Meanwhile "Guess what I have in my Pocket (tm)" earned $1000!?!? What's up with that?
Hopefully, for the optimist in me, there are about three main streams of posts.
Gamified posting by people who are here to make a profit and little else. They may have a vague idea that improving the community improves their return, but they won't let that stop them from extracting as much cash as they can get from the system. There's nothing wrong with that, like people who gamify their lives and earn big paychecks, that's their right and they are the sharp edge of the axe of civilization, driving the wedge with the weight of everyone else behind them. We need each other. They decided at some point to learn and do what it takes and they have their reward.
High effort posts by dedicated Steemers which can only gain points by random chance. Ten or fifteen posts that I wish I had the time to read have gone by while I write this. Maybe I will get back to them some day, maybe I will search them out when I need them. But it won't do much good to vote on them at that point. It would be nice if there were some residual profit that could be made by them for late votes. I know I have read at least 100 three month old posts to learn about Steemit, for which no one got any credit. This includes creative art, literature and educational posts, which always have a value, but excludes gamified post which lose their value as soon as they earn their reward.
Last, but perhaps most important, personal posts which build the community but have little other measurable value. They are topical, passionate, opinionated, supportive, and have a value for having existed, in that you and I, for instance, may have a conversation that reflects in our future posts. Immeasurable and technically unrewardable, but a real value nonetheless. Current votes on those posts reflect that value, but poorly.
Hopefully we all try to read, vote, and respond to all three of these kinds of posts, but unless things change, #2 and #3 will always be undervalued.
To improve the community and the value of STEEM,
Post and vote for creative, original work that you like.
Powerup 100% if you can.
Support the newbies.
