Okay first of all, I get it. If you have high Rep and have Contributed in so many valuable ways at Steemit..well many times you will have higher payouts on blog posts compared to others. Regardless of the quality of the Content. I get that is just part of the nature of Steemit and the social media platform it is.
But...
We really should strive to lessen this disparity with payouts in comparable content whenever possible. Not saying it can be easily accomplished and I do not have any specific solutions. But we need start a dialogue about this. Maybe there is one going on but we really need to focus on it in an ongoing basis for the future.
This is What I saw when I first Came Here
Well, when I first came here 6 weeks ago I saw the trending page where some people were making thousands of dollars. .I read some of the articles and a lot of them talked about Crytpo prices and strategies in buying them, There were also some ones with pretty elaborate contests, talking about the direction of Steemit, charities etc... I thought well I am new here so there must be some really redeeming value with these articles that I cannot understand ( because I'm..well new lol)
Case and Point...
But recently I saw an article written by a Steemian with a very high Rep who wrote a Review of a recent Movie. Now first of all I think this Author did write a very sound and very good Review on a popular recent Movie. He provided some good insight and information that many might not know about. Mainly concerning some of the characters in the movie and the facts behind them. Like I said a well written Article. Also I realize this highly reputable Steemian has done a great deal to help others and help the platform grow. I totally get that. And I'm sure he has worked his butt off to get where he is at . Probably might even be doing side projects to help Steemit and does need financing to accomplish that. Which is totally commendable and understandable.
I am a pretty experienced writer and content producer. Based on my experience and just going on the merit of his content alone , I would have give him a nice $15 to $20 for the article , np .
But here is another article by a Steemian who doesn't have quite the Rep and influence as the one above.
Let me disclose , I personally know this Steemian. But whether I consider him a friend or not is moot. The fact is the quality of his Content and the work he put into it was very impressive. Hell, I don't care an ounce of interest in maritime events like this... ordinarily. But I decided to read it and was totally captivated by the Article and what it was about and the way Chris wrote it. Just excellent, imho!
The Punchline Here ?
- Payout for the first article of a satisfactory movie review....$435 and change
- Payout for the second excellent article on a maritime tragedy.... $2 and change
Conclusion
Now I am not necessarily saying the author of the movie review doesn't deserve to be well paid( although over $400 for a movie review is a bit over inflated??) but somehow as a Community we should be very concerned about this. Chris, the author of the $2 article, has pretty much quit Steemit and is not coming back because of this payout disparity.
You all might say big deal, one person ? Well, I will tell you it's a huge deal. Because this will continue happening more and more. We will continue losing great talent like Chris here because of this disparity in content payout.
I think for Steemit to continue to grow in a healthy way we have to find ways to make sure we try to rectify this and keep the talent here thriving. I understand because of the nature of a social media as well as Community Influence here... well we will NEVER be rid of this disparity completely. But we still need to talk about it, call it out, and at least STRIVE to make it better or more equitable for top quality content ( no matter who the author is).
Bottom line : Good content is good content !!
And quite frankly, I think our future depends on recognizing this more consistently down the line !!
(End of semi- rant !! )
Cheers,
Robert
