little to no benefit to it!

Interesting concept of "bubbling". I guess the more fundamental question is how are people consuming content? How can we improve that?

I think the whole concept being explored here is excellent! However, it's not enough to get participants. You have to keep them coming back for more. Seriously, I am not just complaining. I'm trying to put forward ideas.

Bots may not read, but if exposure is what you want, using some promotion bots can help you get it. Maybe it shouldn't have to be like that, but it is.

That's one of the things I'm interested in providing alternatives to.

I’m interested in making sure that long posts still are being written too because I have found this aspect very enriching... maybe @rhondak would be interested in this project?

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Feel free to hook me up

Great post very thought-provoking and I read every word

You are a genius

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Maybe what needs to happen is an app developer creates a Medium competitor on Steem

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I don't think so, but maybe. Medium is extremely broad and you can class it as social media almost on account of that. I'm thinking of something more focused and specific.

Dear my friend, i appreciate what do you write about of the value of Steemit and in my opinion you really find the main problem, the people interaction instead of trying to make money. I am an active member of a very nice service named @steem-bounty where the main point is to write comments and find new friends, as Steemit should be i think...

Bid bot comment graveyard before

Whoa it's pretty intense !

I see Steemit as a business platform and not merely a blogging platform. The success of Steemmonsters is enough proof that businesses too can leverage on Steemit to become very profitable.

I think Steem has the potential to grow. Although content quality on the frontpage is low, there are many pockets of high quality content on the platform.

I agree the whole 'valuable content' feels a bit restrictive.

Steem is about seeing a return for posting, for once. We don't have to be restricted by Steemit all the time. Steempeak allows you to bookmark, search topics, save favourite posters, and find new ones. That's a win win! for finding and supporting regular or at least, serious content creators.

Steempress should see existing wordpress bloggers (serious ones) adopting a plugin that allows them to earn additional returns from content creating. That should open up the field.

I think Steem is great for all this. No worries. It just needs more people to tap into this blockchain, not feel restricted by it Steemit, but just... see it as an additional or vital part of their current online activities.

I'm pretty sure there will be different SMTs for different types of content.

Not everyone can or should write "elitest" high quality posts. I don't want to sound mean, but many of the new users (starting late '17 / early '18) are from 3rd world countries and nobody can expect from them to write high quality blog-posts as yours.

And we are currently at a time, where many different people are on Steem at the same time. And everyone wants to have some form of success. 1 USD won't buy me anything serious in my country, but in other countries - you can get a whole meal out of that.

That's why you see so many (or saw; especially in early 2018) youtube-rip-off posts & plagiarisms. Again, not everyone is able to write posts or let alone write good enough english (ok sir?).


And to end this comment with an interesting point:

My opinion is that high quality is often getting used for dick-measurements. Oh look at how big my much quality my posts have. I've spent so much time stroking writing it. And yours? Just a few seconds. This doesn't deserve any votes.

I really like your post and I think that it's well written and well thought, but reading it takes brain power. And sometimes, you just want to read a bernie shit-post with a bit of humor; regardless if it's true or not.

But I wish you all the best with Gleeming (pretty cool name).

I think you're largely correct and I enjoyed your honesty and humor. I've seen time and time again authors not engaging with their commenters, churning out wordy nonsense and being arrogant to boot.

I don't think everyone should write super in-depth posts, or that those who don't should be punished or ridiculed. I do however defend those who choose to attempt the in-depth path as a pretty normal angle on trying to build an audience. It might be for personal gain, to advance (or shill) certain ideas or just for the fun of it but it's not necessarily elitist. Thinking hard and writing about it is important and again, very very normal.

We are now in a world where so much knowledge is available that self study by almost anyone with the time is possible, and possibly life changing. The elites have lost a lot of their control of knowledge and I think that trend will continue massively. I advocate throwing off the appearance of elitism from knowledge as something standing in the way of it's normalcy.

Good point on the scammers and frauds. It is a litmus test for what gets rewards. However rather than see it as exposing a requirement on authors, as you suggest, you can see it as the lowest cost / highest chance solution for the scammer so I think you're looking at it backwards (but not wrong). It shows (a) that copy pasta is cheap and (b) there is a good chance of reward for something deep and interesting.

But as I said bring on the cats etc., but expect everyone to be into what they're into.

I do not have much to tell you. First, I loved your post, second, I, as a Hispanic, am impressed by the simple fact that there is a social network capable of paying you. I do not totally agree with the adoption of old users who try to authorize new ones, they only think in making money although at the time you fall in love with the good way to post, the page only asks us for quality content where anyone can see what is interesting, the best point of view that I have observed in my little time in Steemit is yours, I am also new, greetings from Venezuela!!

