You bring up so many great points here. I joined about 4 or 5 months ago and I do wonder what this place looked like a year ago before the days of voting bots. You ask about the current mission and values of the platform - and it does seem less cohesive than the original intent, but I think there are still many users on the platform who embrace the ideals of creativity, freedom and relationships.
On the flip side, there are many who do not. I guess the next logical step would be to evaluate what I can personally do to help foster that kind of community. I’m just a small fish in a big sea... but here is what comes to mind:
- Only produce quality posts that provide value to the platform
- Use my vote to support those creating great content
- Engage with other users in meaningful discussion
- Vote for witnesses that share my values
- Try to help/educate and encourage new users
Am I missing anything? I know the idea of building the community “one comment and vote at a time” may not seem like a very revolutionary idea... but as a single user, it’s really the main source of “power” I have to affect change.
I would welcome your thoughts on this and thanks again for the thought provoking article.
Great points, @coruscate! Of course the first step is always to live the values you want to promote by yourself.
Still, this place here is ruled by a hand full of people who have invested large amounts of money. Structural changes can't be made without having a group of powerful whales doing the very first step.
While they pretented to run away from governmental structures and establishment, they've built a complete mirror of society here. The money and power is in the hands of a few who control the system. The end