Open Letter to Shitposters

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Shitposting is a hot topic, but all posts regarding it are just spitting on them. Why don't we approach the situation from a different angle?

What is a shitpost?

A post that offers no value to anyone or anything made with minimum effort, least information and research.

How to make the perfect shitpost?

• Don't use formatting
• Don't put more than 1 or preferably 0 pictures
• Don't write more than 5 sentences
• Translate plagiarised content so nobody suspects anything because why put an effort in posts?
• Put irrelevant tags
• Don't quote what you copy
• Don't put picture or quote sources

Shitposters, do you REALLY like shitposts?

Do you actually enjoy seeing these posts on this platform?

Are you just trying to get a freebie with minimum effort possible?

When you see trending page and the quality of the posts, do you actually stop and think that you will get recognized with 1 picture of the sunset taken by your mobile phone.

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against professional breathtaking photos taken by a photographer that acquired equipment and knowledge necessary to provide them and I don't consider that a shitpost.

By now I hope you realized that shitposting is not going to help you, the platform and any other person reading it. But what now?

I won't be talking more about how awful that is and who would write shitposts. I am here to offer you guidelines and help.

I will write a couple of advices for you in this post, but that is not enough.

I would be more than happy for you to contact me on discord and we will make you the ultimate past shitposter with a wonderful story how you became a person that writes quality content and strives to be a better person today than yesterday, every single day.

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My discord name is same as here positivity420. You can also use the tag 0288
If you don't know how to use discord see Complete Guide For Discord - All you need to know

Timestamps are in the post so it's easy for you to find what you need, without the need to watch the whole video.

How do I stop shitposting?

The first and only rule of becoming a quality writer is:

Quality > Quantity

It's kinda self-explanatory - Quality writer provides quality, not quantity.
A good rule of thumb for writing those quality posts is: don't post if you haven't spent at least 1-hour writing/formatting/linking sources and double, triple checking the grammar. (That 1-hour does not include research or effort you put in before writing the post)

My grammar sucks, what do I do?

If your grammar is like mine, you will have a wonderful time with Grammarly.

Grammarly is a browser extension that corrects mistakes in your texts. I absolutely love it and I can't recommend it more. It helped me tremendously.

I am Croatian so that makes English my secondary language.
If you speak English you know one phrase could mean many things.

With improper grammar, and punctuations people could be offended or think you are a moron, even though you wanted to present the best idea to changing the mankind and improving Planet Earth.

How to make a perfect quality post?

1. Properly format your posts.

Here is The Ultimate Guide to Formatting. Use it well, if your post makes the reader's eyes fall into the cloud of comfort, they won't be able to stop reading and wanting more.

2. Separate cluttered texts

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Let's face it, nobody enjoys reading a novel of cluttered text. You can enjoy it for a couple of lines and then your eyes hurt like someone is executing the revenge they planned for a century.
Blank row every couple of sentences is the key to having an enjoyable reading experience.

3. More than 1 picture.

We as human beings are visual creatures and it's obvious we enjoy to see images, we were born and we saw an image.
When you go outside you see images all around you. Nobody likes seeing 1000 word post with 1 picture.
Always use a couple of pictures.

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If you want to photograph a sunset or any other beautiful scene and make it a post that isn't classified as a shitpost.

• Use multiple pictures from different angles
• Use the same spot you took the picture in daytime and photograph it in nighttime if different angle doesn't cut it
• Photograph the same scene with you in it! Everybody wants to see who is the person behind the post.
  Steemit is more personal than other platforms.
• Write about what made you capture that photo, your feelings when you saw the scene, your path before you came to the scene that made you capture it, and as always ask your readers what do they feel about the scene, and if they have some to share with you!
• If you use pictures from https://pixabay.com/ or similiar sites. Properly source your pictures

4. Don't plagiarize content

Be ORIGINAL. Be YOU. Be what makes you get up from the bed in the morning. Be the desire and will and effort of improving to become the better version of yourself.
Don't steal other people's content. It's not how you make a name for yourself or contribute to anything.

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If you want to use other people's content as a quote in your post.
Ask for permission first and then properly format and source the content you quoted.

5. Put relevant tags.

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If I use tag funny I want to see funny content. I don't want to see an emotional post that makes me want to cry. Nobody does. That's why they searched for "funny" tag, not "sad" tag.

Yes, we have 5 tags, but that doesn't mean you should use "steemit" tag just because you post on steemit. Your cat should be tagged with "animal" and my hiphop with "music".

Why?
Because those posts aren't providing any information/proposals/improvement of steemit.

6. Write a minimum of 500 words.

Your post can be less than 500 words if it's a video or your creation process of a drawing you made and things like that.
If it's not, think 4 times before posting it.

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Generally, if a post has a lot of words it probably has something to offer. Nobody will take their time of the day to write 1000 words of shit.

Conclusion

I am not here to motivate you with "if you write better there's a bigger chance you will get whale upvote".
I am here to tell you a secret.

Quality writers have to educate themselves daily and they are always in communication with other people, in one way or another.
If you want to go on a journey of improving yourself every day, no matter for how little progress.

In 20 years...

20 years have 7300 days, and 7300 little improvements in your mind, body, and spirit aren't "little progress" anymore. Are they?
You will have the most beautiful memories when you think about those 20 years, and the person you became today. A person that has value to offer and a wish to receive it because you won't be able to stop learning.

Stay positive, driven and keep spreading those good vibes! 💚