[...] the page only asks us for quality content where anyone can see what is interesting [...]

This says it all! Thank you.

you're welcome :p

As you point out this is an interface issue not a blockchain issue. People have issue with the ranking system which uses post rewards which do not reflect quality. You don't have to change the blockchain to fix that; just the way the interface rank quality. The irony is that people come here to escape the dreaded quality algorithm of FB and IG but then are upset when they see another ranking system. I don't think quality is dead; it is just living in the sub communities here on the platform and this will become more the case when the communities features roll out.

There are people working hard on alternative interfaces like steempeak.com who are doing a great job at improving the user experience. I could never go back to steemit.com I am happy for steemit inc to focus on HF and implementing things like the SMTs as that is the long term future for the blockchain . They are not graphic design interface experts. The steemit.com interface was just there to demonstrate the possibilities; there is nothing stopping people creating their own unique interfaces with their own ranking of posts by unique quality algorithms. I hope you proceed with Gleeming; it sounds like a good initiative. If you need any photos for it let me know ;-)

But the real bugbear for me is the claiming that writing and reading high quality articles is elitist. Immediately this accusation smacks of the kind of anti-intellectualism that has gained currency in a world of highly processed media.

I'm glad you said this. We seem to live in a world where everyone thinks everything should be done their way and their way alone. When one side complains that they are not being accepted, their solution ends up being, beat the other side down and effectively do the same thing by not accepting them.

My hope is that the Steem blockchain is here to allow everyone to use it as they see fit. It bugs me too, that people will try and tell newcomers how they should do things. If you want to post selfies, go for it. You probably won't get my upvote, but that's okay. I know what I like and you know what you like. Just don't complain if someone with a high vote doesn't want to vote on it either.

I've resorted to just posting memes now. Months ago my content was better, and when i first started I was enthused about making good content, but I've lost interest... Glad to see the community is still pressing on.

Oh no :( Hope you find your drive to start creating higher quality content on Steem again

Understandable if you've lost your audience. It's not just about the rewards but the audience they may represent.

The problem is, when you spend hours on great content, and then nobody reads, comments, or upvotes, then you feel that your time is wasted.

I like that you finish off with the “it’s up to steem to decide” vibe. Upvoting is exactly what it explains, voting. Every day we get a day in what we like and don’t like on the platform through votes. As long as everyone has an equal voice on the platform (which is a different argument entirely), then a quasi democracy of thought and ideals shall prevail.

Yes that's what we have, though "equal voice" is defined as "one share one vote" instead of "one account one vote".

This is true, as a new comer I've faced this "the way it is" situation, and that in my opinion kills innovation and leads to plagiarism, great post.

I'm interested in Gleeming as you've presented it. Have you used Flipboard?

Yes Flipboard is a great example of the kind of design world and also broad functionality direction I'm talking about.

That sounds cool! Would definitely be interested in such a thing: particularly if you're looking for content creators.

Yep, I will be. Stay tuned.

I honestly prefer bApps. Blockchain Apps, even though most wouldn’t need the blockchain, the blockchain is an integral part of their setup and functioning.

Another nice coinage! I might start using that instead as the positive, and dAppish as the negative.

For me it doesn't really matter if Stemit dors not allow for smart contracts. Steem monsters is proof that you can build a really cool blockchain game without the use of smart contracts. Who cares if it uses smart contracts as long as it interacts with the blockchain. There are a great deal of cons when it comes to smart contracts and yes therr are also pros to using smart contracts.

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A really good article. I agree with the comment by @wizardave. Enabling people to be themselves is key. With that comes the acceptance of the nonsense that seems to dominate. But there are quality bloggers within the platform. Whilst I by no means intend to promote myself, I came to this platform because I believe there is certainly a niche for myself. I think that exists for everyone with original content; it's just how do we identify it.

I suppose that is the nature of counterculture and you may see that develop further within the platform. An example being @erikah and #sevendaysoutside. A great little project, quite niche but also a lot of fun. I know what I'm looking for when I join in and I get what I want from it.

It seems that there are groups of Steemians creating ways to identify and regulate quality control within set parameters; such as the focus for your magazine. And for those that do not agree with the particular quality measures - they have the absolute right and, equal ability, to create their own quality measures within their community. I mean overall, as a new user, it seems to me that Steemit is the platform. The world. And we have the ability to create our own communities within that. Respecting each other and our differences and moving forward to filter or not, as we see fit. That is true freedom I suppose. I can truly do what I choose to on Steemit and I will. I will post my poetry, my music and my art and Steemians can choose if there is value within that. I know there is quality and that will be recognised by those who want to recognise it too. For the others - its just more nonsense. And I am okay with that because it exists as I want it to.

