Today I will be discussing a couple of problems I see with Steemit.
- I find a lot of content to be either hard to find, or just plain old boring. I believe this is due to the current tagging system.
- This particular website seems to promote the creation of original content, which is great, but I believe how it's implemented to be a downfall.
Tagging and Finding
Most content on Steemit is categorized in some way, but I noticed that related categories aren't linked together. For example, "photography" and "photos" are completely different tags, which would artificially limit search results or the content displayed under "created/photos" and "created/photography". I noticed that on Reddit there are certain "subreddits" (think something similar to sub-forums) and they are "subscribed" to, so when you are looking for a subreddit, you can see how many users are subscribed to each one. Nobody wants to post something under a tag which nobody will see, unless they are using Steemit solely for backup purposes.
I propose merging (or auto-linking) tags to deal with this problem. Hopefully we won't have every other post be tagged "life" then.
The Content on Steemit
Steemit seems to be all about the creation of original content. That means you can get a lot of people on here posting boring content for the odd chance that some whale will give them an upvote. It also has people posting everything that isn't theirs in hopes that something will be credited to their wallet before being flagged. I'm sure I'll get haters here, but I think that Steemit should be more like what it's named after - Reddit. Reddit is a repository of links, with two main options - post a link, or do a "self post" (which is effectively starting a forum post). You can comment on links that have been posted, as well as self posts.
If Steemit wants to be less about sharing links, and more about posting original content, then perhaps it should divide these into two different categories of rewards? For example, a new class of post could be created on the blockchain, which gives out half the rewards of the current post, but is intended for sharing links (not original content, but a way to find other content). I would find this service to be very useful. Since there's no separate way to share links, I guess that those links I find interesting should just be shared with the standard "Submit a Story" button.
More Steemit Content Flaws
I might not quite get how it works, but from my perspective, a post is only worth rewards for 7 days, and then it's done for. I'm assuming that if you vote on a post older than 7 days, that it will be worthless and no rewards will be given. This leads to a huge problem with archiving. Say I have a question, and I search the chain, and I find a comment that answers my question very well. The problem is that it's over 7 days old. What do I do? I want to upvote them, but I don't even know if it will count to their wallet! The FAQ says "Posts and comments remain active for 7 days." - I guess this means upvoting does nothing to the comment or post?
Even More Steemit Content Flaws
Languages. There are so many posts that I have to scroll by since I don't understand anything that is written. There should be a way to filter certain tags out so that I don't see them in the main feeds, as most of the time I'm looking under "new" for interesting stuff.
Additionally, I don't like seeing 3 out of 10 articles having to do with cryptocurrencies, as most of my life is not spent thinking about digital tokens, but a much more varied palette of ideas and activities. This is another area where filtering out certain tags would be nice.
Another Content Pet Peeve
I often see posts that ask others to upvote and follow. All I want to see might just be a clever remark or a funny one-line comment, or something productive or clarifying. I'm glad to give out upvotes to those comments. Asking for upvotes guarantees that I won't upvote.
It's Not All Bad (I'm not hating on Steemit)
- Steemit's platform DOES make it difficult for coders to unfairly create accounts and cheat the system.
- Blockchain technology is great as long as your personal computer doesn't have to store it all.
- You can create any tag you like
- Non-Anglophones can still use Steemit
- Content creators can get paid for their posts even if Youtube demonetizes everything they post.
Finally...
How do you think the above tweaks would impact your user experience on Steemit?