To clear any doubts and make the guidelines as transparent as possible, Curie reviewers will use this post to go through each of them in detail. This is an updated post to reflect recent changes in guidelines. Keep in mind that some of the variables are regularly updated. The best way to be up to date is to follow #curie on steemit.chat. The general spirit of Curie is to discover and promote authors who create engaging and quality content. The type of content that may attract new audience to the Steem network.
Breaking down the guidelines
Verified and engaged authors only who have been consistent without much success of late. Focus is on new authors who have made few good posts, but haven't been discovered yet.
Look out for promising authors who have already made few good posts, but without rewards and recognition. Someone who is actively involved with the community by upvoting and writing meaningful comments on other people’s posts etc.
Posts from higher REP authors need to be truly exceptional.
You can submit posts by authors regardless of reputation but keep in mind that the higher the REP, the more exceptional post has to be. They are high Rep for a reason - but sometimes, even their best content goes undiscovered. When proposing posts from high REP authors make sure you have enough arguments for consideration which should include consistency without much recent success, engagement with other Steemians and the post itself must be brilliant. See the posts listed below and others resteemed by Curie to get a sense of what to look for.
Also, make sure that author’s previous posts are in Curie’s spirit as well. Consistency is not enough if all the author has posted are political/religious rants or posts in a different language than English.
Posts must be more than 150 minutes old, but less than 24 hours,
Note that top curators earn the right to submit posts after 45 minutes.
with maximum $3 pending payout.
Maximum post payout at the moment of submission has to be less than $3. Be careful when submitting because the platform does not enforce the hard limit. Posts that exceed $3 between the time of submitting and reviewing are closed and does not affect curation score (but it does take up a submission slot if you have limited number of submissions).
Author must not have earned more than $25 on a single post in the last 7 days.
Look back through the author's profile, if they have a single post with pending payout higher than $25 within 7 days from the time of creation of the post you’re submitting, pass on it. This is a minimum requirement. Ideally, the author should be without any significant, recent reward. For example, if the author’s previous post was 3 weeks ago and it had a significant reward, or if they have major Curie upvote 8 days ago, or they earn between $15 and $20 on almost every post, reconsider submitting because it likely won’t be approved. Unless truly exceptional.
Only original content.
Original content, created by the author of the post.
Articles, art, poetry, videos, recipes, etc. that appear first on Steemit. (I.e. no reposts of older work) Please check for plagiarism and reposting before submitting. Content must be exceptional and unique.
Reposts of older work do not qualify. For example, author might share music videos from 2014. travel photos from September 2017 or a story posted on their website years ago. These posts do not qualify. Same goes with Dtube videos – check if they are uploaded elsewhere previously. Look for something that’s fresh and made exclusively for Steemit in the last few days to maybe a week. Also, make sure they are not translating/plagiarizing content from other languages. If the grammar reads funny, it’s safe to pass. Look for engagement with quality comments that could confirm authenticity.
For authors who have a presence on other social media, make sure they are genuine and not impersonators. For example, someone sharing a music video should have a link to their Steemit profile from youtube/vimeo, photo verification or similar proof of authenticity.
If an author has been rewarded by Curie previously, they are unlikely to get another vote for similar type of content. Authors will receive multiple votes from Curie only if they continuously improve and evolve their blog with consistently exceptional content.
Pass on the long self-indulgent posts as they likely won’t have any audience. Judge the post not by the effort that was put in, but by the quality and engagement it creates. For example, an exceptional single-picture meme which may go viral is more valuable than a thousand word rant no one cares about.
Content must be exceptional and unique.
This one is subjective of course, but keep the following in mind -
Fact-based articles must be properly cited and with author’s personal take on them. Simply paraphrasing other sources without adding anything substantial does not qualify, even if properly cited. Photography and travel posts must be exceptional with professional quality photos and an informative story that goes with it. Photos-of-the-day-I-took-with-my-phone or sharing family travel photos from a few years ago do not qualify. Same goes for recipe, art, music (or any popular topic) posts – it can’t be what-I-made-today with mediocre photos and without something original in the product itself. Simplistic self-help / motivation / philosophy posts do not qualify either. Of course, stand-out posts from any of these categories are welcome. It should be something that would look good and not out of place on a professional blog with a large audience. It’s fairly easy to distinguish professional or promising up-and-coming bloggers passionate about what they write about from those who are just milking the community for rewards.
No Steemit-related, religious, introduceyourself or political posts.
Pass on anything that has to do with Steemit or Steem. Also politics, religion or any similar sensitive topic - it's impossible to reach objectivity for these topics. Political posts that are historical and objective are OK, with proper citations, but no political rants.
English posts only.
Be careful about bilingual posts – submit only if both versions are exceptional and original. Same goes for authors that are making 2 posts for 2 different languages - make sure they are posted simultaneously and that one is not just Google translated version of the other.
As mentioned above, quality is subjective, but all the previous reports show that finding exceptional posts in Curie’s spirit is clearly a skill that can be learned. If you are having doubts or want to improve your curation, go through the posts Curie is resteeming. The bar for reviews changes from time to time, but those are the posts that would always be approved.
You only need to find 1 great post per day and it will get you to top curators and hundreds of Steem in your wallet. And even if you don’t find 7 posts for the week, the worst that will happen is you having 15 submissions. Don't stop at 1 great post a day, though - you'll continue to earn the more you curate. There's the ultimate long-term reward (direct follow and reviewer qualification) for exceptional curators who focus on quality while also committing to find as much great content as possible.
Finally, as an example for everything said, here are selected posts Curie resteemed over time that you can always come back to as a reference of quality.
| Post title | Category | What's great about it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| My recent trip to Iceland, filmed with a Mavic Pro | travel, video | Amazing footage, creative, well produced | |
| Israel & The Palestinian Territories in 35mm | photography, travel | Fascinating photography of a fascinating part of the world | |
| 7 years in the making [#1] Rebuilding and restoring a 30 year old BMW - twice. | cars, restoration | Cool project, very well documented and presented | |
| OPEN MIC WEEK 38 - Tamar&Netanel - Peace of mind (Original Song) | music | Beautiful, original song, well presented and performed flawlessly | |
| Minecraft, Bewitched, and Creative Mode | gaming, life | Creative personal story with interesting metaphors and superb writing style | |
| [7 minute video] Why We Crave Adventure Even When it Means Pain and Hardship: a Story About Summiting a Mountain | adventure, video | Extraordinary hiking adventure with amazing footage, voiceover and story that goes with it | |
| A cynical man and his bathtub - Understanding Stoicism: Historical context pt.1 | history, philosophy | History and stoic philosophy made fun in this story about Diogenes. Creative, well structured with sources cited | |
| An Artist's Review of the 2017 Surface Pro | tech, art | A detailed and thorough analysis with personal experiences, relevant for every digital artist | |
| Drawing Rembrandt - A study in 4 colour chalk - Original content for Steemit | art | Briliant piece of art, accompanied by multiples progression steps | |
| Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus hands-on: Masterful mix of brutality and humor | gaming | An engaging preview for an upcoming game | |
| My first home - Concept to completion part 1 (Exterior) | design, architecture | A great architectural design documented over a period of time | |
| Breathing New Life into Old Biological Studies with GIS | science, research | Thorough investigation of studies not covered by peer-reviewed journals | |
| Little Red Witch, Game Design. | art, design | Illuminating journey through one's creative process |