It's hard to have this conversation with fellow steemians without seeing the complete polarization of positions unfold right before my eyes. The truth of the matter is that I believe that the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but at the same time I have the hardest of times defining what the middle is.
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On my right wearing red trousers
Stands Mr. Merit, he believes that only effort should be compensated and if it does not take a content creator at least thirty minutes to finish a post, then without a doubt the post cannot be valuable. Mr Merit has a valid point, in many ways we are taught by the very system, that time is money and to break down "work" into time slots. The math for Mr. Merit boils down to: Well, if you are making $20 an hour as a writer and it took you 30 minutes to do the post, a $10 payout sounds accurate. Anything above that is overvalued, anything below that is probably not right, depends on your skill level.
You see Mr. Merit believes in pragmatism and absolutes. His biases are not necessarily uncommon or evil, to use a more dramatic tinged word, they just are. And I happen to stand buy more tickets in favor of Mr. Merit most of the time, because more often than not, It's easier for my biases and I to aligned with this idea of merit.
On my right wearing blue trousers
Stands Mr Skill, he believes that the years he has spent mastering his unique abilities grant him the power, if you will to achieve the same results, with less effort. Mr. Skill is also not wrong, as a musician I've seen this with my own two eyes. Someone would walk into a studio and in two takes complete his track, while another musician would spend two days recording his share of the song.
The truth is that Mr. Skill is a little more rare than Mr. Merit, but truth be told they are tackling the same problems, through different paths and that is a completely valid assessment to make.
Where is the middle?
This is where I struggle, because quality is very subjective. To believe that we can all agree on something of quality is to reveal that you've never visited an art gallery in your life. The solution however is to remove as much as possible our personal biases from this equation and attempt to see it from the viewpoint of a possible adopter of our beloved platform.
Can we expect everyone to make long form content?
Absolutely not. There is now way we could be advocates for liberty, for self governance, for anarchism and in the same breath demand some sort of behavior set to our particular biases of standard and merit. As the old saying says "You can't have your cake and eat it too". So attempting to make an argument for some sort of minimum word count, minimum picture count or anything of the sort is cognitively dissonant.
The truth is that we should expect people to learn to enjoy the platform in their own way, create the content they find valuable as long as this content has a healthy ethical audience, it really does not matter our personal opinion of said content.
I will try to be more specific as to not make anyone tilt their head sideways like a puppy. Basically, if someone can make his readers laugh with two lines, and their readers enjoy the zapplin, we as stake holders of the platform should be happy of this fact. This is of course not considering the abusers with no audience, spamming our network or "soft mining" with bots. (please note the air quotes, they are of a sarcastic nature)
Short content has a place on this platform
And I think those of us who lean towards the Mr. Merit of my analogy have to learn to see the bigger picture in front of us. We all want and need mass adoption, coming to peace with the fact that content creators and content consumers have different expectations is part of the mass adoption process.
The apps that have been developed for the blockchain are doing a good job at eliminating the stigma of short content, but we also need to be a little more flexible with our steemian culture, sort of speak. So that new ideas, new applications that cater to the short form content land on fertile ground.
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I agree with you that both have their place. I really struggle with making short-form content simply because I have something to say and that usually requires more time to execute and explain.
But with regards to Mr Merit vs Mr Skill... Well, Mr Merit becomes Mr Skill if Mr Merit works hard on their skill for long enough, so for example, when I shoot a video of me performing a song, I only need to do 1 take, but that's because of years and years of what Will Smith calls "beating on your craft" to develop the skills necessary to do what takes most others multiple takes to achieve.
So from that perspective, Mr Skill is already Mr Merit.
By the way, it's phrases like this:
That make reading your blog posts so compelling... Just an awesome flare you have!
Blissful blessings and smilesin joyNathanNK
i think that we are trying to use old methods of thinking/evaluation and apply them to new systems which are evolving. What has value is entirely up to the audience observing. There are elements which have perceived value for some and no value to others, at the same time if no one tries to present that content we can not know IF said content has value. Then there is the matter that we can not perceive what "good" content is with no "bad" content to compare it to, its a bit of a catch 22, lol. Cant appreciate the day without the night and vice versa.
