The Inbox Runneth Over -- The Policy Papers -- Issue #2

There have been some changes in our Discord group at The STEEM Engine. Members can read about them here.

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Adults only.

People seem concerned about the 2 uv / 2 com rule having been temporarily suspended. Please note that I have said there will be a new policy in place (as soon as I can get it written up.) There's kind of a first-things-first to this reorganization, so I'm trying to map out the changes in a logical and orderly fashion. The 2 uv / 2 com rule isn't necessarily the most urgent thing I need to address.

To temporarily answer your concerns, however, please note also that I have said you are all certainly free to upvote / comment on any member's work as often as you like. (Nobody is stopping you!!!) We're all adults here, able to take responsibility for our own choices and behavior, and that fact should (it really should!!!) be more in evidence here than it is in some cases.

@apanamamama really should not have to check behind every post put in post-promo to make sure "the rules" were followed. We should not have to tell anyone who qualifies for membership here that slap-dash, "great post" comments won't fly. We should not have to beg people to be supportive and generous with their upvotes to other members -- particularly to those who are and have been supporting them in the past. I should not have to nag people to upvote our daily group post consistently and at a level that will help us grow the assets that will nourish everyone!!! And yet ALL this happens.

This is going to stop!! Those who behave themselves (and act like grown-ups) will find life here continues to be marvelous -- and that it will improve. Those who don't will find themselves on the outside looking in. It's as simple as that.

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Waiting for the slow-pokes.

"Overwhelmed" doesn't begin to describe my life at the moment. I have what amounts to three full time jobs -- tending to my own blog, reorganizing The STEEM Engine, and keeping my family fed. Also that damn Weasel wants a cuddle every once in a while -- and I can't hear myself think above the whining when he's unhappy.

My chart shows that I am absolutely slammed with responsibilities at the moment, but that will change. It's what Life is asking of me now and I will get through this. So will we all -- one way or another.

Writing the next announcement is on my schedule today. Perhaps it will be about the uv / com issue in order to calm everyone's concerns. (Again ... you can keep right on doing what you're doing if you choose. That's part of being a grown-up.)

I'm also trying to give those who haven't checked in and read the already-posted announcements a chance to do so. So far only a handful have acknowledged them ... which confirms my further concerns that this Discord has become far too much a "post-promo drop-off point." Members who consider themselves participants here need to keep up on announcements, changes and "current events" on their own. I am watching this closely.

Chasing people is not part of my job description -- and it never will be. If someone can't be bothered to check in on this Discord from time to time (at least once a week) to find out what's going on, I'm confident we can find people who are a bit more eager to share in what we have to offer -- and can be adequately self-governing.

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Reduce your images!

I'm going to tell you all about a problem that right now I can't help you solve. You're going to have to do it yourself. Those of you who are using pictures -- especially A LOT of pictures -- in your post, need to reduce the size of your images -- starting real, real soon. Steemit needs an image about 640 - 800 pixels along one side (usually horizontal) and I am routinely seeing images in posts that are 6 to 10 TIMES that big. That means it takes 36 to 100 TIMES as long to load your post as it should ... and where there are a lot of pictures it just S-L-O-W-L-Y paints itself onto my screen. It can literally take minutes for the page to finish.

Readers aren't going to wait for images like that to load. (I don't want to wait for them either!!! ) Somewhere Ethan had a tutorial on how to reduce your images. Karen Carrens wrote one, too, over a year back -- but I don't know where to find either of them. So you're on your own, but you need to figure this out. I am going to start insisting that posts load faster ... because frankly this is ridiculous.

I know how to reduce an image using GIMP -- so I reduce the ones I use in Whistle Stops so IT will load quickly. But I don't have time to explain it. As I said, you're going to have to figure this out. Sorry. It really has reached that point. If anyone can step in and help with this, please do.

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Ooops. FYI.

I just suspended another member for the following reason. I thought I would let you all know so in case this comes up again it won't be a surprise.

