Community Builders on Steemit—What Do You Think of The Trending Page?

firepower (79) in steemit • 7 years ago (edited)

The front page of the world's only working concept for a cryptocurrency and blockchain powered social media platform is absolutely shit on most days of the week! I mean it's such a pain these days to open the site to a new user you are trying to onboard and find it full of crap!

^Source

How do you think this can be improved and what do you say to new users you are on-boarding when they ask you about all the drama that makes it the front trending page upvoted by bid bots and what not while all the remaining goodness gets trampled underneath.

Content discovery needs a lot of work according to most of the users I've spoken to on and off the meetups I've been doing and I'm flying out day after for another meetup I'm hosting.

I'm kind of out of ideas and reasons to explain all the crap on the front page to new users I've been talking to including some keen on buying into Steem.

I'm kinda sick of this crap I see every day on trending... Not that this post is going to make any difference.. But let's just talk. I would love to hear some ideas from you!

If you like my work kindly resteem it to your friends. You may also continue reading my recent posts which might interest you:

Follow Me: @firepower

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7 years ago by firepower (79)

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Trending

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liberosist (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

Absolutely abysmal. Far and way the worst home page of any active social network that I'm aware of. The algorithm needs to be adjusted asap - though this is something I've been complaining about for over a year now - only to fall on deaf ears. Stake-weighted voting is a catastrophic form of curation / organisation when much of the stake is allocated to vote trading services and rampant self-voting abusers. Of course, that's a possible existential question about the Steem network itself (I don't think it is, there are solutions), for now an UI solution on Steemit will do wonders.

There's some pretty good content on Steemit, but some of the very worst content is what is trending. Of course, long time Steemians know never to head to trending, but this is the flagship page that advertises Steem. I don't know what a better algorithm is, but it can't possible be any worse. On a related note, Reddit's new "best" algorithm is pretty good.

$3.80

16 votes

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stellabelle (75) · 7 years ago

Absolutely abysmal. Far and way the worst home page of any active social network that I'm aware of.

I could not agree more.

$0.56

4 votes

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teknow (43) · 7 years ago (edited)

This was spelled out the moment steemit was re-branded. You hopers are but fools.
Ned himself made it clear. You spend X amount, your position on the tending page is determined accordingly. He NEVER made a mention of quality or value or all them dreamer words. It was simply business.

Put forth this much, (through the network of automated gaming systems which we have given rise to) and your content, however shitty it may be, will get to rise and periodically exist among the other dogshits. And those who care to look (or for whatever reason, can't look away) will be your audience. Basic Advertising. Repetition = turnover.

The problem actually exists within those who, under some delusion, believe that they will one day see a Trending Page which brings them the "magical golden garden of freedom" which they believed would exist within these confines. I was once naive too. I am first, a realist though.

IMO, this is as good as it gets. SMTs is an exit plan. A way to try to bring in big money before it all goes pear shaped. Because, seriously... how on Earth does anyone think that this is a good system.

A place where automation takes care of all the plays in the game. You merely need to take your position and the results of the match are already known. "Good content rewarded".... the retraction of one of those words, thus leaving two. Would be more fitting. More accurately, to actually substitute that word with "PAID" would make better sense and at least everyone can proceed to exist on the... Same Page. (punmaster!)

Seriously though, where the hell does QUALITY and VALUE..
Fit into this well manipulated shamble that currently is steemit?

$0.00

1 vote

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twirble (66) · 7 years ago (edited)

The thing is, there really is some amazing quality and value growing on Steemit. It is obscured by all the horseshit, but it is there. I find an amazing new artists every day with like two votes on their art. I got so frustrated I started resteeming like a turbo engine and a bunch of people unfollowed me. There are also some great curating tools on steemtools , but they do not serve every purpose and not everyone knows about them.

Looks like good things are coming. I know Curie has some plans in the works and I keep.hearing about other things. Perhaps Steemit will finally get some competition and so they can see what works on other platforms and steel their ideas. Whatever happens I have a lot of loyalty to this platform as it has been such a big help to me. Perhaps the trending page will always suck, but my feed just gets better and better.

$0.00

1 vote

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teknow (43) · 7 years ago (edited)

I see your perspective... and I did actually have a footnote on my post which I later deleted. It read:

here is quality and value under that rubble, It even has a pulse still.. it can be saved with some blood transfusion and a rushed ride to the operating table).

Felt like I was clinging to hope too much though, which, from my perspective.. is what you are doing.

You've spelled out the remedy well though. Change is the only solution.
Waiting for another to initiate the change and thus becoming a follower.. is a dangerous tactic however. Steemit was and still IS positioned as Genesis. Time grants such a title for a short period though. 'A Relic' becomes of that which chooses to toy with time so carelessly.

$0.00

1 vote

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josteem (58) · 7 years ago

Who is responsible for adjusting the algorithm? And how exactly change in algorithm fight the bots?
Just want to understand and learn something new.

$0.55

1 vote

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liberosist (70) · 7 years ago

Steemit Inc operates the Steemit.com website, so their development team is responsible for the Trending page algorithm they run.

And how exactly change in algorithm fight the bots?

A frontend can decide to subtract amounts due to bots from the Trending page calculation, for example.

