Excellent article! I have a few suggestions to improve the user experience, especially for newbies.
The initial frustration is that you feel invisible, and you also feel like your post had a shelf-life of 30 seconds, and it is lost forever thereafter.
To solve this Steemit needs to have a column on the side, like Dtube has, which shows related posts. This would extend the shelf-life and reduce the feeling of invisibility. This would certainly translate into user retention.
Also a new user should not be made to feel like they have to know all sorts of programming or bots or schemes or apps with additional learning curves to operate in order to make it on the platform. This has a negative psychological effect and hurts retention.
I am also deeply put off by the presence of the flag and its consequences. This has a chilling effect in that someone who may have worked years to cultivate their blog could be wiped out by someone with malice in their heart towards them or holds a differing religious or political viewpoint. This is the elephant in the room. I believe that this community can address offenses by use of the written word. LET truth rise to the top. This is my deepest concern for the Steemit platform. It would be a world far better platform if the flag were removed completely, and not replaced with anything similar...not even a thumbs down. Let people address problem members by shaming them with the truth of their miscreance. Censorship is always bullying. It is alway cowardice of the truth. There is never a justification for censorship. It is a BIG turn off.
Keep it simple.
Thoughts?
Nice one mate - your feedback carries a lot of substance ! Although it highlights censorship as a primary concern it is still valid but dont you think the platform has in a way given the community the ethical rights /power to reject content that they feel is not fit to the audience ? just a thought !
I appreciate your thoughts. I do, however, disagree with you on censorship.
Let a member show their backside and they will have to live with the comments they get in response. Let the truth rise to the top. This is the best deterrent to unacceptable posting. They know they will have this as a record of their behavior in the community, and a strong community response addressing the miscreant standing for all time as an embarrassment to the misbehaving member, or they may through the process of reasoned dialogue feel compelled to apologize for their wrongdoing, save face, and hopefully see the error of their ways, rather than members trying to sweep unpopular thinking under the rug, and pretend it does not exist. The flag thing is wrong no matter how one tries to rationalize it.
The road to hell is paved with pragmatisms used to justify the doing of that which you know to be wrong.
Peace, love, and cosmic Steeming wisdom!
It can go down the slippery slope of 'social engineering' and then it advances to full on 'propaganda indoctrination'. Its a road this platform does not want to go down if it hopes to survive and thrive. And I think it can survive. It can grow. I think the potential for unlimited success is there is the making. I say, given a chance this platform can be miraculous and a bastion of real liberty.
True ! I agree a a couple of your views on letting the truth rise to the TOP & I reckon it does the only factor is how soon or late it does...even if something is not flagged...it still could be subject to severe criticism - I reckon that one of looking at it as-well, to me it then sounds as complete freedom to expression. Let your readers then decide & leave their opinions.
Calling out miscreance addressing it quickly and making your voice heard is key to dealing with problem members. Let people speak their minds and the truth will rise to the top. The consequence for poor behavior is being called out by other members. Our response to bad behavior should be to address the truth of it and to correct in a diplomatic way. Let's bring each other up rather than try to make each other go away. As a community we have the responsibility to bring everyone up to the truth. Only then will the troubles subside. The truth will set you free.
On Steemit there is a real opportunity to to create a unified free community. Only if you trust the community to self correct will it ever truly come together as a community. Anything short of that and you will end up with the same ghettoized community as Zuckerberg's playground.
200+ years of American history proves that freedom works if you give it a chance.
When Thomas Jefferson was asked "What kind of government did you create" His response was "A Republic ma'am, if you can keep it" A republic is a self-regulated society based upon agreed upon laws (Constitution). Steemit is an opportunity to create a self-regulated and free community online. The 'flag' makes Steemit into another oppressive centralized oligarchy. Get rid of the flag and we will arrive at a free society...if you can keep it.
I feel frustrated when somebody flag my article that took 8 hours to compose. I experienced it several times.
I don't understand why anyone would want to flag your content @muratkbesiroglu, because you always write excellent posts of value. It's possibly deviant behavior on the flagger.
Once done the damage is palpable. and if they outrank you you're toast. Out your time and your potential earnings.
That is why I think it needs to go bye bye. It hurts the reputation of the platform. It is my biggest gripe here.
I have put my thoughts into an article, and just posted it up on my blog.
Censorship is one of the reasons I came here from facebook. I am offended by their brand of censorship (Shadow Banning). So when I came to Steemit I was shocked when I found out that Steemit's flag system was actually far worse, and I am very concerned for the future coarse of the platform. This will only become a plague over time and cripple your investors enthusiasm in the platform and the currency. No good can come from it...especially from the viewpoint of anyone heavily invested in Steemit. It undermines the very fabric of the investment, and those who are whales should be more farseeing as to the implications for the success of their financial investment, and push hard to have the flag removed. Ultimately when Steemit becomes ghettoized even its long time members will bail. And Steemit will have a tough time keeping newbies for any length of time. Members talk among themselves. Member retention is important to every single member on the platform from plankton on up to whale. I think confidence in a currency is its ONLY real value. The flag stands to undermine everything you and I have built in our blogs. All our sweat and time posting could go down on a dime if posting confidence is undermined. The flag does just that, it undermines your hard work and your hard earned investment of time and money. Back to what I said in the beginning of this rant...I left Facebook for this very reason. Sorry for the rant, but I had to get it off my chest. Thanks.
This flag will be the undoing of Steemit. It needs to go.