We've created a technology that is so powerful that it inspires our creativiy, our freedom and our relationships. - Ned Scott
I loved listening to your keynote speech at the Steemfest in Amsterdam @ned, because your vision was truly groundbreaking, and many of us were definitely willing to share it.
The ones that joined Steemit early were amazed by the opportunity given by this new environment, so we started to follow the ones that had created this revulutionary blockchain.
More and more supporters joined.
Now a bit more than one year after the above mentioned speech, I wonder were the vision has gone. Obviously, when you look at today's situation on Steemit, there is few room for that original culture of value. Self-voting, vote buying and flag wars are the dominating elements in that culture now.
There is zero solidarity and team spirit on Steemit. Constructive debates do not exist anymore. Most users send out their voting bots in order to allocate their contribution while the real conversations between human beings take place on discord.
And then when a supposedly unimposing little voting application like Steemvoter failes, the whole rewards distribution is turned upside down.
Now ignoring all these problems and focussing on the launch of new tokens looks a bit as if we decided to have a baby in order to fix our broken relationship. That strategy hardly ever worked.
Picture kindly providad by pixabay.com
The vision pulls us
Any great culture starts with a vision or mission statement - like the one that Ned introduced in Amsterdam.
According to the previously mentioned speech, Steem was created to reward people for their attention, and to give value back to those who contribute to the system. The idea was to build an independent eco-system that was able to constantly nurture itself by the creation of valuable social interaction, the production, consumption and curation of valuable content.
It was meant to set THE example of tokenized social networking and like that attract investors.
Steem was one of the first currencies whose value wasn't simply based on speculation. The social network run on this blockchain provided the token with real value, fed by an inspiring, creative and freedom-loving community.
Now how much of that vision is still valid?
Ned Scott's speaking at Steemfest 2016 in Amsterdam
Do we even have a common vision?
It seems that everybody has their own version of it.
There was a comment pusblished by @benjojo in @dan's Proof of Governance article I appreciated a lot and that pretty much hit the nail on the head:
This economy should be on a journey to being for everyone or it's for no-one. Can you imagine Steem becoming a globally accepted unit of exchange, store of value etc with some of today's whales holding the power they will have, wielding it as they have been?
To be honest, from today's point of view I don't believe that this economy is for everyone, unless you buy yourself in with 100K+ Steem, start blog posting about cryptocurrencies and close some voting agreements with other investors on discord.
Please excuse this little hint of sarcasm.
On the 5th of December 2016 I wrote an article about Steemit's missing identity and cheekily asked: Who are you Steemit?
@surfermarly trying to identify Steemit's brand values (original article)
Funny enough more than one year later this inquiry still seems to be unsolved.
I could copy and paste my article and it would be still contemporary.
Isn't that a bit strange?
After having published that article, other users told me that one of the ideas of decentralization was that there were no rules or presettings regarding the identity or purpose of the platform. Even though I was completely new to the whole crypto world and decentralized concepts, I strictly disagreed about that.
Decentralization doesn't mean that there is no coherence required. Also a decentralized brand is still a brand that needs an identity, a story, a unique selling proposition.
You may build a decentralized environment where people enjoy freedom of speech and self-governance, but hey - you still need a common vision, an idea towards which harbour this ship is navigating.
Now what is Steemit's final destination? Or don't we need Steemit anymore now that we're going to have Smart Media Tokens?
Independently from any future projects, Steemit will always be the very first application launched on this blockchain, and it'll always be the main reference for the community, for new investors and for the media.
This no. 1 reference is of inestimable value and we should all treat it as such.
Now if we wanted to create a culture for Steemit - that common belief system -, what would we exactly need to talk about?
The following list is inspired by Six Components Of Culture:
- Values: Values are the core of a community's culture. While a vision articulates a team's purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviors and mindsets that are required to pursue that vision. Especially in decentralized environments, values are key to ensure stability.
- Practices: Obviously values are of little importance until they're put into practice. It's important that these values are especially lived by established members of the community, setting a good example for the new ones who join later.
Shit rolls down hill.
- People: No community in the world would be able to establish and live a coherent culture without people who either share its core values or possess the willingness and ability to embrace them.
- Narrative: Every community has a story. Steem has such story (see quote in the headline). The ability to unearth that story and craft it into a narrative is a core element of culture creation. Steem is one of the first crypto currencies that is backed by real (social) value. Damn, that's not just a story, that's a revolution!
Theoretically Steem and the Steemit community provide the perfect basis to create and live a culture that is strong enough to change the whole understanding of the internet.
The big question is: Are we still aware of that great potential?
Do we all possess the willingness and ability to embrace the same core values in this community? Or are most of us rather interested in following their own personal vision here?
Getting back to what I said in the beginning of this article: Steem was created to give value back to those who create value, thus to those who contribute to the system.
So the one million dollar question is: how do we contribute? What does value mean to us?
There may be uncountable answers to that one question, and they could be all valid. We only need to agree on them.
As long as we don't talk about how we want this place to be, there will be people coming to abuse the system we have created, and step by step this great invention will lose its glory.
If we stopped backing Steem by its unique narrative, it would become just another token, and its value would be simply defined by speculation.
This revolutionary concept requires a community with a healthy and stable culture, shared values and common practice. Otherwise it'd be just another website.
Now I'd like to repeat the initial quote:
We've created a technology that is so powerful that it inspires our creativiy, our freedom and our relationships. - Ned Scott
Creativity, freedom and relationships - are these still our core values and aims?
