I am new, and for the past couple of days, I have been trying to figure out how things work. Interface and lack of convenient features are not as much a problem for me as the way the community seems to operate. I am not against a hierarchical structure of things - nobody has figured out a way to eliminate the Pareto distribution style of income, power and influence yet - but I do have certain worries about the fact that you need to be busy finding connections and the right people rather than posting quality content that may take days to produce (because if you are new, you don't know how much you'll earn on your time investment).
Another worry I have is the very fact that we have a financial incentive here. First I thought it would be good, but now I start to feel like it may prompt a lot of plagiarism (that is being addressed, I hear, which is good) and short posts with little content value in them.
I think there should be interest groups and communities for them on the site and not on some third party sites, so people don't need to go through recipes and posts about bitcoins before they discover something they are really interested in (I am, for one, come with very different interests). That would be one step. I still have no idea whether we will see anything seriously researched and written on a variety of topics in any significant volume here. Or maybe I am yet to discover that - but that brings us back to the "discovery" issue again. =)
Just my 2 cents. I am ready for downvotes)
You make some very valid points, but I do think this all depends merely on how you look at it. Establishing good connections with the right people helps builder a tighter sense of community where you're surrounded by like-minded individuals who share the same interests as you. I also think that posting shouldn't be about the money, but rather, as a means to spread/share your message with the world...the money is just an added bonus! The "discovery" issue can be improved upon, but if you're really here on this platform because you enjoy it, then it shouldn't be considered much of a burden to dig through posts with the hopes of finding something that you really connect with. I've found that those who truly enjoy being here are the ones most open-minded about learning new things (i.e., recipes and BTC posts) despite not having any previous history/experience in these niches :)
Well, frankly, everything depends on how you look at it - unless there is objective evidence your view is false.) But I digress.=)
Well, I understand the idea of a social platform is in its name - to build a community. My point, I guess, is that SteemIt doesn't give new players to do so effortlessly. I mean, just a simple multiple choice question - if both Facebook and SteemIt rewarded you with the exact same money, would you be posting here or on Facebook? This is not only a problem of inconvenience, it is a problem when the lack of tools available to newcomers (average people) consolidates power in the hands of those who already holds it.
I do enjoy SteemIt, but that's not a motivation enough. I either dig through it or I do some research and produce content. Time resources are limited, especially if you have other work.
And I am skeptical about your observations of people's interests). That's exactly what I wanted to say - people might as well (and I would argue most likely) vote for highly voted posts or popular bloggers for the financial incentive in it. I wouldn't be surprised if most of those people don't even read them (heck, I hear there is an automatic Steem voting service for that!)
Now, this issue is inherent to the way societies function in general, so my complaining about it would be trite. But I do want SteemIt to be a better platform and I do want SteemIt to try and address it. If I could help somehow, I would, but I don't even know how - and that's another issue with the platform, in my humblest opinion. =)