I am very happy to announce that earlier tonight, I have pushed the version 0.8.13 of our app, steemstem.io.
In a few words, this update contains a couple of new features that will allow users to get promoted (or featured) on the app.
To make a long story short (for more detailed explanations, please see below), the app now includes two ways to render a post more visible.
Firstly, authors from the SteemSTEM whitelist automatically get free promotion.
Secondly, authors can pay 5 STEEM to get featured.
The homepage layout
The homepage of the app is divided into three areas, as illustrated on the screenshot below.
Two of these areas are dedicated to post promotion. The rightmost column targets our whitelisted members, whilst the header bar is available to anyone.
Both the header bar and the whitelist column include three place holders for promoted posts.
The SteemSTEM Whitelist
The rightmost column of the page is dedicated to the SteemSTEM whitelisted members and contains three place holders for posts written by these authors. Any post they write is eligible provided three conditions are met.
- The post must include the #steemstem tag.
- The post has to be written in English.
- The post must have been published in the last 7 days.
At the present time, the SteemSTEM whitelist includes:
@abigail-dantes, @aboutcoolscience, @alexander.alexis, @alexdory, @alexs1320, @anaestrada12, @astrophoto.kevin, @carloserp-2000, @chappertron, @chloroform, @cryptoitaly, @dexterdev, @eniolw, @erh.germany, @gentleshaid, @gra, @greenrun, @iamphysical, @ied, @irelandscape, @katerinaramm, @kingabesh, @lamouthe, @lemouth, @mathowl, @mobbs, @pangoli, @robertyan, @robotics101, @samminator, @scienceangel, @scienceblocks, @sco, @steemstem, @suesa, @terrylovejoy, @tking77798
How to get to this list? There is an only way: be active in SteemSTEM (i.e. by writing nice posts and engaging the other members of the community both on Steem and on discord). If you think you should be on this list, do not hesitate to reach out the SteemSTEM Honor Members on our discord server.
5 STEEM to get featured
The homepage of the app also contains a header bar with three place holders for posts to be promoted. The way to get there is as follows.
- First, 5 STEEM must be sent to @steemstem-io. The fee can vary (please verify on the @steemstem-io profile).
- There are then two cases. If the author is whitelisted, his/her post is automatically eligible for getting promoted. If the author is not whitelisted, the post must be upvoted by @steemstem to be eligible for a promotion.
- A post stays eligible during one week after payment.
If there are more posts than place holders, there is a random selection of the three shown posts each time the app is loaded. If there are less posts than place holders, posts from @steemstem and from this account (discussing the app) could get freely featured.
By the way, the entire process is fully automated, and there will be no reimbursement of the fee.
The close future
I will continue improving the app during the next couple of weeks (I am in vacation from the university :) ), finalizing v0.8 by fixing a bunch of minor bugs. For v0.9, keychain integration is in order. For the technical part, I please visit the SteemSTEM.io GitHub folder.
Feel free to share your experience with the app, to report any bug or weird feature or to suggest or complain about anything. The comments to this post are open, as well as the SteemSTEM discord server (in a dedicated channel).
SteemSTEM
SteemSTEM aims to make Steem a better place for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and to build a science communication platform on Steem.
Make sure to follow SteemSTEM on steemstem.io, Steemit, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to always be up-to-date on our latest news and ideas. Please also consider to support the project by supporting our witness (@stem.witness) or by delegating to @steemstem for a ROI of 65% of our curation rewards (quick delegation links: 50SP | 100SP | 500SP | 1000SP | 5000SP | 10000SP).
SteemSTEM would benefit from a way to bring well written, relevant articles to the attention of its curators. Not all science articles are tagged seeking a vote nor even aware of it. On Discord suggestions for discovering such writing has received a tepid response. All Steem communities ― even those with the firmest footholds ― are yet nascent. Growth and openness should be an ongoing focus.
Thanks a lot for this very useful feedback. I am actually developing something for curation, but this is too premature to talk about it. But this will help reducing the amount of missed posts.
Now, let's go back to the topic.
First, I would like to emphasize that curation and the app consist in two different things. Our curators are tracking all STEM tags (and not only the steemstem one), including science, technology, etc. In contrast, the app only features what is going on with posts carrying the steemstem tag. Other posts can hence get voted but won't be visible on the app. This is a choice we made long ago.
Concerning the fact that our curators may miss some posts, this is of course possible. They are humans after all. However, from my past experience about those 'missed' posts, sometimes they are actually not eligible for support from steemstem for this our that reason. The best way, if you think a post should be supported, is to contact the SteemSTEM honor members on discord. Their role is to help to make an author supported and they have a way to directly submit posts to curators.
Thanks for taking the time reply. The point here is not about missing posts, nor about the app. I refer to SteemSTEM, the endeavor overall, not taking an interest in potential. Here is an illustration:
That's the extent of the conversation, crickets follow. Now, I am not meaning to single out @mathowl. It happens to be the example I have closest at hand.
Contacting the SteemSTEM honor members on discord didn't make a difference in this instance.
Unfortunately, a strong science writer (IMO - maybe curators would have shared it, had they looked) lost interest in the platform. This is not a loss to me, we're strangers. But it's a loss to the chain.
Best wishes for the feature you will add to prevent missing posts. But, as you've already established above, SteemSTEM doesn't necessarily have a problem of overlooking content. I think you may have a small problem of overlooking opportunities to engage.
I appreciate the points you made above and I will leave it at that.
What is true is that using the steemstem tags helps our curators. But this is not a requirement for getting some support from SteemSTEM.
For this specific case, if the honour members didn't react, it is maybe because the post was not reaching our guidelines or maybe because of an abusive behaviour.
Note that I don't defend anyone here as I only have a fraction of the information. I am just bringing in potential reasons why the post was ignored.
Anyways, the new curation system I am designing will actually merge posts carrying all tags related to the STEM fields. This should help.
We have an internal task division. Potential is scouted by curators or honor members. Authors themselves can come to the steemstem-chat to ask for help with writing. There is also still a lot of abuse on the chain so things are checked before we engage. Unfortunately, most steemians don't do a proper check of content or user.
I noticed that you delegated to @adenijiadeshina he is a blacklisted user by Steemcleaners. (https://steemit.com/neoxian/@adenijiadeshina/2wba6r-anger#@steemcleaner/steemcleaner-re-adenijiadeshina2wba6r-anger) Could you give me the info on what service you used for the delegation?
👍awesome! SteemSTEM is alive and kicking! 😁
Always!!! :)
God technology nice one.
good progress!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Yep! More is to come next week :)
Thanks for the updates on steemSTEM.io.
Posted using Partiko Android
I have just pushed v0.8.14: the maximum number of tags is now 10.
Great!
Posted using Partiko Android
You are welcome! And thanks for the constructive feedback with the number of tags.
Thank you for all the hard work you put it. We, the good people of stem, appreciate it.
Thanks for the kind words! It is always a pleasure to read them!
This is great. Thanks for the improvement. It makes the app more attractive.
I hope so. Let's see if people will start to use this feature. It is also a way to people to give something back to @steemstem and having something for themselves in return :)
This is great. Thanks for
The improvement. It makes the
App more attractive.
- emperorhassy
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
What's haiku?