Ultimately i think it is a matter of just doing what makes you happy and what is congruent with who you are as a person and your autonomy on steemit. interact with the content which aligns with your interests on the platform. If there is content you don't like, don't engage with it, but know that just because you don't like it personally does not mean that it does not have value.
If we are talking about plagiarism hate speech and money grabs/schemes that is a different bag of beans, but still plays a part in the discussion. i think that it can be easy to put what you "dont have any interest in" into this category of what is generally defined as "shit posting", but there is some considerable differences between the two that should be acknowledged so we don't throw baby out with the bathwater and end up in an echo chamber across the platform.... cause if that is the case we may as well all get out of here and leave the platform for those that only have interest crypto talk, isn't that what kicked this whole thing off? lolz
Your closing line brings an important topic to the top... many don't agree here... I mean, I agree with you... but there are some that believe this place should be mainly about crypto and investments... I think that's myopic but.
Yes , that's my point exactly, as a whole we state that steemit is the way of the future, loving accepting of others, supportive, etc. which it can be. However , when we see this kind of behavior we are privy to examination of the human condition at play.
Despite our expression of positivity on the platform it would seem that some of us are STILL far too busy being focused on what others are doing, passing judgment, cutting others down to size, what belongs on the platform and what doesn't, etc. as opposed to tending to our own gardens.
If we truly wish to create the utopia we want to on this platform we need to abandon the old models of interaction and move forward in a new direction. When we bring the old models across it is similar to fastening a horse to the automobile because that's how it was done in the horse and cart era, it may work, but its not nearly as effective as it should be. Some things must be left behind to move forward, but as humans we tend to resist change, this is for various reasons but i digress.
We must be what we want on the platform, if we want less judgment then be less judgmental, if we want better content we must create better content, this goes on. But you wanna know the true "dirty little secret"? We asked for "anarchy" because we feel we can take care of ourselves and each other better than any other systems that are full of greed, conspiracies, etc. yet here we are... not even being able to express our thoughts on a open forum without the same factors coming into play. Maybe we are destined to make the same mistakes as long as its all about "me" as opposed to being about "us"...
btw bro.. today I wrote a long weird rant inspired in our conversations.
coolies checking it out now :)
Gosh! I love the way your mind works mate! So well said!
Thanks mate, just calling it how i see it :)
I stay with Mr. Skill. It is very possible that the more expert you are at something, the lesser time it may take you to get that particular thing done. So the fact that Mr. Merit thinks short content is not quality i dont agree
Mr. Skill is appealing, no doubt... specially because he is efficient...
Thanks mate, I think both Mr Merit and Mr Skill have a point to prove like you have explained.
But the balance between the two would be healthy for our community.
Quality is a relative word, what seems to be quality to you might be ordinary to me, so why now basing the judgement on what appeal to you and not to me?
Before I joined steemit, I only write quotes, I flow best with that. In fact my first username was fashioned after quotes. (@emmakwisequote), I lost that account in February though, but I have been forced to blend to what is operating on steemit by writing long posts.
I take it as a challenge to improve myself, and I have indeed improved, but not all can do that.
If the message can be passed with a statement, why going for ten?
We need to welcome an healthy community, not all can make it long.... Hahaahab
Thanks so much for this post again, you are indeed a problem solver... Smile
Well, this is great you bring out a great example.. someone who enjoys writing quotes, would feel out of place with our current culture. Making room for them is key for mass adoption, where your quote writing times good? was it well received?
I end up reading and upvoting them myself, I don't need to be told before I know it wasn't acceptable on steemit. Smile
You are right....
Meno you have areally nice way of wrighting and humor mixed together. keep it up
The ideal option is the combination of both Mr. Skill and Mr. Merit's ideas. Both time and skills are necessary factors for success on any platform.
Exactly my point, the middle, the balance... now, how can we all agree what that is? that's the challenge.
If there have no small thing,we will not compare it by size,,So size doesn't matter..Chill up!!1