Hi Steemit, Fede here. I've been on Steemit since the beginning and I'm one of the top 50 contributors.

I have been fairly vocal about the need to attract more talent and to promote quality content on Steemit, instead of whatever happens to be on top due to circumstances and, in many cases, chance/luck.

Lots of whats on "trending" is less deserving than other content that should really be up there. I rarely flag content (I do it only when I think is absolutely necessary), and I'd rather focus on positive reinforcement and on promoting great content, rather than downgrading shallow posts.

As a Dolphin/Whale I want to promote great quality content, including (especially!) that from small, unknown creators

The problem is that I don't have time to look for it every day. I have work to do. I can't sit through the "new", "active", and "hot" filters for hours a day, yet I'd like to contribute to a community that I think has a lot of potential.

Steemit is growing too fast for its own dev team to keep up, there are too many crappy submissions to go through, and it may be a long time before the proper changes to the algorithm are implemented. And even if we collectively made some pull requests on github to fix it, it may not be in the interest of the creators to do so.

If there's one thing I learned in life is this: don't complain, fix the problem instead!

Here's what I gather:

• Whales and Dolphins like me are the deciding factor in making content visible on "trending".
• We should use our power to promote quality content, and it should be easy for us to find

Which brings me to my proposal:

Project #QualitySteemit

The goal is simple:

To find promote quality content, so that it gets the attention it deserves

• If you are a dolphin/whale, add a comment below stating your support for the project, and send a request to join our private channel on steemit.chat
• If you're a small fish but you think you create high quality content, add a comment below featuring your best 3 posts (your best, not your most popular!), and send a request to join our private channel on steemit.chat channel

In both cases remember to include you Steemit username. In the steemit.chat we will figure out the best way forward. Some ideas include:

• sharing of posts that have not picked up on trending, but should
• a "secret" tag that creators can use when they make something special and put a lot of effort into it. This can be #QualitySteemit at the beginning, but probably will change over time when spam bots and non-quality creators begin using it too
• invitation of rising talents to our private channel on steemit.chat

Over time, this will create a virtuous cycle, which will attract more quality content creators to the platform and foster an even better community.

Clarification: Quality content != Boring Stuff

I read johnsmith's post on why whales voting crap content is (supposedly) good for the community. I thought it was pretty funny and somewhat astute. I can see the merits of the point he's making, though I think if we just attract millions of shallow and clueless people, the site will be shit and eventually die.

I understand Steemit needs signups, but we can't just have lots of crap content punctuated by some amazing posts, it's unsustainable. If all great creators leave (and they will, if things don't change) and if Steemit doesn't attract new great creators, it won't last.

Quality can be fun, too

A beautiful photography shot, a short story, a good joke, a funny and cunning video, an interesting exploration on whatever, these are all examples of great content that can go viral and attract lots of users, and yet are not shallow and stupid posts.

Here's an example. Michael Steven (Vsauce) is amazing. Most of his videos have to do with Math and Science and the Natural World, and yet he was able to gather almost 11 million subscribers on YouTube. That's because he makes great content, not boring stuff.

I remember clearly an incredibly insightful talk that John Green gave at VidCon a month ago. He shared how at the beginning Nerdfighteria had an incredible engagement, lots of people commented, created, shared, organized meetups, projects, bought t-shirts, etc. Then when they scaled too quickly, they attracted spam, hate speech, engagement went down, discussions stalled, and generally become more shitty. His point: some growth is good, but unbridled growth for the sake of growth isn't necessarily a good thing, it can actually be harmful.

Here's something he said that really stuck with me:

Creative projects don't exist to create revenue. Revenue exists to fund creative projects.
-- John Green

Couldn't agree more.

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Where to find me:

• @federicopistono
• http://federicopistono.org
• https://twitter.com/federicopistono
• https://fb.com/federicopistono.page