Only We Can Know What Quality Content Is
As I sit down at the end of a long day, I begin to think about content. I have been creating content of some form for a long time, at least it seems like a long time. Mostly I create videos, and then I post them on Youtube and Dtube. I create videos, well vlogs, and I share my thoughts with the world. By world I mean anyone that is willing to listen to my thoughts. It feels like a blessing that we found the Steemit platform when we did. It changed the direction of my entire life, and added incredible depth to my experience.
Stacie D and I used to live on a homestead in Missouri. We were tucked into the hills of the Ozarks. It was a cozy little piece of land tucked into hundreds of acres of trees. Homesteading was our life, and making things happen was our lifestyle. Well, that last part is still our lifestyle! It might have seemed touch and go there for a while, and we never really knew where the next big break might come from, but it never stopped us or slowed us down. Things always continued to happen, and we were able to always get dots to connect. We were cutting firewood for a living, and I was selling crafts like hand made custom knives.
We had no idea about "creating content", we just knew about creating life! Our life was full speed ahead, and then it hit us...maybe someone would like a look at what we have going on. That is where it all started. A small thought about maybe, just maybe, we could have an impact on someone's life. Maybe we could pass on some skills, and influence someone to take control of their own life. So we started making videos on Youtube.
Coming from the woods and not really having any fancy equipment we still went for it. We made a jump into the high tech world, and started recording videos of the homestead on our cell phone. This wasn't even a fancy cell phone. It would barely qualify as smart at all. It was a brick with a thick and foggy screen. It was a little bit hard to film, but the videos always turned out ok. That's it....we were rolling!
After using our "smart" phone to record the video we would upload the pictures onto our desktop computer that was from the early 2000s. We were able to piece it all together, and even learn a few tricks for editing. We didn't have the most amazing set up, but we had heart.
This turned into something pretty regular for us. We were filming things about our homestead, and I was starting to film vlogs called "Mystic Yeti's Morning Coffee". I would sit and drink coffee while unpacking complicated ideas about the universe or religion. I started to strap my phone up to trees using a selfie stick and a bungee cord. This is what lead to the next break through of content creation, my vlogs "One Yeti's Perspective". By strapping the phone to different trees each day it was like I was able to have a different perspective each day.
This turned into Stacie D and I actually purchasing a second phone with a better quality camera. Actually, that is the one that I still use today! We have learned a few more skills over the years, and even have a laptop that we have thrown into the mix. We are far from people "professional", but we do earn crypto for our efforts.
This story is a bit about us, and where we started. We aren't too far down the road from where it all started, but our ideas have grown into something very large. Not only do we want to continue to creating content, but also creating new ways for others to share their ideas. That was the birth of @innerblocks.
With the birth of #newsteem I have had to adapt. Like anyone else that has been on the platform for any length of time, it looks very different. The attitudes and actions seem to be developing for the positive. With all of the millions of Steem that is beginning to participate in manual curation...it may change the landscape for the better. There is that word again...better.
To jump into my head a little bit I want to talk about the idea of better, and the idea of quality. I have been met with plenty of conversations in the past several months about the idea of improving Steemit and bringing more quality content to the platform. I have heard many ideas of what people think "quality" means.
Some think that quality means anything that will bring value to the platform. Some think that quality is something at a professional blog level. Some think that quality content is perfect grammar, perfect spelling, and perfect sentence structure. Some think that quality means professional level photos that have taken with expensive cameras and then edited on expensive editing programs.
The funny part of all of those conversations is that when I was informed about how the platform should be, and the level of quality that posts need to be....I was never asked about my opinion, or what I thought "quality" was. I was left to just listen to others ideas and go along with whatever was happening.
I have stayed in the background and kept my opinions to myself, but I think it is time to really put some text out about what I think. As part of this ecosystem I have the ability to say what I want, and it also means that no one has to listen. If you are still with me, thank you! Let's get to it....
I think that quality is a reflection of effort. I think that quality content comes from the heart. It comes from a place of creativity and depth that is unique to each individual. I think that quality content can not be measured without us being able to personally know that person creating it. We have no idea about a persons level of education. We have no idea about living situations, or the opportunity to access equipment. We have no idea if the post has been highly modified because of a language barrier.
There are many different reasons that could disqualify content of even resembling quality...at least in the eyes of someone that believes they know what quality is. This is where that clever title comes in.. Only We Can Know What Quality Content Is....
I do not think that quality content is something that could be consistently measured like a metric. I don't think that we could just make a systematic way to measure the quality of content. Perhaps we should allow content to just exist and then whether it is seen as quality of not will be sorted out by the curators.
Is it possible that we can freely support content though? Are we somehow being held to an unspoken standard by a Steem based shadow government that knows what is best of everyone, and what is best for the platform? Maybe it isn't even a shadow government..could it just be a few influential individuals? All they would have to do is convince a few people that their point of view is corrent and then BOOM you have a herd mentality.
Inside of this anarchist system I am an individual. I have always been an individual, and will always be an individual. So if I find myself supporting a video that has a shaky low quality look, and maybe some terrible sound...well then that is up for me to decide. I will never forget where I started, and I want to encourage everyone regardless of their situation.
I encourage you all to not get caught in the trap of what you think is "quality content", but enjoy what you enjoy no matter if others think it brings "value" to the blockchain or not.
