With the upcoming decrease in author rewards that are set to trigger in Hard Fork 21, I've been thinking about all the work that goes into my posts, and I am sure other authors are doing the same. There have been some people on the blockchain that have whined that authors are being paid too much as it is, and that those who merely upvote a post (which someone else has written) deserve more rewards. One of those people happens to be a developer on the blockchain — I wonder if he would feel the same if this discussion were about developer rewards, and that the profits of developers were being slashed so that more of the rewards could be given to the users of the dapps which he develops...? But, I digress... this post is about the brainpower that I put into every single post I make here.
All of my posts begin with
ideas, with thoughts in my head that I want to get out, art or photos or poetry that I wish to share,
etc. I do not use an app that basically writes posts for me based on my number-of-steps (like Actifit) or how well I scored in a game I played (like DrugWars). All of my posts are actually crafted by me, carefully and thoughtfully, in a front-end to the blockchain.
photograph by meEven if I only have a photo to share, I write at least one paragraph about it, telling where the photo was taken, describing the subject of the photo, or divulging what it is about the shot that I like. The photo at left, for example, is a photo which I shared in a post recently. I talked about the history of the building, about its original purpose and what it is being used for today. I thought that was much more interesting that just dropping the photo and saying nothing about it. If the subject is a permanent feature of the landscape, I also like to include a link to its location on the
@steemitworldmap project. It's disappointing to me when I find posts on the blockchain with nothing but a photo in them and wonder: where was this photo taken? what is that magnificent building /flower /statue...? and discover that the photographer has left us hanging with questions that are unanswered. Even if they don't know anything about the building, they could state: "This shot was taken in Kraków, Poland" or something similar. That isn't too much to ask, is it? 😕
image by NeoxianAG, color-change by meI recently nominated some communities for
a contest, where a delegation was being awarded as a prize. The post, itself, took me an hour or so to write, typing-up a paragraph about each of the communities I was nominating and editing the wording a few times so it represented the community accurately. I double-checked the contest post to make sure I had satisfied all of the requirements. Then, instead of simply snagging the graphic for the contest and using it, I edited it to make it unique for me, by adding my name ("nominations by thekittygirl") and then applying a pretty color-change effect to it. Sure, that was a bit more work than was necessary, but I wanted my entry to stand-out and be attractive. 🙌
For a more routine post, however, I have to roll-up my "mental sleeves" and do some digging. If I am writing about a flower I photographed, then I want to know what kind of flower it is, whether it is native to this area or came from somewhere else, how it propagates, what colors one might see in other similar flowers, and so forth. I spend much time reading articles online, checking encyclopedias & dictionaries, looking at maps, and whatever is required to learn more. I then load the photo — or several photos — into my PaintShopPro™ software and process them so they will look their best.
Also, I usually take great care to ensure that "Registered" symbol ® and "Trademark" symbols ™ are in place and used appropriately, as well as diacritical marks in words that appear in, or are derived from, words or names in other languages (e.g., décor and the aforementioned Kraków).
When all is said and done, several hours go into each of my posts, usually spread over numerous days. Of course, some posts are easier to write: my Old Barn Posts usually take from one-to-two hours each, but my post about the medical condition Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum took at least 8–10 hours of my time, perhaps more. Some of my posts about coins or flowers have taken 3–4 hours each, although I spent 5–6 hours researching the Republic of Minerva (which included information on the republic itself, the sailing vessel that discovered the reef, the coin that was minted for the republic, etc.)
screenshot from my PaintShopPro™ software
So, why do I spend so much time on my posts and include so much information in them? Because I care. And because I believe in quality content. And because I enjoy having people read my posts and feel like they have actually learned something or were entertained. Because of this, I will probably continue as I have been doing, even if my rewards are diminished. But, consider: if everyone stops writing posts so they can spend the most-lucrative-and-easier time simply upvoting others' content, after seven days there will be nothing new to upvote.
😊
I wonder how HF21 will affect people like you, @Quillfire, and me, who spend hours putting together a post. With the price of Steem today, I could expect a great post to earn about $2.00. So after HF21, I'd suspect half of that. If a post gets curated, maybe a little more. I hope you continue to do well @thekittygirl.
@blockurator,
At this point, it's time to accept reality. We all just need to be patient and wait for a viable alternative to Steemit. My hope is that Voice will pull off something satisfactory. We'll know in a little over a month (Sept. 23 or shortly thereafter). For now, focus on keeping your network in tact.
Quill
Want to have some fun? Bring your fighting spirit to Narrative. The gangs are forming.
