I signed up to Steemit in August this year with one intention; I wanted to have a simple platform for drafting content that I could potentially transfer to a blog that I intend to create once I feel like my content and writing style are at a decent and consistent standard. And the platform has been great for this purpose so far.
What I have discovered however is that I feel much more free to be open and honest here. And I see many other authors here who are happy to express their honest opinions, regardless of how controversial they may be.
My content isn’t particularly controversial, so I don’t write here because I feel like my content might be blocked elsewhere. The reason that I personally feel so free in my writing here is that I know that there is potential for reward from my audience. My content does not need to be designed to sell a product, service or designed to plug various affiliate links.
And while my following so far is incredibly small, and the engagement with my content is minimal, I can see real potential with this platform. And if my earnings eventually become something meaningful, then perhaps I won’t need to create a separate blog.
I was very fortunate to have received a vote from the 
But the vote also highlighted an issue with the platform as well
With the vote from
And while I don’t particularly care if someone down votes my content (and I completely agree that a person should have the freedom to down vote anything that they feel deserves it), having someone accuse a new comer of abusing paid voting services and down voting their content is likely to discourage and potentially drive away that new comer. And as far as I understand, at this stage of #newSteem, we should be encouraging and educating new people on the platform rather than discouraging them.
My trigger happy down voter had a couple of options when he went into a rage over my $5 post value:
- He could have checked my wallet to see if I had bought any votes
- He could have engaged in a conversation with me to confirm/deny my vote buying activity
- He could have taken the opportunity to educate me about his philosophy regarding bot abusing scum bags.
But instead he chose to call a post that I had spent considerable time drafting “crap”, accuse me of abusing paid voting services and down vote a piece of content that I was personally quite pleased with and had spent a decent amount of time preparing.
I recommend that we do our best to educate and encourage new users of this platform when we encounter them. And if we see some activity that we think might be against our principals, perhaps we should investigate further before pulling the trigger.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?
Image source:
https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/news/careful-dont-answer-your-iphone-gun-around-trigger-happy-cops-0116584/