There has to be some measure of quality control in any creative medium that is marketed for public consumption. And there has to be someone who retains some degree of pride in the art. This is an argument not even worth making. It is self-evident.
I’m not overly worried about freewriting on Steemit. To me, it’s just another form of shitposting. I believe the market will set a fair value for it eventually. I am, however, worried about all the starry-eyed writers who may not be hearing both sides of the story. Someone has to speak up and let them know the consequences of publishing permanently on the blockchain. Anyone with a sense of pride is going to want only the very best of their work publicly searchable until the end of time, or until the end of technology and the Internet as we know it.
I believe people are being very shortsighted about Steem, and its permanence. I know that personally, as a publisher, I would think twice if I Googled a particular author and got a whole bunch of hits that amounted to sloppy, first draft writing. I would question whether or not that author cared about their brand, or my brand. And they would have to produce for me a truly exceptional piece of work for me to be able to forget the reams of junk posts they previously took it upon themselves to publish.
I think fledgling writers need to hear the other side of this. So as long as people keep posting substandard work and calling it fiction, I am going to keep talking about why that may not be such a great idea.
Wow.
Well I guess I'll back away from this conversation. You have very strong opinions that I think are about as far from what I believe to be the truth as you can get. We can agree that Steem is here it stay and that's about it.
I don't think your success, my success, the success of others posting freewrites, and the success of Steemit are even remotely mutually exclusive, and I honestly wish you good luck.
I guess I'll add one thing that I don't think you realize. Worrying about permanence, in this case of the blockchain, is not particularly new. For a very long time, "If it's been on the internet once, it's still on the internet somewhere." has been the rule most internet users know to be true.
No one HERE has advocated or talked about flagging Freewrites. That idea isn't coming from me. However, there has already been discussion from WHALES about flagging fiction on Steem as a whole. You would benefit from reading my articles on this topic, as taking a piece of the rewards pool pie isn't a way of helping Steem as a platform. Building a closed community that never reaches beyond Steem also doesn't help Steem as a platform. Bringing readers to the platform DOES help Steem as a platform, which is something true polished, quality fiction has the potential to do. However, we might bring readers to our own posts, but they will quickly leave, when attempting to look for more reading material results in slogging through a mess of stuff that isn't really fit for public consumption. My only goal here was to make sure people were EDUCATED. Both about the actual exercise of freewriting and its benefits and drawbacks and about the impact posting such raw work can have on your future. I skip freewrites when curating for any of the projects I curate for. But that's the extent of my "policing" on this issue. If you people consider freewrites their own separate medium, why tag them fiction?
Um. I rarely tag my freewrites fiction. Only when they're fiction.
I also think, point by point, we disagree on the most basic principles of what makes Steemit attractive and effective. What you are calling education, I would call the dissemination of falsehoods. That's a very hard place to start a conversation.
Respectfully, and when I say respectfully, I mean, I respect what you do, and think there's no problem with the services you provide in helping people grow their writing skills, and in cultivating a community the way you do.
@improv