I've been on steemit for 10 months now and, for the most part, I've really enjoyed the experience so far. I've connected with a lot of really cool people who do very interesting things with their lives, all while making enough money writing about my passions to support my own hobbies and interests. Steemit seems like the ideal social media outlet of the future, with people coming together, sharing their passions and connecting in a way I've never really witnessed anywhere else. I've praised it before and I'll praise it again; the community here on steemit is just incredibly supportive and friendly. However, after recent events, I find myself asking: could all of that be changing? We've seen a major uptick in new users, which is fantastic! Everyday, hundreds of new individuals join steemit, taking their first steps into the world of cryptocurrency (and I say welcome to you!). But as the community grows, I sense more and more of a shift away from the "old steemit" and we seem to be...changing. So I ask you, fellow steemians, do you believe that steemit is changing for the better or worse?
Overall, we have a very friendly community. Sure, every group has a couple bad apples, but steemit has always been a place where people can freely exchange ideas and conduct very friendly and professional conversations. Even the disputes and disagreements I have witnessed on steemit have been extremely civil, and maintained an air of mutual respect to them. There is no other social media platform that offers the support that I find on steemit. But recently, I'm seeing more and more negativity (and this isn't solely on the new users; plenty of long-term steemians have been rather nasty as of late); some comments are nastier, sometimes even downright spiteful. I've seen hateful images, blatant racism and entire posts that exist for the sole purpose of attacking or hurting others. While there is plenty of room for respectful conflict on steemit, these users sling insults and hate at one another for seemingly no reason other than they can. We all have differing beliefs and ideologies here on steemit, but now it seems to be getting just a little harder to share these beliefs without facing some heated opposition. Perhaps it is because we are pretty much all strangers here and some people feel more comfortable being nasty through anonymity, but hate seems to be rearing its ugly head on steemit.
Now let me be clear, this darkness does not reflect the overall attitude of steemit BY FAR. I'm talking about a very, very small percentage of users who partake in such negative encounters, and though the number of negative users seems to be increasing, the positive steemers still vastly outnumber these negative ones. So why am I concerned? Why don't I just write it off as a few people being...well, complete dicks? I worry because, personally, it reminds me of how much facebook has changed since I joined up. When I logged on to facebook in 2008 (holy cow, so long ago!) I absolutely loved it. I played stupid, meaningless games, connected with friends and family and followed groups that just posted ridiculous pictures. It was all just lighthearted and fun in the beginning. That facebook is a far cry from what we have today. There is so much nastiness and hatred between users, even "friends"; blatant racism and sexism can be found in seemingly every comment section. There is so much negativity and hatred across the entire platform that I fight with myself over whether or not I should just log off for good. What the hell happened to this promising social media outlet; how did we enable such hatred? And worse, could this trend be beginning on steemit?
Equally alarming is the increasing greed among users. In the earlier days of steemit, it seemed like everyone was unified in wanting to see steemit succeed. Sure, we all wanted to make some money, but we also wanted to grow and improve the community, support cryptocurrencies and help one another succeed. But now we have more and more people joining up who don't really care if steemit succeeds as long as THEY succeed. There seems to exist the false belief that steemit is a get rich quick scheme, and a lot of new users don't realize it's actually an investment. I feel this leads to two of the biggest problems we are now witnessing. First, some new users quickly realize that making money off steemit isn't as easily as they had originally hoped. Discouraged by the slow rate of success, these users sometimes become more toxic, sometimes lashing out against those steemians who have benefited from earlier success (accusing them of cheating the system). This only drives the increasing negativity I previously mentioned. The second problem is that people falsely believe that the best way to make money is to post as often if they can...even if it is meaningless random photos or memes. This is a practice commonly referred to as "shit posting" and as harsh as it sounds, it is a huge turn off for many steemians; instead of well thought out posts sharing stories, art or information, we are inundated with floods of single image posts that have absolutely no substance. Now I'm not talking about single photos photographers post here to inspire conversation, I'm talking about people who take images they don't own and share them here for the sake of making money. Even well meaning individuals trying to share a funny image with no original content are hindering their own success. To find new unique content, we now have to sift through endless waves of impersonal posts that do not reflect the individuality or passion of the poster. In order to gain new followers, some will simply beg for followers anywhere they can, even in the comment sections of other authors' posts. Where we once had intelligent conversations and constructive comments, we see shameless begging copied and pasted everywhere.