What is your understanding of today's Steem vision and culture? @ned it'd be great if you shared yours as well.
I'm looking forward to reading your statements.
Marly -
Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!
PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.
Original content. Quote found on canva.com
Very helpful and thought provoking @surfermarly! This platform has so much potential. Creative freedom and relationship building is a noble and excellent goal. Would be amazing if we keep striving for it!
Doug!!! First of all: Happy New Year! I know it's quite late already, but I guess it's never too late to address some warm wishes :-)
Thanks for your comment. I guess Steemit Inc. is already on their way towards a new project. Steemit.com was their testing area, and now all eyes are on Steem and SMTs. From my personal point of view that's wrong, since Steemit is the no. 1 reference for users, investors, media and competition - and it will always be. It's the store sign for Steem.
If they couldn't find enough investors for Steem having Steemit, how would they find them building some new tokens on top of Steem?
If I were in charge, I'd give Steemit.com top priority. I'd make it a shiny desirable pilot project before launching anything new on top.
YES
Wonderful post Marly. You really touch base with a lot of things that needed to be said. It has felt like Steemit has become a crypto echo-chamber that is only inclusive to those savy enough in the crypto world. I'm not sure what the solutions are but I think posts like this that make people really question the future of the platform are a good start.
As time goes on and the platform gets more users and becomes more diversified, we will see a healthier more complex ecosystem here.
Thanks for your great support, @arqetype!
I don't think that this is ever going to happen. If you read my article from the 5th of December 2016 that was exactly my point: Is Steemit a social network or a cryptocurrency forum?
In more than one year this hasn't changed. Logically most of the big stakeholders are crypto enthusiasts. What do crypto people blog post about? Food? :-D Not really...
Shit rolls down hill. People with money will determine what's trending on Steemit and what's not. As long as they upvote their crypto charts, this is going to be a crypto website.
I'm guessing you might have read this thread already from a while ago.
https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/hardfork-20-velocity-development-update
In the comments two posters highlight a lot of the problems and how hardfork 20 won't solve any of them. Bots won't be dealt with and new users will continue to feel like upvoting and curating content is either a waste of their time or impossible to do without buying in. They say that trending to find content is laughable, which it is, and hot is just dominated by a handful of big wallets or those on big loans using botnets to write about the same things over and over, which it is. They go way more in-depth and it's a good read for anyone with an open mind on the subject such as yourself. Thank you for making people think about these kinds of issues, as it's very needed for steemit to ever be taken seriously by anyone other than early investors or those hoping to get rich quick.
Yes, I did read the post about the next hard fork, but that doesn't address the need for a culture on Steemit. How could it? Culture is lived by people (human beings) and can't be regulated through technical features.
Behind any bot there is at least one human being who implemented it. This is a social network whose culture and values can't ever be defined by algos. It's something people need to agree on.
I always remember the case of Matt Trainer @mattrainer. It perfectly showed that this community is a real community that stands together when necessary. People recognized that he was pretending to scam the system, then all of the whales cam to downvote him and he disappeared in a few days.
Now - half a year later - a lot of other people try to abuse the system on a daily basis, but nobody cares. I wonder what happened between then and now.
Dang! you very well may be right. I hope that changes, but I see your point. Either way keep up the work. You have inspired me to post my snowboarding videos here on steemit.
We are lacking a Leader who is willing to share a vision for the SteemIt Platform. It is because he is no longer focused on the SteemIt platform, they haven't been dishonest about that.
They are focused on the Steem blockchain and SMTs, Fabric before that.
It will be interesting to see what happens to SteemIt after communities and SMTs are released.
I know :-(
Still the fact that they haven't been dishonest about it, doesn't really justify the action. Steemit.com is the most valuable application built on the Steem blockchain. It's the unbeatable no. 1. We all know that it's still a baby that has their childhood diseases, but as long as nobody wants to fight them, how might it ever start to grow?
Now my question is: why not addressing these issues first, make the no. 1 reference (the store sign for Steem) a shiny, successful, desirable, fast growing pilot project - and THEN start building new ideas on top of it?!?
It's as if Steemit.com had become an annoying albatross around the neck.
Beautiful post @surfermarly and I agree with you, things has changed since last year. Upvote and Resteem ;)
Muchas gracias, guapa!
Those of us who joined early kind of miss the good old times now. Hopefully we're finding a way to re-establish the community spirit we had once.
Wahre Worte! Es gibt immer noch viel Gutes auf Steemit und zahlreiche Autoren, die ihr Bestes geben und tolle Artikel abliefern, aber eben auch genau die von dir angesprochenen Probleme ... Jeder Einzelne, dem die Community am Herzen liegt, sollte versuchen, die von dir angesprochenen "Creativity, freedom and relationships" aktiv vorzuleben.
Danke Dir!
Mit gutem Beispiel voran zu gehen hat noch nie geschadet. Aber die Zugkraft kommt von vorne (bzw.: von oben) - von jenen Accounts die mit einem einzigen Vote die Erde zum Beben bringen. Da es hinsichtlich der Curation Rewards jedoch nicht lukrativ genug ist auf kleine Accounts zu voten, wird das Geld immer an dieselben ausgeschüttet. Dadurch verliert die Plattform regelmäßig neue User und es kommt keine Retention zustande. Das führt dazu, dass die Plattform langfristig niemals in einem relevanten Maße wachsen wird. Und dieses nicht funktionierende Konzept soll nun das Aushängeschild für neue Tokens (SMTs) werden. Wer kauft denn einen Tochter-Coin von Steem, wenn die Mutter schwächelt?
