The Blue Door

Have you noticed how many people think they know how the platform works even though they have just joined? They look out into the environment here and see things like Trending authors or flagging accounts targeting some users and believe that they understand why and have an intuition as to what is right and wrong and how things should be, yet do not know how things are.

A large part of this is because we all assume ourselves somewhat proficient with Social media, after all, we have all been on Facebook for ten years and have used Youtube, Instagram and Twitter just as much. We come in here and say 'I know how this works' and act on learned habits rather than a process that treats this place as something different.

I think a lot of the less than useful Spam is because instead of understanding the platform, people engage like they would on Instagram and think follow for follow, and vote for vote shit is going to work for them. Others look at the content here and judge the authors without looking to all of the background behind or, time spent on site. They say, 'Hey, wtf, I do the same but get pennies (if that), this is unfair, what a scam.'

Yes, there are a lot of people and behaviours here that are much less helpful to the platform than others but, it is also not beneficial to judge without taking the time to understand how things operate, how it all comes together. For example, how many people want to get paid yet, have no idea how the pool or curation work? How many people are confused by the difference between SBD and STEEM? How many people are really interested in finding out? A lot less than you probably assume. These are basics and all of the information is readily available.

How many people come in here thinking they know what they are doing and are expecting themselves to be successful based on what they know, and when they find out who you know is more important, they say unfair? It is unfair isn't it? This should be a meritocracy where only valuable skills and content get rewarded, just like the real world... yeah, right.

The real world is not set up that way either and that is where we have all learned to behave. It is no wonder it is repeated here even though there are opportunities to fundamentally change the operating procedures of how we act but, like the people who arrive thinking they know how it all works, we don't change. Not until we have built enough understanding anyway, which takes time and effort.

There are complexities here that do not appear on other platforms, subtle nuances that affect how things move and if one isn't interested in becoming aware and learning about them, they are going to likely struggle and not understand why. This is defeating for even the most resilient, to suffer at the mercy of invisible hands.

This is why if you invite people onto the platform, it is your responsibility to teach them how it operates. If you do not know yourself, you and those you invite are likely in for a rough ride. It needn't be so of course, but it is probable as this environment acts differently to other social sites and can be a playground of learning. Treat it like Facebook or Instagram and get the results of Facebook and Instagram. I thought you wanted something different but, you aren't willing to do different?

"You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." ―Morpheus

If you open the door to Steemit and think it is blue, you are mistaken, it is a rabbit hole.

Just some thoughts.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]