Thanks for sticking with me this long. I hope you all have a wonderful day.
Be well
~The Yeti
For a censor-proof platform, I have been muted more times than I can count and felt demoralised into not posting content at all. I still find it difficult to create content here because of the various threats and the idea that I have to meet some crazy standard.
There are people who think that posts from Partiko or eSteem are considered low quality and that you need to have at least 250 words in a post.
And these people still spout mass adoption as something that’s somehow viable without change.
In truth, post for yourself, but with the reader in mind and ignore those who scream about shitposts and downvotes.
If you have spent time on a thumbnail and given some thought to your post, then it’s a quality post to me. Whether I agree with it or not is another issue.
Dang, sorry to hear that you got railed so hard. It is a weird thing to navigate. Doing what we think is best given our current ability, only to find that someone thought it wasn't good enough. It would be REALLY awesome if people would stop downvoting and start mentoring. Instead of just injecting what could be perceived as a negative opinion into someone elses post, maybe they could give constructive criticism to help them improve. I'll never forget the first time someone helped and guided me. I still apply their opinion to this day! Don't quit!
There are great people here and they outweigh the bad ones. But you just don't know who is going to choose to be your enemy nor why. I understand why downvoting exists, (the false belief that people are protecting the reward pool) but I won't be using it.
I won't be quitting. Most of my haters have long left the platform. They burnt themselves out rather than focusing on creating content.
Nice!
Hey @freedompoint, nice post.
Your post about what constitutes quality content was, well, quality content. Good going!
You were curated by the HoboDAO. After checking out some of your earlier posts you have been added to our Journalist Support Fund, a HoboDAO project aiming to support informative bloggers and indie journalists on Steem. You will receive monthly rewards of 3000 HBO tokens until the fund is depleted.
haha Thank you for thinking it was quality! I really appreciate this opportunity to be added to the HoboDAO project! This is really exciting! Be well.
You give me a good point to note it, don't trap on "quality content". A language barrier is one of my the tough challenge to override. After several weeks I decided to write in my own language rather than English as Second Language.
Many translators, yes I have read some of articles from Indonesian-English translators. They give advice, that we should learn how to understand and write well in own language before trying to write in another language.
👍😉
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I think that is a great idea. Really mastering what it is to put together a sweet post in our native language before translating. I bet there would be a lot greater response to it also.
Hello my friend! :D
I agree with you, quality content can't be measured just by posts alone, knowing the author, even just through a few chats on Discord or conversations through comments on here, helps you know if the persons putting the effort in to make a post regularly, whether that's daily, weekly, or monthly for some bloggers. :D
We never know what one person is going through, other then what they post about of course, so we shouldn't judge anyone too harshly. :D
Thankfully, I've been blessed to meet the people I have met, like yourself and your lovely wife Stacey D, @papa-pepper, @paradise-found, @snook, and so many others, that have been willing to help out this tech-challenged older broad get blogging. :D I've met a lot of fantastic people through Steemit and I'm grateful that my handsome husband got me to join. :D
God bless you and your wonderful family. :D Have an awesome day my fabulous friend! :D
Well, I think this comment just made my day hahahaha
That makes me so happy my friend. :D Its great to know I made you laugh/smile. :D My job here is done. :D LOL. :D
God bless you and yours! :D
You've been visited by @minismallholding from Homesteaders Co-op.
I love how you started out, small and simple. I think it takes someone having started out like that to see the value in someone else's work when they start out small. If you've always had fancy equipment to start with then you expect everyone else to be submitting at that level of quality. Thanks for sharing your point of view.
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I'm in complete agreement . . . it is far too easy to get complacent and simply upvote the people we interact with regularly, which is all fine and good, but it is valuable every so often to seek out new creators, whose content may be less polished, but who need the encouragement to keep going.
Next month I'll have been here for two years, and I doubt that I would still be active, had it not been for the ongoing encouragement I've received from the wonderful people and communities I've found here.
And you're absolutely right: writing from the heart shines through, every time.
Being fully present and honest is a strong and irresistible draw, particularly in these times, when we are being bombarded on all sides by deceitful and self-serving idiot wannabes with a megaphone.
I'd rather support beginners with heart any day, no matter how imperfect their content. We are all capable of learning.
I appreciate your feedback! It is definitely tricky. It is all about balance. How do we continue to do what we see fit, without getting upset while others are doing what they see is fit hahaha
Absolutely.
It's a lot like the president's final speech in "The American President" . . . democracy isn't easy. It puts up a fight.
It demands that you defend the right to freedom of speech not only for yourself, and for those who agree with you, but also for those whose words make your blood boil, and whose ideas you would spend a lifetime of effort to defeat.
In short, we need to somehow come back to a place of allowing others to be who they are, without judging them harshly, and while being adult enough to be tolerant, and as understanding of their viewpoints as we can muster, while still holding true to our own inner selves.
For the actual speech from the film, I give you this video,, which, with one minor disagreement, I wish that every political office holder in America, elected or appointed, would take to heart.
As much as I like meeting content creators ... I ultimately don't really care what their effort is or what equipment they use. What I care about is if my experience as a consumer of their content is good or not. That is what determines if the post is quality to me or not.
Sounds good. I appreciate your feedback.