@thekittygirl,
Late last night, I responded to @blockurator's comment without reading your post. This morning I read it and wanted to add a few insights.
You are a pro. So am I and so is Block. As such, we have standards to which we hold ourselves. We WILL NOT produce crap just because we are massively under-compensated for creating quality.
And we are not alone. There are many others who wish to do the same. We believe that Merit, not Manipulation, ought to be the metric that determines a post's success or failure and are willing to accept the collective judgement of our respective audiences as the arbiter of whether such standard has been achieved.
That is our Game.
To others, STEEM/Steemit is just a big cash cow to be milked in any way they can dream up. Quality of Content is of no relevance whatsoever. So long as people keep posting, a necessary facade is maintained and coins keep getting produced ... coins which accumulate in their pockets despite their having done nothing to earn them. So long as the enablers keep enabling, who cares if they're miserable?
This is their Game.
The two games cannot peaceably co-exist. Sooner or later, the former group will rebel. First will come contempt, then disgust. A some point they will reach a tipping point, a critical mass. And that's when the wheels will come off the bus.
I have written endlessly warning about the consequences of the endless cheating and self-dealing. I will write no more.
In the end, all this comes down to one simple dynamic: A bunch of self-aggrandizing Millennials refused to listen to old men about how to wage war, and to old woman about how to keep the peace. The sociability that underpins social networks is older than Man. It is subject to Rules and one of the most important among them is that salutes are not purchased, they're earned. What the kids could not, and cannot, grasp is that our collective endeavor was never about computer code ...it was about genetic code.
HardFork 21 will be STEEM/Steemit's Funeral Pyre, the final conflagration of the dead (or nearly so).
Perhaps poetically, the Whales will become Minnows. Us Minnows will lick our wounds ... and re-form somewhere else. Sooner or later, a Meritocracy will develop and the Rules than govern human conduct will re-assert themselves. And perhaps more poetically still, the children will take their rightful place in the pecking order ... working FOR those with gray hair.
Quill
It's going to be interesting for sure. Change is certain, but how it will really play out is still with the jury, in my humble opinion. I am not seeing doomsday as some are, but then again I'm a cockeyed optimist through and through. I feel like Steem is only just beginning and there is a giant playground here for developers and apps. I also believe (as I suggested in my long response to this post) that there's a distinct possibility that quality content will rise to the top when people are no longer motivated to write shit posts. When quality actually stands out because fewer people are writing crap content to game the system and get rewards, maybe good content actually will win. What do you think, @quillfire?
I totally agree with you. Those who have made the major decisions on this 50/50 split are not being respectiful to the writers and would have a completely different view if it were on something that affect their work and wallets. However, it would have been 75/25 (curation/creation) if people would not have spoken out as they did, so I am appreciative of that.
The question for me now, being an advocate for the new and Redfish accounts, is how do we help those accounts who will be taken advantage of? I know we at @steemterminal and @heyhaveyamet are focusing on just that. I am so glad you are part of these teams and encouraging as much as @brittandjosie and I are.
Hang tight and stay positive dear feiend.
Ten
@kittygirl, i applaud you for the care you always take in your posts. It doesnt seem right that people get the same amount for photos or just for upvoting. Its absolutely NOT the same thing. 🧡🧡🧡
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I can totally relate and understand. The photographs I engineer take hours in the making. Not talking about the fact the time and money is spend to get to these places. That's part of the fun I guess and soon half the fun when posted here. Unless it creates more traffic. I agree that the actual creators like us have a hard time to get traction here. Expecting to live from Steem can't be the baseline assumption to start posting here. For me iam very greatful for ever suporter I get and hope to grow a follower base. Iam not sure about the hardfork21 what's going to happen. But I guess time will tell. Good luck for us creators.
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You are absolutely right! Let's hope, as the curation goes up, more people will upvote 'good' posts... normally, spam posts will decrease as the post rewards will decrease too...and as such good posts will stand up more and gain more upvotes.
At least, that's what I hope...
And then you also have the tribes where minnows can act as whales 😉
There is nothing in the Steem blockchain code that incentivizes upvoting "good" content. The incentive is to upvote content that will be highly rewarded. The assumption in the Whitepaper is that good content will be rewarded, but there is no mechanism to incentivize that. In fact, the content that can be expected to earn the most reward is the content produced by whales, and content produced by someone who uses bid bots. The HF21 changes to the reward curve only add more incentive to upvote posts that will end up highly rewarded, i.e. posts by whales and bid botted posts. Anyone who thinks that HF21 is going to result in more curation of good posts is living in a fantasy world.
