As a writer I'd rather have honest feed back and criticism, rather than upvotes. Upvotes can't tell me on how to improve my writing. They can't tell me all of the little nuances which go into writing a great story. They can't tell me what area I'm weakest in or offer advice. They certainly can't connect me with those who can offer me those things, either.
Don't get me wrong I like all the upvotes and appreciate them; however, the problem is after the upvotes have gone or been used up. What then? When I cash out my steem (if there's enough)those upvotes won't mean anything. The only thing that will still be of inherent value are the criticisms and honest critiques of others.
I understand how the community here works but it seems as if people, upvote others just so that they can be upvoted in return. If your goal as a writer are upvotes there are plenty of cyptocurrency exchanges which exist, where you could purchase steem.
Seems that the one draw back to being part of this community are usage of the upvote system to earn steem. Am I right or wrong here?
Are you aware of the Writer's Block? They have separate workshops for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, play-writing. Everything I posted there got some good notes free of charge. I would start there. A steemit post isn't always the best platform for hard, honest criticism.
http://www.mspfictionworkshop.com/how-to-join-the-workshop/
Thanks.