I Will Be Upvoting Short and Sweet Posts That Don't Ramble On - Let Me Know if You Want to Join

in steemit •  8 years ago 

I am not a big whale, my vote doesn't make a huge difference.

But be that as it may, I am now taking a stance and officially announcing that I will be preferring shorter content over longer content.

No, being short doesn't automatically make a post good, and being long doesn't mean that it's automatically, a waste of time, but long form blogging is a niche, and has very little mainstream appeal. The fact that blog posts on Steemit make money tends to give room to the "labour theory of value" idea, where we instinctively are less inclined to reward content that takes "too little effort". That's the content that rules on social media, though.

So, I will now try to actively prefer shorter content over longer, and will try to encourage people to be concise; don't add unnecessary padding just to make a post longer than necessary.

I was thinking of this while playing Metal Gear Solid last night.

Metal Gear Solid is a PlayStation 1 game that came out in 1998, and it includes this nerve wreckingly annoying portion right at the end, where you need to backtrack and revisit old areas and then run back and forth the areas multiple times. It adds no value to the game, and was only added in to artificially lengthen the game, so that it would seem "better" in the eyes of reviewers.

Don't be like Metal Gear Solid.

No, we shouldn't frown at longer content if there's a reason for it. But what I see a lot on Steemit are posts that just ramble and even get downright boring half way through.

I don't think that it's content that will draw users into the platform. People may even get discouraged if they see the 10,000 word essays getting the big rewards. Let's try to diversify a little bit.

So, I'm doing this for now, but if you're interested to join, leave a comment below. That way people can see the people who prefer content that's more short and sweet.

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exactly people write long rants for things they could put in a single tweet and would stay as informative as one liner.

but they make long posts that nobody really reads.

I like good meaty posts that are not long-winded...unless its a super good story (that's you @therealpaul !) I like a bit of humor in the writing, and I like how-tos and I like to generally learn something. I try to stick with these parameters in my own posts as well. I also like some of the challenges - especially in cooking and photography and memes!

Sounds like you're speaking of my posts..

ok, i'm convinced ;-) i'll follow ;-))

I told you, didn't I? @the-oracool is never wrong.

I keep my posts pretty short. I don't think I've ever written more than a page for one.

I agree with you. Posts that are longer than they NEED to be are disrespectful of my time. I sometimes bail out of reading them to the end, and then they don't get my upvote. All my voting is manual and I can only read just so much any given day.

I'm trying to shorten mine a bit more too! We need to encourage all types of content and not make people feel that they have to write "War and Peace" to be appreciated!

I still believe like in real media and blogs. The post normally don't go over 1300-1500 words on average. And min is normally 300-500 words. I can see how some people don't have the time for long post but images can make them seem much longer then they are.

So many lessons can be learned from games. If we play our cards right we might have the greatest game of all times.
#steemit

I prefer shorter quality content, like yours, time is money.

keep it up.

This post is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to long.

You're not getting my up vote, you know why ;)

You still got mine.

Trying to make me feel guilty. hhmmm.

Ok it worked....................... upvoted.

Lol.

For several months, I have been upvoting mostly short form posts, link shares, video shares memes, etc. I fully support your new curation focus :)

Mind you - I do enjoy good long-form posts, and they are often more satisfying. But yes, most long-form content could do with brevity and stringent editing.

Our votes don't have much impact now, but cumulatively once a flatter curve is added. Let's hope we don't have to wait till June for that!

PS: Never got around to playing the first Metal Gear Solid.

You can get it at the PS Store for under ten bucks. But be warned: the gameplay hasn't aged that well to say the least. But there's a twist: once you master the difficult controls and actually finish the game, it's extremely rewarding.

I wouldn't be surprised if the controls and wonky camera were by design.

I considered playing it sometime after MGS 4. Wow, that's a decade ago. Anyway, it did feel very dated even then, judging by some gameplay videos. I think I'll pass.

Totally understandable. I have a love hate relationship for it.