There's nothing wrong with living in a fantasy world... you can call me a dreamer 😉
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Think I'm still dreaming 😀 Thanks Denise 😘
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It is a shame that others do not follow your example. To actually do the work necessary to be noticed on the blockchain and then receive very little interaction is a sad state of affairs. If it is any consolation, I do read many of your posts; and, without fail, I always learn something new!
Thank you so much @thekittygirl for your consistent quality contributions to the STEEM blockchain. We are all fortunate to have you!
It's already feeling that there are less articles to peruse as more Steemians go inactive and I find myself looking for more authors outside my usual subjects and acquire new interests. This HF21 could potentially hasten things further.
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Good post. My rewards are so low that if they get lower I'll be paying to post. Most of my posts take around 3 to 4 hours from inception to getting them out so I don't feel rewarded for doing them, but it's what I do, and who knows, maybe one day I'll be another Van Gogh
You have given me so much to consider. Some days I painstakingly take so much time perfecting a post, while some days I post a smaller one.
Not sure how all this HF is going to work out. We shall see.
You’re absolutely correct. Thank you for putting quality over quantity. I would much rather have 1 well-thought-out post than upvoting 20 sh*t posts. I don’t understand how this is supposed to move SteemIt forward at all. Oh well. I will continue to post my best & appreciate those who do the same.
I enjoy all you do both on the blockchain and in discord and your blogs are well taken care off and very informative. I agree I read a lot of blogs that want us to change and curate more. Well I already do that but writing , being creative and blog is more my way so I will keep doing what I do and I hope my readers love it ,
If not well we will see 😉
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Neat artwork and I agree about the voting. Good points Kitty😺
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You said it all! I am one of the active steemians before. I always put my heart into my intended article and let my soul ride inside a virtual time machine and let my mind process it by forming the right thoughts to write so i can convert it in words visible to others.
But i still get nothing but a small reward. Dont get me wrong i was doing everything because of my passion. But what is disappointing is when your reward is diminishing with time.
Good that you put quality effort into your posts. The HF21 is a cause for concern for those of us who like to write and have been hoping to make some profit as Steemit always promised, but now the shift is making it harder, what to speak of the price, it's almost not worth my time anymore.
Hehe, this must be a rhetoric question... ! Nice thinking anyway...
Well said @thekittygirl ;-)
Nice to see how you get to the end result of posting! I have a mix of different levels of posting. I have longer ones that I draft and write slowly over weeks, and then really quick ones (like these past weeks) where I have very little time for more in depth posts. I wish I had the time to do every part maximum justice, but sometimes, there really isn't any time left!
I for one appreciate the time you spend on your posts. It is what makes them so enjoyable. I know when I click on something with your name on it I don't have to wonder if it is going to be good. I know it's going to be great. I don't go into as great of detail as you do, but I do a lot the same. When it is on a subject that is easily researched, making sure of facts and documentation are very important. It does make for better quality. I am not like most I cannot throw a post together in 20 mins, even if it's rambling. Each post takes a few hours. I constantly read and reread and double check everything.
I never agreed with HF21. I am at the same point where I was with HF20. Getting to be more regular with my posting, starting to see rewards for my effort so yes I am afraid of the tailspin again. Yet according to most with the amount of time I spend curating and engaging, I should not see such as great of an impact. I am not going to change what I do with my postings, I am still working on the goal of a daily post. I do truly believe that those that do create good/great content, need to just stay the course and not change what they do. Sadly, with this HF happening, it does show us that there are more that don't pay attention to what is going on. If they did then this HF would not be happening. The rich keep getting richer at the cost of the poor. Isn't that what most whales do...eat plankton.
I'm in total agreement. There are posts that take me two or three hours to create, but those are in the minority; most take me upwards of six to eight hours, and many far longer than that.
I haven't been posting recently because I've felt like crap, but I'd be lying if I said that this hard fork didn't bother me, along with its further confirmation of just how little Steemit Inc. cares about content creators.
Or people in general who aren't whales.
But I'm sticking around all the same, still commenting and interacting, and I'll start posting again soon. I may even go back to a daily haiku to start, just to get the ball rolling again.
I was never here strictly for the money, even though it was a nice bonus, and I've never cashed out a dime. And I don't plan to start.
I'm staying for the people, the communities, and the friends I've made here. They're worth more than STEEM will ever be worth, because there is simply no monetary measure for great folks. I just wish we were closer!
