@denmarkguy I could not agree more. When I was first invited to join Steemit, the quality content and the ethics around copyright and plagiarism had a lot to do with why I was interested. Then I looked at the trending page and there was nothing (in capital letters) that rocked my socks. Having been on another blogging platform for a couple of years, I knew/know that you don't build an audience unless you engage: it's not good enough to just post into the ether. I have said before, and say again, that while I post about certain issues on my own blog, and not about others, but will happily engage around issues when I see a post/topic that interests me. I am not one to just say something for the sake of it, so unless it's something that really grabs me, I'd rather say nothing than be insincere. Similarly, I'm not going to get all twisted up because people don't follow my blog. I get it. My stuff may be passé to them, but not to others.

Back to my entrance to Steemit: at that early point, there was nothing that really grabbed my attention. So, I wondered, would people want to read what I wrote?

Ok, so this is an awful long way to saying that I also found the Bloomberg interview a little disingenuous because I agree that there is a lot of material on Steemit which is just awful. I appreciate that some of this may be because I'm not in the age group, target market or whatever, but even so. In addition, I am not sure how you are going to ensure that all the content, on what Ned sees as a hybrid social media platform, is going to be quality. It's more complicated: what will be quality to one sub-community, may not be to another.

This is also why I think @jaynie has done such a fantastic job with #steemitbloggers. Through the Discord platform, a community of caring yet disparate people has developed with a myriad different interests. We read each others posts - yes, sometimes with "encouragement", but because of the curation, we do get to read things that would not normally get drawn to our attention. Because they come from "our family" we tend to be a little more forgiving and/or open which is helpful to all. Thenk there are the cherries (like this) that are not only engaging to read but which invite engagement and comment.

I would really like a "curated" trending page - not just as a marketing tool but because I value the opportunity to see beyond just those that I follow. Even then, I can't get to read everyone I follow, and although I know we benifit from having a gazillion followers, engagement is hard. Sometimes when I see someone has "unfollowed" me, I am quite relieved.

So to get back to the curation and your proposal. I really like it and I think that over time, with good management, cracking the nod for that page could be something Steemians would aspire to - a bit like the WordPress long reads.

Finally, I'd be happy to be part of a group looking into this and potentially developing something that would have certain criteria to be applied to make sure, as you say, it's not just populated by one's pals.

Brilliant suggestion, I hope it's heard @denmarkguy