The Resteeming option can be quite useful if properly used. It lets us share posts that we enjoy and feel should receive additional exposure. It promotes content, particularly original content which should, by the very purpose of Steemit as an original content source, be more supported than copypasta.
Now that's all nice and great except when the Resteem feature is overused, or just annoyingly used, and our feeds end up flooded with posts by individuals we don't follow. This post is about evaluating the problems caused by the Resteem feature and the relating plausible solutions.
See Problem → Offer Solution (A)
Rather than having Resteemed content automatically appear on our feeds, I'd suggest incorporating an option that a user can enable for a secondary feed page. Meaning, Resteemed content could either appear on the main feed page or on a secondary page or tab, as specified in user preferences. All this is is a suggestion for additional customisation allowances on the platform itself, not on third party partner sites.
The Benefits (As I See Them)
- Greater user control over content display and thus a greater level of user enjoyment, thus supporting the Follow feature and its utility.
- Unique promotion of Resteemed content by offering it in its own section aka viewing environment.
- Subtle encouragement towards the creation of one's own original content rather than what some view as the generation (this remains debatable) of original content through the work of others.
Solution (B)
Limiting the number of Resteemed posts one can make is another method that can be successfully utilised to reduce the amount of Resteeming, particularly as it is evident that some are using Resteeming only for its wallet-boosting features (thus the 'Unnatural Selection' part of this post's title) and not because they wish to share quality original content by an author they support. A limit of 6 Resteemed posts a day, for example, will still allow users to Resteem games (such as the ones held by @Bola) while sharing content they like without flooding.
The Benefits
- Discouragement of Resteeming low-end content by promoting selecting Resteeming.
- Fewer Resteemed posts of indiscriminate quality, Resteemed purely for the supposed or expected curation rewards.
- Increased promotion of original content through an increase of competition between original content (see 1).
Solution (C)
The last plausible solution would be the ability to Mute all Resteemed content for individual followed authors while still following and viewing their original posts. This is another way of leveraging an increase in user-end customisation to increase the enjoyment and utility of the main user feed page. To be functional, these user-specific Mutes would have to be tied into the rewards obtained by Resteeming; more Mutes = fewer rewards.
The Benefits
- Similar how Flagging scares the snot out of some people, this selective user-end Mute would eventually result in discouraging unscrupulous Resteemers from going crazy with their Resteem buttons.
- Once again, it would encourage the promotion of quality content only.
- And once again, an increase in user control over what they view on Steemit.
Counterarguments
Quality posts advocating for something, regardless of what it is, should have some element of counterarguments in them to promote impartiality.
- Promotion of Censorship: Even annoying content is an act of utilising one's free will and freedom of speech and expression. Controlling Resteems can be seen as just another way of censoring content, particularly prior to the Flagging issue being satisfactorily resolved*.
- Impact on Games: As Steemit games increase (posts where users guess the number of jellybeans or bet on a sports team), so does the need to Resteem. Resteeming those games promotes them and shares them with a wider audience. There is a chance that limiting Resteeming can adversely impact these games.
- Increase of Complexity: Many new Steemit users face a learning curve in comprehending the features of Steemit as they currently stand and utilising them correctly. We know this to be true by the large number of misappropriated Tags. Adding more user-control features would only steepen the learning curve.
*Providing a resolution is warranted, which is assumed due to the myriad posts taking issue with current Flagging practices.
Image Credits
The title graphic is borrowed from the Everyday Interview Tips site which has nothing to do with Steemit or this topic but may be interesting to users who are entertaining a career or job change. It's just a stockimage and it's beyond me to fathom who is its original creator.
how about it cost me steem for every resteem and the steem is distributed to all my followers who agree to see my resteems on their feeed
If we go with the limited Resteems scenario it would actually make perfect sense for any additional over the quota Resteems to cost a certain amount of SP.
for SP, every resteem burns 1 steem from my wallet
Great ideas. I also think it might be nice to have a list called "Resteemed" in the main categories like Promoted, Trending etc. which would be ranked according to the number of resteems.
That's an excellent idea and would be quite useful.
To me this is the best option. Then we can decide to browse it or not :)
I think a simple unresteeming option would be useful to help keep feeds groomed and clutter free. It is possible to resteem on impulse then go back and wish to reverse it.
Good point as that would offer more control.
My question is, why do so many whales only resteem? Like, is their any money to be made in resteeming at all?
Some. Not sure if you can bot resteeming. I'll assume its also to boost up buddy's acct. Then buddy does the same. Since I don't circlejerk, I don't resteem.
Circle Jerk :D Love the analogy man lol.. I don't circle jerk either haha! I am posting a lot of entrepreneurial rich content lately, check it out if you'd like @ENAZWAHSDARB