My feelings about the one week engagement challenge break

When I saw this contest on our dear friend's @disconnect post earlier this morning, I could not stop myself from writing a post.
Oh yes, if you do not follow our friend for his daily contest update, do so right now!

“My feelings about the one-week engagement challenge break”

This is one “hot” topic and I would truly like to see more responses to this contest from the admins and moderators.

Well, let me get right into it and answer the questions as asked. As the Englishman would say, “Let’s not beat around the bush.”

I have one thing that I want to highlight before I get to the questions. See, I must be female after all.

The very first Steemit Engagement Challenge, Season 1

One of the most important parts of the Steemit platform is engagement.
We want people to post more and we want people to comment more.
To help promote both of these we are launching the Steemit Engagement Challenge.
This will be a month long challenge where people who post the most, and comment the most, will be rewarded.
Of course the posts should also be of good quality, and the comments should be meaningful and relevant. Steemit Update April 4th, 2022: Steemit Engagement Challenge - Applications invited

To take part in the Engagement Challenge people should enter these contests - and also make valuable, relevant comments on other posts in the contests.
We will be tracking all the entries, all the comments and all the votes to select the weekly Engagement Challenge winners who will receive extra votes from @steemcurator01. Steemit Update April 18th, 2022: Steemit Engagement Challenge Communities for May

The latest Steemit Engagement Challenge, Season 15

Each week we would like all 7 Challenge communities to make a post on their community account announcing the three people who have demonstrated the most engagement in their weekly contest both through the quality of their contest post and the quantity and quality of their comments on other people’s contest posts.
We will leave it to each community to decide how they select their weekly winners, but they should include in their announcement posts a brief summary of their selection process. Steemit Update January 1st, 20: Steemit Engagement Challenge - Applications Invited for Season 15

To take part in the Engagement Challenge people should enter these contests - and also make valuable, relevant comments on other posts in the contests.
Each week we would like all 7 Challenge communities to make a post on their community account announcing the three people who have demonstrated the most engagement in their weekly contest both through the quality of their contest post and the quantity and quality of their comments on other people’s contest posts.
We will leave it to each community to decide how they select their weekly winners, but they should include in their announcement posts a brief summary of their selection process. Steemit Update January 10th, 2024: Steemit Engagement Challenge Communities for Season 15

It is clear that right from the beginning until now, the Steemit team had two goals in mind when they created SEC.

1. To increase the amount of post
2. To get Steemians to engage with posts

This was sheer brilliance, if you have to ask me.

Now, over to the questions.

How was Steemit looking without the engagement challenge?

As far as the number of posts, I can honestly say that I don’t know if there was a decline, if it stayed the same, or if there was even an increase.

I keep a weekly spreadsheet of the posts in which Steemians invite me to participate in contests, as I cannot always immediately comment.

I am sharing the last three weeks with you.

Week 46: 61 (last week of Season 14)
Week 47: 63 (no SEC)
Week 48: 84 (first week of Season 15)

Based on the records I keep, there was no change regarding the number of posts. What I, however, find interesting is how much higher the figure was after the break. I had a look, and 90 of these posts are related to SEC posts.

There can be a couple of reasons why the first week is so much higher.

1. The 6 weeks for an engagement challenge from one group of communities are too long
2. Steemians enjoyed the break
3. The topics of the contest were not interesting enough
4. Steemians are all back from their holidays and ready for action again

I am sure you will find more reasons to add.

As far as quality, for me, there was an improvement. I often get the feeling that Steemians rush their SEC entries.

Did you feel strange during the absence of the engagement challenge?

Nope, not at all!

• I felt relieved and relaxed, as it was no longer required of me to comment on the same topic over and over again.
• I enjoyed the variety in posts.
• For me, there was an increase in the quality of the posts, which were joyful
• Steemians were writing more from the "heart,” which was welcoming
• We experienced an increase in posts in the Steem For Ladies community, which was awesome!

I cannot help but wonder if there were more communities that experienced what we did.

What’s your hope and goal for this Season 15 Engagement Challenge?

I only have one hope for Season 15, and that is that the communities will be fair when they choose their winners.

• The best posts will be selected, provided that they pass all the tests, even if they already received a vote from SC01.
• That the most engaged authors are not winners, but that credit is given to the quality of posts and the best quality and quantity of comments as set out by the Steemit team
• That the communities choose the winners as a collective team

Oh yes, and that the season is used to uplift the authors and help them where they go wrong. So, I actually have two hopes.

As for my goal, I want to find topics that I would love to enter and know that they are meaningful to my fellow Steemians.

Tell us about the community you want to host engagement challenges for every season and why?

I’m afraid that you are not going to get a name out of me. No community should be granted the opportunity to host an engagement challenge season after season for two reasons:

1. I feel sorry for the moderators and admins. It is only when you’ve been on the other side of the fence that you get to know what hard work it is to host a SEC. I take my hat off to all of them.

2. There are so many great communities that all deserve to be part of a SEC season, as it can help build the community.

And that my Steemian friends are my two cents regarding the week-long break between the SEC seasons. #bringitback

Until next time!

I invite: @sduttaskitchen @pelon53 @nahela

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