Blockchain Technologie ist in ein paar Jahren sowieso wieder out aufgrund der mangelnden Umweltverträglichkeit / Nachhaltigkeit. Insofern einfach mal abwarten :-)
Ich denke auch, dass sowohl 'Whales' als auch Witnesses eine große Verantwortung tragen.
Ich selbst vote z. B. nur manuell, nur was mir gefällt, und in der Regel ziemlich unabhängig vom zu erwartenden Curation-Reward (ich vote z. B. oft ganz am Ende, statt zu versuchen, schnell zu sein). Langfristig würde sich das auch für die großen Accounts mehr auszahlen (weil die Community zufriedener wäre), als auf jeden Cent Curation-Reward zu achten.
Es kann aber gut sein, dass es nicht reicht, auf den guten Willen aller Beteiligten zu setzen. Deshalb wären die Witnesses gefragt, Konzepte umzusetzen, die z. B. Selbstoves (die über ein normales Maß hinausgehen) durch entsprechende softwareseitige Implementierungen unattraktiver zu machen. Beispiele beschrieb ich hier und hier. Unabhängig davon, ob das jetzt der Weisheit letzter Schluss ist, müsste insgesamt (und zwar auf der Ebene der einflussreichen Accounts) viel intensicer darüber nachgedacht werden, wie die Probleme zu lösen seien - im Moment sieht es aber noch eher so aus als würde nichts Ernsthaftes unternommen, um bestimmte Privilegien (z. B. regelmäßig immer von denselben gevotet zu werden) nicht zu verlieren ...
Ach, das glaube ich nicht ... es werden ja nicht alle Coins so energieintensiv produziert wie der Bitcoin. Konzepte, die nicht auf dem "Proof of Work", sondern "Proof of Stake" basieren, sind (zum Glück) deutlich umweltfreundlicher ...
Ich werde auch wieder auf manuelles Voten umsteigen, alles andere ist einfach nicht konstruktiv. Das Problem an den Vote Services ist ja auch, dass man total die Kontrolle über die Verteilung der eigenen Votes verliert. Wenn jemand mehrmals pro Tag postet, den ich z.B. auf 100% habe, kann ich mit meiner eigenen VP schnell mal in den Keller geraten. Zudem blockiert das gezielte Voten auf spezielle Accounts natürlich auch die Freiheit einfach mal über die Seite zu surfen und neue Talente zu entdecken und zu fördern.
Tja, das erklär denen mal :-)
Am Anfang war dieser Spirit noch da. Als wir alle bei Null gestartet sind, war die Euphorie und der Zusammenhalt groß. Das ist komplett verloren gegangen.
Braucht man nicht per se zum Minen Serverleistung?
PS: Deine verlinkten Artikel lese ich mir nachher mal durch :-)
Ich kann allem nur zustimmen, was du bezüglich manuellem Voten schreibst.
Es werden gar nicht mehr alle Kryptowährungen 'klassisch' gemined ... Nehmen wir als Beispiel unseren 'geliebten' STEEM. :)
Die Idee war sicher "net" von "ned".... und irgendwie lebt sie ja immer noch..... aber ich denke es schreckt so viele "neuen" Steemians einfach ab, wenn sie sehen was im Trending verdient werden kann. Und ehrlich? vieles im Trending ist sicher kein Mehrwert sonder das ausnutzen von Beziehungen und das abziehen von Geld aus dem Pool..... Aber da alles das zulässig ist, bringt es nicht sich deswegen aufzuregen. Ich mag die Idee immer noch und werde auch weiter hier bleiben........ PS: wurde an meine Wand verschoben......
Erstmal danke ich Dir fürs Vorbeischauen und Teilen! :-)
Im Grunde sehe ich es ja ganz genau wie Du. Wir drehen uns mit all diesen Diskussionen ja auch seit Monaten (beinahe schon Jahren) im Kreis. Man sollte sich einen Post-It auf die Stelle am Monitor kleben wo der "Trending" Button ist, damit man nicht aus Versehen drauf klickt :-D
Eigentlich hatte ich mir fest vorgenommen nie wieder darüber zu schreiben, aber wenn man 1,5 Jahre jeden Tag hier unterwegs war, kann man nicht immer wegsehen und die Klappe halten.
Dein Winter Wonderland von heute (#landscapesaturday) war übrigens Weltklasse!
danke für deinen Vote übrigens......naja und der Rest...werden uns langsam zurückziehen.....der Spass bleibt langsam etwas auf der Strecke.....
Gern geschehen :-)
Das Problem ist, dass Steemit nur ein Versuchsprojekt war und der eigentliche Fokus nun auf Steem und nachfolgenden Tokens liegt. Der eigentliche Wert von Steem beruht meiner Meinung nach auf dem Produkt (Pilot) Steemit.com. Es ist die Nr. 1 Referenz und wird das auch immer bleiben - für Nutzer, Investoren, Medien und Wettbewerb. Daher kann ich einfach nicht nachvollziehen, wie man ihm so wenig Priorität einräumen kann.