Hopefully HF21 won't be the clusterf&^k that was HF20, when so many of us couldn't even access Steemit for days on end. Incompetence Incorporated.
I'm hoping they have more of a clue this time, but since all they're really doing is making it even easier to rape the reward pool, I'm not holding my breath.
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I try to post as often as I can, daily if it is possible. Like the majority of steemians, posting articles in steemit is not the only focus and activity in daily life. I am not a writer, never was... and I know that there are many bloggers and writers gifted with the talent of putting words together in such perfect ways.
Even when posting takes so much effort for me, I do find joy and satisfaction in preparing my post, even when they aren't literary pieces, because I am accomplishing what I am in steemit for: to share my life, primarily my journey in stacking. I hope to spread the message of saving real value and creating one's own store of wealth by stacking precious metals.
I appreciate your articles very much. Thanks for sharing your thought process when you write a steem post. You are an excellent writer.
Keep doing what you do, @thekittygirl! Have a lovely week. Take care.
Wonderful post @thekittygirl. I love your approach to writing and blogging. Good stuff :)
Your posts are always quite wonderful! I wish I had your computer skills. As we all are learning, there are many ways to be involved with Steem and things are changing again. We can do this!
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Thanks for putting in so much effort and time and love into writing your posts. I am not sure where HF21 will take us to... But indeed it has been and will be affecting all of us...
Love the color changing effect on your photo.
!tip
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Well, articles are in general very underestimated around here. What is the normal pay for two 4 +/- hours of your time? A couple of dollars? Only the recent trip I am starting a series on cost me about four thousand. I wonder if my second year on Steem will be enough to cover half of it...
But rewards is one thing, and looking good, attracting followers, etc. is another. So one should think about one's blog as a portfolio, too.
Which is kind of not practical with good articles sinking down in all UIs which are generally copies of one another. I am still waiting for a feature that can actually organize my content. Maybe I should go back to steempress and be ready to sacrifice a couple of tags.
You got that spot on @kittygirl "care" and quality content. Contributing to the community, sharing something from our part of the world is valuable. Knowing people enjoyed reading the post is reward on it's own.
Lovely post - I love it when I get an idea and can't wait to share it in one of my posts - but a strange thing has been happening when I do a gardening post, - I have found that a certain individual is posting almost immediately a post on fb which is almost word for word of what I have written. - grrr.
You hit the "nail on the head" it takes time to present decent posts no matter what you present. Self-pride to present the best you are able with facts eats into time, how many would stop using a platform if there is nothing worthwhile/informative/interesting to read.
Many strong bloggers are putting up fresh content every day with very little reimbursement. Gaming the system 'if it makes people happy, so be it', by your own content and admittance, pride in work comes first and foremost, keep going!
hmmm thinking about the efforts we put now makes sense and this is the time to revise the time we put on this blockchain
I hear you @thekittygirl, my posts always take many hours as well. I hope the authors don't give up here, Steemit is such a wonderful platform for creative content.
I live by the same philosophy and try to give a whole experience when people come to my blog. The music making alone takes hours, days and weeks (sometimes months) to make and then I tell the story around it, or make a mini blog about what is going on in my life and how it's relevant to the track, sharing experiences and what not.
For the travel posts, I make sure I try and keep it entertaining and give little facts around bits and pieces with some research but ultimately want everyone to have a good time.
There's a reason you're a Power House Creative! Keep on powering my friend and let the naysayers who used to be here creating content go away, there will be more opportunity for those of us that stick around still doing our thing to earn more rewards from the pool! Less competition, thanks very much!
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I totally agree with you @thekittygirl i am more a less in the same category as you spending hours on my post but yours are ever more detailed and my figures seem to be diminishing more instead of getting better rewards that would encourage you more but like you i do it because i care and like to present it the best way i can , well lets hope things change in the next folk.
Have a great day :)
Way to go @thekittygirl..
I couldn't agree more with you and respect what you believe in.
There must be some integrity in everything that comes out with our name as it reflects what sort of person we are and what are our values in life !
Thumbs UP !!
Just know that your time spent is not wasted on me. I appreciate all the time and effort that you put into your posts. While mine are not nearly as well put together as yours, I spend hours some days putting a post together, and not having nearly enough time to read posts.
I love that you take pride in what you do and I, like you, will keep on plugging, even with less reward.
It's not always about the money, is it? Greeters at Walmart get paid more. ;)
Awesome post! !tip
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I'm only good for one daily 5 minute Freewrite @thekittygirl, that's why your content gets curied and is amazing. 💕
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Kudos for your fantastic posts. @thekittygirl. Most posts worth reading are well planned out with photos of one’s own or properly sourced.