I don't like to leave things off on a negative note so I will also explain why I think there is great hope for steemit. We have a lot of genuinely great people here on steemit; for every toxic or rude individual, there are a hundred rational, respectful community members. These people take their time to support one another through upvotes, polite commentary and reasonable discussions. They take the time to construct posts that support steemit by keeping readers engaged and active. And steemit has something that facebook doesn't have; we have incentive to police ourselves. Facebook is owned by the shareholders; if it succeeds, they make money, if it fails, they lose money; facebook users remain largely unaffected. Steemit on the other hand, is owned by us, the community! When steemit succeeds, the value of steem goes up and we succeed! We have valuable incentive to make sure steemit remains healthy and successful. We upvote good quality content and talented authors, while flagging the negative posts that threaten steemit's integrity. In this regard, being a little greedy could be a good thing; if we want to see a return on our investment, we have to ensure the community succeeds!
So, in summary, I personally think we are seeing the beginning of some big changes here on steemit as our little community grows and prospers. Despite my pessimistic outlook in parts of this post, I actually feel fairly optimistic about the future long-term success of steemit. I think overall the changes that are happening on steemit will only strengthen our community of the value of steem. That being said, we have to be sure recognize where we need to make improvements as well; we need to be able to steemit's integrity from those who would try to do harm (not that I believe they would succeed). But these are all just my opinions, so I ask you all, especially those who have been a part of the community for sometime, how do you think steemit is changing? Do you believe it is changing for the better? And what steps can we take to make sure steemit remains the successful, supportive and welcoming platform we all have come to know and love?
I've been here for about 9 months, and I see what you see. I don't know what to think about it. I suspect that, given time, most of the new users who don't make money off of poor quality posts will just get disillusioned and leave. That in turn might make it easier for the rest of us to keep on keepin' on. This, of course, assumes that the influx of new users looking for a big payout (not that I don't also want solid payouts) will taper off a bit, and there's no guarantee of that. I've been dealing with some of the same problems that you're dealing with (sifting through loads of throwaway content, problems finding quality, platform improving content and problems being found in turn, and people outright begging to be followed and upvoted). I've even seen how some of the frustration of dealing with that has brought out the nasty in long time Steemians.
I had a laugh at your fb comments. I remember the days when I played ridiculous, turn based games and made enjoyable connections with complete strangers, some of which lasted for years before facebook got horrid. And in terms of growing a business or creating content for which you're rewarded, no one is doing what Steemit is trying to do. I have so much love for this experiment and see huge potential for its continued success.
Having said that, I'm seeing the problems too, and I have not much of a clue as to how to change that or easily work around it. So I sift.... but I found you buried amongst the single photos and bad grammar posts, so I'll call this night a win.
Indeed, people in it for the money will either succeed or drop off with disappointment. I guess we need to endure those waves.
Glad I'm not alone! I share the optimism; I think we will see a major increase in activity here perhaps followed by a gradual decline of those who's hearts are just not in it. But I think we have a solid foundation of positive steemit users that will keep the community alive and well!
I truly hope so!
I think steem is a potential market which provide a lots of chance for people to post and get money. Howeve, there is a concern that with more and more people using steem , the steem will expand, which may cause the massive devaluation...
If we grow we will see changes. Some of the attitudes of nastiness, in my opinion, people tend to be a mix of people being a bit sensitive. Much of politeness is a "cultural issue". This is an International site. So, what I "think" I see is different ways of expressing themselves. Some people aren't used to it.
On a happy note, I don't think many people will pay people to be rude, so it is likely to help keep the nastiness out.
Great post with interesting ideas to consider.
True, there are people who take political correctness to an extreme and take offense where clearly none is intended. Luckily there isn't as much of that here as on other platforms but we do have to acknowledge that it exists. And I understand that with all the writing styles and personalities, there will be miscommunications and misunderstandings. But here I'm really just referring to the obvious posts that seek to hurt or offend others.
Thank for the comment!
I am not being argumentative. My immediate thought was.. How can a post hurt me? Then I thought of an old idea I was taught that isn't taught anymore.
Here is the updated version: Sticks and Stones will break my bones, but posts will never hurt me.