$0.55

5 votes

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clixmoney (76) · 7 years ago (edited)

Trending page is good, just jealous people complain about rich people. I think we have to learn from the trending page, we have to do what they do. Some people from trading page post even 10 times per day or more. If they are earning that much, they deserve it, if they are there, they are there for a reason. If a person was already famous on youtube, he will automatically be famous in steemit. We have to deserve that page, we have to fight for it, we have to create good stuff to be there. Every hard work has to be rewarded sooner or later. We have to keep trying, I've been here for more than 9 months and still earn sometimes cents from my posts, but it doesn't mean that I have to leave or give up, I earn sometimes a few steem dollars and I'm happy about that, because I work for my future, not for today. I hope more people understand that trending page is for the best people and we have to work hard to be there, my goal is to be there, my goal is to become a whale even if it takes me 10 years. Facebook also was nothing in the beggining and only people who invested there a lot earned a lot. But look at it now, it's still the same, if a person has something good to provide he will be famous everywhere. So we have to build our community everywhere and we will be in trending pages everywhere. ☺

$2.76

1 vote

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vdux (60) · 7 years ago

Does anybody know why trending is on the landing page? Or any posts are on the landing page? What's the reason?

I used to develop web content and worked with U/X people. Generally, their goal is utility not content. Do you give people something useful? If people don't do anything in response to what you publish, you have a problem.

Steemit's landing page has two calls to action -- which is good -- and then a bunch of posts. Do you need the posts? Is there any data to indicate that the posts drive engagement?

The point should be to get people engaged in the site. The calls to action are focused on getting people to post and upvote. Ideally, Steemit should want to build the U/X around that goal and those activities. @firepower and other commenters - you have seen the posts actually undermine that goal and prevent people from posting and upvoting (because they're not using Steemit). Again, a problem.

Personally, without knowing the constraints Inc is working under, I would recommend three calls to action -- "login" or "sign up" or "browse" -- but no feed or tags or links or search bars or edit buttons. And, remove the "New to Steemit" sidebar -- just put a link at the bottom that says "New to Steemit? Find Out More" that directs people to the reference links.

Also, list the ways people can earn rewards on the landing page. E.g., earn rewards when you join, read, view, listen, post, write, and vote.

I have some other ideas but, I'm not here to opine.

For new users -- and I still consider myself a new user -- I would just say, post and read and upvote, then learn about the platform from people posting about the platform. I'd recommend they search for "new on Steemit" to find a bunch of advice posts for how to make the most of Steemit. Those posts are usually better than a user manual, anyway. The platform is still in beta, so don't sweat the U/X. They get to grow with the platform.

I'd also recommend they participate in contests, such as the one @firepower runs, or the many others. Easy, fun, entertaining and they might just win some SBDs.

$1.10

9 votes

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bala41288 (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

Yes, I strongly agree that the front page of steemit is really misleading. It is a tricky question. I used to think at times on how to improvise it but after few mins, I realize it is difficult and give up on that thought.

The same happened even now after you gave a heads up by asking how it can be improvised. I can understand that it is difficult but finding a solution for it can be even more challenging. Thank god we at least have an FAQ page. Today I read an article by @phelimint which I feel will be very helpful for the minnows. Please check and see if you can get some idea from here.

https://steemit.com/steem/@phelimint/so-it-s-your-first-day-on-steemit-where-to-start

$0.16

1 vote

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voorash (55) · 7 years ago

I haven't read all of the replies although most seem to be misinformed about one thing. While there is certainly nothing stopping the steemit team from writing their own algorithm, the current algorithm used is not in the steemit codebase.

Below is the call in condenser that gets the trending posts already ordered from the steem node.

if (order === 'trending') {
  call_name = 'getDiscussionsByTrendingAsync';
    args = [
      {
       tag: category,
       limit: constants.FETCH_DATA_BATCH_SIZE,
       start_author: author,
       start_permlink: permlink,
      },
    ];
 }

$0.12

1 vote

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thabiggdogg (56) · 7 years ago

$0.04

3 votes

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kabir88 (60) · 7 years ago

I don't even look at the trending page. I go straight to my feed which shows posts from people I follow. Comes from being an avid twitter user I guess. I just don't trust the "trending" posts as I know a lot have just paid for that position.

I try and find quality people to follow so I get quality content.

To be honest, people need to make an effort to find what they like. The world doesn't spoon feed anyone, we must plant our own harvest

$0.00

1 vote

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farazali1850 (37) · 7 years ago

Absolutely abysumal dear

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munawir1994 (48) · 7 years ago

all need a process, live sincerely and patiently one day you will get what you expect.

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blog-beginner (53) · 7 years ago

Whales should create a team which will curate for them. In that way no new users of quality content goes unnoticed. If that happens then most of the users buying paid votes or bid based votes will be reduced. Networking on a platform which is growing exponentially gets difficult. Few good ones get the attention and rest just fill the space and nothing else.

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gabrielatravels (67) · 7 years ago

Totally agree with what you've said. Always different kind of things on trending while there are users which gets a few cents maybe 1-2$ per post where is a lot of good content but no one sees it.. it's kinda sad

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steemflow (72) · 7 years ago

Not more to say ...steemit team needs to work on the landing. Few month back i read somwhere that steemdev are planning to remove the trending page as it is not worthfull.
It is hard to make new comer understand the difference between "Hot" & " Trending". Alothough the looking at the warfare and high yeilding post they get confused as well get excite more for money. Not able to make them understand ...it is not about money but about ...people interaction.