Wie immer gibt es ja von Steemit Inc. kein Statement. Das ist in dem Fall aber auch eine Antwort, denn sie haben einfach keine Vision :-)
Ich bewundere Dein Herzblut und wie Du Dich einsetzt und Meinung vertrittst - Chapeau mal wieder.
Ich denke es gibt viele Sachen die besser laufen könnten und wo die STINC sich einschalten sollte, aber ist eben nicht mehr so, du beschreibst ja gut weshalb dies so ist.
Wobei ich sagen muss, die Vision am Anfang hab ich eh nicht mitbekommen und ich halte mich auch zurück in den Diskussionen über welche Inhalte / Contributions wertvoll oder nicht sind, gibt ja unterschiedliche Ansätze und Meinungen. - Zeit wieder einen alten Post dazu auszugraben bzw zu schreiben.
Diskussionskultur geht zurück, das stimmt, zumeist wird eher gestritten bzw alles persönlich genommen, viele haben Angst zu diskutieren vor möglichen Konsequenzen wie Flags.
Danke Dir mein Lieber!
Du hast Recht, es gibt keine konstruktive Streitkultur - und die ist eigentlich elementar in jeder gut funktionierenden Beziehung. Führung durch Angst ist ein Führungsstil, aber sicherlich nicht der, den sich hier viele wünschen. Man hat vieles gepredigt als die Plattform an den Start ging. Die großen Worte wie Freiheit und Dezentralisierung sind nun allerdings nur noch Schall und Rauch. Inzwischen ist Steemit der perfekte Spiegel einer Gesellschaft, in der die Schere zwischen Arm und Reich immer weiter auseinander geht, weil die Reichen sich immer mehr Geld in die Taschen stecken, während für die Armen immer weniger übrig bleibt. So klar muss man es einfach mal sehen.
Steemit ist nichts anderes geworden als ein schlechtes Abziehbild einer kaputten Realität.
Man hätte vieles draus machen können, wenn man es anders gewollt hätte. Oftmals wünschte ich mir den Spirit von Dan zurück - der hatte wenigstens eine richtige Vision.
Es gibt eben keine Führung im klassischen Sinn - evtl. war das Dan aber der war vor meiner Zeit, hab ihn nicht wirklich erlebt ausser dem Streit mit anderen Walen.
Steemit ist eben ein Abbild der Realität. Freiheit und Dezentralisierung sind evtl. ja nur paar Schlagwörter. Langfristige Vision ist schwer aktuell, wer weiss wann the next big better thing kommt - wenn wir nur mehr wissen würden über die Pläne der STINC - oder würde das was ändern. Ich weiss es nicht.
Wenn man möchte, das Menschen ihr Geld in ein Projekt investieren, ist Information über die Entwicklungsschritte eine Pflicht und keine Option.
Ist natürlich nicht die beste Werbung für SMTs, wenn man schon bei Steemit keine besondere Führungsstärke bewiesen hat.
Ich bin heilfroh, dass ich niemals investiert habe!
Das es ne Community ist magst Du Recht haben, aber Investoren kaufen ja idR Coins auch einfach mal so auf diversen Exchanges ohne Link zu Steemit - siehe Korea Pump. Bitcoin wird ja auch so gekauft. Wobei es durchaus andere Projekte gibt wo dies passiert wie EOS, Waves oder IOTA.
Ja, aber warum kauft man Steem? Doch sicher weil man an das Produkt dahinter glaubt - oder nicht? Ist ja kein klassischer Day Trading Coin.
Winn Du Steemit User bist korrekt, aber wenn Du nur Coin kaufen magst über ne Exchange und denkst die Linien und Kurven klingen interessant dann eher nicht - glaube ich :-) - wobei manche sich zumindest White oder Bluepaper durchlesen, wäre zumindest angebracht :-). Aber ich bin auch kein Trader.
True stuff.
Most of the comments in any popular post are of people asking for upvotes or followers. Either that, or poor quality comments like 'nice post', 'great information' or such other generic "compliments" with the underlying goal of increasing their post count.
I feel like this is partly due to the misunderstanding of 'beginners tips' like:
I guess it must also be said that value can be added not only through quality posts but also through quality comments on the same.
In other words, impart the belief that it matters not how many followers you have, but how you gained whatever number of followers you have.
Right now, the vision/culture seems to be making maximum use of bots as possible!
There is no onboarding strategy, that's the problem.
I wrote an article about that 9 months ago and called it the "Theme Park Idea":
https://steemit.com/growth-ideas/@surfermarly/growth-needs-retention-the-theme-park-idea
From my point of view, the welcoming is absolutely essential for the platform's development. Just take Steemit's welcome page, it looks like a website from 1980 but not like the arrival hall of a platform that is based on leading technology in the 21st century: https://steemit.com/welcome
Where are the video tutorials, the first-step-trainings? It'd be so easy to turn this site into a great first contact point, teach people the basis rules and etiquette on steemit in different languages there. But I'm tired of repeating the very same ideas over and over again.
Sometimes I really don't understand Steemit Inc's priorities.
I agree on the Welcome page being bland. There's way too many links for a layman to have the patience to go through. The presentation of information could use a revamp.
The 'Theme Park' idea you had proposed looks promising. Among the 5 weak points, 1st and 5th seem to be main ones. The search function is poor and there's no easy way to find and read old posts that "disappear" after a couple of months.
One solution I thought about for that is - what if there's an option to segregate posts in our 'Blog' into categories, similar to pins in Pinterest, to add a visual touch to it while making posts more accessible. Posts about steemit could be in the 'steemit' pin, poem and drawing in 'art' and such.
