Last week’s “Share Your Biggest Criticism With Steem” discussion was vibrant. In fact, it was my most commented post EVER.
That’s awesome.
Clearly most of us are feeling über-enthusiastic with Steem prices up and SBD’s ongoing pump amplifying our rewards to even greater heights.
On the personal level, it feels like Steem’s great projects are growing and proliferating. I’ve had the joy of seeing 
In times of great prosperity, it is important to check in with constructive criticisms. While people are celebrating, are any major problems going unnoticed?
Popping champagne isn’t smart if your roof is leaking. No matter how happy you are, you should probably patch that up first. And while some people prosper, others may be missing the boat - it’s good to assess early and adjust before small grievances become major grudges.
So we had this conversation and I was surprised at how uniform the results were. The majority of responses focused on one single issue: The problem of vote bots.
Examples of Criticism Against Vote Bots
Here are a few of my favorite comments from the previous discussion:
(this next one will be anonymous)
That comment is interesting because the user admits that they use vote bots even though they don’t like them.
I know a lot of Steemians echo this sentiment. They don’t like votebots, but they feel that they have to use them to not be left behind. It’s something to think about.
Meanwhile, some other topics came up. This was a unique proposal:
Most people’s curation rewards are very low. Adding this option would only affect a few… but it might be nice for them.
Discovery issues were a theme:
And lastly, this idea of “use value” versus “exchange value” seems useful to think about.
Great Conversation!
This thread was wonderful. I learned a lot about how other users view the Steemit platform, and saw some great conversations emerging between other people even without me getting involved.
I think Steemit today is already set up for awesome conversations. The mild incentive of upvotes and fear of flags helps keep everybody honest, leading to longform conversations where real ideas are conveyed thoughtfully.
Let’s do it again soon.
If you have ideas about other Steem Discussions we should have - tell me in the comments and I'll consider it for a future post.