For information - your magazine idea is fantastic. I do hope that will be successful and I am also looking to develop an idea through the platform for musicians. I will be sure to link you when I post about it as I think you may find it interesting.

@samuelescher

Thank you very much @samuelescher for mentioning me and my challenge! I'm very glad to hear that you like it. Looking forward to seeing your entries.

And for those that do not agree with the particular quality measures - they have the absolute right and, equal ability, to create their own quality measures within their community.

This. Nail on head.

Thanks for the encouragement, more news coming soon ;)

I think the more diverse content that is being published on Steem is a good thing, if for no other reason than that it brings new eyeballs to the platform. But by the nature of Steem, only posts that are determined to be high quality and/or high value will really succeed long-term.

However, as you said those properties are subjective. So someone may have very high quality artwork on their account that I don’t get much value from, but that an art nut might adore. Quality and value will always vary relative to what niches you gravitate towards.

If people value seeing other’s lives and selfies, power to them. That’s not my thing per se, but neither is Buzzfeed and there are people out there that love Buzzfeed.

Me? I just don’t trouble myself to type in buzzfeed.com into my browser, because I know I’m not personally going to find value for myself there.

I go where I will find high quality, valuable content that aligns with my standards for quality and value.

In my mind, trying to micromanage how everyone else chooses to use the Internet is just going to waste time and energy I could be using to find and consume content that I will enjoy.

Just my .02 Steem.

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It is great idea to have steem magazine, it is not only encourage people to write better content but also it will be good for business, very efficient and will not that costly while the writers could have a good reward in return.

For sure, the idea has some potential!

I have little time on this platform and the truth is that I was captivated by precisely the quality content that I have found here. I hope Steemit continues to grow and strengthen for the benefit of all.

Quality exists and will always exist on Steem, because I believe quality producers will still be here.

Maybe I'm wrong in my opinion that overall quality is dropping and will continue to do so. And there's nothing that can be done from Steem level, except acknowledge it and believe the communities + SMTs will offer quality creators a way to continue to produce valuable content, while being rewarded accordingly for it.

At a grander scale we see a trend of the modern society and their level of interest toward quality on other social media platforms. I believe they (i.e. social media), as well as smartphones, are at least partially responsible for the dropping attention span. And thus the avoidance of quality content, which require a deeper level of involvement.

As a newcomer to Steemit, i am not sure how qualified i am to be able to address the issuses that have been brought up. I would venture to say,however, that in order for the platform to survive it needs to take into account what the general public are currently giving major views on the other platforms out there - so yes we need to embrace the kittens etc.

Very interesting insight. It sound like your Gleeming project could be a good step forward!

Superb insights and commentary on Steem and where we're going.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Interesting post @personz, Im not a big fan of any kind of apps really, call me old-school but I prefer "browser based"... Anyway I liked the magazine idea, it's always fun with a magazine concept!

Maybe you could actually make a printed version and sell on demand or something that would be pretty cool!!!

Cheers!

/FF

That would be pretty cool, or we could do it for a special edition if it takes off. Good idea, thanks!

@personz
Thanks, Im full of good ideas (most of the time). It would be great to see some printed material come out of steemit, Im sure the people who got chosen and published would feel proud. It might bring a different vibe to the platform, a higher value...

/FF

If more people got anywhere even near $375 rewards on a single post, there'd be more value. :) That's impressive with Steem so low right now.

I keep getting more Steem, and my account value keeps shrinking, but it's never stopped me. I like it here more than Facebook, wich I'm no longer on.

What happened to the old times when such post like this get full support from the community without the help of bidbots?

Can we blame the writer? Definitely, not at all, maybe we come back to that later.

I think quality is an inherent culture of the Steem block chain and it is quite difficult to juxtapose it with the Value in turns.
Meanwhile, it should be noted however that, making reference to different niches that existed on the chain. It will be quite difficult to have one encompassing definition for what quality stands for?
Therefore it will remain subjective on this note according to the view point of each person.

Maybe, the preference of each content/posts should be that, leave your auidence with your view point and let them write you a feedback. This should be an essence to which each post must strife to achieve on the Steem block chain.

As a blogging outlet, steemit.com is dead to me but I blog via busy.org so maybe I’m just splitting hairs. And blogging now accounts for maybe only a quarter of the posting I do as dlike, zappl, and others are now constituting the bulk.

Curious about Gleeming, please keep us posted.

Interesting insight, I do not call the end of blogging per se for steemit, rather its still to nascent to call it, I do agree though that the future will be Dapps and a blockchain equivalent app store. What we use steemit for today blogging will likely not be the use case that will be mainstream a few years from now. I wish you the best on gleeming though a blockchain magazine for Steemit users sounds like it would be a great long term idea with the way the use cases of the network is moving and proceeding forward.

