An Idea: Steem Blogging Communities

An idea came to me after reflecting on Jerry's post. First let me say, I like that downvotes exist. I do not think they are perfect, nor do I think getting rid of them would be good.

At the core issue of why people legitimately complain about downvoting, very often it seems to me the problem is as follows: Their idea of what constitutes good/legitimate content does not match the ideals of the person downvoting them. The downvote usually comes from someone outside their immediate community sphere.

Meaning, I would suggest that most / many downvotes are from people outside of a sub-community on steem, and those people outside that community disagree with rewards / content of a post and so they flag it.

The ultimate flagging powers then decide what constitutes the community then, because even if they keep it very general, it still is going to exclude what some people consider acceptable.

Let me share an example from my past. I was flagged for spam on content I did not personally consider spam. To me, I was using steem to notify my viewers of an event which happened while also putting a sales pitch in the post. I was flagged because people who were not my readers, or people in my community sphere, thought my post was spam.

Under how they manage content and community guidelines, I understand their position, but likewise for my type of community, my content was legitimate or I would not have shared it with my readers. If all my readers / viewers were aggravated with me, it is unlikely they would continue to follow me anyway. For me, it is best if I decide how that fine line should be drawn. Deciding that my content has to remain largely non-commercial is a matter of opinion on how a community should be managed. For the over-arching general community, it may be better that things are operated this way, but for a specific community, it may not be better to do things this way.

The conclusion is that one set of community guidelines will inhibit what is possible, even though, guidelines are necessary.

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SMT's + New Blogging Community Websites = Solution

Perhaps what I listed above is some of the reasons for SMT's? I am unsure, but SMT's will offer a solution.

The solution SMT's offer is simple, alternate websites that operate like steemit.com, but utilize an SMT on the Steem blockchain. Upvotes / Downvotes & Reputation on that website works according to the SMT token, not Steem. This permits an alternate community to exist.

SMT's were kind of pitched for alternate communities that already exist. Like a blogging website could now have their own SMT. Yet really, SMT's will enable the Steemit.com community to branch out, creating their own communities (including blogging) on other websites, where content is managed under a different set of guidelines.

This is beneficial because it increases the size of the potential user base for the Steem blockchain.

Want to run a "get rich quick" community? Start that community and operate it on a different website, using SMT's.

Want to run a online product sales community? Start that community using SMT's.

Then the value of these communities will be contingent upon market demand for their content and what they offer people. And the funding of these alternate websites should be built into the SMT, as a percentage of the inflation rate.

Maybe this was the purpose of SMT's all along? I am just then elaborating how this solves the community down-voting to some degree. Groups of people form different SMT communities, which are not competition to Steemit.com because all the alternate communities will source back to using the Steem blockchain.