I realize that I have contributed a lot to the "complaint" side of the conversation, without suggesting much in the way of a solution. I won't go into it on this thread, but if anyone wants a bigger perspective, here is a post I did about it that got quite a bit of attention.
I also recognize there is still potential for me as a writer to make good money and use the platform in other ways, I talk about it here
Here are some thoughts on going forward.
- I think there could be a threshold for number of votes under which content could be archived, without future payout. I would be fine with my $0 posts going there. I have 30 days to promote and make them profitable, after all.
- Ad revenue sharing sites provided a mainstay for many writers for almost 10 years, and they are now finding their sites have dried up, due to changes in Google. Perhaps a look at some of these models, where articles provided revenue for years would be beneficial
- Provided bots and upvoting from related accounts could be prevented to stop "mining" old content, I think the argument of older content being in competition with newer content is irrelevant. How would that even work? There is no current mechanism for months old content to be promoted, unless the author hustles to share it, which means new traffic, which is good.
- Creating a home for writers is wise. They will settle in, cheerily cranking out the content the site needs, on whatever topic will please the audience, at a high level of quality, as long as they get some reward from it. Most would get a raise, if they even approached $1000 a week.
- Writers and bloggers also know content promotion and will build mad backlinks to achieve more views in the hopes of getting upvotes. Their combined marketing savvy is huge. It helped make Facebook a household name.
- Since it is unlikely, given the current promotion scheme, that without new traffic, old steemit content would contend with normal views at all, making it a serious source of new users.
- In addition to writers, another market that could easily be tied into is the "work at home" crowd, if revenue is ongoing.
- I don't see a need for a separate place for this content, since only the content that is receiving votes would show up in the category it was posted to and why would you not want that? There are already filters for "new" to please those who don't do "day old"
- The increased number of new users, traffic, and engagement would surely make up for whatever cost there is involved with making it technically possible. Perhaps even ear mark a portion of those revenues specifically for that purpose?