RE: Thirty ninth Week as a Steem Representative - CW 22
I aimed to curate good and unique content. But I found it realllly hard to find the content that I wanted to curate.
95% of the content is either diaries or challenges. I'm sure there are great posts under those monotonous titles but the repetitive titles don't catch my attention or intrigue me to read what's inside.
The rest 5% who stand out are mostly those who are not contributing to the ecosystem. I mean I don't mind if you are not in a club or don't have CSI above 5. Even if you are doing a power down, that's okay. But no votes or comments at all? Or only self-voting?
If you are a newbie, I exempt you from everything. Otherwise, you need to at least interact with fellow authors if you want them to reciprocate.
I had to re-think how far I could spread the wings of freedom, turns out there's a limit.
I looked into your community. The content I liked was already voted on. But I'm happy to look again. That Indian writer sounds promising.
What people don't realize that it's so easy to stand out in the crowd of diary writers and challenge participants. I wish to see great authors because I'm only going for effort and value.
There are now some wonderful initiatives from @jaynie, @wakeupkitty.pal or @dove11 dedicated to tracking down good and unknown authors.
I also find it quite helpful to search for specific tags (ambitious authors tag in terms of their texts, not in terms of clubs or languages).
The fact is that it is a pity for every good writer who first discovers the Steem and then leaves it again - unobserved...
Thanks for the mention @weisser-rabe and for highlighting the posts by @steemitbloggers and @theluvbug :) I really do try my best to not only find new people floating around the space... but also to highlight some of the seasoned writers here, who often deserve a lot more traction than they get (in my opinion anyway).
This is a sad reality indeed - and in fact, it was almost me seven years ago haha!! But I am a stubborn little wench so I kept on at it haha! Glad I did :)
I'm glad, too ;-)))
xxx
The Demotivation
A writer writes for the audience. No audience, no motivation!
Admit it or not, the votes are a significant indicator that your work is being read. It doesn't matter if it truly is or not. When one has a marker to compare how others are being upvoted vehemently and not them...
We have a very talented in our community. But I seldom see her being supported. Her posts are becoming scarce. The result, she may lose the motivation to write... And may stop altogether...
So much truth in this @soulfuldreamer! There are actually MANY talented writers around here who simply don't get seen or "read" - and that is really unfortunate, but ironically, I have actually been thinking a LOT about this lately... the whole space in fact, because there is just so much potential lying right at our feet.
Not everybody has it in them to self motivate, self promote or even have the will or drive to network in order to build up some form of community around themselves - but it is a necessity - and would be the same for any writer, anywhere in the world. There is no reality where one can just "write" and expect the readers to "roll in" - and that in essence is half the problem, because people are expectant to some degree that if they write (here specifically) that if it is good it should be rewarded.
That is a fools paradise. What people need to do more of is imagine that there were no large curators around the space... this would shift their focus entirely onto building and shaping their own community - and that is not even necessarily limited to "here".
Write for the sake of writing. Read for the sake of reading and nothing else. The rewards are an added plus. I suppose... and not unlike what they say about success in life "if you chase money, you will never get it, but if you chase your passion - the money will come".
To my mind, the focus has been placed too much on the money - so people come here, share their writing, don't become overnight millionaires and then shrug their shoulders and leave. The same goes for the reading... People dont want to go and read other peoples content because for many of them... it is not even why they are here... they are here for the reward. so it is a flawed food chain in my opinion.
People need to come here for the writing and nothing else. I am not saying that the rewards don't matter... because obviously they are an intrinsic aspect of it all - but people just need to re-order their priorities is what I am trying to say... with an awful lot of waffling in between haha!!! :D
If we cultivated a space for writers to come and write and readers to come and read - the entire ecosystem would start to shift. Which I know is PRECISELY what many of the GOOD people around here are doing... we just need to encourage a WHOLE LOT more of THAT magic :)
Anyhoooo I shall shut up now lol :D
I have gatecrashed this thread haha!
You have upgraded this thread!
lol MWAH!
I agree with you 99 percent. But that one percent is still a big liability. I also write for the sake of writing. It's addictive for me. I used to write before Steemit as well, but I didn't have a wider audience or readers. So, I understand what you are implying, dear. But you do know that voters are also a big factor. The author that I have pointed out is much, much older, so I can safely quote her as an example. It's not that she came, didn't find support, and left. My point here is that she may have felt she wasn't getting noticed or read, hence the lack of motivation.
True, very true. There is no other way around it!
Oh, yes, I totally understand - but I was not specifically referring to her. I was talking generally.
Of course and I did state that :)
Well you know what they say....Where there is a will, there is a way!
Hope you have a beautiful Thursday sweetie!
Much love @soulfuldreamer <3
We have the same one in mind I think. We will try to change it ;-))
I am almost sure!
Jaynie's compilation is always already covered by some curator. It's good. Haven't checked what others are doing. Yet.
And I do check specific tags. In fact, I think I only do that and desperately jump into the communities as a last resort.
There are not many posts in the niche tags. Very few. And It's hard to find quality there too. I had a feeling they were demotivated only. I give some encouraging votes where I see potential, hoping for them to do better and more.
Unfortunately, we lost a good authentic newbie very soon. He had potential but he wasn't received well by the community and now he thinks this place is too complicated to continue.
I second! I had to retract a vote or two. There is definitely a limit to this new freedom. I feel you. Every single word!!!
It's easier said than done
Why is it a newbie is exempt from everything? A newbie can post 4-5 times a week, freely read, upvote 10x plus comment on a few posts.
Because they are newbies. They are in learning phase which is quite overwhelming if they don't have right mentors. If they don't do any of these things in the start, it's okay. We should be supportive and help them to learn the ways of steem. (:
That is at least a way better start than most of us old Steemians had 👍🍀💕