Now that most people seem able to post and interact to some level 'normally', I am wondering where are the posts and interactions? My feed is clicking over but it is pretty slow, maybe it is Mondayitis. Oh, it is Saturday.
One thing that is apparent when there is some disruption is how narrowly people consume information. This is not just relevant to Steem of course but has implications in the larger world. When two sides argue they argue without recognising that not only do both sides have different perspectives, but their sources of why and how they got those perspectives can be vastly different also.
This is one of the issues with the tailored feeds of platforms like Facebook because when people say 'they get their news from' these sources they don't take into account that the view they get is aggregated and filtered for their specific tastes. They see exactly what they want to see in both the positives and negatives. This means that their loves and fears are both consumed and give the view that everyone in the world thinks the same.
This then goes onto develop their argument and makes anyone they argue with who has an opposing view seem crazy but, it is not known what they have been consuming. To them, they are rational and always on the side of good because their tailored feed confirms to them they are right.
Without really seeing where people are pulling their information from, the only way to approach a discussion well is to spend some time listening and getting to the root of concerns. This will likely lead to uncovering hints to the sources of their information anyway which then gives a better understanding again.
If we think about life as a city with shops and businesses, houses, suburbs and neighborhoods, there are various populations with a range of differing experiences that affect how they think and live their lives. Some are surrounded by struggle, others affluence and all are subject to the communities in which they live. All of the data that pours into the environment goes onto shape attitudes and perspectives that can help someone in one suburb but if applied in another will harm that same person.
If it would be possible to get a holistic view of all of the city, get all data and accurately apply the habits and traits that are beneficial depending on the environment, we could be very adaptive. In turn it would close many of the disparities between locations over time as populations start to adjust to the adaptive people within the community who will largely find ways to work together for common benefits. In time.
The internet is much like a city, as is Steem, where essentially all who use it have access to any suburb and the information each contains. However, rather than exploring the city and all it offers, people tend to spend their time in the suburbs they prefer and then ask the algorithms to feed them more of it. Slowly, a free environment is populated by almost walled informational suburbs.
What happens is that in times of crisis, we act on what we know and if we do not have the knowledge/habits to act appropriately, we end up making moves that don't sync well with circumstance. In the most recent (aren't they daily anyway) Steem drama, people reacted on what they knew which for many was gathered from the suburbs in which they live.
I find it interesting that Haejin has more followers than @steemitblog and even though many people resteemed updates and links and there was a banner at the top of the platform, most people did not read that there was a patch coming while arguing about the very thing the patch was aimed to fix. Stinc aren't generally great at communication but, it doesn't help if people don't read their updates at all.
Most people live in cities and realize that there are some suburbs that they should avoid, at least at some times of the day or night if they can. However, on Steem there are some suburbs that everyone should at least spend some time and one of those is in the technical aspects of the platform. You don't need to be a master coder to understand the basics and there are plenty of layperson paragraphs strewn all over the place, I know because that is what I read.
The problem with staying informationally narrow is that all things are influencing each other and without understaning basic connections, one is at the mercy of magical events out of ones control or is forced to make assumptions about what is going on in different suburbs. Of course, no one can force anyone to consume a wide diet of information, it is the responsibility of each of us as individuals but just like a nutritional food profile, variety of source is recommended, even if it doesn't all taste good.
We have a growing city that is having more infrastructure continually developed in the hope that we can use it to grow our community and develop a population of people who can both be their best as individuals and create a strong base for others too. It is very experimental at this stage and there are many paths to take for the infrastructure but, there are many more opportunities for users to grow here and have an expanding pool of opportunity.
What I am hoping is people see this as a kind of chance to increase their informational mobility as these days, none of us are confined to the suburbs in which we grew up, even if that is the current case in the real world for many. On Steem, and through the coming community Hivemind upgrades that HF20 is in part preparation for, we will have the chance to develop all new suburbs that better suit our purposes and, participate in the way they operate and grow.
This digital city is in its foundational stage but turning it into a replica of where we already live is a waste of potential as we already know that doesn't work. What would likely be the best case scenario is that rather than fight about what we have been trained to think is right and wrong and had it confirmed via our tailored experiences, we set out to explore what is possible together.
It could be a worthwhile journey but, we have to leave where we feel comfortable and open ourselves to new. The terrain might get rough though.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
We can't tunnel vision. Understanding the full picture allows us to make better decisions.
Regarding lack of use of the platform, I think people are still shaken by the upgrade. It seemed that new accounts were hit the hardest. For someone with low SP, simply creating a post depleted all of their resources making them unable to vote, comment or transact (i.e. engage with the platform). Then after finding out that they can't do anything on the platform for several hours and their confidence in Steemit being shaken, they receive a message telling them to spend money and invest in SP... being told to invest money in something that you are experiencing problems with first hand is pretty off-putting and even made me question things. I know i'm not alone in that thinking as well. I wouldn't be surprised if this event had a big impact on steemit's use for new members but hopefully it recovers in the long run. I still do not understand all of the nuances and impacts of HF20.