That said, Steemit still is in beta so we could implement new features and suggestions listed by you in the future, more final version of the website. Let's be optimistic!
That's covered by tags (#art #poetry #steemit etc.).
What we need is a general design makeover. On Steemit content needs to be pro-actively searched, instead of being actively offered. There is no user retention, no incentive for staying on the site. On YouTube content that is related to the one you clicked on is actively offered for instance.
Yep, but since the tags can't do much about old content getting buried in our Profile, pins in a user's Blog could make it somewhat easier to find posts according to category.
Youtube-styled curated suggestions will definitely keep the users hooked. However, there's also the disadvantage of lack of diversity in opinions consumed by them. Meaning, they would be shown only one 'side' of the story. If the content suggestions are constantly shuffled, then it could be a great add-on.
Being a newbie I still have kind of an outsider perspective and even though I see some posts like yours, that are critical about the development, I have to say, that I´m overwhelmed by the culture and different communities here. Maybe you as a veteran got used to these community spirit, so that you can´t see it anymore? Maybe in a year I will also see it different, but for now I´m falling in love with Steemit more and more every day.
New relationships in their beginnings are awesome, enjoy the butterflies! :-)
haha Right, I enjoy the romance and let´s hope it will become a serious relationship once^^
I don’t know what it is but there just is something not quite right about the general state of Steemit. The vibe seems to have soured and we aren’t seeing the same enthusiasm. Maybe the honeymoon is over and domesticity is taking it’s place. The heads are turning to the new Young pretty thing promising excitemt. And enrichment.
Well I think it's the general stagnation. We're talking about the very same problems since more than one year. As long as the money will be kept in the hands of few, this platform will never be able to succeed. At Steemfest someone asked if the developers were planning to make Steemit become the next facebook. From today's point of view that question is actually a joke.
That was a really interesting read. I am a newcomer to Steemit, with a goal of being able to be part of a community that supports each other, and rewards those who take the time and effort to add value in whatever form of content that may be.
I have seen some of that already, when people have taken the time to create meaningful posts about their passions, world issues, and even lighthearted entertainment. I have also seen the darker side of the platform, within which people don't even take the time to open their eyes to what's in front of them. Instead, they will simply upvote their own content, ignoring everyone else around them, leaving meaningless comments that don't make sense in context to the post.
I hope to be able to add to the community here, and I certainly appreciate posts that make me really think. Like this one.
Welcome to Steemit though, @philnewton!
I just wanted to have a look at your #introduceyourself post, but then I found out you haven't published one yet. That's a good way of presenting oneself to the community in the beginning. There are a lot of whales checking the intro section regularly, so it might be a good idea for you to consider.
I'm glad you enjoyed reading my post!
Great post, it does require a large range of people to create a variety of content - but the filtering/search options must be changed to aid navigation of the content. Trending/new/hot are not enough for any website really. Thanks again! :)
Well it's been like that since almost 2 years. There is actually no content structure on Steemit. Also the tools we have to publish our content are more than antiquated. Any wordpress editor is more advanced than the one we've got on Steemit. The blockchain may be state-of-the-art. The UI is from 1980.
Thanks for stopping by! :-)
The more stand up and raise their voices the merrier.
I'm also specially thanks to Ned Scott, the man who give our steem holders as real value, wish he will stay well, thanks for your massive post
Steemit may well be at a crossroad but I suspect that, like most things related to group efforts, Steemit will just continue to muddle along. The lofty visions and goals will fade until Steemit is just another platform of no significance. Some folks will have made a LOT of money but most of us will just lament the lost potential of a great experiment.
How many successful revolutions quickly fail to realize the values they espoused? How many rebellions succeed only to install a worse condition on the people? Forgive me for being jaded and maybe even cynical but if we look at history humans as a collective are doomed to continually repeat their mistakes. Whoever said we should study history so that we don't repeat our mistakes was a prankster.
But what we humans can do is to build our personal relationships and local collectives but even for that to work we must learn to be selfless. Few are will to go that far.
I wouldn't go so far, but I understand your point of view.
There's a lot of disappointment that is not addressed, and that's actually the point I really don't understand. Simply listening to the community would be a huge step forward, but it seems as if ideas for improvement are always seen as criticism.
There's not only one contructive debate on Steemit anymore.
Since a couple of weeks I'm powering down all I have. I always said that I'd never do that, but look at me now. I just swim with the tide :-)
If you're on the right beach swimming with the tide can be a wonderful thing; what you don't want is to be on the wrong beach swimming against the tide!
Hey @surfermarly thanks for your insightful and critical post. We need people like you here on steem. I personally believe strongly in the idea of blockchain-based social media platforms. Whether or not steemit will be the next Facebook or reddit is of course uncertain but I do think that right now, this is the most advanced blockchain social media platform and it has potential.
My colleagues and I from the European Blockchain Center in Copenhagen are conducting a research project on steem and we look for experienced users like you to share their insight. Would you be available for an interview with us? We are very much interested in your profile.
For more info, see : https://steemit.com/steem/@raci/exploring-blockchain-enabled-creative-social-networks-participate-in-the-first-research-project-on-steem
Thanks for stopping by @raci and considering me for your research project!
I will study the details and then get back to you.