It should be interesting how things work out after the HF.
found it #pypt discord kitty, you're in photography now, nice..
I'll read it later..
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My activity reports are not just numbers ;p ... but because of this same reason
I don't want you to step in and find rubbish
Having said that... lately I have been feeling a little disillusioned with what I have to share... because most days my activity is the same
And after awhile there's only so many ways you can spin it to make it interesting...haha
Funny how I landed on this post
Went to check innerblocks
Read your post, upvoted it, then realised it was one from a month back
So came here for a more recent one and bam....
Well, I am glad I landed here :D
I
So
Love
Your
Quality
Content
I have so much to learn from you. I used to put more quality but now my commitment at home is taking a toll on me. But I guess I must improve.
I love the effort and time you put into each post and oh well, author should be rewarded, don't we? Especially author like you who actually care.
Thank you for being inspiring as always. =) ❤️
Yes I see the quality in your work every time I come to your blog. I love the old barn series!
I also spend hours and hours, sometimes a week or more, to get my stuff up to snuff at my level of very-new-to-all-of-this.
I do it for ME really, honing some writing skills and learning a whole lot about photography, cryptocurrency, blockchain, blogging, delegation, passive income and a bunch of other stuff I don't even care much about, but I have to know just to stay afloat on steem.
I'm finally swimming so I think I will be OK, but my big worry is for the newbies. With an upvote worth zero, they will get zero from curation and even less than nearly nothing from all the work it takes to post even just a single picture when you are new here. WE want people to come to steem, and it seems to me HF21 will bring an end to that. It was hard enough when my posts brought me 1 cent! Now they will bring half of one cent, and next to no reward for curation.
I get a kick out of supporting newbies with little gain for myself - I remember too well how hard it is to be new here. I'll keep doing that.
Thanks for this thoughtful post.
I think it's wonderful that you put so much heart, and so much time into your posts, @thekittygirl. All that care really shows, and makes a huge difference for readers. We all benefit enormously from great content that is not only well-written, but thoughtful, engaging, well-researched and interesting to look at. In some ideal world (at least in my mind), that kind of content would get the best rewards and content that was not well-thought out and well-written would not.
That said, it's not how things really work, and I've never quite been sure why. I suppose there are many reasons. Not only are bots at work, but people get great rewards if they have developed a lot of followers. Some people merely have to pop a picture or a paragraph up there and - BAM - valuable upvotes. Others can write their hearts out and get a pittance. Will HF21 fix that? It's dubious at best. We shall see.
I used to put tons of time into my posts. I ran contests and posted short stories and wrote weekly posts providing writing tips to fiction writers. Then some life stuff happened and my job kind of exploded and I realized I was writing big content for a small audience and all that combined to dissuade me from putting that much life energy into my content. (Plus I am working toward mainstream publications with my fiction writing. So I needed to divert some of the time and energy I was putting into Steem to make that happen.)
What worries me the most is basically what you're suggesting -- that HF21 will be a disincentive for all content creators on Steem, and great content will cease to exist. Without great content, what will draw new users? What will keep us all here on the platform? Why should anyone spend their time and energy writing awesome posts?
My hunch, very honestly, is that it will continue just fine but a little differently. For one thing, I would hazard to guess that putting all that time into your posts is a work of passion, and not just about the rewards. You write beautiful posts partly because it's who you are and you have a drive to produce high quality work. Am I right? So don't stop. Do it for the love of it.
Not only that, but if fewer people have incentive to write content at all, perhaps those who are driven to develop content out of passion for expressing themselves and sharing interesting ideas will kind of gain more notoriety and rise to the top. If you're rewarded a little less, but your followers have more incentive to upvote and comment on your content, it might result in more rewards for great content creators like you. Just a thought.
For my part, as I've alluded to, I'm sort of in maintenance mode right now just due to what's happening in my life. I truly care about great content, but I simply can't put hours into a post. No can do. I write a short post every day. It's kind of like a journal entry about what happened for me that day. I try to make it interesting to read and share something funny or weird that happened, along with pictures. I write through Actifit because I love the incentive to both hit my exercise goal each day and also write a post daily. But I guarantee my posts don't write themselves! I really think about what I want to write each night, and I share images and thoughts that I hope are of interest, and easy enough to read for people who are as crazy-busy as I am.
I hope this provides some additional perspective. There are many ways to be content creators, and hopefully the best content creators will gain the most followers and get the best rewards. We shall see in a few days how it's all going to shake out!