RE: Steemit and Content that "Adds Value:" What it IS, and Why it MATTERS
when you say 'paid upvote services will mean that too many "garbage posts" '
my perspective may be a bit different to most. It seems that the people selling the upvote are the ones making the money. We have votes to "give" not to "sell". It just seem parasitic to me.
Value. I honestly do not understand why people think that adding an image to a post increases it value! it just seems like bullshit to me.
I think of value in human terms. We are all here to meet our unmet human needs. Some would say that everything a person does is an attempt at having a need met. And as you point out this is 'social media' and a place where we should be able to meet our human needs. Surely if no need is being met it has not value?
if you want be disagreeable thats ok with me : )
My wife adds images to her posts, has done for several years. In her own words:
"About the art in our visual essays ...
"Although sometimes the background pictures in our visual essays support the topic and text, they don't always. Sometimes the connection is clear. Sometimes it's symbolic and subtle. Sometimes, there's no connection at all.
"The scenes depict landscapes and natural features, buildings and wildlife. They were chosen because they show something lovely or interesting ... or simply because the photo appealed to me.
"Our spectacular and remarkable planet is changing at astonishing speed. Rarely are these changes for the better. Few people seem to know ... or care ... or have the will and power to do anything about this. It may not be long before the world humans have known and lived in for centuries is forever lost. We certainly won't be able to make repairs as fast as we destroyed it.
"So a few years ago I began collecting pictures of the way things were ... and still are for now, a record of the beauty we have while it is still ours to love and honor.
"The photos here are part of that collection, with sincere thanks to the artists who saw these moments ... and with their cameras ... preserved them. All of us at Enchanted Spirit are profoundly grateful to them for their generosity and skill ... and for the added grace, depth and dimension their art brings to ours."
-- @enchantedspirit
Another take on the image issue, meaningless claptrap, or is this the exception that proves the rule?
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Haha You had me right up to "Trust me, I'm a Doctor" : )
Yea i have thought about it quite a lot over the last few days and i agree with you.
I was also reflecting on the reasons behind my own aversion to photographs in general. Not much else can disturb me more than photos : )
I have a couple of posts ready to go, but have not been able to link any images to them yet. I will get over it soon enough i guess
I was advised once that I might fare better if each of my posts had a different leading image. I thought about it, but I just could not bring myself to add an image that was not an integral part of the article. Maybe the advice was good, but it's just not me.
My advice to you is to give up hunting and post. If it doesn't come easy it's not meant to be.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Photos are eye candy. Quite a number of people on this site are in a country where English is not their first langue and/or reading ability was a lower priority in life growing up.
When you go to a store to buy a product. Are you going to buy something that is all just giant blocks of text or something that shows what you are buying that makes it look for quality that leads you to read back of the box for more information?
It can also be a way to keep the viewer engaged and not wander off by breaking up large blocks of texts or give a visual to something that is complex.
Some people are also visual learners. Where they value something that has more photos in it than large blocks of text to be more enjoyable.There were at a time when I started quite a few tutorial about steemit floating around that were more or less giant illustrative images. They were targeted at certain demographic on Steemit and those people earned a nice reward for creating them that way.
Now the issue I think lies when people are just spamming out 10 posts a day with a single image in each of them. Then buying upvotes for them. Without much of a purpose other than financial reward. it's hard to define anything as having value in that format. Those kinds of “bloggers” here end up meeting the same fate of getting massive downvotes for being spam when communities that go after such things find them.
I think that's fairly key, right there. One of the users @patrice's crew is currently taking on posts approximately 300 memes a day... what's that good for?
I absolutely enjoy earning rewards as much as the next person, but I don't sit around and mircomanage "how am I going to make the most from the next post." I just create something and hope it will be interesting and/or engaging to people, launch it and hope someone finds it interesting.
Agreed-- there is definitely an exploitation element there. Whether there's a profit for the person buying the upvote is is pretty much a crapshoot... but the person selling the vote will always come out ahead.
In my opinion, images add value because a lot of people lack the concentration to be able to read and "digest" large blocks of test. Trust me, we spent days and weeks in the usability labs at a Fortune 500 OEM where I used to work... watching how people interact with text; studying eye movement and optimizing the amount of text-to-image (or spacers) for readability.
And you're exactly right, this is a social platform... so we are looking to get certain social needs met. But that also suggests that we need to find something interesting ("of value") to interact with... and that's what I am trying to drill into here.
this phrase that you used "an exploitation element" is so useful for me. I tend to use quite harsh language and that takes the edge off what i am trying to convey.
That optimization of txt to image is interesting. I will need to look at your posts in another light from now on.
And yes you drilled into perfectly : )
I am going with what @joe.public said on all points. Go Joe you are loved. To @denmarkguy Thank you for helping out with the voice for steemit. I am sure steemit will survive in long term. Love for your work.