Thanks @surfermarly it would be awesome to have you on board! The study would greatly benefit from your input and experience in steem 😊
This is true talk @surfermarly
When i first joined steemit with the intention of it being a social media, i was impressed. I decided to take a look at the trending session and it was all crypto. I must confess the shit nearly rubbed on me. But i was advised by a mentor @torico, to post freely, that it would be nice if people post less of crypto and more about personal life experiences which would make it more social!
I personally think, self-voting is a flaw in design. This is because the Big crypto steemians will continue to trend on the platform and will continue to rub this shit on other steemians!!
Yes, there is a TON of crypto posts here :-)
Yea!
I decided to post other stuffs though
The only time i do is when i engage in a contest from @orginalworks
Which most times is always crypto
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, @ced000!
As long as whales allocate a huge amount of their votes on crypto content, the content structure won't ever change. Thank God @dtube has been launched, so now there is another powerful channel where you find less crypto and more life.
Still we're going round in circles and I hear myself talking about the very same issues since more than one year.
Let's see if HF20 can make at least a little difference with regards to self-voting.
Yea! True.
Less crypto, more life!
This is social media and not crypto media
I hope for a difference and i will be a difference myself!
Thanks for this education @surfermarly
Welldone!
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:
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
In some ways I agree with what you are saying. Steemit has some big issues that need addressing. but I differ with this statement: 'There is zero solidarity and team spirit on Steemit.'
I encourage you to come over to the Peace Abundance and Liberty server on Discord. We have over 8000 Steemians in our growing community, and a bunch of dedicated people who volunteer their time and talent to keep it going. We have radio shows with panel guests who discuss issues and how we might better address the issues you mention.
If there is solidarity and spirit to be found anywhere on Steemit, it remains with the core group at PAL, and the people that have passed through there. These people have gone on to create and build their own servers and to fortify others with their efforts. Let me mention a few.
Rhondak and GMuxx of Writers Block, InquiringTimes of Newspeak, Poeticsnake of Dolpin Coocoon, SirCork of YouAreHope, MarkyMark of Build a whale. These are just a few of the awesome people who have team spirit. I havent even mentioned the whole of the PAL team, starting with Aggroed.
Look around you. There are a lot of good people here working towards goals. Just as in any community, there are a-hoes who will only look out for themselves and try to take everyone down. It's up to the rest of us to speak up.
Love you and miss you pirate pup. <3
hugses muah!
Please excuse, it seems that I didn't explain my point very well here.
What I meant is that there is no solidarity when it comes to address the main problems Steemit.com has.
I know that there is a discord server and that 100% of the real conversations are taking place in chatrooms and not on Steemit. I've been part of Steemit's Outreach Project for a couple of months, so I know what it means to work in task forces that aim to make Steemit a better place.
That's not what I wanted to focus on. My issue here is that the main problems are not addressed:
These should be top priorities in 2018.
Yes I know. Everybody is working on something. But we're not working all together in order to bring this platform to the next level.
Shit rolls down hill, so as long as the most powerful in this network don't have any interest in changing a thing, nothing will ever change.
Guess why I wrote this article :-)
Great post. STEEM is in the beginning stage and has many flaws and a lot of maturing to do. But I believe future is very bright. A lot of people working on very hard to improve it. This platform already improving many lives and helping people, specially in third world countries.
That's actually not true anymore. In three months Steem will be two years old, and that's not beginning stage anymore. There comes a time when we can't hide ourselves behind a beta logo anymore and simply need to face reality.
"Do not aim at becoming a man of success, but aim at becoming a man of value" - Albert Einstein. Ned Scott is indeed a man of value.
I really like that quote. The funny thing to me is that success often follows those who offer value anyway!
community event live now: https://discord.gg/S7npwYU
That's what I'm saying: the party always takes place outside Steemit's borders :-)
(like Steemfest? :) ) Maybe they should be live on dLive too?
Steemfest is the best thing about Steem without any doubt :-)
Yeah, and you couldn't really hold the event on Steemit, is what I'm getting at :)
So whilst it may feel that the community aspect is failing here, I think there are just too many users now to 'know', so people are collaborating elsewhere, and bringing their work to showcase here.
Just my thinking, I hope you had a nice weekend :)
There are many realy nice projects going on - inside and outside Steemit's borders. Still the main problems of this platform are not addressed.
I love your positivity, but in this special case it's impossible to convince me :-)
really appericate ur work on steemit and steemit is soo interesting and mwaningful cause of people like u>
Thanks for the update, I like ur passion, may God bless your work
Wow great idea...... beautiful Information.....You are a good man.....I like your post.
ney spammer, it's a woman. and a great one!
Hihi, Du bist ja süß :-)
Excellent publication, Steemit is a great network with a great growth and still needs to grow and it is doing very fast lately, every day the blockchain technology gains more ground in the world and since steemit is based on this technology it will not be left behind , Greetings, good friend, good post.
yeah i really agree with you on this i mean if there is no quality in the contant what is thee for i mean when i begain this ... i was posting contant with zero value but i think know i know what to post and how thanks nice post liked it
Yes @surfermarly the question still remains unanswered as it is evolving infront of our very eyes. All of the blockchain is evolving at such speeds that it is hard to keep up.
I am really trying not to look from a micro perspective but more of a macro one. I agree some are making a ton of cyrpto for cash and then spend on stuff that devalues over time. Ironic isn't that, but hey it is their prerogative. I think those here for the long hall, along with the masses driving in will benefit the most. Live today and plan for tomorrow if you can afford it.
