What else can I do? A Minnow's Efforts and Reflection on Curation
There were two things that attracted me to sign up for Steem, a little over two months ago.
- The fact that it allows for generating income through quality writing.
- The fact that it is about community.
Yes, in that order. I guess that is still the order in how I think about Steem-blockchain. But the two points have now merged into one. Writing quality content cannot be seen separately from the community involvement. As I talk about Steem with people around me, I still fail to explain this aspect to them. Some try out Steem by putting up one post that was successful elsewhere (on their blog, Medium, or other social media). Some are really 'famous' Twitterians. But they fail to understand how instant reward is an illusion, and that community is key to everything. Not just the key to rewards, but most of all the key towards creating a healthy environment in which quality can flourish.
What do I mean with 'healthy' environment?
Steem-blockchain is basically a world of its own, where people with all kinds of intentions can come in and do whatever they want. This is the strength, it allows for people with absolutely no support from governments to build a sustainable income for themselves. It allows for people to write what they think and believe in, without having people restrict them.
But a healthy environment also means that it is a place free from abuse, free from acts that drain the reward pool with not just things that don't meet any quality standard, but that are aimed at hurting others or that intend to make money without effort. Steem is far from a healthy environment at the moment, and as my involvement on Steem increases, so does my responsibility for this.
My efforts in community-building: curation
A little over one week ago, I found out about autosteem. I was looking for something to help me keep track of people whose work for and on steem and @thewritersblock I love, and I wanted to make sure I could continue to support them even when I would be busy with work or away for the weekend. \
Curation for me, being a minnow still, means to support quality content. I try to read as much from the people I follow as I can, and will leave a comment when I appreciate their effort, their work. These are the type of posts I like (with examples of posts of the past few days):
- I love posts that make me aware there is so much still to learn. Example by @damianjayclay.
- I especially look for posts that make me think and reflect about my own life and my own choices. Example by @idenkcall.
- I also very much appreciate posts that help me to understand someone better. Example by @surfknasen.
- Another type of post I like is one that reflects on someone's position within the steem-community. Example by @jayna.
- I also very much appreciate posts that reflect on the beauty of life, and somehow find a way to share that. We need more beauty in the world! Example by @quoll.
My efforts in community-building: delegation
Another way I've been experimenting and thinking about my involvement with the Steem-community, is through delegation. I've been working towards the 500SP to make it possible to use the slider, making it easier to support more people without going through all of my voting power. But what when I reach that magic number? My answer: delegation. I will start delegating to curation trails that I like. That truly only support quality posts, and who have a definition of 'quality' that I share. I'm still investigating which ones that are. @steemstem and @curie might be obvious answers, but lately I'm not so sure any more about that. Some little projects have caught my interest, for instance @r-bot, @msp-shanehug and @muxxybot. Recently I wrote a post on why i find community-support more important than simply upvoting 'quality'. For now I'm supporting them only through an automatic up-vote. But this will turn into a delegation once I reach the 500SP threshold.
My efforts in community-building: editing
One of the main reasons I'm still on steem, despite the flagwars, the grumpy cats, the political games, is my membership of @thewritersblock. Finding a community that is actively interested in helping each others, through mutual peer-review and a more open attitude than I've ever experienced before, has been a game changer. I try to help out in the queues, where people are welcome to submit unpublished work. Editing makes such a difference, and it have made me even more weary of the rants and freewrites I find all over steem. It has made me confident that expecting quality is allowed and that it is okay to stand for something that you love. I happen to love writing, and philosophy. And getting to be around people who not only support me, but share that love, is incredibly rewarding. I wouldn't be here anymore without that group of people. I'm very happy that they have accepted me as their resident philosopher ;-)
Thank you @jasonbu for making me write about this. It's been something I've been thinking about, and I have written about how I find it important that curation trails work with the community they support, which I have had some amazing experiences with the last weeks. Plagiarism isn't all bad, it sometimes makes people united in their efforts to work against it, and gives a great incentive to build more community.
This entry is an answer to @jasonbu's post asking about curation efforts and his generous offer of delegation. Check out his offer here.
You must be a minnow. Check. Sigh...
Have under 500 SP. Check. Working on it, but yes..
Member of TWB. Check. Proudly!
and options to work towards making Steem a more healthy environment.
Please feel welcome to leave a constructive comment.
So honoured to be included in this important post. I think that quality is the thing we have to keep striving for, even though it's sometimes lost and often unrecognised.
Lovely post on the beauty of community :) Thanks for the mention
The quality of your posts are very high, I am impressed. I am so happy how much I already have learned from you. Not only on the writersblock but also from you blogs.
An expression I love is "a rising tide lifts all boats."
I agree with you that it is about community. Showing up here with pure intent, as you are doing, is so important. You are doing very admirable things: creating great content, helping your fellow writers to produce great content, and supporting quality content through curation. I believe those of us who adhere to these values will rise above the steaming mass of sub-par crap, while motivating others to do the same.
Thank you so much for the mention!
@nobyeni, you post and/or comment every day. You're a very active member and you upvote quality content. You having a slider would definitely benefit not only you, but also the community.
Best of luck!
Thank you Mr. Knasen. Your support means a lot!
Always nice to see people with the right incentives here on Steemit. We need more peopldme who focus on community-building instead of the financial rewards. Good luck to you, I hope you reach the 500SP soon :).
I absolutely agree. I'm glad you commented, as you seem like someone who shares this focus & goal. Best of luck to you to!
So you would be okay with a blind vote to this post?
What do you mean with a blind vote?
If you curate automatically you won't read my blogs. What builds community? Just wondering.
The one doesn't exclude the other. Not for me at least.
By automatically curating people, I make sure I don't miss any post... sometimes the feed can be crowded and makes it impossible to read everything.
If I would comment automatically, that would be directly going against my idea of building community. Automatically upvoting small accounts that I like to support because I know they publish high content posts only, is nothing I'm against.
I see. Does this imply that people like me should find a sponsor? (What if you are never found by curators). A bit like a job interview, after all? Or suppose nobody likes you much? I am thinking of all those great composers lost in time because they never made it to court.
Would this not be creating another capitalist system that favours the fittest (as determined by the fittest)? I mean, philosophically speaking, it's a lot tricker than I first thought.... if we go into the ethical goal setting of Steemit as evolutionary platform.
I guess this depends on how you define quality and what you like. This is a personal thing, and if we would make it a specific standard for everyone to be held to, steem would collapse. But yes, finding like-minded people, who have the same idea about what quality is (I listed mine in the post) is a key factor I think.
Personally I'm not interested in the fittest, but as I'm looking for writers (personal interest), I do look for people who have something to say that is authentic. That make me wonder. That invite me into their world.
And yes, all the posts you put up are a reflection of what you want to see on Steem, right? In that sense it is like a job interview. And now I'm just small, but for any whale, I imagine you would want to support those projects you support, even if you want to support more than you can actually read.
Ah, but no. What I put up is not what I want to see on Steemit. The minute I would see something similar I would change. For me it's about being original. I feel bad about supporting only what I like. Who will stick up for the boring ones?
I know, I know, it's how it works in the world.
But that is also exactly my point.
but if you look for originality, isn't that what you 'like'? I 'like' things that reflect on things I haven't thought about myself.
But what is original about being reactionary to other people's work?
And also you need to realise that being successful on steem has hardly anything to do with whether you're doing something on a genius-level. This autumn a book of mine will be published that perhaps one or two people in the world will be able to read. I know that, I don't expect it to do well. But it is an important work for me, and about things that would totally not work on steem. knowing that difference seems important.
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