I agree there is no need to be nasty, I love to exchange ideas though, so I am willing to listen to people usually.... ;) I have a snarky moment or two myself from time to time.
Lol sometimes the snarky remarks are necessary! xD
I didn't think you were being argumentative, you made a great point. It's also true, you shouldn't let name calling, teasing, or general rudeness ruin your whole day, but at the same time, I know I don't wanna see an increase in racism, sexism, etc on steemit!
I'm still getting acclimated around here, but my biggest turnoff so far has been the disingenuous sounding steemit circle-jerk posts. "Follow me and I'll follow you back" has to be the most counterproductive method in practice to actually gain a captive audience, but this site and the chat are plagued with the request.
Still, even with its faults, I see steemit becoming huge, maybe even on the order of magnitude Facebook enjoys today.
Not quite as bad as upvote me and I'll upvote you, but close. Circle jerking can quickly destroy a site. But I think that reputation numbers and SP here help mitigate that. A lot of 25's with low Steem Power voting for each other probably doesn't have much influence on allocation of the reward pool.
Agreed. I'm so thankful for the influential users who sift through all the posts looking for quality content! Their diligence really helps support the best authors and keep them coming back!
YES. THANK YOU. Rest assured, if I find their posts interesting, I will totally follow them. But I'm not gonna follow someone just for them to follow me in return. Even if they follow me, they probably wouldn't even read what I'm posting (and vice versa). As soon as I see a post like that, or the comments saying "follow me", I'm mentally checked out!
i've only followed someone because a) they posted something interesting or b) commented something interesting, other than that this would be facebook 😉
Same here - drawn by the content and the quality writing and turned off by the terrible grammar, spelling and sentence construction, let alone poor content or posts with one photo and a couple of words including "follow and upvote me"". The exception has been other Steemians I met in real life at a Steem Saturday last year. Hung on with their posts for a while, but my resilience with the issues I've just raised wore down, unfortunately. Have found some interesting new follows thanks to the comments on this post, including you!
@r0d0n I 100% agree , I never ask ppl to follow me . I think that is rude , That is not why I am on here ::)) I got on because I love poetry and writing stories and When my hubby told me about this after watching a video on youtube I got excited thinking ""cool I can share my passion with others who share the same passion :)) and met a few cool people .. I follow people and if they follow me cool and if not cool as well :))
Great article. I would like to think we all can learn and grow and support each other in an uplifting humane way. NO I do not want to see another Facebook outcome either. I would like to think the culture here is above that.
It has been a real "outrage" culture for the last year and some on other platforms... now that those platforms are not as fruitful people are coming to steemit and playing those same old lines/games from other platforms. Once people realize about the foreverness of the blockchain maybe things will calm down a little and people will go back to being friendly.
Sadly the US in particular has had a recent uptick in the last 2 decades learning false lies about history, capitalism, free speech, etc and that has seeped into the culture of the intolerant who claim to be very tolerant. Hopefully steem and steemit will weed eat those negative forces away because without upvotes, follows, and comments those users will get bored and troll on the other social media platforms.
It's not just you. I've been online since modems and BBSes in the 80s and this is a cycle all networks endure. It either kills them or makes them stronger.
In fact, our posts crossed in the noise today. I wrote this similar point of view just an hour or two ago.
Upped and following you now as well.
https://steemit.com/steem/@sircork/psst-wanna-know-a-secret-about-steemit
Thanks! Wow, it always seems as soon as I write about one of these subjects another one pops up! I'll definitely check it out!
I think we will end up on the same page more than once :)
it is greed...it's just in our nature
@herpetologyguy As a newcomer To Steemit . Almost 2 weeks now :)) I have seen a lot of great stuff posted and very helpful people . overall I love Steemit . however I have seen a little negativity , and when I see something I don't like I keep my opinion to myself because like you said everyone has there own beliefs . :)) I just move on to a different Blog to look at .
I hope that Steemit can maintain there great reputation and keep positive people here but as we all know We have to work together to help with that :)) We don't want cyber bulling to start on this wonderful Platform ::)) I am Following you , I upvoted and also Re-steemed Thank you for your Blog and you taking time out of your life to put a lot of work into this ::)) Keep On Steeming
Thank you for your support! And welcome to steemit!
