Recently (actually a few hours ago), @steemstem had announced their intention of taking a week break from all of the curation works to reassess the situation and restructure their organisation. I understand their struggles. They have been trying so hard to build an engaging community by rewarding any STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related articles but their effort is seen as a potential place (not community) to reap some benefit (upvotes) instead of a place for people from various disciplines interacting with one another. Just scroll down the "new" section of "steemstem" tag. How many articles can you find which has been spotted by @cheetah?
Some of them might just be a misunderstanding (@cheetah is bot after all), but most of them (that I can find) plagiarised about 60-100% of the original article somewhere on the net. That's an act of desperation, and I can say without any bots which can point that out, it will be difficult for curators to determine whether the article is excellent and original or just copy-pasted from somewhere. People should know plagiarism is a crime in the academic world, but what's the point of knowing if you didn't acknowledge that particular rule. Science has always been my passion. I have created some articles for @steemstem in the past, but now I'm too busy with medical school.
There are a few ways you can do to engage more with the community that you're involved:
- Curate - It doesn't matter how much Steem Power you owned, you can upvote any underrated articles and give some feedback on the things that they have written. It's okay to join voting trails to support the community but once in awhile, read the article that you've upvoted for the sake of improving the authors, not the curation rewards. Everyone is a curator in Steemit, and everyone deserves feedback to improve themselves. Try to curate at least three articles per day.
- Comment - You should not comment for the sake of increasing that "post number" on your Steemit's post's count. You should comment either to appreciate the effort of the author or if you want to give some feedback for their sake. Some authors took hours to finish a 1000 words article for the sake of the community. Learn to appreciate them. Everyone should be appreciated in the community no matter how small their contribution is. Try to comment at least five times a day. A good, constructive comment, not like "Thank you", "Okay" or anything that's unrelated to the author's post (that would be rude).
- Commit - People do like to complain. You didn't get an upvote; you complained. You get lesser than you expected; you complained. It is not a healthy attitude. If you didn't get any upvote, keep on improving your article. Keep on writing good content, and someday, your effort would be rewarded. That's why you should write something that you are passionate about. It will be good for you in the long run. Writing for the sake of reward is tiring. You spent 3 hours composing an article only to find out, you're being rewarded with 0.20 SBD?
The most important part of a community is the central figure. They act like a sun which nourishes nearby planets. If it collapsed, the whole structure would crumble. Try to appreciate "the sun"; without it, we will be living in darkness. Show your commitment, and witness your community grow in time.
