What can we do about the Introduceyourself thread Steemians? How can we make it better?
I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately because, as the alt-coins rise, more and more people are going to find their way to this platform. There was been a continuous influx of new users here since I've started only a few months ago. (Steemit veterans roll your eyes, I know, newbie) Anyway, word of mouth combined with the crypto rise is going to bring a lot of people here. When they begin to browse the site, they will surly navigate to the introduce yourself section to see how new members are received. Right now, it isn't very inviting.
The page is filled with spam posts. Users with low reputation that plagiarize articles or ones that have extremely low quality. Just take a gander at the thread anytime and you'll catch my drift. There is also an abundance of posts that have nothing to do with introduction at all. This is a issue in a lot of threads, but is especially prevalent in this one. There are a bunch of thirsty people looking for quick upvotes in this category and in my opinion are really ruining it for new users. Yes, slightly hypocritical that this will show up in the introduceyourself thread, but whatever, I just want the section to get better, and everyone that wants this platform to have a healthy growth should too.
I see great introductions with just a few upvotes all the time and it makes me mad! Great posts, crafted with care and opening themselves up to the Steemit community, and they are under rewarded. Users new introductions are pushed down in the feed by unrelated or low quality posts, which makes the good ones difficult to find.
Progression of me at midnight scrolling through the days introductions
initial glance
sifting through the trash
occasional connection
By the time I'm through
The Vision
I think it is fairly straightforward the ideal feed desired for the introduceyourself section. One where it is overwhelmingly users who are just creating their first post and greeting themselves to the Steemit family. One where posts are upvoted and commented on generously, because the first impression is the most important. We don't want to create a false sense that every post might be rewarded as such, but sometimes it is a little nerve racking to first put yourself out there and a little encouragement can go a long way for new users. I myself try to spend a good amount of time and upvotes on new users because I know how received I felt with even a couple upvotes or comments on my first post.
When new users visit this thread now and get some of their first glance at the community, it is underwhelmingly compared to what it could be. Imagine if the introduction section was filled with great new users that each got a buck or two in rewards!? How encouraging would it be to see troves of comments from existing users, instead of only a couple generic ones? Right now maybe 1 out of 5 or 10 is a introduction. Were better then that!!!
So lets get at it Steemit! Take a portion of your time and dedicate it to the new users. Swing some upvotes into the introduction section. Post some comments to make people feel welcomed! Flag the accounts that abuse the section regularly and lets present a better face to the incoming/future steemians that will help propel this platform!
The Solution Struggle
The solution above is only a start, the questions remain how to expand it and keep it going. The core of the debate tugs at the very core of Steemit being a decentralized social media where you can post and share anything. What interference's or corrections, if any, should be accepted within the community? Should there be dedicated users that are able to remove introduceyourself tags from posts that don't belong there. How would that even be decided and could it be abused? Should there be rapid flagging? And if those are implemented then is that a form of censorship on the platform. Where does the slippery slope go from there? I guess I don't have the answers.
