There is a new type of post gaining traction on steemit. Its based on a business model that i think was first introduced by @gavvet. (looking back, maybe its not that new but it getting backing from big whales is). I think the existence and desirability of posts like this deserves some discussion.
Basically what these posters do is post others' content, with permission, as a form of "promotion". Because these are well known users on curation lists, the posts tend to make a lot of money, regardless of quality. The fee for this service is that the reposter keeps 50% of the rewards.
Most of these posts seem to be general feel-good inspirational type material, with very little real substance. Like one recent one is "5 reasons why nostalgia is good" or "5 things that i think are inspiring" . There are a few really good ones. The two most prolific of these "authors" @gavvet and @dragonslayer109 almost always seem to have several posts at the top of trending. Their main benefactors seem to be @smooth and @berniesanders... now there are other people starting to follow suit @jacor, for example. Right at this moment, four out of the top 6 posts in trending are this type of post.
Personally, posts like this aren't my cup of tea. But regardless of the quality and appeal, it seems kind of sketchy to me. Basically all these accounts seem to be doing is taking advantage of their spot on curation lists, and pocketing half of the earnings for others' work, in the guise of "promoting" them. They really don't seem like they have anything to offer except a spot on a curation list.
IDK, in a way i want to be behind anything that gets new material on steemit, but something like this gives me pause. At the end of the day, how is this different from saying to a whale "vote for me and ill give you half the rewards". What these "authors" are saying is "if you give me half of what you make, ill get the whale to vote for you"
Appreciate you voicing this out. However all things being subjective - I think the initiatives that @gavvet and @dragonslayer109 are doing is bringing unknown authors into the spotlight - value adding in some ways. Personally, I think the best way to pave forward is to attempt to do something better, or more "substantial" as you put it. TBH, I think we'll start to see many more curation lists (maybe far superior in quality) sometime soon. People can do anything that they want on the platform..
yeah but these new curation lists won't matter. People on this list are there becaue of existing relationships with the whales. Its not a free market style competition.
also, the only way reposters like gavvet etc can get authors is by promising whale votes because theyre already on these whale lists.
This is essentially a curation arbitrage.
Apparently, Steem's curation mechanism are not efficient, which creates an opportunity for middle-men to pocket 50% of reward.
Most likely this is a result of a huge votepower inequality (so-called whales). The situation will improve if either distribution will become more equal (very unlikely in short term) or if Steem will provide better tools for whales (quite likely in short term).
Basically, liquid democracy-style vote redirection can replace curation list, which eliminates this problem.
Meanwhile, this might be actually beneficial for all involved parties. (Debatable, of course.)
For an unknown author, 50% of a large reward is better than no reward at all. And if whales are lazy such an unknown author will likely get no reward in a natural course of action. (I.e. the root problem is that whales have more votepower than they care about to spend.)
i guess if i thought the middle men were doing an OK job, i wouldnt have much of a problem with it, and if the curation were open to anyone i wouldnt have a problem with users doing it and the best curation lists getting the whales vote.
the problem i see is basically the same problem as the "botbait" authors these lists seem to have replaced. There isnt really a competition because these few guys are just on a list. Its not like a competing curator/curation list could come out and beat them out.
I think that through this type of discussions we can improve the system (read: create ideas).
IMO things would be better if curation reward was removed. People will always upvote what they like. On the other side, I feel like curation is essential for the platform. Curation or upvotes are generaly only popularity contest not a production of value. I also feel that users will flee from the platform if they are not compensated right but things we are talking is a product of curation reward pursuit.
Also, scalability of the platform is a big problem since we see those problems with only 6000+ users active each day, imagine how would things look like with 10 or 100 times bigger active user population.
When I say curating a post I mean commenting it, not only upvoating it, of course. Comments are very important because the feedback will improve the user's experience. I know a blog (the no. 1 rated in my country) that has mainly simple posts, not useful posts at all, but the comments ARE GOLD, PURE GOLD.
i suppose if it is innocent, then it is just fine, but if one takes advantage of it... It's pretty simple to merely stop upvoting it -- or worse downvote it --
I feel similarly on that matter. But if they weren't promoting those posts they wouldn't get anything. Quality metrics should be applied on those promotions in any case. I feel that daily gems are a type of promotion that is much fairer than promotion, since that way someone must go through content and then vote for himself. In any case, some promotion is needed especially for lost content with value.
well, either that or the "gems list" gets upvoted and the original authors who are linked get the same half they do in the "promoted author" model because the ppl with the curation lists aren't clicking through.
That would be the fairest distribution IMHO, but we have to keep in mind that finding new lost content is hard work, and should be compensated. Promotion is kinda different story like you said in blog.
If the user is going to do the work of finding what he/she believes are quality posts in need of more attention, I don't really have a problem with them getting some gain out of doing so.
I like @dragonslayer109's work. It is time consuming to review and locate posts worth highlighting. Some of the ones he highlights are not my cup of tea, some are well worth highlighting.
Seems like a credible business opportunity to me.
Just wish they would open up the service.