Curation trails are something I've got hugely mixed feelings on.
First off, I should be clear that I certainly appreciate the upvotes I get from them !
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Who Uses Crypto Trails and Why ?
- Crypto trails are used by Hivers who for one reason or another want to automate their curation. There are all kinds of reasons;
- They might be busy in the real world (temporarily or just because of normal life) and don't have time to upvote and support the people they like.
- They might use a curation trail temporarily during holidays or other times when they have no access to Hive.
- Maybe they just don't know who to vote for, but don't want to just dish out upvotes at random.
- They may be going inactive for a while or forever, but still want to help friends they've left behind here.
- Perhaps they want to use a curation trail to support it's creator.
- It might be they've got so many favourites it seems like the fairest way to distribute their votes.
- Possibly they want to focus on content creation for a while and know they get easily distracted into falling down the rabbit-hole of doom-scrolling through posts. (yeah, I do that...)
There's one other type I suspect, but have never seen any proof of; that when Hive forked from Steem, some or all of the Steemit users who didn't come across were assigned to curation trails. This would both make use of their account value to put rewards back into the ecosystem, but also mean that if they ever came across to Hive they might be able to reclaim their accounts and claim the accumulated rewards. But like I say, I've never seen any definitive statements on this one way or the other.
What Is The Problem With Curation Trails ?
The real problem with curation trails is that they are automated. Yes, the value of the upvotes is really helpful. I must admit it's a bit of an ego-boost to see a post has been picked up by a curation trail.😁
However, curation trails can have a distorting effect and because rewards come from a relatively fixed pool it can disadvantage newer users who haven't been around long enough to get noticed by anyone putting curation trails together.
But the biggest issue is that it means that posts are not actually being read (or even skimmed) by real live humans.
Hive is supposed to be an ecosystem that includes a strong social element. Sometimes I'll make a post not because I'm hoping it'll earn lots, but because I really want to get some feedback from people. I want to know if an idea I've had is a good one, or a piece of creative writing is worth re-visiting or expanding on.
Useful comments are the response I most enjoy seeing on my posts. Maybe it's because my real life is a sad place where I'm so busy working that I rarely get out and see real people 😉
If They Are So Problematic, Are Curation Trails Worth It ?
In a word; YES.
It gives people who for one reason or another can't or don't upvote a chance to have an input and improve other people's Hive accounts.
It keeps Hive Power flowing around the system.
But most importantly, it's still recognition. Someone somewhere has read your work and found it worthy enough not just to upvote on a one-off basis, but to put it somewhere that others can upvote it.
When you think about it, that is an impressive show of appreciation and respect.