I chose to reinvest 100% of the proceeds of this post into Steem Power. I believe in this community.
Fox Broadcasting Company
A few years ago, my favorite restaurant relocated to a location much closer to my house. I was incredibly excited. It shut down for about six months while they made the transition. That was a long six months. Needless to say, I made sure to go on the night it reopened. The owners were very clear that this would be a "soft opening". In other words, they knew the night would not be perfect. They knew their staff would make mistakes and that the kitchen could get overwhelmed. It was a bigger space with a new menu and new staff. Glitches were inevitable... but they knew their food was dynamite so they figured they'd give the people (me) what they wanted and open ASAP.
My wife and I said goodbye to our kids and the babysitter and rushed to the restaurant. When we arrived, it was chaos. It took way too long to be seated. The tables were too close together (there was huge crowd anticipating the opening). The waitress had to check exactly what the specials were a few times. Luckily she didn't forget to point out that everything was going to be 1/2 off because the owners knew there would be issues. They wanted to reward us for our patronage and patience.
Oh boy, was patience essential. I am not exaggerating when I write that it took three hours for our food to arrive. But when our meals finally arrived, they were sensational. Some people were annoyed and never came back. Others loved the food so much that they gave the restaurant another chance... and got hooked.
So what is my point?
I think Steemit is going through it's own "soft opening" right now. However, they aren't merely opening one small restaurant. They are opening a 125,000 seat stadium with every bell and whistle a fan could possibly want. It is inevitable that things won't be perfect during the soft opening. They could have just left the stadium closed while they perfected everything... but people who were fed up with other stadia (that is the plural of stadium... I looked it up) desperately wanted to get in.
Steemit couldn't open the entire stadium, but they could open one of its many lounges. They invited poets, story tellers, musicians, crypto coin experts, celebrities, artists and photographers to come and show their talent. The stadium creators pointed to the stage and said, "Go for it!"
Touchstone Pictures
Some of the "talent" rushed to the stage to do their thing. Others took a seat at the tables in the club and listened to the performers. The stadium investors stood in the back by the bar and chatted about their investment, jobs, and other interests while listening to the "talent" as much as possible.
Everyone in the room eagerly anticipated the time when the entire stadium would be filled with talented people and interested audience members. But the stadium wasn't ready for that. Much of it still needed to be perfected. In fact, this lounge wasn't even perfect yet.
But this lounge had a stage and an audience, so the creative people rushed in. As each person approached the stage, they were handed a sensor to hang around their neck. The lounge couldn't handle every artist's voice all at once (the sound system wasn't finished yet), so the audience had to decide who would be heard. If an audience member liked what an artist had to offer, they would shine a light on the artist's sensor. The more lights that shined on the sensor, the louder the artist became.
Look at me! (From emorfes)
The people at the tables had small lights to shine on the sensors, so they could only kick up the power a little bit. But the investors in the back... had huge lights, so they could really increase the artist's volume.
They all knew that someday the sound sytem would be perfected and all could be heard. But for now, the artists had to figure out how to get noticed so their sensors would be illuminated and their voices would be amplified.
At first, only a very few could be heard. It was a soft opening after all. And the holders of the most powerful lights were in the very back of an extremely crowded and noisy room.
Warner Brothers
So the creators, audience members, and investors all tried to think of ways to make it easier to hear more people on the stage (it would be impossible to hear them all). There would be no ideal solution until the sound system was perfected. That was eminent... but what could be done in the meantime?
They all needed a temporary solution.
Different people had different ideas on how to be heard. All of which had merit.
Some of the artists spent every second that they weren't on stage, mingling with the other artists. They went from table to table chatting, being helpful and making friends. They figured enough small lights was just as good as one big one. And perhaps, if enough small ones shined, the owners of the large ones would notice too. Plus, it was fun to network and mingle.
Other artists, went straight to the back and tried to talk to the investors. They spent hours and hours trying to get their attention. They found out what the investors liked and tried to create art or provide information that would interest the owners of the brightest lights. Some succeeded, others didn't.
Another group of artists, who didn't have time to network and mingle as much as the others, noticed that someone on stage had a megaphone. The owner of the megaphone was gasping for breath (they had spoken so much already). So the artist asked, "Can I rent your megaphone?" The owner replied, "It depends. Do you have something worth while to say?" If the megaphone owner thought it was indeed worthwhile, he rented out his megaphone. The artist used the megaphone to amplify his words so the audience and investors could hear.
Some of the more successful audience members with larger lights noticed some real talent on stage. They felt bad because they also noticed that these artists had very quiet voices. In order to help the artists to be heard, these successful people spread the word that everyone (especially the investors) should pay attention to that artist. They knew they couldn't possibly hear every artist, so they asked others to find talent for them in exchange for a small finders fee. These philanthropists had the added problem of generating funds to pay these finder fees.
This continued as the stadium was being perfected. Some people in the lounge became nervous that the stadium would never be filled. If that happened, everyone would lose. The investors would lose a lot of money, the artists would lose a platform for their creations, and the audience would lose the ability to drink in so much information and culture.
US Magazine
Because of this uncertainty, some people in the lounge started to turn on each other. Some argued that their way of being heard was the best and only way it should be done. Luckily some were able to have less heated conversations.
Some of the networkers thought that their way was the best, most honest and most likely to help the stadium open more quickly. Others pointed out that if this were the only way to be heard, the lounge would only be filled with people who had a significant amount of time to spend at the lounge. Would this eliminate people who could not take breaks from work to access the lounge? Would it eliminate people with family responsibilities? Did we only want to fill the stadium with one demographic: people with lots of time to spend at the lounge?
Others thought that working directly with the investors was the best method. After all, there would be no stadium at all without the investors. Perhaps they had earned some perks to be given during the soft opening.
The megaphone renters pointed out that a megaphone shared by dozens was better than a megaphone held by only one person. A rented megaphone meant that there would be a variety of stories told. The megaphones were only amplifying an artist's voice. It was still their art.
Some argued that the philanthropists were collecting too much money in an effort to pay the finders fees. But if they didn't, how could they find the hidden talent?
So which one of these is the correct way to increase the chance that more voices being heard?
Or maybe it is a "g"? (From edukateandinspire)
ALL OF THEM
Each one of these methods has one very important thing in common: they are all attempting to increase the likelihood that more voices are heard. They are all aimed at attracting and keeping quality contributors. Some of the ideas may be better suited for the short term, while others focus on the long term. However, they all share the common goal of community growth.
Because the stadium is not finished yet, each of these band-aids has its own merits and flaws. But they are temporary. The stadium will be finished. And when it is, none of these will be necessary. Until then, I hope people keep thinking of ways to increase the likelihood of more original voices being heard.
We are all pulling on the same rope. We are just using different techniques. Let's keep working together to make Steemit a huge success. I truly believe our patience and effort will be rewarded.
Please note this is a SHARK not a dolphin or whale (From Sandler)