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I need to let you know I've suspended your membership again. When I saw your 100% upvote had suddenly become worth $.00, I went to find out why and saw you have delegated away virtually all of your SP to smartsteem.

You're perfectly free to do this. These are your assets after all. But this means you bring virtually no value to the group and to other members in it. We would not admit a new member under those conditions and I didn't think to check before letting you rejoin. You literally caught me seconds before I shut down my computer for the night.

Unless you can think of a way around this dilemma, it just isn't fair for you to take assets from both the group and other members and give nothing back. You will need to rejoin later when you've built up your account again to a reasonable amount.

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Let's get started.

I want to start writing a series of posts on The State of The STEEM Engine -- because we all need to know what's going on in our group. You need to see what I'm seeing. We all need to know the thinking behind the new policies I'm proposing ... and the reasons why I've done what I've done ... or why I want to do something. Our welfare as a group is a concern to us all ... and as much as possible we need to be on the same page.

I apologize in advance because I know some of the things I'll say in the future will be repetitive. There is an interconnectedness to our group and the way it operates that makes it almost impossible to separate one set of concerns from another. But -- you learn through repetition. So what didn't sink in while reading one post, hopefully will hit the target from another.

I have a lot to say ... and I hope it will be of interest to you, too. There is such a nice potential here, and I don't want to see it lost in apathy and dejection. The recent state of Steem has been tough on all of us -- but realize, this isn't the first trough and it won't be the last. If this Steemit project succeeds at all there will be more. You need to be able to deal with that -- put your head down ... and keep going.

We're seeing a slight upturn the past couple of days. Maybe it's the start of a trend. I hope so. If not, I'm prepared to wait it out some more. I thank you all for standing firm and being here for each other.

Having said that, I've escorted more than 100 accounts out the exit in the last few days. These were people who weren't upvoting us properly, people who weren't posting often enough to make any difference, people whose content I didn't want anyway. For one reason or another, they just weren't a good fit. We will be a lot more choosey about members in the future.

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Live and learn.

Back in the very early days of TSE -- when we were all a lot younger and a lot more naive -- some people were admitted who never should have made it through the door. We had no real admissions policy -- or requirements. Anyone with a warm body could qualify. And since "admissions wasn't my department" I didn't pay close attention ... until I started seeing the kind of stuff we were getting in post-promo.

It still took a while for me to realize and convince others we needed to get a grip on this fast. There was a detrimental emphasis on "helping people who needed a boost" carried over from the group we broke away from. The importance of quality got lost in that charitable attitude. (And we learned some things from it!!)

When we got the application for admission in place and put @Catweasel#3830 in charge of new members, things started to improve rapidly -- but for quite a while we had to put up with "less than quality" work. Those of you who have been with us virtually from the start probably know what I mean. (I will talk a lot more about this concept of quality as we go on with this series.)

Most of those dropped out through the process of attrition -- and I swept the vast majority of the rest out the door this week. In that effort, I created two more roles in the membership: Stockholder and Excess Baggage.

A Stockholder is someone who is upvoting us regularly but isn't posting any more for some reason. If you need a break, or a vacation, or a family crisis arises -- and I'm still pleased with the work, etc., you bring to the group, that will become your new role until you're ready to rejoin us. You'll need to talk with me both coming and going.

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Sometimes less is more.

Excess Baggage is someone who isn't upvoting us, isn't upvoting us correctly, isn't posting very often, isn't creating content I can use, isn't doing much at all except maybe keeping his seat warm once in a while. That's just not good enough for us to keep carrying him, frankly ... and so if you see your name come up under that heading -- once again, you and I need to talk.

I have pared down the membership list to 58 members. I would like it to be under 50 TBH. I have gotten rid of the real problems. There are still a few I'm very iffy about -- but we'll see. For now ... this is who we are, and I'll be publishing a list shortly. Perhaps I'll publish it regularly. And if I do ... remember what I said about Excess Baggage.

I'll have more to say soon.