You are Welcome and Thank you as well :))
Oh btw ::)) When I say I am Following you , That is not me asking to be followed :) Just wanted to clarify that :) I have been thinking for the last few days to unfollow a lot of people :) even for me it is being to be too much :))
Lol, no worries, I got that! I do the same and sometimes let people know when I follow them as well! Just to let them know I appreciate their work!
We understand each other lol ::)) So cool ::))
I really hope that Steemit succeeds because since i started so come here, before i even registered i saw that friendly community that you talk about. That made me want to join. I'm not a Content Producer but i like do post the best content that i have. Sometimes just some pictures that i'm proud of, or maybe an opinion, but it is important for me that people like it and that it means something. I believe that everyone is entitled to have and opinion and post whatever they want but for pleasure not for money. I also think that the negative users can be "stopped" by giving the positive one more power and penalizing the bad ones. To improve the experience i think that Steemit should have "Sort by" feature so we can sort postings, by date, user reputation or relevance, that way we wouldn't have to see as much trash.
Salutations
I've been here for about four months now. I originally joined because a buddy of mine is friends with Ned and since he knew I was into crypto, he introduced us. So, I wrote my #introduceyourself post and began using Steemit to keep myself accountable for a side project I was working on. Fast forward a few months, I'll admit I caught the "money bug" and I began posting shit hoping for that viral post. Little did I realize those viral posts ADDED content and were meaningful, thoughtful posts. So, I changed. I began to write seemingly random, but meaningful posts about things that a) I thought others might find interesting, like my trip to Australia last summer or b) might help someone, I wrote a tutorial on how to setup a Raspberry Pi Security Camera. From here I began to gain traction. I developed a solid REAL community of friends on Steemit who had a genuine interest in the real, unique content I created. Now, I am working on a Steemit project, hoping to become an even more active member of the comunity.
So, I totally agree with much of what you said about the changing community. I especially agree with:
Now that I am a wiser Steemian (or at least I feel that way) I see many people falling into the trap I did. While I cannot blame them, I think this IS the reason for that negativity you are seeing.
Cheers!
We're just in this really weird transition phase when cryptocurrency is becoming really popular, yet most people don't know what it is or understand it! So there are so many misunderstandings about it that I think, you're right, give rise to the negativity and frustration. Hopefully a little education with smooth things out!
So, please don't take this as a big "negative" or hateful thing - just a dose of reality, from my own point of view...
I've only been here a month. "Things are always at their best in the beginning." There's a whole lot of truth to that little saying. I can't speak from a longer-term point of view in regards to how SteemIt was, "In The Beginning," but just my own life experience - which is considerable.
I admire people who hope for the best, always look for the best in people, etc. You generally make up about 10% of the population. Maybe that's the best part of us. I call you, "Bleeding Hearts."
Then, there's the 10% who, no matter what, they are contrary. They just want to watch the world burn. It's a sickness, a mental illness. The exact opposite of the "bleeding hearts." I call them, for lack of a better term, "@$$holes."
The other 80% of the population fall somewhere in between those two extremes. Sometimes they do better at behaving themselves than at other times. They're the "Majority."
As the population of SteemIt users grows, expect all types. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. You're going to have to adjust your hopes and expectations to REALITY - but you won't, if you're really a Bleeding Heart.
Actually , I think do agree with you. I know I made the comment about the "old steemit" but that's not to say I never expected/wanted the platform to change. If we wanted to grow, it was only logical that we would see some major changes along the way; like you said, as new users join we have to expect all types.
Despite the positions I take here, I don't know if I'd call myself a bleeding heart...maybe I lie somewhere between that and the majority of users. I know we are going to see negativity and honestly that just life online and on social media. But that being said, it is the amount of negativity and how we can control it that really makes me think. Steemit is one of the few platforms that we can police and reduce some of the most hateful users and posts, and I do think the health of the community depends on us doing that. I'm not talking about cracking down on anyone who is "mean" or sometimes rude (we all can be that way sometimes), I'm suggesting we try to reduce those 10% of users that just want to watch the world burn and are truly hateful.
A little negativity happens; I just worry about seeing a major shift towards that negativity like we've seen on other social media like facebook.
Thanks for the comment, these are great points!
