Image by Hive account@riosparada

Deciding If UPvote Is Worthy

I may have only been on steemit for about nine weeks, but I have learned a plethora of information about block-chain, whales and minnows (and even who the red fish are), SP and sbd, how to check the market to buy and sell steem through the exchange and even what I would like to see steemit add to make the site more user-friendly and convenient for members.

I have watched other, more experienced, users and the way they either UPvote or don't UPvote; and I have taken silent lessons of determining what is worthy of my finger and mouse clicking that little round button.

You Like Post; But How Much?

Instead of being trigger or finger happy with my UPvote button, I have decided to take a step back and weight the options of what is a post I really like, have something important to add to the conversation and if it deems sharing with my followers.
Now I know this may sound selfish, as I have been less UPvote-y lately, but I have a method to my steemit madness.

What I have changed in my daily commenting frenzy has been to take a moment and write a well-thought out comment. I usually try to make it an open-ended question, or it gives the opportunity for others to add to my comment if they agree or don't agree. This is a great dialogue technique that I can trace back to my high school days when my Speech teacher practically demanded persuasion in all our arguments.

After a couple of weeks of using this technique, I have noticed more conversations, friendly debate, more UPvotes for my comments and more of a pay-out of steem at the end of seven days. I have been able to find more members that I follow as well as increasing my following. It is a win-win.

Now don't get me wrong, I do UPvote posts still. I am just more stringent with where I click and what post I delegate it to.

Think about how Elaine Benis would determine the worthiness of a limited supply of UPvotes and power. She would only UPvote those that she thought worthy of the click. Elaine would over-analyze the process and what she would gain from it. It's not that I am thinking only of myself, but when I do UPvote, resteem or comment, I want the post creator to benefit too. After so many UPvotes a day, you lose your power; it lessens. So if I come across a REALLY good post late in my day, do I have the power to give this person for their hard work? Or did I frolic too much and give away to much power willy-nilly earlier?

It's all a deep thought process...
When I first started on steemit, I thought the UPvote was a like. But it's not. It is a way you delegate power and steem. So tread carefully as a newcomer/minnow/red fish. Read posts by whales and veteran steemians. Learn from your errors and grow.

Setting Up Groups To Make Finding/Stalking Members Easier

I really wish steemit had a way we could categorize the people we follow. I have such a vast array of people I follow with a variety of interests but I like to see what certain people are posting about everyday. So to do that, I have to search each individual person/profile.

Isn't there a way we can make a label for certain profiles and members and just go to that label/group/tab and see all the people we have in there?

I like to see the price of steem every day, so I check out/search for Hive account@simonjay cause he has a daily steem price post.
I like to check out the Hive account@originalworks curators of the day. So I have to search them too.
I like to read Hive account@papa-pepper posts daily cause he offers great minnow advice and some AWESOME homesteading posts.
I like to visit Hive account@em3 and Hive account@goathollow cause they write fun to read posts.
I like to... it goes on and on...
But if I had them all in their category tab, life would be easier and my time spent searching individuals out on steemit would be cut down a lot.

Seriously, this would be extremely helpful.

I belong to a homesteaders' community and slack group here on steemit but I have to find each person's post(s) every day. I miss SO many great posts too.

So if you're listening Steemit Gods, please make a members filter that we can keep certain people in certain places to find. Think of it like your contact list in your smart phone. We have our favorites, we have our 'friends', we have our family... let us tab away our followers and followees.