Continue your project, it will surely make a good boost to the steem blockchain. As for quality and value, I cannot argue it better, my only point is, quality post is very subjective to the standards adherent to the reader or to the content moderator, if there is something like that on steemit, but we should not take out the creativity and fun to the content creators who show great hopes to this platform.

Some interesting perspectives. I'm new here and I can definitely relate as to your comments on how newbies do and are to approach or interpret the content we see. It is confusing and there do exist many groups and subgroups and perspectives and applications of the opportunities.
I haven't been here long enough to really have any definitive veiw point on the issues and question you raise but I do think every user faces a lot of choices. As per wider society, these choices/decisions are not always made conciously. C'est la vie though, interesting times. There's a lot going on on tech and society right now... let's see where it takes us :)

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Quality gets better with incentive. Companies that can't offer employees the opportunity to move up in the company very rarely get better employees. Steemit has so many ways for bloggers to be more than average. But some people will still be just that average. I still believe in building this platform its one of a kind.

Nice arguments @personz
What are the assess if Facebook? WhatsApp? And still it's valuation is in billions

Steem can grow in future
Dtube is best example of it
A decentralised YouTube :-)

Thanks. I'm not really interested in those valuations but I do hope we get more interesting stuff on Steem.

IMG_20180916_103358.jpg
Finding value on steem?by Bidbots? that you get them hidden???? So why dont you give your content value from real users? Not robots? Seriously i dont know why steem don't respect it's users veiw and just respect shitty bidbots and they are the ones that determine who should get the money and how about users ?nothing!!!!!

Too many bid bots. But they are a necessary poison. Bit bots drive demand for Steem. In the long term, we need to get Steem to a state where we don't need them.

As @transisto said that wasn't me, I don't use bid bots but I can't stop other people if they want to express their support by using them.

My sentiments exactly. I hate the fact that you have to be able to afford to pay out the nose for bid bots in order to get any traction on Steemit. Proof of Brain has become Proof of Vote Bot. I'd honestly prefer it if Steemit Inc just literally swiped everything from these jackasses to kill their bots usefulness and hopefully regain actual quality on the steemit front page instead of all the bought shit.

The traction here was organic more or less. I do know some of the larger supporters from having been here a while but I didn't ask for it or pay for it. I can only assume they liked it.

This is what i exactly mean. We were supposed to have proof of brain system not proof of shitty bidbot voters. I think now some of centralized platform even are better than steemit to earn money. It 's not just about money . The main issue is injustice . This botheres us.

It largely depends. Honestly I'm not here particularly for the money, anything that comes in I'll end up using as either a means for some sort of writing contest or powering up. My powering up would only serve to benefit those who write content I enjoyed reading or supporting the disabled writing about their disabilities. I'd like to use more bots to keep up but honestly, I've learned that where you and I are, unless we're shelling out some serious cash we're not catching up.

So the only thing we can do is just create our content for the sake of creating our content and just hope that our content is useful or entertaining to someone down the road without any compensation of any kind. I know it's a little disheartening and easily takes away encouragement, but honestly I enjoy writing and creating content, even if I'm not being paid for it.

I just wish it were easier for others to find. One of my other issues I take with Steemit is that tag spam isn't controlled. Garbage content floats to the top of all the tags. In order for your stuff to be hopefully seen by someone, you have to share to discord servers that have a self promotion topic and literally wait.

Sometimes a curation group like Curie will happen along your content too.

These kinds of concerns are the things driving me here. I'm thinking about this all the time, you've said it well. Thanks.

Just have to chill and write for the sake of writing. I view Steemit very similar to how I view Facebook. All the popular, fake as hell people float to the top. :p

I brought the votes on the post. You should use tools like steemd.com and learn to associate action to users, the blokchain is public and transparent.

BTW I've also hidden the publicity left by the promobots.

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Why those mentality is being accepted by the newbies? Because of the money that is gained by those older steemers that has 100$+ on their posts and trying follow their steps. So as "dAppish" who are not using blockchain at all, the rewards.

It is difficult to witness the end of an era but when the masks fall and désillusion has settled in, we have to ask ourselves what we truly want for the future.

Exactly. We don't want somebody to post a pic of his food with the caption "Lunch time" and get $500 and deny those great content doing the real blog.

Yeah, that has to not happen @haejin

It really depends. You can't blame people who was really drawn for those strats thinking they are just helping the community

I think at the end of the day, the STEEM blockchain/platform is just providing a mean to incentivize contents. It is ultimately up to individual Steemians to decide where their votes will go. Contents come in different forms and quality. The various apps using Steem platform caters to the different forms. But quality is subjective.

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Excellent post!!!!

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