The Blue Door
Have you noticed how many people think they know how the platform works even though they have just joined? They look out into the environment here and see things like Trending authors or flagging accounts targeting some users and believe that they understand why and have an intuition as to what is right and wrong and how things should be, yet do not know how things are.
A large part of this is because we all assume ourselves somewhat proficient with Social media, after all, we have all been on Facebook for ten years and have used Youtube, Instagram and Twitter just as much. We come in here and say 'I know how this works' and act on learned habits rather than a process that treats this place as something different.
I think a lot of the less than useful Spam is because instead of understanding the platform, people engage like they would on Instagram and think follow for follow, and vote for vote shit is going to work for them. Others look at the content here and judge the authors without looking to all of the background behind or, time spent on site. They say, 'Hey, wtf, I do the same but get pennies (if that), this is unfair, what a scam.'
Yes, there are a lot of people and behaviours here that are much less helpful to the platform than others but, it is also not beneficial to judge without taking the time to understand how things operate, how it all comes together. For example, how many people want to get paid yet, have no idea how the pool or curation work? How many people are confused by the difference between SBD and STEEM? How many people are really interested in finding out? A lot less than you probably assume. These are basics and all of the information is readily available.
How many people come in here thinking they know what they are doing and are expecting themselves to be successful based on what they know, and when they find out who you know is more important, they say unfair? It is unfair isn't it? This should be a meritocracy where only valuable skills and content get rewarded, just like the real world... yeah, right.
The real world is not set up that way either and that is where we have all learned to behave. It is no wonder it is repeated here even though there are opportunities to fundamentally change the operating procedures of how we act but, like the people who arrive thinking they know how it all works, we don't change. Not until we have built enough understanding anyway, which takes time and effort.
There are complexities here that do not appear on other platforms, subtle nuances that affect how things move and if one isn't interested in becoming aware and learning about them, they are going to likely struggle and not understand why. This is defeating for even the most resilient, to suffer at the mercy of invisible hands.
This is why if you invite people onto the platform, it is your responsibility to teach them how it operates. If you do not know yourself, you and those you invite are likely in for a rough ride. It needn't be so of course, but it is probable as this environment acts differently to other social sites and can be a playground of learning. Treat it like Facebook or Instagram and get the results of Facebook and Instagram. I thought you wanted something different but, you aren't willing to do different?
"You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." ―Morpheus
If you open the door to Steemit and think it is blue, you are mistaken, it is a rabbit hole.
Just some thoughts.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
I am here for 8 months, met IRL people that are here from the early history of steemit and have even met ned and dan (them not me) and I still feel like I largely don't know how this joint is run. n00bs really have no idea what they are signing for. XD
I have met no one, it doesn't help either :P
Come to greece for holidays, I will hook you up and have some good lulz. You will hear some really amazing stories XD
Would love to :)
Thanks there is much more about steemit than just posting and upvoting. I think it's a good idea to sharpen the axe when you just entered steemit. People who have been here for long do know alot and they earn well as well.
There must be a reason why, and you just told us why.
Still learning more about steemit, thanks for this information.
Resteeming it for my colleagues to let this sink into their heads.
That's some food for tought. I noticed many people do "follow for follow, and vote for vote" and also many comments are not even related to the article. I try to follow only accounts i like and and the same for upvotes.
"when they find out who you know is more important", i can understand the relation with real life, but on steemit, i guess you're meaning about knowing whales or engaging in groups on steemit chat?
As far as getting to know how the platform works, i think it should be mandatory to read the FAQ first and answer a quizz/some questions before approval.
How would one know who to follow or who to like if you don't initially follow them to see what they offer? All the people on here it would be pretty hard to just happen upon a individual low on the totem pole enough without following them to make a determination. Some I clicked on their articles in the
beginning and choose to follow based on that one article and I haven't seen another thing from them
since. Others I stopped following because I seen to much of stuff I wasn't interested in, they were like those folks on FB you friend, they send you so much stuff you can't find your other friends anymore and others because they were like predators in the water looking for naive minnows to take advantage of, one in particular stands out writing about peace, joy and finding one's inner self and using Steemit to help the world prosper in, of all places, a world of anarchy, I guess I was temporarily blinded by his words of wisdom and that in a anarchist world vision it's every man for himself and he certainly proved that. Off the list he went. As far as your statement about a mandatory test to qualify one must ask themselves how many minnows does it take for a whale to grow, how many minnows does it take for them to sustain themselves, if every minnow was smart enough to out swim the whale the whale would starve.
I'm 2 months in, and I'm relatively happy with the way it's progressing, but I'm the first to admit that there's still some things I haven't quite worked out yet, and still some dynamics I still feel I need to tinker with.
And I consider myself to be quite technical and usually pick up things pretty quick.
It is difficult for many in two basic ways. Often the technical ignore the social aspect, and The Social ignore the technical requirements. This is a hybrid system that requires learning in both.
This short piece of advice is something I think if more people really took to heart, would do much, much better here. At the same time though, I think that even knowing this, many will not succeed because most people are just not good at getting into a side of things that they're not familiar with. Something I would like to know from you Taraz, is, how do you manage to produce some much content? I mean, I know you describe yourself as a "continual writer", hehe, but isn't it exhausting? Your stuff is good. It must be mentally tiring.
It is 330am and I will get up again at 7. Does that answer your question? :)
Yes, it is tiring at times but I enjoy it. during the day I run my consultancy, and if I have a spare moment write a little. In the evening I spend time with my daughter and wife and after they go to bed, I write.
I see that there is a lot of potential here so in the short-term, I can burn a little more candle than normal. It has been 8 months relatively steady like this so far and I have survived. ( I have been here a year)
Two questions.
When do you sleep
As a percentage, how much of your sp would you say is your investment, and how much was earnt on the platform? Of course if you don't want to answer you can just pretend you never read this question. I'm just curious as to the ongoing earning potential.
I'm not sure sure of anything empirical -but I feel like there are a lot more of 'please upvote and follows'.
..or maybe I'm getting more sensitive to it...
feel free to pass this around ...
Your thought is real sir. @steemit is far more complex that the way it looks. To make a reasonable impact here, you must be ready to learn. This is not a platform for Mr know-all.
Thank you sir!
Totally I agree with you. Most newbie people in this platform give a comment like a spam. Always same words to all these posts.
I love your words.
So, in an attempt to truly dive down and understand the depths of the rabbit hole, I've undertaken a 10 day task... The first post of which I wrote about you... =)
Please do go check it out:
3 Artists/Writers Worthy of your (and my) Follow
It seems that users that go into it like they know nothing are the ones that end up being most successful since they keep an open mind to learning. I still feel like I learn something new everyday here.
I have seen a few people delete the content from there posts and put up a final post like, "I tried and steemit fail me" after a month on the platform with as you said no investment in learning what it is. It is very complicated but worth the time its taken me to learn the basics.
I have used this analogy when describing steemit before, I think its very apt for steemit. lol.
Yeah, many people 'try' without understanding the effort it takes. I learned to drive, how come I am not a Formula One pilot?
Haha so true.