Steemit Crypto Academy Contest Season 9 Week 6 - "Voting and Curation In Steem Blockchain".

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am here to share my understanding on a very important topic about steem blockchain. Let's go :

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Explain in your own words what voting and curating mean for content in Steem. Do they mean the same thing? Show the difference between the two terms.

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Voting and curating are two distinct concepts in Steem. I recently learned about their differences while reading a post by @kouba01. I used to think that voting and curation were synonymous, but upon delving deeper into the concept of curation, I discovered the distinctions between them.

Voting is a component of curation, but it does not encompass the entirety of the curation process. Curation is a comprehensive approach that involves identifying and promoting high-quality content while also preventing abusive content from gaining attention.

Curation begins by reading and analyzing the content, assessing its quality, verifying its originality, and adding valuable comments to enhance the good quality posts. It also involves resteeeming the content to reach a broader audience, voting for high-quality content, and downvoting abusive content. Therefore, it is evident that voting is just one aspect of curation and not the sole component.

Typically, we tend to associate voting solely with curation. However, it is important to note that downvoting abusive or spam content to maintain the integrity of the Steem blockchain is just as crucial as upvoting high-quality content.

Previously, I did not realize that leaving comments to provide value to the content or warning against the publishing of spam content is also a part of curation. The same applies to resteeeming content, as it contributes to the curation process as well.

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If we vote on a content before 5 minutes or after 6 days and 12 hours of its age on the Steem Blockchain, will we receive the same amount of reward as during other periods? Explain how one checks the reward amount of a post that has returned to Steem Blockchain's reward pool.

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The concept of the voting window or period is crucial to understand on the Steem blockchain. In general, there is a seven-day voting period for each post on Steem. However, when we examine this concept more closely, we realize that voting does not yield the same rewards throughout the entire seven-day window.

Voting on a post within the first 5 minutes or after 6 days and 12 hours will affect curation rewards differently. Let's first consider voting within the first 5 minutes. Voting within one minute decreases our curation reward by 80%, and that reward (80%) is returned to the Steemit reward pool. At 2 minutes, curation rewards decrease by 60%, at 3 minutes by 40%, and at 4 minutes, the decrease is only 20%. Voting after 5 minutes does not decrease curation rewards at all. The reduced curation rewards are returned to the reward pool.

Voting on a post beyond 6 days and 12 hours results in a linear decline in vote worth, and voting after 7 days does not increase the post's reward. For example, if we vote on a post that is 6 days and 15 hours old with a 100% vote strength, only 75% of the vote weight will be added to the post, and so on.

To check the rewards returned to the Steem blockchain, we can use the Steemworld website:

• Go to steemworld.org and log in to the website.
• Click on "Dashboard" from the options provided.
• Scroll down and look for posts. The number of active posts will be displayed.
• Click on any post, and all the details, including the rewards returned to the reward pool, will be visible.

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How can a curator earn more than 100% upvote value as curation rewards? Take any post you voted on the Steem Blockchain and indicate the time and position of your vote. What is the projected curation reward?

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A curator can earn more than 100% curation rewards by recognizing high-quality content and voting on it in a timely manner. If the voted post later receives upvotes from influential users (whales) and generates a substantial amount of rewards, those rewards are distributed among the author and curators. As curators, we can end up receiving curation rewards that exceed the strength of our own vote.

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In the screenshots above, I voted on a post at the 5th position when the post was 28 minutes and 5 seconds old. My vote strength for that specific post was 100%, and my vote weight was 0.0¢. The projected curation reward for the same post is 0.001 SP, which is definitely greater than my vote weight.

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What is the role of curation in better content discovery in the Steem Blockchain? Is self-voting beneficial for the reward system? Explain why.

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Curation plays a crucial role in enhancing content discovery on the Steem Blockchain. When we cast votes on high-quality posts, those posts gain visibility and start trending within their respective communities and categories. Trending posts are easily noticed by community members, creating a positive cycle of upvoting and increasing the reach of the content.

Additionally, as part of curation, resteeming helps increase the content's exposure since the resteemed post is seen by the curator's followers.

Furthermore, good quality posts often attract more comments, and posts with a higher number of comments tend to receive more attention and gain recognition from a diverse user base.

On the other hand, self-voting is not beneficial for the reward system due to the following reasons:

• Self-voting goes against the ethical principles of the community, as our votes are intended to be used on other users' posts.

• When we self-vote on our own posts, which may not receive sufficient support from the community, we end up with low or no curation rewards.

• Self-voting represents a misalignment between our own judgment and the judgment of the community. Consequently, our isolated judgment does not result in significant rewards.