My Background
I run a manufacturing unit in Kolkata, India. Our company is family owned business that's over 96 years old now. The main reason why we've managed to survive for so long is because of our brand name, and that brand name exists only because of our dedication to Quality. Quality and consistency are the keys to a long term survival of any business. Be it a plumbing service, a restaurant, or even a Blog, maintaining quality is a key element to long term success. How often do we see businesses with great products and up dead in less than 5 years because they couldn't maintain the standards they set.
An example of Quality Management i learnt from the Manufacturing Industry
One of the major contradictions i see on the Steem platform is the way curation rewards are handed out. To draw an analogy with my manufacturing business, we had once set up an incentive scheme at our packing department to increase the number of boxes packed each day. The packing department was also the final stage for quality checking before material was allowed to leave the factory. Whilst the incentive did help increase output, months later we noticed a steady increase in customer complaints. Putting the two together wasn't very difficult. In the case of Steem many users (including myself initially) see an article that's trending and decide to upvote it for the curation rewards without even reading it. Other times we may read an article think its just okay, not really worthy of an upvote but just the fact that it already has so many upvotes makes us consider doing the same. Adding a monetary system to increase the number of votes directly reduces quality of voting.
Rise Up - Our votes MATTER!
We share a responsibility as members of the Steem organisation to maintain the quality of voting so we can generate the best content possible. I consistently tell my employees, that our company is no more than the collection of all the people that work here. Its our efforts and commitment to the company that is the true reason we surive and grow. What each one of us does matters! Whilst many people feel that their votes/contributions don't matter in the case of steem aren't influential enough i can tell you we all count! Steem is still small and though We may only be represented as a Number at the end an article we are the 99% and WE can drive change. An article with a 100 upvotes and a payout of $20 can't go unnoticed for long, it will attract the attention of the "influential" people on the platform and they will be compelled to hear us out. We are the Majority and the whales, whilst powerful make up only 1% of the userbase. They need us to survive.
We must prevent Steem from becoming an infomercial for itself and we must prevent and flag content that doesn't share value or isn't verified as genuine. Vote with your heart and please remember our rewards mean nothing if Steem falls to 0. Only If you support this belief please upvote, make yourselves heard to ensure that the first truly successful blockchain application open to the public lives on to become a true representation of the technology it employs.
Thank You for your time.