Can anyone hear me? Echo... echo...
Is it just me, or is it unnerving whenever you write something thoughtful and you don't receive any replies. I'm not talking about a long, heartfelt response, just a bit of recognition like a one-worded "thanks" or a vote would be enough to let someone know that they haven't wasted three minutes of their lives. I've already expressed my frustration about posts not being noticed, so I'll try my best to not repeat any sentiment here. What I'm going to tackle here is about the lack of interaction particularly in the comment section.
A Question of Validation
For a couple of weeks now, I've been quietly making a concerted effort to leave heartfelt (and mostly encouraging) comments whenever I find an interesting post or a post that's unfairly unnoticed. Now, I don't leave those expecting to get curation rewards (though it would be nice), rather I leave them in hopes of letting the poster know that someone took the time to read his post, and hopefully draw him in to read one of mine. I don't obligate anyone, if that's what you're thinking. Heck, I don't even link back to my blog post 98% of the time. So, I guess it's safe to say that my motivation for commenting leans more heavily on proving support.
I always make it a point to let people know that their efforts were not in vain, because I know how it feels when you make a lot of effort to make something and then nobody reads it. It's a terrible feeling that I don't want anyone else to suffer from. The world can be a cold place sometimes, and I just wanted to do my part to warm it up a little.
Personally, I've been a bit disenfranchised with Steemit for quite some time, but I'm still holding out for hope. I've been mostly trying to encourage fiction writers whose work hasn't been getting the attention it deserves, mainly because I envision a Steemit filled with creativity. I leave constructive criticism (you can check out my posts as proof) and I appreciate it every time I hear back. I doubly appreciate those people who leave their own comments on my work. That's the community I've been holding out hope for. A community that interacts by reciprocating what they receive.
This is not a question of self-worth, what I'm asking for is just a simple validation that I'm not just talking to myself.
A Growing Rot in Steemit
If everyone on Steemit adhered to this "look at me"-mentality without giving attention back, then pretty soon Steemit would be a barren wasteland of comment-less posts. Right now, it isn't all that prevalent, and maybe it's just happening to me and a few others, but an infrastructure's collapse always starts with the tiniest of rots.
This problem has even stemmed to steemit.chat, at least in my own experience. I understand that it's harder there since the stream of messages could be overwhelming, but still, there are lots of people who just paste link to their posts without giving much thought to actual "promotion." They just spam their links without bothering to check out other people's links. Sure they'll nab votes here and there, but still it's just one-sided.
Sure, there have been vote-for-vote initiatives here and there, but most people don't even bother reading the content. I've taken part in those but I made sure to leave thoughtful comments in their posts. Do I get comments in my own posts? Sometimes I do, and I do appreciate everyone who takes the time to do so. Do I get replies to the comments I leave? I do, but that's the thing though, they tried to market their post heavily and the least they could do is just respond. Most people don't, and that's what's disheartening.
I've discussed this briefly with some people on chat, and they mentioned some interesting points. People wait for what whales vote, and they vote for it without considering the content. It's a clever way to game the system, but that leaves a lot of great content unnoticed. The same applies for comments. Now, I'm not saying I leave "great" comments, but voting is being reserved to where other people vote as well. With whales not voting on comments anymore, people became generally uninterested in addressing them. That makes me think of this interesting post I read yesterday.
I couldn't be alone in thinking this, right? I hope those who feel the same way sound off in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts regarding this. We need to unite and interact amongst ourselves if we want to promote interactions for our posts. This is an understated fuel that keeps this community running.
Imagine if everyone followed that negative mentality or become disheartened from their comments not being responded to. What if all those people didn't leave comments anymore? Cue the barren wasteland from the beginning of this section.
22-hctaC
I don't know if everyone knows this, but comments help your post. If that came as a shock to you, I'll give you a few seconds to recover and let it simmer. Every comment, not just votes, helps in the discovery of your post. The longer your post is featured, the more readers (and hopefully interaction) you're going to get.
Time is the most precious commodity you could give someone. Someone could've done tons of other things with the five minutes they spent reading and writing an insightful comment to your post, the least you could do is to acknowledge it. If you can't be bothered with writing a generic "thanks", at least vote on it as if to say that you've read it. Sure, you don't have to vote all the time. I mean, if the comment wasn't something you liked, then by all means, don't upvote it.
It's practically a win-win for every one involved, and all you need to do is to just respond. Your post's discovery time widens, you earn a reputation for someone who responds to comments which earns you even more comments, and the commenters won't feel like they wasted their time leaving you a comment. It's that simple.
I wish I have the option to delete my comments that have gone unnoticed for more than 2 weeks. It'd be interesting to see how much of the top posts adjust when the number of comments are decreased. Personally, I make it a point to respond to every comment I get, even if it's for an old post. Heck, I even respond to bots because there isn't anyone else who left a comment in some of my posts. I don't mind even if I upvote something that's just passed payout. I vote and comment on things that deserve them. Do people who don't respond back deserve those comments? Now, that' the question I'm interested in knowing the answer to.
A Collective Objective
Image Source
I loved the concept of "paying it forward" ever since I saw that movie. Giving something without expecting an immediate return is such a noble concept. In the big picture, you receive "good karma" in the long run, and that's something great to hope for.
For every heartfelt comment I leave, I don't expect an immediate follower, a vote, or a reward. My intention is to foster relationships that would support each other's future posts or endeavors. If my posts aren't making that big of an impact, I really wish that my comments would have that effect. I'm not asking for much, just that we promote interaction instead of just wanting our own blog posts to be recognized.
I was so glad when I stumbled upon @williambanks' #payitforward. Finally, here's an initiative that seeks to solve the problem that I was facing. It was a bit of a relief to discover that other people encounters the same problem of non-response that I suffer from, and hopefully this initiative really does alleviate that problem.
A shift in the community's consciousness is, of course, the long term solution. If we want Steemit to thrive and stand out against other social networks, we have to develop a community that fosters inclusion and interaction. We shouldn't just promote our work and not help others achieve success. We shouldn't just vote where whales vote. Most importantly, we should reply to every single comment to our posts. It shouldn't matter if it's from a whale, a minnow or a plankton. A thoughtful comment still took a minute or two of their lives. The least we could do is to acknowledge that those minutes matter.
I've explicitly included #payitforward to test if it really does promote interaction. I would love to hear your thoughts regarding the topic that I wrote above. I know it's a bit meta, and if you'd rather comment on a different topic, feel free to browse all my other previous blog posts. I'm retroactively including them in the #payitforward initiative. Feel free to link your posts here as well. I'd be happy to read and comment on them. It would be such a relief to receive responses for heartfelt comments. Let's spread the love!