Hey buddy , i've been here about a month now and i'll say even since i got here it's changed. I have noticed a bit of trolling lately but i think ultimately the real community will superseed the troll/hate community. This platform is too big of a vision for some people, and those people won't always be here.
I think in order for us to keep steemit how it should be is just standing together how we always do. Dont give any attention to the haters or people who are disrespectful.. I find that when you ignore these kinds of people, they usually go away.
Thanks for this post, it's a great read.
What I truly and strongly dislike are the spammers who come on your post and start re-posting links to their own, non-related content. It's fine if it's related in some way to your article, but I'm seeing more self-promotion show up on my own content, which is totally not related - and it's lame.
And very rude to the original posters who are trying to initiate their own conversations and debates.
So far my experience has been very good. I find this community very supportive.
And to be sure the vast majorty of the community really is amazingly supportive!
Couldn't agree with you more.
I've been here for about three months and i have noticed the recent changes too. I do wish steemit success and of course, some profit. I suppose new users will bring new problems since they will all be individuals. It's the risk we must take to make it to the moon I guess, we just have to ride the waves successfully.
I've said for a while, that the author should have the option, when he posts content, to set the minimum reputation required to comment. Most would keep it quite low; wanting to spur engagement, but those bothered by low quality comments, or celebrities who don't want to be swamped, could set their own tolerance level.
Ned might set his posts at 65
Ashton Kutcher might set his at 70.
It would give more flexibility to content producers, and give everyone incentive to safeguard and build their reputation.
That seems like it would really prevent people from being able to increase their reputation, creating further barriers and divisions among the new and the old users.
Do authors have an obligation to help people raise their reputation?
Should authors have the prerogative to prevent their critics from responding?
A: Not if they are any good.
If somebody wants to write to a very select audience, a Social Media platform just isn't going to be their, "cup of tea," I don't think.
If you read your story in a group setting, and still need to be protected from your critics, I would recommend elementary school - so the teacher makes sure that everyobdy plays nice with you. ;)
If you still feel like you are, "Throwing pearls before swine," the obvious solution would be to keep it to yourself, next time.
I'm not suggesting the author have the option to delete specific comments, just that they have the option to set a minimum reputation required to comment.
You can't reply to Joe Rogan's steemit posts, because he's not on steemit.
An option like this, with a built in spam/troll minimisation mechanism might attract some big names over.
I can see it being quite appealing to those who are sick of anonymous trolls on twitter.
It also means that you could actually talk to him or any other celebrity, after you've demonstrated, via reputation, that you're somebody who adds value to conversations.
They've already got Social Media sites for elites - LinkedIn. That's where all of the "pro" types like to hang out. It all looks so very... CEO
I joined that years ago, but it was so dull.
Shameless self promotion and fluff.
I get that its just part of that world, but it seemed so cheap and tawdry.
I'm interested to see what happens to our price and adoption rates when we get our first really big name land.
Hmm, you have done some good observations. As for the change towards good or bad, I will say, it's just that more members are pouring in, more posts, so obviously, we might see more negativity as that's what is more easier to spot than the good things. Although 1 thing that I really don't like is some celebrity/biggie Steemians making their own domains and not at all interacting outside them, not supporting newbies. I guess that increases the bitterness taste a bit more. But all in all things are good. :)
I agree, negativity is just part of life and will always exist somewhere on social media. And you're right, it does stand out like a sore thumb; there isn't that much of it but it seems easier to spot because of how harsh it is.
It is discouraging when successful steemians don't operate far outside of their circles, but i applaud those who are diligent and scour steemit for new promising content!
Spot on, @herpetologyguy. You've captured the issues clearly and succinctly. Appreciate you raising these concerns as you have. Upvoted and resteemed.
Although I am pretty new...I am seeing a little bit of what you speak of. I'm figuring we can just not give them any votes & eventually it will weed them out.
That's the idea. There are some really diligent steemians out there who scour through posts looking for individuals who deserve recognition. They upvote these posts and try to gather attention for the authors. There are also individuals who are quick to flag negative content for the good of the community.
I'm just about 10 days in... The future is bright on STEEMIT. Great Article, now I have to follow you for that reason lol
Thanks! I just checked out your page and holy cow are you doing amazingly well for someone 10 days in! :D
I haven't noticed much negativity, personally. I have noticed a lot more of the shit posts though, and a lot of replies to my post where you can tell the user doesn't give a shit, nor read the blog, and leads right into a "I followed you, now you follow me" kind of pitch. Unlike Facebook, I think the down voting and reputation number maybe help community-police a lot of the users and content. Maybe it's time to get a bit more aggressive with it?