Right now it feels quite wild west on here, wait until corporations/businesses/non-profits get in and want to start marketing to users on the platform. They could 'reward' consumers with their own tokens (discounts on their products of course) backed by SBD or Steem. Imagine you are on Face and you actually get rewarded for participating... don't you think that wouldn't be very addictive to social media platform users.
That's what I'm trying to underline: this technology has huge potential, unless we leave it like it's now and move on to the next project.
First the product needs to be fixed, and then business can be integrated. Where on Earth do clients solve the problems your company has? :-) No investor puts huge amounts of money in a project that is obviously stagnant.
People like you are the reason I believe this platform can reach its potential. You're not selfish and you actually care for the community. There's still hope but definitely something has to change. I'm a minnow, so the only way I can help is to resteem your posts and try to get people that think the same to see them. Maybe then those with great power will understand that they are ruining Steemit.
Thanks for the compliment. I'm also selfish in the way that I know that there won't be any success for me in the future without this platform succeeding as a whole.
You're the good kind of selfish :)
sad but true, there is no room for new user like me, self voting self buying votes making this platform dirty
'This Platform Returns Value To Those Who Create Value' best sentence to define steemit.....great work @surfermarly
If you had read the article you'd know that this was a quote from Steemit's CEO.
Good morning!
After reading your whole blog i came to conclude it as @surfermarly ;
Respect is always a two ways street, if you give respect you would have it for sure. Same goes for the functionality of any community. As per the contribution is concerned it is the duty of both categories The old and new steemians to support that vision about which @ned talked in his speech.
As i am a sociologist so i strongly agreed to these factors you talked about;
It is definitely the need of hour to bring a culture of Harmony, Peace, Tolerance and Affection so that we can eliminate Selfish and Greedy approach from this beautiful community Steemit.
Thanks a lot for reminding the steemians about the vision of this community hopes are alive for the better Culture.
Stay Blessed, Steem On!
Thanks for your time and support, @salmanbukhari54!
Amen
You're Welcome Lady of Principles and yes Sum-Amen :)
This post and @timcliff's post paint a fuller picture of some challenges, though a few of the points you mention I'm less aware of (I know there's a flag controversy between some members and this has seemed to grow).
There may be some areas where solidarity exists, or where we see discussions, but if these become common or people become aware of them, the result is that spammers fill them up. I'm reluctant to share a few good tags I've found because I've observed spammers looking for these areas. For instance, suppose that the #photography tag attracted solidarity where people shared pictures they enjoyed and got feedback. Eventually, bots may figure this out and start to spam it just to get votes. Case in point, look at some of the comments on @maarnio's posts - it's clear what his posts are about, yet bots will be like "Thank you for the analysis." What analysis? It's a game! I found another bot on a really great #steemSTEM post which said Improve the quality of your posts, yet offered nothing helpful. As @timcliff highlighted in his post I mentioned earlier, some members are helping out by flagging these bots.
In the least some of us can avoid upvoting content that is spam, whether comments or posts. For some of us, we may like upvoting content that we simply enjoy, like games, technology, etc. Since I want people to curate, like I curate more than I post, I do like to reward curators on my posts by letting them upvote a post and wait a while before I do. It benefits them and I hope this encourages them to consider curation over posting 100x a day (too many posts per day becomes counterproductive, especially since it's not sustainable with comments and curation).
I'd love to see other suggestions too. Between this post and @timcliff's posts, I think there are some good things happening as well and people trying to make a positive impact.
Hey @sqlinsix!
Actually my article didn't pretend to address the spam problems @timcliff was bringing out in this article, I rather tried to find out where our Steemit ship is navigating to in general.
Reducing spam is surely an important task when it comes to improve the content structure. Still before taking actions you need a strategy that follows a vision. Now we're lacking a vision, thus we actually don't know what the overall plans for this platform are. Everybody is working on their little projects and task forces and apps and promotion, but there is no common goal.
From my personal point of view I believe that even in decentralized organizations you need a leader, someone or a group of someone's that represent the ideas of the community, some personalities you love to follow, people that pull and push at the same time.
Now you see what happens when you lack leadership: stagnation.
wow great good article quality content
I do agree that those who create value, will only help to make the whole platform better. That said, it's really tough for minnows to get noticed in the sea of content - not unlike every other platform. Building my insta audience was hard work, building my twitter audience was hard work. No reason why this shouldn't be hard work too. At some point I have to hope people like my photography enough to comment and updoot my stuff. Hopefully my contribution is putting a smile on someone's face with a good pic....
Beginnings are always tough. That's not the problem. The problem is that regardless you keep going, you'll never get to the top. Unless you invest at least 100K US Dollars in Steem, are a crypto expert and start blogging about it and close some voting agreements with other investors. Those who can't afford it, will always remain outside the big party. I'm not complaining, I've made a lot of money here since I joined Steemit very early. But now I see that the big majority of newer users will never ever come so far for the reasons I just mentioned. It's as if you wanted to become a millionaire opening a new YouTube account in 2018. The market is saturaded and closed.
I still see opportunity here. But yeah - the big party is likely closed.
essentially, that is why curation initiatives like @ocd and @curie are helpful because they reward users with content that is mostly deserving but often unrecognized. it provides the impetus for authors to continue posting and creates a healthy and diverse mix of content here... the retention rate on steemit would be otherwise abysmally low is suspect. the more creators we have on the site, we will need more curators, and curators won't be able to do much unless they have the backing.