You raise some very good points. Regarding information. I agree that since people tend to only consume information that agrees with or perpetuates their own opinions/beliefs, people seem to place themselves in a sort of echo chamber. They surround themselves with one type of info and with people who share their viewpoint. Then everyone discusses the same topics from the same mindset and they all strengthen their already biased and narrow belief system. You state the result of this quite well:
Your analogy about suburbs is interesting. For me it makes me think of any trending page on steemit which are predominantly controlled by specific groups of people. If one only reads the trending page of a particular tag then each day they will only receive information from a very select few individuals. They essentially get trapped in the suburbs , as you put it. To me, trending pages represent the suburbs (which is why I rarely go on them) and the "new" page represents the deeper underbelly of the city.
I think now the changes are starting to take effect. The communication from Steemit was not great but, not many people even clicked on the link in that big red banner.
Trending pages are generally narrow views here because they are controlled by stake alone (voting) but this will change depending on how interfaces implement their views later on. The catch all system of Steemit.com reflects (other than the last 2 days) bought votes for the most part.
Never go alone :D
I think most people are still offline for now. There are some who are specifically waiting for their VP mana to recharge. Some don't know that there was another patch that increased their resource credits, so they may still think they can't post. Regardless, I wouldn't imagine that things will get back to "normal" until Monday morning as that's the 5 day mark from the patch. Everyone should be fully charged then.
Yes, it's important to get out and get other information. However, on an entertainment platform such as facebook, or even on Steemit, people tend to view articles and posts on topics that interest them. It's no secret that I enjoy precious metals, so I look at a lot of posts about PMs. I'm not as into the bagpipes, so I don't tend to seek out those posts as much (at all to be totally honest). It is important to take in views from multiple perspectives, but that's one of the problems with getting our news where we get our entertainment.
You wouldn't tell someone who likes romance movies that they have to watch a horror movie to be well-rounded. It wouldn't appeal to them... unless they also happened to like horror movies.
I don't disagree with your point that we need more ideas from other perspectives. If we don't get them, then we just have an echo chamber where each group feels self-righteous about their belief because everyone else there feels the same thing, so the prevailing view must be right because no one has disagreed. That's not really healthy, but I'm not sure they our entertainment is the best place to get our news.
I probably could have been more eloquent and to the point, but hopefully you get the idea. I agree with your principle, but don't know that Steemit or facebook is the best place to be educating ourselves. Or maybe I just proved myself wrong by having a slightly different opinion and perspective than you. ;)
It becomes one and the same and blurred until one is affected by the entertainment and desensitized by the news.
The problem is that if they have never seen a horror movie. My daughter didn't want to go on the piggy train at the amusement park because she had never been on a ride before. Once on though, the ladybugs, the old cars and the carousel were all good to go.
This was more centered to educating ourselves about Steemit and the technology here. one can't really complain about their experience if they don't even know what caused it or what is being done at that very moment to patch it. Many didn't read any of the blogs explaining but instead raged on the ones that raged.
That's a good point. And there are a lot of things here that people might not know they like. There can be a certain element of fear or uncertainty, but like with your daughter, sometime we find things that we really like just because we tried something new. That was the case for me and precious metals.
It is very important to understand at least the basics of the technology behind Steemit. If you don't know how it works, it can hinder your progress. Or you'll just be confused and frustrated about why you can't do what you want to do.
The digital city does replicate attitudes and perspectives of real life areas in communities. You have the intellectual movers and shakers out there shaping our world. And then you have the social ghettos a Facebook and Twitter. Folks should have open minds and do more listening but sadly they don't and great opportunity is missed. Thanks for sharing
people carry baggage wherever they go and instead of opening the case to see if what they carry is useful, they keep letting it slow them down.
I think people prioritize because of the restrictions of time. However, over time we tend to make these priorities even narrower till it becomes difficult to explore
People definitely prioritize but the real question is, what takes priority?
Still waiting to hear back from Ned about him shaving the Steem Logo into his head... I think he must be waiting for his RCs to recharge.
Posted using Partiko iOS
his clippers run on RCs
Community is still getting used to the changes... look at @arcange latest post to see how much the issues impacted engagement. Everything was done across the board! However, we do finally see some improvement the last two days and my RC has reloaded much faster after my comments earlier today. We are definitely seeing the adjustments made now let’s see when everyone gets back...
What I would really like to see ( @abh12345 ) is the character count of comments on average over the last two days. That might tell an interesting engagement view.
In a couple of days there will be some new drama and most of this will be forgotten. The Steem news cycle :)
I'll do the daily totals for the past week or so if you remind me when I'm off work 😊
It is typical human behavior to stay within places of comfort. Take steemit for example, those who are feeding off a Whale/Dolphin see no point socializing on the platform, I know a few in this category
Luckily those who know the true value of exploring and trying something new will always seek to expand their knowledge base. Hopefully I fall into this category
Those who are eating narrow will eventually lose their meal tickets as the food tends to travel and migrate often here. In my opinion, it is risky to focus.
Hi @tarazkp Actually the internet is like a lion, steemit also with it, you share so well information that I do not have the answer to praise
I'm reminded of when Google got in trouble (with the internet, don't know about legally) for bubbling their searh results, their excuse being that people like having their world view confirmed.