Like I said, I wouldn't call the negativity "common" but it is increasing. Hopefully we can flag a lot of it before it becomes more widespread. The shit posts and "follow me" posts/comments are turning into an epidemic though...
Oh! Also, the general get-rich-quick vibe does feel a bit more prevalent these days. That's a good point about some new users being salty towards long-time members. They just see the numbers. They don't realized I posted daily for months when steem was at 11¢ and would rake in the 48¢ payouts. lol I don't let it bother me though. If it goes back to that, I'd still be posting daily. I genuinely enjoy blogging about nature and our travel experiences. 🌎
Same! I never really expected to make anything here (my dad practically had to twist my arm to get me to join). I only started posting because I was writing about reptiles anyway lol.
It will probably get a lot better once crypocurrency goes through one of its bear market periods.
very thoughtful and thought provoking post!
let me use an analogy for what i see happening. think of steemit as san francesco in the early 60's with a lot of vacant victorian houses and a bunch of college age youngsters away from the sweet embrace of their parents loving attention. it's cheaper for the parents to rent an old house for their kid to live in while attending school, so all these youngsters start hanging out together, sharing their slightly different life stories, listening to the same type of music, talking about all the new things they're learning.
suddenly before they know it they're at the epicenter of something new. because this thing is so unusual other people start to take notice and want in and since in the beginning the newcomers are few in number they are readily integrated into the body politic without too much strain on the network.
so more hear about it, it get some sensational press and now the great unwashed masses (relatively) start to pour in with their media saturated preconceived notions throwing the balance akilter. now the original core group have a decision to make - stay and weather the changing tide or move on to newer different territory.
as i see it steemit now stands at this crossroads - sure we have better tools to cope with the influx of newcomers given time. time is the crucial element here and the willingness of said newcomers to respect the 'natural environment' as found
my two cents anyway 😉
Lol that's quite the analogy but it holds up! But i really like what you said about time being the crucial element.
I think steemit should consider adding more features to it like facebook. It also might be a good idea for people to take some of their articiles they've written and if they make a lot of money on it, they could show their success to different newspapers even ghost writing websites to further capitilize on their succeess.
I'm so sorry fellow Steemians
I have to admit that I once thought posting whatever I could, as often as I could, would lead to more followers, rewards,etc. But my perception has since changed. It took me about three days to really grasp the concept:
I own part of Steemit, and I shouldn't think of getting as much as I can. I should think along the lines of value addition. Steemit is about value creation and distribution. Taking time to read a really good post by a dedicated author is better than posting ten poor posts and hindering other people from discovering good content. You gain knowledge from the post and if you UPVOTE it, you get rewarded and most importantly, you help make the good post more visible, so that more people benefit and also add value to the post. If you write a thoughtful, useful and valuable comment, you add value to the post as well.
You'll only think of Steemit as a get rich quick scheme when you are not yet aware of how you fit in. You don't plan to get rich quick and take all you can, even at the expense of other shareholders if you understand that YOU ARE A SHAREHOLDER. You will take care of your investment and gain success from its success.
My apologies for the long comment, but I just wanted to share what I have learned. I think Steemit, by design, will force people with the wrong mindset to either leave or choose to become valuable members, as it did me.
I hope it doesn't turn into another Facebook in the sense of useless personal one line updates (which I have seen) (ex: today I brushed my teeth, today I took my kid to school) and trolling.
Haha, I've seen a couple posts like that here, but I'm attributing it to new steemit users who don't understand how the platform works yet. Hopefully they catch on quick!
I hope so too, took me a while to get the hang of it and so far I am enjoying the community. :)
It is changing to change the unchanged $
I've only been on here about a month so I don't really have a frame of reference to compare the now with.
"we are inundated with floods of single image posts that have absolutely no substance. "
So basically you think single image posts by photographers are "shit posts"
Get a life man.
Actually, I love many of the posts that photographers share. I'm sorry that my article did not adequately reflect that. All forms of art, including personal photography are a unique form of individualism and of course welcome on steemit. I actually follow you because you post quality content that you clearly put your time and passion into.