I couldn't agree more. @curie is all time favourite curation project. These guys are really doing an excellent job!
The retention is terribly bad on Steemit. Just consider the total amount of accounts vs. the number of active accounts. Then add the fact that most users on Steemit don't have just one account but many (run by bots). The majority leaves the platform after a very short time. That's the worse scenario that could happen to a new project. But guess what: nobody cares. I invite you to read an article I've written about that 9 months ago: Growth Needs Retention - The Theme Park Idea
Steemit Inc's new marketing team (which apparently doesn't exist anymore) asked the community to submit "growth-ideas". People published amazing marketing concepts on the blockchain and now guess how many of them were considered. Mine didn't even receive an answer... That's how "crowdsourced marketing" works on this platform.
Surfermarly!! I am in Cali are you? I have been on Sttemit since December. The volatility, stolen accounts and fear of whale offense is apparent. However, the construction of the whole thing is genius. In my opinion witnesses should be assigned over tag groups and handle contests and minnow assistance for votes. The people here are open and nice. The creativity if writers, artists, and regular people enjoying life is highlighted. This site replaces the news, cable and tv reruns. It lets the steemer thru others travel and have 3rd hand experiences in far away places. In real time I have seen places that i hope to travel to. Every time I needed help from being stubborn, everyone from minnows to discord whales were right there. (Eat your heart out comcast). All in all I think with a little leadership we may in the future have SteemFilms, SteemMusic and SteemArt expos. I created Steemie the Elephant. I would live for him to give daily jokes and wise financial reports in a cartoon. We will see. Nice post. I can tell you want Steemit to have integrity and be successful. Me too. Me too.:)
Nope. I'm on the Canaries. Sounds similar but there's a lot of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean between us :-)
You're right, Steemit has potential. I never challenged the creativity of the community. But it's not capitalized. This place won't ever grow if the wealth is distributed among a few people that are part of a closed group. For an average blogger who joins Steemit now - no matter how creative or inspiring the content - it's almost impossible to come to the top. I'm not saying that these travel reports aren't fantastic. They truly are, and I've also been inspired by a lot of them. Still they're not rewarded in the way they should be. And that's Steemit's core problem nobody is wanting to address. Those who could make a difference don't upvote new users since it's not profitable with regards to Curation Rewards.
Pronouncing a wish is the very first step. :-)
I hope the people on the top realize that a lot of money can be made investing in the best Steemers. I will pray about this. Thank you for your seasoned perspective. Joy
You are totally right.
Yes creativity speaks,empower ,enriched and gives hope to hopeless .
you are exactly right @surfermarly As a relative newcomer I find it hard to wrap my head around the mission. By definition of the platform I feel like I know what it should be but it hasn't surfaced for me yet as I consume content. I'm hoping that people understand the value of the platform and what everybody should be doing to keep it healthy. Posts like yours really help define it in the murky waters where us minnows swim at first. I'm learning a lot from following you.
Your article has some common threads of thought that I have had. It seems like Steemit can support creative values, but maybe, it needs some mechanism to cultivate this culture that Ned Scott envisions.
Rather unfortunately, the platform is seems to support the culture of v4v, pay4v, etc. Dare I say it? The trending & hot feeds seems to be pay to play list. It's joke when you see junk posts getting more votes and earning more Steem than post with original content that is actually adding to the social value to the platform.
Hopefully, this only growing pains for a new social media platform. I do see a lot upside to this type of model. Hopeful, our culture will embrace and support @ned's vision.
Some people's greed for money and power is insatiable.
A great post @surfermarly, some of your points I had wondered in a previous post of mine "how to help steemit grow" ..
I am only 2 and a half months old here and as I joined it was really hard for me to understand the scope, to see the greater picture, to find valuable content and to discover the people behind it.
It turns out that there is the content, there are the people.
But you have to try hard, to search in a variety of ways to find them.
An to be heard, to have a voice, this also takes some time.
Many worthy people may just leave without understand the potential, because it will need time + guidance.
Not to mention all these bots and automated responses that a new person does not know how to handle. I have witnessed a case where someone sent sbds and lost them, and all this for a vote!
I understand your concerns and I believe your voices are important to be heard ... We look up to you and some of us will do our best for this platform.
We need to share a greater vision...
All the best from Crete, Greece
@katerinaramm
Wow
@surfermarly Great post. I have been wondering the same thing as far as steemit being in beta for 2 years. Maybe the focus is to attract other companies to develop things on the blockchain, and steemit was just a test run...? There is no marketing (Like Dash and Amanda B. Johnson). We seem to be handling that. I am in the music community, but noticed right off that most of the popular accounts only post about crypto. I am still trying to convince many of my musician friends to come to this platform, and so far, it has been few-very few. I will follow your page, and try to keep up with all that happens here. Thank you Hero.
Someone who sees good in many ways means having a good mind.
And someone who has a good mind gets the pleasure of life. Thanks You @surfermarly
The hardship and the increase of the rules will continue. @surfermarly thank you for the nice blog. I look forward to the continuation of your posts. Happy if you vote.
this is the third post i read about this subject today. it seems to be a real problem and i already get a sense of it.
your insights are the closest to the processes that have lead up to this point. i am really curious how this develops. thanks for taking the time to explain everything (also for new people) since you apparently already posted similar ideas before