I have been on steemit for an admittedly short period of time, but something I've noticed is the constant civility in the comment sections. Even on topics where some people disagree, or about things that are controversial, there is very rarely a personal attack or argument between users. Its an interesting thing to see on a social media board with anonymous users.
I'm wondering if the economic incentive of Steem is driving people to be more civil in their discussions. Everyone wants to get up voted so and get rewarded for the content they provide, so everyone treats others respectfully. There's actual meaning behind the voting system, so people take their contributions more seriously. This is opposed to something like reddit where the only consequence is a meaningless internet point,.
In a way, it almost reminds me of the Black Mirror episode where everything in life is driven by a person's rating, so everyone puts on a smile and throws around compliments. That may sound like I'm knocking this, but I'm not. I do wonder if the economic incentives will lead to a lack of genuine comments, but I also wonder if a lack of genuine comments in exchange for civil discussion is even a bad thing.
It could also just be that this is still a small community that is at this point similar in thought, and thus there is just more genuine agreement among users. Everyone is excited for what Steemit has to offer and is working towards the same goal.
Anyways, just wanted to share my thoughts on the topic while I had them. I think the economy based social media concept and how it impacts the type of comments we see is definitely an interesting thing to keep an eye on.
