I would like to contribute content to Steemit, but everything I have thought about posting makes me feel uncomfortable. At best, my imagined contribution feels disingenuous and at worst, exploitative. The monetary incentive is what brought me to Steemit, but it is also what holds me back from engaging.
Let me offer an example. I've been trying to determine what among my hobbies and skills might be of interest (or rather, value) to the Steemit community. Without question, among my recent creative endeavors, I am most proud of my family photography. I bought an entry level DSLR camera soon after my daughter was born 18 months ago and I have really enjoyed documenting our lives, editing the photos and curating online albums. I believe my body of work is good enough that it may be of minor interest to people beyond friends and family. It occurred to me that I should compose a Steemit post documenting my progression as an amateur photographer, so I began selecting the photos. In doing so, I constantly had to decide if I should use one photo, which is technically superior or another photo from the same set in which my daughter looks cuter. I consider the same thing whenever I compose an album for Facebook without moral difficulty. However, in this case I couldn't help but imagine that one photo might be "worth" more than the other and suddenly the whole thing felt terribly wrong. Would the post really be about my progression as an amateur photographer or was I really just objectifying the subject of my photos, my daughter, for money?
Now I ask you, have I composed this post you are presently reading to inspire constructive self-reflection among the community, or to surreptitiously appeal for money with the angle of taking the moral high-ground? I'm not sure myself and I feel the same way about most of the posts I read here.
You can still curate till you find your feet, like me I have done some test runs mostly learning markup as I am no expert, I will put my story forward when ready, But I have to say you pose a very good question, its early days and yes as soon as some see the cash the scabs come from the woodwork to feast. the way the platform works you need to think long term, just enjoy what you do and then share it forget the reward does it really matter. the quicker you free yourself you will find overs who will enjoy...good luck chuck as they say in the UK
Why is it immoral to make money? Others are being rewarded for voting for you, and no one is losing anything. What's the problem?
@dave-hughes makes a good point about curating.