When I was at school, there were always many cliques, perhaps it is part of being a kid at school. I was never really in any of them as I didn't really fit in but, I got along with pretty much all (by high school). I was somewhat of a social butterfly and rarely out of the conversation. Not because I am intelligent and know a lot, but because I am interested in other people and what they know, feel and think.

Being interested in people seems to be somewhat of a lost art and the degradation is something I notice in myself online. Perhaps it is because the online life is a continual sales pitch where the product is the self. And since everyone is busy selling themselves no one has the time to get to know others. This means that the conversation is you tell me about you, I tell you about me.

http://i.imgur.com/HEC8azx.jpg

***<h3>Pay your dues</h3>***

This is quite foreign to me in the walking world as I generally take a heavy interest in the people I interact with. I don't really get anything out of it except for maybe a friend or a smile. People like to have someone listen to them and I think this kind of connection is fading and people are becoming cold and self-centered. In some way, the threads that hold a community together are fraying.

At Steemit, there are many cliques and initiatives and all in all, these are a good thing where people can connect with like minds etc. But, one thing I am not comfortable with is the price of membership. 

Many of the groups seem to have a membership fee where to get group support, one must follow other members and be part of the associated curation trails. I understand why this is of course but why I am uncomfortable with it is the expectation of adherence or membership is revoked.

I trialed a curation trail approach for 2 weeks a few months ago and disliked seeing my vote on articles I did not read or articles I did not agree with. But, to be part of the 'in-group' for a particular clique, I would have to suck it up and compromise my personal position that manual curation trumps automated. Something I am not willing to do.<div class="pull-right">http://i.imgur.com/MVQ7anB.jpg</div>

***<h3>Connected disconnection</h3>***

The reason I think manual is better than automated for the majority of users is that it will more accurately discover content that the community is interested in as well as when someone actually reads what they are voting, engagement is more likely as is sharing and following.

But, to get the support of many of the groups, one must essentially check their individuality at the door and comply with the rules. This is the way most groups work of course where the group culture is formed and then normalized and to enter or remain, one must adhere or risk being ostracized. Essentially, the group's culture and rules work as a centralized authority with punishment for non-compliance.

Once part of the group and being afforded support, it becomes increasingly difficult to leave as reliance upon the support and connections of the group become increasingly important. This is even more true when interaction with the group takes precedence over interactions with diverse groups.

This has a siloing effect where the importance of the group is emphasized as other relationships and chances at possible new relationships fall away. Soon, all one hears is the views of the group and this often leads into inter-group conflicts where an us versus them position gets developed.

***<h3>Vote big or go home</h3>***

The problem for me is that I love interacting with a wide range of people from a wide range of backgrounds, ages and knowledge sets but, likely still require  the support of groups to survive. Without the support, one may float independently on the outside of all groups but have no way to interact unless committing to conform to one or two of them.

I can understand the auto votes from the big accounts as there is no way they could possibly get a good spread of their voting power. For example, a 100% percent upvote from @blocktrades is 330 dollars at the moment. That is 3300 a day for 10 full votes. If they want to manually curate and give each account 30 dollars, they would have to read a 110 articles. It is just not practical. The option would be they read 10 and give each 330 which is not a very good spread for the community.<div class="pull-right">http://i.imgur.com/gFoSJWL.jpg</div>

However for myself, my 100% is worth 40 cents. It is not worth spreading it in 4 cent pieces so I would rather read some articles and vote accordingly. Sometimes, I manually go through my feed and add 20% votes to some I follow without reading, but not very often and only when time has gotten away from me. Normally, I have a read. Not to see if it is worthy of a vote, nearly all are, but to get to know the person I follow a little better. I also use it to upvote all of the comments which I give 5 or more percent to.

***<h3>Who are you and what do you post?</h3>***

The curation trails may spread the votes out but, they do not build relationships, they do not give insights into who a poster is, they do not build community, the do not listen to what someone has to say. Again, the whales here serve a different purpose and will hopefully share their votes out to key parts of all communities to build a broad foundation but, the rest of us at this stage should worry less about curation rewards and more about knitting together the fabric of community and inter-community. Yes, the money is a factor but if someone actually reads an article, they are likely to add more than a 1% vote.

What would be great if in the end, when a new user joins they can wander around from group to group and be welcomed everywhere and when they post content, people take the time to read it, find out who they are and vote based on merit. 

This clique behavior will likely lead to the same schoolyard arguments that I saw as a child, the same echo chambered views, bully behavior and victims. The kids who are popular based on some arbitrary trait, the pretty girl group, the nerds etc and little cooperative overlap between. Our future strength at Steemit is weaving all of those groups into something that looks like a Scottish tartan and creating something really unique and great together. 

At this point you can imagine William Wallace shouting Freedom! ;) 

Now, this is a free, somewhat decentralized, uncensored platform which means everyone can essentially behave however they want. I am just putting some of my ideas forward because well, that is what this platform is kind of for. No one is forced to do anything here but actions always have consequences. My own failure to join groups may cost me a lot or it may help the platform develop, I don't know. I am aiming for the latter. My overall goal is to find a way where I can benefit and the platform can benefit as it is only then that it is useful in the long-term. This means trying to find ways for others to benefit from the platform too. So, I try.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

The photos are of my gorgeous little daughter searching for toys in her toy box which is kind of like manual curation.

http://i.imgur.com/pAcUAzX.png