What I have a problem with is people who copy/paste random images and memes off the internet. They do not own these images and they provide no context. They simply make a post that contains nothing more than a random photo and post these over and over again. There is no passion here. This floods the homepage with images that do lack substance; unlike photos submitted by photographers, these posts do not inspire conversation or thought.
I would be more accepting of these posts if the authors put a little more thought into writing them. Maybe explain why they thought this image was funny or how the meme relates to their life. But just spamming the site with constant posts that are just copy pasted is a new trend we are seeing and I know there are a lot of steemians out there who dislike the practice. They feel that a lot of really great posts written by aspiring authors can be lost among these posts that are made people people trying to make a quick buck.
I hope I presented the point a little better in this comment. All forms of art are of COURSE welcomed here! I apologize again if my post seemed to imply otherwise!
I am glad you clarified.
But still, no one questions content posted on FB, Twitter, Insta, G+
User are free to post whatever they want.
Its only on Steemit that I find people pin pointing out what to post and what not to post.
I agree with you here. People don't question the content posted on other social media platforms. But steemit is very different for one big reason; there are actual monetary payouts here. When people submit these random photos and memes, they are not contributing their own work; they are trying to make money off of work someone else has produced. In a sense it's plagiarism. I'll happily upvote user-made memes and photos all day, but I do not support the use of random-image bombing to make money.
Because people are payed for the content they put out, I think there is a bit more responsibility people have to take when posting. That's the point I think people try to make when talking about what should or shouldn't be posted.
You may wish to control them but hey Steemit is decentralized and uncensored. Your pin pointing creates the opposite impression on new users. "Branding is everything".
True and understandable. These are valid points for sure. When talking about how users post, I'm also trying not so sound like someone imposing a lot of rules, but rather someone offering friendly advice. I don't want to say "you're not allowed to post this", rather I mean to say "content like this tends to be more successful". Yes, perhaps that's manipulative (you've given me a lot to think about), but people who discuss what people post are generally looking out for those users as well, though I admit that often is entirely obvious.
So much hatred for co-steemians.
Your post lacks substance dude.
I'm sorry you feel that way. There is no hatred intended here; as I said the community as a whole is incredibly supportive and I aspire to be equally supportive.
As I stated in the post, these are opinions based on recent trends; the negativity I have witnessed reflects on such an small portion of the community, but I believe it is worth talking about. We all want to see steemit succeed, and I want to see my co-steemians succeed as well. In order to do so, I think there are certain challenges we have to overcome.
Someone who posts memes reading this.. do you think that poster will correct his posting style after reading your "shit posts" comment?
NO.
They would simply leave Steemit.
No one likes personal insults.
You're right, that may have been poorly written on my end. The fact I wanted people to take away was that these posts generally do not garner any success for the poster and tend to be a turn off to other users. I'll look at the phrasing and see if I can't do a little editing to make it sound more supportive. The post I wrote regarding tips for steemit I think addressed it a little better.
Edit: I changed the wording in the post just a little. The overall message remains, but hopefully I've removed at least some of the harsh words.
Good you understand and take feedback in the right spirit.
It's the only way the community succeeds! Thanks for all your attention and insights!
Ur welcome.
You probably need 100 years to understand photography or art..
Maybe even more.
@prakashghai I can see I've very much offended you as an artist with this post. I've replied to all you comments, but here I want to apologize and clarify my statements better.
I appreciate art and artists on steemit. I follow you and I've seen your photography; you're right, it's far beyond anything I could hope to produce. I love seeing images like that on steemit and I want to fully support the artists who make them. My comment about "shit posts " was not meant to be directed at photographers sharing single images, and I am truly sorry that point was not conveyed well. Your art inspires deep thought and conversation, and will always have a place here on steemit.
What I mean by "shit posts" was people copy/pasting images off the internet that they do not own. For one, they are trying to make money simply by posting an image another has made (imagine someone posting your photos on another site to make money for themselves). It's rude and thoughtless, and it provides nothing to steemit. While your photography inspires, these meaningless memes spam the homepages and bury good content like yours.
I know I've responded to your comments quite a bit today; I really do want you to know I don't mean any offense to your work or yourself. I went back to the post to make some edits that I hope clarify the points I was trying to make. Steemit can benefit from great artists like you. Steem on!
