The 'New Steem'.... Trying Not To Get Lost

The Steem ecosystem is developing at warp speed. New communities, new tokens, new front ends pop up like mushrooms. This is supposed to be a good thing, right?

_Source

The Good (??), Old Days

When I discovered the Steem blockchain, in October or November of 2017, there was SteemIt. That was it. As I already stated in my post 'Tokenization of Steem: TRUMP, GOAT and COKE Tokens???' how overwhelmed I was by all the new information I had to process and how it took me while to get the hang of it.

Looking back now, I realize I was lucky to arrive before all hell broke loose....

Tokens, Tokens Everywhere

Ever since Steem-Engine was launched, new tokens have been created and distributed almost daily.

I do see how tokenization creates opportunities for both communities and investors/content creators and I'm fully aware that the Steem blockchain is developing at warp speed, growing up faster than any of us had expected.

So far, only good things...

But...

You did see this coming, didn't you?

It's not the long list of tokens that bothers me - or better: confuses me.
It's the launch of all these new community-interfaces.

Let's see if I can list them...

• SteemCoinPan - Niche: cryptocurrency investment and blockchain information
  
  

• Splintertalk - Niche: Steemmonsters/Splinterlands
  
  

• Palnet - Niche: General
  
  

• Weedcash - Niche: cannabis enthusiasts
  
  

• Sportstalk - Niche: sports, obviously
  
  

• Steemleo - Niche: investing
  
  

• Neoxian City - Niche: General
  
  

• SteemZzang - Niche: ?
  
  

• Battlegames - Niche: Gaming
  
  

• Reggaesteem - Niche: Reggae music and culture
  
  

• MediaOfficials - Niche: ?
  
  

• Bloque64 - Niche: Spanish ?
  
  

• LasseCash - Niche: Social activities, Truth contents and Personal posts ?
  
  

• Triple A - Niche: Movie and Video Reviews
  
  

• Liv.SteemPeople - Niche: ?
  
  

• SteemAce - Niche: Gaming
  
  

• ActNEarn - Niche: General through social media channels

Those are just the ones I know about. If there are more, please DO NOT LET ME KNOW about them.

I can totally understand that a community in a specific niche wants to have its own interface, where one's feed isn't cluttered with posts about topics you're not interested in.

And I also get that people want to try out different mechanics, like the 50/50 payout and the downvote pool on Palnet.

But this does make things a lot more complicated.

Complication 1 - Tags

Like I said in the beginning: it was hard enough to figure out how SteemIt worked when it was the only interface around.

Learning how to use the right tags to make sure your posts would be found took time. Can you imagine how much harder it has become for a newcomer to learn how to use tags correctly?

In spite of all the new interfaces, we're still limited to only 5 tags. I refuse to think about how many posts that would interest me I will be missing because the publisher decides to use for example #palnet, #neoxian - and don't forget - #newsteem instead of niche-related tags.

^{I'm going to use both #palnet and #neoxian on this post. I've been using the first one for a while, the second one I consider to be an experiment.}

But that's not even the worst. I just visited all interfaces to grab the links, and I noticed a lot of tag abuse is going on already. People are trying to get the most out of their posts, raking in as many tokens as they can. I'm sure the communities will find a way to stop this behavior soon, but for now, ... I didn't notice any consequences for using certain tags for anything other than opportunistic reasons.

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If you want some tips about proper tagging in this new Steem ecosystem and how to avoid tag abuse or information overload, drop by the posts @torico and @jongolson published earlier this week:

=> Tagging in the wake of Tribes and Tokens


=> How To Not Lose Your Mind In The Steem-Engine Economy

_{I've used a SteemForever-link for both posts, so you can still reward the post after post payout, if you would want to.}

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Complication 2 - The Interface

All those sites are created using the same script, so they all look and work exactly like SteemIt.

I completely understand. After all,

• the design is so very attractive
• it doesn't look like it was created in the 1970's at all
• it's such a user-friendly interface

...NOT

Most - if not all - haven't even implemented that awful Google Search engine that I despise so much. No matter how I much I hate the limits of the search ability on SteemIt, it's even worse when there is no search ability at all. Posts are all categorized under 1 or a few tags.

And to top it off...

I keep running into these messages:

I don't know about you, but if you ask me, this isn't going to build trust and attract a lot of new people...

Cutting Some Slack

I realize that all these new developments are still new, both to us users and to the developers, and that I should cut them some slack.

And I do.

But I also think it is important to remind people that one of the main reasons it is so hard to keep people on board is that the Steem(It) experience may be a lot of things, but 'user-friendly' is not one of those.

And everything that is happening right now might be good for the ecosystem in the long run, but we shouldn't forget about the here and now.

Personally, I'm suffering from an information overload. My Steem adventure has always been filled with positive vibes and always gave me the energy to keep on going. However, these last couple of weeks, I feel lost and exhausted. I understand other people's excitement about the recent developments - after all, the Steem blockchain is taking big leaps forward - but I'm too drained of energy to feel it.

While I do have the basics down...

Just sayin'... all these new developments are awesome, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done, and meanwhile, we need to make sure to not drive people away by making something that's already complicated even more complicated. It'll be a fine line to walk.

But that's just my two cents...

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P.S.: I don't mean to be all negative about all this. I believe in the Steem blockchain and its huge potential. All these changes will create new opportunities... for everyone. Meanwhile, just try not to get lost, okay?! ;0)

^{Graphic created with The Logo Creator Software}

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