So I have been on steem for a couple of months now and my perspective has changed somewhat to the platform.
I started with the heady infatuation for the platform, putting in big effort writing on one of the subjects that is dear to me, programming. Things started off slow and then boom, a few big posts that really took off. This pushed me on to keeping up the effort and I carried on pumping out my work. Chasing that next big post.
Recently though I have noticed things that have made me doubt the long term viability of the platform. Looking back I realize that when posts take off they are not really tied to the actual content. Many times the vote count totally out paces the view count, so what is going on?
I believe the problem is how the reward system is structured. People chasing curation on posts they feel will take off and hence do not actually read what they "curate". If the title and image appeals they will vote without actually looking at the posts they vote on. On my "big posts" this is painfully obvious.
Recently I have run some experiments on this and started a series of posts on "Must Listen To Albums", when the album has been from a high profile band I have hit 50 odd votes yet the view count has been in single digits. When albums that are more out of the fringe then not real votes.
I am going to test this theory and make a post where all the text is garbage, the classic Lorem Ipsum post. My belief here is as lobg as the title and image match and the leading text visible on the wall reads well I will still be able to get the votes.
I will post the follow up findings when the experiment is complete along with the link to the post.
I do have some loyal followers that I interact with as much as they do with me and to those I am grateful. But I am coming around the the realization that many are here to game the system to see how much they can make for the least effort possible. This can only have a negative impact on the system :(
If you have got this far, thanks for reading. What are you views on this, have you noticed the same?
Woz