I like shorter post as well as posts with more photos and less words.

Short is good. That what I tell myself often standing 5'6'' without heels :-)

I like your idea. My personal voting habits are actually steered by the HOME and NEW tabs. If a good featured picture, header and first sentence grab my attention, I usually read, comment and upvote.

I definitely don't think that people should feel required to write more just to earn a better reward. And just like in speaking, it's always good to get to the point and move on. So, I don't upvote based on length ever. And I hope that people judge my posts by their clear communication of a meritorious idea or story.

"I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time."

I was first to start the #nuggetized tag on Steemit many moons ago.
Google: steemit #nuggetized
I got tired of rambling posts too!!

I started using the "Short Form Post" right in my title, the first month or so I joined and figured out how to blog on here LOL so people could easily tell it was not a novel. I use it many many times every month to this day, to this week, actually

Sign me up!

I like your idea but have to disagree in one point. Metal Gear Solid was one of the best games ever! I still have tears thinking about the tension the game gave me. So intense!

Oh, yeah! MGS is great, one of my favorites, don't get me wrong. But the PAL Key backtracking section near the end is so damn frustrating, and kills the flow of the game.

Great! I am with you... Steemit definitely needs more shorter posts! I am not against longer ones too, but it is really good, why not break it down to several smaller ones if that can be done?

nice post @schattenjaeger

Thank you.

Mine are usually pretty short.

Interesting perspective. I and several, if not many authors, post books here in chapters - ---- -

uh oh... maybe I'm one of those who also writes more than he needs to! my last post started as an intro to a video and next thing I knew I wrote 7 paragraphs more about it lol

I am all in for that @schattenjaeger - good for non-native English writers to get exposure outside their local steem community - however if you support them will that not result in automatic @smooth down votes :-)?

No.

awesome - count me in :-) - are we Sir @schattenjaeger (are you German btw?) also into Music?

I'm from Finland. And well, I'm into good music. I'm not into bad music.

:-) ok - we will find out if it is a match, greetings from Germany to the country of skijumping

Check out articles at http://zerohedge.com You should promote the use of BOLD for the few phrases that matter the most.

Nuggetized is the tag @mindhunter started for short posts! Not sure if anyone except him uses it though.

#nuggetized rules!!!

You shouldn't autoupvote this post then, it's long )
I remember @smooth making similar statement not so long ago...but as we can see what have started as "upvoting only short posts" very soon developed to massive downvoting, so obviously it's a slippery path )

Well, I'm not going to be downvoting for length.

Nether do @smooth, I was just kidding )

I'm with you !

Keep it simple.

^ THIS!

I will also be upvoting comics!

When a post is great it doesn't matter if is long or short, so I think it should not make any difference! I like your idea! Cheers!

KISS
Keep It Short and Simple

Your not a whale but your a dolphin your votes are important, and I agree and been saying this for a while I think all content should be excepted in order for this to work.

I just can't complete with the long form posts! But I like shared videos. Count me in!!

My posts are always short and easily digestible, as I know that humans tend to have very short attention spans.

I need only provide a laugh and a lesson for any given piece to be useful.

I try to make a good mix, but maybe I'm not exactly your guy :P

Enjoy the heck out of Steemit though! There's something for everybody!

I am all for this, say all you can short and sweet twitter style!

I also prefer shorter content over longer one, if you see my articles I generally write 2 sentences of introduction then only meat.

I also like simplicity. I think I nailed it with my last post in terms of breadth. Hop you like it!

Consider chek and upvote my positive chalenge :) Every support to make this platform a happy place is wellcome !

I'm in!

Good point. I have enjoyed many short posts with good intent especially photos, poetry, cooking, travel and gardening.

Good for you. You know what you like. Rock out to it. No need to do everything and be everywhere. Lotta different worlds evolving now upon the platform. Have fun, do your thing. If it long, pass. If it appeals to you, enjoy. Your post is a good reminder for new and old.

Good point.