Pretty Please!

My brain isn't braining. I have been glued to the screen for the past couple of days searching for good posts and articles. And I am also supposedly on a summer break. What was intented to be a fun hobby turned into a Herculean task. Yep, this was my third time curating posts from team XX and let me tell you, finding good posts was like searching for a needle in a haystack. I mean, I have nothing against diaries, food posts, or anything else you people want to write about. I have seen artistic masterpieces describing the riveting saga of buying an old car or the epic struggle of making a cup of tea.

_{Please, be my hero and guide this lost curator to some upvote-worthy gems! Pretty please}

But if it's a diary, please make it a page-turner. Give your readers a reason to drop everything and dive into your daily routine with enthusiasm. No one cares if you washed your face with soap or face wash. Also, why would we want to see pictures of your toiletries? If you insist on showing us your toiletries, at least make it so fascinating that we can't help but be intrigued.

I know, I know. It's not all your fault. The tags—the lure of tags being read the most. I know the feeling; I've been there. I was lucky enough, or maybe consistent enough, to secure a reader or two in the beginning. But yes, I know that feeling of a knot in the stomach when you have spent days writing a post, collecting data, editing, re-editing, going to all lengths to bring a piece of art to the table like XYZ, and yet it wasn't even noticed. And then one turns back to those old tag-secured posts. But, let me tell you, this approach will not work in the long run.

Turning back to the topic of my curation duties, I finally found a few posts that made me a little happy, but what... zero voting CSI, negative voting CSI. I am well aware of the new rules by the team but, the freedom given by the team to curate posts without considering club affiliations or voting CSI is both a blessing and a challenge.

Some contributors added literally nothing to the Steem ecosystem—not even their time in the form of comments and engagement, let alone 'power-ups' or upvotes. Give me one reason to curate other than your somewhat acceptable post! It was like they came, dumped something, and went away. Why should I upvote them? But I did! Why? Because if the rules have been relaxed, then there must be a good reason.

I curated a post like this today and a few earlier, but I didn't want to have a burden on my conscience, so I left little notes under the posts with my curation message. I don't know how much I can exercise this freedom without feeling the weight of it. However, I am pleased that the a few authors responded with an encouraging message and expressed their intent to heed my humble advice.

For example:

And then I became a little more persuasive, and, well if you know me then you won't be surprised:

What is the purpose of including these screenshots? I am not flexing or anything. It's just that while it's really easy to curate the posts of known authors (the authors already in our databases), it does take extra effort to find these hidden gems. A little encouragement, a little persuasion, and a small vote from these curation accounts can be a big motivation for these authors. Maybe they will make an effort to contribute more to this ecosystem.

I know I can be answerable for my actions. Both to the team and to the authors, some of whom might one day reply rudely and ask me to mind my own business. But that's the cost I'm willing to pay.

I'm still not happy with my curation job today. I kept looking for something more unique, something different—a post with that "wow" factor. It's not that I didn't look. I used @the-gorilla's tool (https://raptor.in.ua/steemit.php?tags=xyz,abc), dug into posts community-wise, searched for authors by name, looked into the comments of posts, and combed through the replies. I went through my followers, your followers, the following, and what not. Yet, I am still not satisfied.

Certainly, there are many other factors at play here. Some pearls had already been discovered by curation teams, while others had already been curated by SC01 and SC02.

I know it's really easy to go after the well-known authors, making the job of any curator very easy, but that approach won't let me sleep peacefully at night.

Maybe I am missing something. Maybe I'm still new to this curation process.

Every time it's my turn to curate, I cross-check with my colleague @event-horizon. Coincidentally, we both curate on the same day, and poor her has to reply to my numerous messages on WhatsApp. "Hey, Hira, where are all the good posts? What am I missing?" Sometimes she replies, "Every post I open, you have already been there." And sometimes I accuse her of the same. Then we have another competition with @patjewell. She is faster than us both!!! It's quite amusing. But we both agree on one point: it's really hard to find good posts other than the usual ones. I also keep bugging @o1eh for the same reasons. I don't know when his patience will wear out.

I have nothing against the usual good authors, but the problem is that they are already getting support from big eyes, one way or another. Most of the time, they have already been upvoted with much higher votes.

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You must be wondering what I'm doing with all this rambling in the Suggestions Club. I'm unsure myself. Who am I suggesting these suggestions to? Well, it's for everyone—the authors, the curators, the readers, and myself included. Yes, I need these the most. I should keep these points in mind when I write next time, when I curate next time, and when I open the Steemit browser next time.

I'm desperate for good posts before it's my turn in two days. This is such an eye opening experience for me. Before, I wouldn't give a damn about good articles. I would only be happy if mine was praised enough. Now, it has broadened my perspective, and I am all for a good read. Yes, I'm this desperate. A few points for your kind consideration:

• Quality over quantity:

• Please, please, please read your post once before publishing it.

• Too many typos and grammar mistakes make everything worthless.

• Please take the help of any number of tools to make your writings easier on us.

• It's never too late to refine your language (expression) or a skill.

For us curators:

• While it's easy to curate the known authors, let's leave our comfort zones.

• Let's find something new, even if it's just one new person per week.

That's all from my side. This post is open for further discussion and comments!

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_{both gifs from Giphy}