Thank you.
But its not only you.. many bloggers thinks "Single Image posts" by photographers are worthless.
Maybe this is a platform for the Bloggers... I am still not sure photographers have a place here..
I have been successfully posting photos on my Instagram profile https://instagram.com/prakashghai and have about 48000 followers there.
I sacrificied my Instagram time to be here.
But time and again I get cues that this is probably not the platform for photographers.
Steemit seems to be completely biased towards writers/ bloggers.
But Steemit can never make it big if it doesnt support photographers.
*just a point I wanted to make, for I do feel out of place and to be frank it doesnt feel like there are 1,80,000 users here... maybe a fourth of them or even less. The reach of the tags is disappointing.
Making images on Instagram saves me advertising money, for the reach is huge. Here, its 0.7 cents with 11 reach. On instagram I get 2000+ reach and engagement of 700 odd engaement per "Single Image Post".
So I am at a loss posting here.
Stay optimistic!
Any unique content has a place here, despite what anyone might say! Written posts definitely make up a lot of the content but there are a lot of great artists and photographers on here. Contests like photo challenges are starting to pick up a lot of interest and I think driving the artistic steemit movement. Even if you are sharing just one image, as long as it's your own content, it's a symbol of your creativity and individuality; hopefully people don't make you feel like that doesn't belong here.
Definitely get active on steemit chat; it's a great way to connect with other authors and artists and I think a lot of people don't realize what a great tool it is. You could even look into creating a group that focuses on sharing and supporting the photographers of steemit. You could also try to interest your instagram followers in moving to steemit! This will help grow the community as a whole and get some of your fans introduced to the wold of cryptocurrency...a win for everyone!
We're still a very young platform. When I joined on, it was pretty much ALL cryptocurrency articles; even tags like science and politics weren't very common and art was almost never posted (at least as far as I saw). I think as we grow, we will see an uptick in support for these types of content.
Thank you for your advice. :)
But, I only use my "Peak Energy & Creativity" on creating unique photo compositions and finding good subjects.
If I get into marketing and push-based network building, my photo creation gets affected. Vision is difficult to develop & maintain.
I am very true and honest towards my work.
The "Push" that I could do, has been done on Instagram and to be frank I am no longer interested to start all over again on a new Social Media platform for Zero, especially when all of my friends are now Anti-Social media and deleting all their accounts.
Even I have had over exposure to social media.
What others are posting is their free will. You have no right to tell them what to post and what not to post.
Having a lot of steem power doesnt give you the authority to criticize others. Focus on your own blog and earnings.
Let others breathe.
To this I would like to say that I am not under any delusions that I have authority over anyone; I have no intentions of telling people what they can/can't or should/shouldn't post. Steemit is amazing because we don't censor people; we share all sorts of ideals and beliefs with the community.
What I am saying (and again, just like the article, this is all opinion on my end) is that steemit thrives on community interaction and support. The reason I don't think posting random images off the internet constantly works for us is because it doesn't drive any meaningful conversation or interactions among users. Now yes, I know how that sounds and I wish could explain it better, but I really feel when people take the time to create their own content (whether it be articles, photography or art), it really has a positive effect on steemit.
I very much appreciate you taking the time to comment and I'm sorry I met you under these conditions. I really do want this community to succeed and prosper as well as my fellow steemians. I didn't realize this was how I was coming across, so I will try to revise future posts to avoid any offense.
Here is a post I wrote a few days ago; it makes a lot of the same points, but I think does so in a manner that is little more coherent.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@herpetologyguy/herpetologyguy-s-tips-for-new-steemit-users
so much impressive and deeply explainations so kind of you thanks for it
Nice to read about how things were earlier. I am new here and have been a little turned off, at least on the reading/curation side of things, by the amount of junk or even seemingly automated low-content posts in the different feeds. I really enjoy writing here and think I will move over from Medium, but it'd be great if the good content here were as easy to locate. Maybe I just need to work on finding the right people to follow.
Here are some related articles readers might be interested in
https://steemit.com/steemit/@yash2212/what-s-the-best-cryptocurrency-to-invest-in-long-term-why
https://steemit.com/stocks/@yash2212/the-ultimate-guide-to-becoming-an-investor