Much like last week, this is a special week. Not because of the IndieGogo (which is still ongoing, and which you should totally support), but because we're launching something that's been in the works for even longer: The new Blog category questionnaire!
The Numbers
But first, all the numbers you've come to know and love!
Scores
Contributors and Contributions
We've had our busiest week this week. So many contributions! And quite a few new contributors, to boot. 32 different posters with relevant, scored posts. That's incredible. Sadly, it has also resulted in lower average scores.
Moderators
@lordneroo is a BEAST. @tykee has also put in work. @knowledges pitched in with a review of last week's Weekly Blog category post. I was also there.
Days and Hours
Apparently, this week, we didn't like Monday. Also, some serious work was put in during the day time, for a change.
Final Thoughts
I present to you the new Blog category questionnaire. This questionnaire is a direct result of work done on the next version of Utopian guidelines, and I think it represents a better vision for the category.
In this post, I will go over the entire thing, and talk about why it is the way it is.
A. Is the submission easy to read and understand?
- The post is clear and easy to read
- The post is of decent quality, but there is room for improvement.
- The quality of the post is below average.
- The post is hard to read and the content is sometimes hard to understand.
B. Is the submission enjoyable to read?
- The submission was fun and enjoyable to read.
- The submission was a bit dry, but still enjoyable.
- The submission wasn’t much fun to read.
- The submission was no fun at all to read.
I have long said that the Blog category is about quality writing, but the questionnaire did not reflect that. Now, we're putting more of an emphasis on that, with questions pertaining both to clarity and enjoyability. You'll notice some of the answers to the first question come straight from the old questionnaire. But with the addition of the second question, we're drilling deeper.
C. Does the submission include significant editorial and/or personal content that represents the writer’s experience or views?
- The submission has a great deal of editorial and/or personal content, making it a unique experience.
- The submission has some editorial and/or personal content.
- The submission has little editorial and/or personal content.
- The submission has no editorial and/or personal content.
This is another thing we've talked a lot in moderation comments, but wasn't properly represented in the questionnaire. We want your views, experiences, and personalities reflected in your posts. This is our way to judge that.
D. What is the topic category of this blog post?
- Project introduction or project promotion by project or person appointed by project.
- Development log / release notes / project news by project or person appointed by project.
- Project promotion by non-aligned person.
- The topic is barely related to the project.
"Project promotion" used to be a blanket answer for any kind of promotion, which is silly. A post by a project promoting it to the public is more valuable to the open source ecosystem than a post by a user saying "I liked this thing, here's why."
E. Was relevant quality graphic and video content included in this post?
- Yes, at least 4 distinguishable instances of graphic or video content were included.
- Yes, between 2 and 3 distinguishable instances of graphic or video content were included.
- A single instance of graphic or video content was included.
- No graphic or video content was included or the content was irrelevant.
Yeah, this one stayed as is.
F. How much insight and knowledge does the author bring regarding the project discussed in the post?
- It is clear that the author is closely familiar with the project and its details.
- The author offers some valuable insights about the project.
- The author offers little or no unique insight on information about the project.
- The author knows only little or nothing about the project.
This is a reworked version of the old "how familiar is the author" question. The big difference being the replacement of "most of the blog post contains information gathered from other sources" with "The author offers little or no unique insight on information about the project," which is how moderators have been using the third answer anyway.
G. What is the timeframe of the events and announcements discussed in the blog post, and does it include reference to similar projects?
- Both recent and future events, as well as comparison with similar projects is included.
- Events more recent than 2 weeks, or future events related the project are included.
- Comparison with similar projects is included.
- None of these topics are discussed in the post.
And, finally, this one stays the same.
You will notice two questions have been eliminated entirely: "What is the overall volume of the blog post?" and "Is the post a part of a series?"
Both of those questions were gamed quite a bit by some of our contributors, with posts being padded with non-essential - and sometimes plain redundant - text, and "series" seemingly invented for no reason other than getting a higher score. There's no judgement about that. You used the system as it was, and wrote to the questionnaire. I get that. We get that. But it stops now.
One benefit of the new questionnaire, for contributors and moderators alike, is that it will now be used to score both the Blog and #iamutopian posts.
Utopian is about promoting open source software, and helping folks from all walks of the digital life contribute to that ecosystem. But we want meaningful contributions. And when it comes to blog posts, we want posts people will want to read. We've been urging you to step up your game for some time. Some have, and some haven't. Now, the questionnaire reflects that goal. We fully expect scores to go down before they go up. It's a different ballgame, and the rules are different.
The new questionnaire will be active soon, so start writing your posts accordingly!
Good to see much engagement on the blog section but it is sad to see that the average score lowered a bit. However, I am pleased to see that the moderators are doing a great job to keep the category as healthy as possible. Another thing I am happy to see is the new questionnaire for the blog category. I believe that this will greatly improve the evaluation process.
Thanks for sharing this update and I am looking forward to the next category update.
Please note that this post is not scored based on the questionnaire. #iamutopian post have there own metric, and that will be the case until we go live with the new guidelines and new questionnaire, which will be comprehensive enough to reflect these types of posts.
Chat with us on Discord.
[utopian-moderator]
Thank you for your review, @knowledges! Keep up the good work!
Nice to see the new guidelines. It took a long time. But it's finally here.
Great job @didic.
However, I have minor issues with some part of the questionnaire. While I'm aware my opinion won't really matter, I just want to let it off my chest..
This part
I think it would only favour open source projects built on Steem. Because it would be easier to gain access to these project owners to confirm if actually they appointed contributors to write about their projects.
But for projects outside steem, how feasible is it? Judging by the fact that Utopian says if you wish to contact a project owner on Github, don't do it on Utopian's behalf.
Although the wording may be quite restrictive as is, I am in favour of seeing questions going in that direction. This year there have been too many redundant posts with little to no actual value or something new and the goal of gaining the reward was too obvious. Utopian nor anybody else do gain from a ton of posts that tightly follow few points and try to be as extensive as possible just to meet the highest points in some kind of evaluation.
I have some concerns about this question
Is the submission enjoyable to read?Hopefully, it is going to get a reasonable scoring and won't be broken as is in the anti-abuse category. Moreover, such evaluation questions will benefit from crowd use (ie. more reviewers in the evaluation process).Let's see how it works. I am looking forward to seeing the category refreshed after so long time. There was only minority of good posts, imho.
I understand the need for the questionnaire to be strict to curb abuse @espoem. But what I'm saying is quite reasonable too.
I don't know how feasible it is for a contributor to get appointed by a project owner. On the blockchain, it is feasible, but off it, it isn't.
So once again, that part of the questionnaire will favour only some set of people and that is project owners on the blockchain. It's kind of restricting open source to the blockchain only.
I thought the questionnaire was supposed to fair for everyone contributing.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this @didic. Although like I said, the questionnaire is not open for a debate.
Once again, great job done.
Congratulations @didic! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click here to view your Board
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness and get one more award and increased upvotes!
Hi @didic!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 3.880 which ranks you at #4378 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 2 places in the last three days (old rank 4380).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 218 contributions, your post is ranked at #89.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
Hi, @didic!
You just got a 2.13% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Hey, @didic!
Thanks for contributing on Utopian.
We’re already looking forward to your next contribution!
Get higher incentives and support Utopian.io!
Simply set @utopian.pay as a 5% (or higher) payout beneficiary on your contribution post (via SteemPlus or Steeditor).
Want to chat? Join us on Discord https://discord.gg/h52nFrV.
Vote for Utopian Witness!