What else can I do? A Minnow's Efforts and Reflection on Curation

There were two things that attracted me to sign up for Steem, a little over two months ago.

1. The fact that it allows for generating income through quality writing.
2. The fact that it is about community.

Yes, in that order. I guess that is still the order in how I think about Steem-blockchain. But the two points have now merged into one. Writing quality content cannot be seen separately from the community involvement. As I talk about Steem with people around me, I still fail to explain this aspect to them. Some try out Steem by putting up one post that was successful elsewhere (on their blog, Medium, or other social media). Some are really 'famous' Twitterians. But they fail to understand how instant reward is an illusion, and that community is key to everything. Not just the key to rewards, but most of all the key towards creating a healthy environment in which quality can flourish.

What do I mean with 'healthy' environment?

Steem-blockchain is basically a world of its own, where people with all kinds of intentions can come in and do whatever they want. This is the strength, it allows for people with absolutely no support from governments to build a sustainable income for themselves. It allows for people to write what they think and believe in, without having people restrict them.

But a healthy environment also means that it is a place free from abuse, free from acts that drain the reward pool with not just things that don't meet any quality standard, but that are aimed at hurting others or that intend to make money without effort. Steem is far from a healthy environment at the moment, and as my involvement on Steem increases, so does my responsibility for this.

My efforts in community-building: curation

A little over one week ago, I found out about autosteem. I was looking for something to help me keep track of people whose work for and on steem and Hive account@thewritersblock I love, and I wanted to make sure I could continue to support them even when I would be busy with work or away for the weekend. \

Curation for me, being a minnow still, means to support quality content. I try to read as much from the people I follow as I can, and will leave a comment when I appreciate their effort, their work. These are the type of posts I like (with examples of posts of the past few days):

• I love posts that make me aware there is so much still to learn. Example by Hive account@damianjayclay.
• I especially look for posts that make me think and reflect about my own life and my own choices. Example by Hive account@idenkcall.
• I also very much appreciate posts that help me to understand someone better. Example by Hive account@surfknasen.
• Another type of post I like is one that reflects on someone's position within the steem-community. Example by Hive account@jayna.
• I also very much appreciate posts that reflect on the beauty of life, and somehow find a way to share that. We need more beauty in the world! Example by Hive account@quoll.

My efforts in community-building: delegation

Another way I've been experimenting and thinking about my involvement with the Steem-community, is through delegation. I've been working towards the 500SP to make it possible to use the slider, making it easier to support more people without going through all of my voting power. But what when I reach that magic number? My answer: delegation. I will start delegating to curation trails that I like. That truly only support quality posts, and who have a definition of 'quality' that I share. I'm still investigating which ones that are. Hive account@steemstem and Hive account@curie might be obvious answers, but lately I'm not so sure any more about that. Some little projects have caught my interest, for instance Hive account@r-bot, Hive account@msp-shanehug and Hive account@muxxybot. Recently I wrote a post on why i find community-support more important than simply upvoting 'quality'. For now I'm supporting them only through an automatic up-vote. But this will turn into a delegation once I reach the 500SP threshold.

My efforts in community-building: editing

One of the main reasons I'm still on steem, despite the flagwars, the grumpy cats, the political games, is my membership of Hive account@thewritersblock. Finding a community that is actively interested in helping each others, through mutual peer-review and a more open attitude than I've ever experienced before, has been a game changer. I try to help out in the queues, where people are welcome to submit unpublished work. Editing makes such a difference, and it have made me even more weary of the rants and freewrites I find all over steem. It has made me confident that expecting quality is allowed and that it is okay to stand for something that you love. I happen to love writing, and philosophy. And getting to be around people who not only support me, but share that love, is incredibly rewarding. I wouldn't be here anymore without that group of people. I'm very happy that they have accepted me as their resident philosopher ;-)

Thank you Hive account@jasonbu for making me write about this. It's been something I've been thinking about, and I have written about how I find it important that curation trails work with the community they support, which I have had some amazing experiences with the last weeks. Plagiarism isn't all bad, it sometimes makes people united in their efforts to work against it, and gives a great incentive to build more community.

This entry is an answer to Hive account@jasonbu's post asking about curation efforts and his generous offer of delegation. Check out his offer here.
You must be a minnow. Check. Sigh...
Have under 500 SP. Check. Working on it, but yes..
Member of TWB. Check. Proudly!

^{Looking forward to hearing about new ideas
and options to work towards making Steem a more healthy environment.
Please feel welcome to leave a constructive comment.}