What does an upvote mean to me? No necessarily "agree."

I've been putting more effort into curating for the past week or two.
This exercise definitely makes you ask and answer all sorts of questions about the strengths, weakness, and mechanisms of Steem (and social platforms in general).

I'm not going to dive into everything I've pondered, just one thing: upvoting.

What does an "upvote" mean?

Sometimes it can mean, "I agree." "Right on!"
We can also think of it as some sort of market lever, a support signal, "more of this, please." (In this way, we're not even talking to the account that posted it, we're talking to the underlying platform.)

If there's anything tying all my upvotes together, it's this: "I got value out of this." Sometimes that value is just aesthetic pleasure (there are some really great photographers here), sometimes that value is knowledge (ah! That recipe is easier than I would have thought!), and sometimes that value is somebody making me think, even if I don't agree with them.

Now that doesn't mean that every freaky opinion I come across is something I appreciate (outer limits punditry can just be noise like anything else). But I often come across stuff laid out in a clear, earnest manner, by somebody who's clearly thought about a topic more than i have, and I just appreciate that they take the time to lay out their thought process.

The most common topic for this dynamic is steem itself. People love to talk about Steem on Steem! :D
As somebody who doesn't really earn much on Steem, I can be blissfully unaware and insensitive to the underlying economic fluctuations that seem to be driving a lot of conversation recently. Anyway... there's been a lot of How to Fix Steem type punditry. Everybody thinks they know exactly where the system took a wrong turn or two- either in terms of user-facing stuff, or the economic stuff.
I generally like these posts. Even if... especially if... I'm not sure I agree. As long as somebody is sane and sincere about how they lay out their case, I'm here for it.

Now some people reading may be unimpressed by this "upvote-doesn't-mean-I-agree" analysis. "Duh."
After all, we learned long ago on Facebook that a "Like," doesn't mean we literally LIKE the news that your dog had to go the vet. Social gestures have long had multiple interpretations. Maybe it's just this heated election year that's making me think about this, but it's important to distinguish the various possible interpretations of how we communicate.

Thanks for reading. If you upvote this, I won't assume you agree. ;D #SeeWhatIDidThere

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