Many people post/talk about being unhappy with the trending page, or not liking the value of this post or that one. It has been discussed that what we like or want to see more of is relative to our personal preferences.
However, are you using your vote to help mold SteemIt?
If you are reading this there is a good chance you are using at least some of your votes to reward content that you like and to help promote the growth of the site. Some have just turned on a voting bot and have mostly walked away. That is their right as they are the holders of their stake and I support their ability to use their stake how they like. We all benefit from them "holding" their Steem.
I can not blame you either way, as I have been excited about earning some easy Steem myself. However, as we grow, I have made a decision to voice my opinion of content with my vote. It is easy to lose sight of long-term goals in becoming focused on short-term rewards.It is not my intention to criticize anyone or tell anyone what to vote on. I just want to encourage everyone to promote what you want to see more of. I personally want more diversity, I want to see articles on parenting, sports, special interests, science, view points, etc. I want to use my vote to support new-users and minnows who are swimming upstreem to get noticed.
I flag posts that have 1 picture or sometimes a video and no words. At least tell me why you are sharing it.
To be clear, I don't care about the pennies, I care about the clutter though. I don't use bots for voting on this account and I never have. I don't seek curation rewards, I vote for what I find interesting, at the time I see it. (Natural Use) I often scroll down "New". For the most part during my SteemIt Journey I have avoided flagging and leaned towards education and discussion. The number of 1 picture posts, and other crap I see with no text makes it harder for me to find the people who are trying to write, post and interact on SteemIt. So, if I right click and google search that photo and there are millions of copies out there, I am just going to flag it. That is how I am choosing to use my stake. I am not going to find a special room on SteemIt chat and report anyone or join a police squad, I am just going to do a bit of clean up as I go.
What are you using your votes to support? Do your actions help mold SteemIt in the direction you want to see it grow?
What about your flag? Are you using it yet? It is a tool provided to us to keep the site clean :)
Let's talk about it.
