As a relatively new user (1 month), completely immersed in this amazing platform, I might be able to help by providing a fresh perspective. These are some of the things I noticed that could improve the platform:
A/ The interface
1 – Lacking of a profile page for others to view. When I interact with another Steemian, and I enjoyed the contact, I would like to be able to learn about him or her by for example seeking for his introduction post… It is just a pain to find, especially if the user has been blogging or resteeming a lot… Why not having a profile page, or even better, a top blog page where the user could select and set links to those of his posts that he thinks will allow the visitor to get to know him or her.
2 – Do not put the resteems in the blog page… This is the reason why I do not resteem, I want the person visiting me to see my list of blogs not being cluttered. Eventually, have another tab where the resteems are listed. Better, instead, create an ‘activity’ page, where resteems and upvotes are listed. That way, the visitor can assess immediately what type of Steemian or even bot he is dealing with, and this without having to check him or her out on Steemd.
3 – Better tools for searching a post would be welcome. Steemit has now become my go to website for many things, because it appears not cluttered by BS (yet?). When searching, I can select by relevance or date. Using relevance, the posts usually have outdated information, especially if they relate to Steemit. Using date, the relevance is very poor. Would it be possible to combine the two criteria?
4 – Posting: Some wonderful media-based initiatives are rising on Steemit. I really do not like the Youtube model for example with their belief that they can overtake the community based royalty systems (like the PRS in the UK). Who the f… do they think they are? So when I discovered that D-tube and D-sound were emerging on Steemit, I thought “Wow”! That was the little extra that made me join the community and decide to invest into it.
The issue here in that in posts, you cannot embed either, thus, giving a really strong advantage to Youtube and Soundcloud. For now, unfortunately, I use these in my posts nearly exclusively. Embedding is essential, as without it the reader is less prone to listen to a music track or watch a video. I’d rather be able to use tools based on the Blockchain.
B/ The system
Being a new user with a very limited knowledge of the blockchain tech, my apologies in advance for some suggestions that might be unrealistic.
1 – I understand that posts have limited time payout. What about other media like music or videos? Would it be possible to extend the payout time to say a year for music and videos? 1 week payout, can really deter content creators that spend a lot of time on one production: some music tracks take me a full month or more to produce! Is it possible to work with the developers of D-Tube and D-sound to give them a separate algorithm for the payout? In addition that would be a great incentive for producers to use these Steemit tools when they post instead of the corporate monsters already in place.
2 – Bots. At first I didn’t really understand their use, then progressively I got it, and was not too enthusiast about these tools. I did try a voting bot on a post to check it out, it worked as advertised. And there are also delegation bots, and voting bots, and probably many other bot types.
Originally, I understand the positive contribution these can make, but frankly, I feel that 90% of them are there for money only without bringing anything truly valuable … doesn’t it go against the idea of Steemit as a community?
I developped further my newbee thoughts on the topic: My initial gut instinct had been to wish bots were forbidden, but I reflected and actually do understand their positive impact. But bots are so easy to use for abuse… Would it be possible to limit their effect. For example delegation bots can give a little boost to Minnows that are just starting. That is great! But delegation could be limited to 500SP / account for example. Upvoting bots could be limited to 50 upvotes a day. Voting trails could be limited to a combined maximal steem power with a derogation possible but reviewed manually (to allow the useful ones like Curie to help Minnows with quality content).
Many would then say, but this will limit what people can do on the Blockchain, thus reduce its attractiveness. But what / who do we want to attract? Tech-savvy money focused users ready for the quick buck? Or content creators coming from all horizons, interested also by rewards, but through the expression of their creativity. You might say, yes but Steemit is an anarcho-capitalist concept. Agreed, but let’s make sure the concept itself is ridden of what could be its own undoing. In short, there must be some rules of conduct to preserve the community.
3 – I read quite some comments about the curator/author ratio. I disagree with changing the ratio from 25/75. I think this ratio is fair: who does most of the work, the creator or the reader? In addition, like another user on this thread mentionned, Making it flexible WILL lead to a race to the bottom.
4 – Limit distribution from the reward pool to 4 posts per day. If someone wishes to post more, sure, no problem, but only 4 would be eligible to get a share of the pool. One could imagine implementing a little box in the post page to indicate if the author wishes that specific post to be eligible or not, with a max amount of post eligible of 4 per 24 hours. Come on, no one can write well-structured posts of high quality at such a rate consistently day after day!
That must have been the longest comment I made on a Steemit post since I first logged in! So I hope you’ll find these suggestions useful.
Many thanks to the Team for consulting its userbase! Much appreciated.
I look forward to read your roadmap for 2018!
%20Steemit%20Chat%20(1).png){kind=link}
%20Steemit%20Chat.png){kind=link}
%20%E2%80%94%20Steemit%20-%20Windows%20Photo%20View.png){kind=link}
