Steemit needs to decide is it a writing site (like medium) or is it a social site (like reddit).

One of the joys of reddit are the comment threads, that go off on tangents and are packed with info and fun. Practically no-one goes there for the headline link or opening paragraph. It's all about the comments there.

For some reason, steemit started out like reddit (this was back in May and June) and then a bunch of writers turned up and imposed their ideas on the site - they wanted long articles, they wanted photos credited, they are trying to get anonymity banned and force members to disclose who they are or get hounded out. 

It is no longer about simply sharing stuff you've seen or whiling away time discussing brangelina or politics. Which is limiting - Facebook and reddit got so big because they're about sharing. Medium is yet to get off the ground because it's purely about writing...

Very interesting article, I appreciate you writing it!

I think that sounds like a great idea! The rewards might have to be pretty tiny if your rep is below 40 I think (and nothing below 25), but it would not only incentivise people to write better comments it would also be another incentive to uphold your reputation, which means less trolling maybe :P

agreed about the rewarding comments, but don't they already?

Something needs to be done to encourage comments, what, I don't know.
I'd like a link that I can give my friends to sign up through so that I can get a bounty.

As a new blogger here, I am still having hard time understanding how all this reward, upvote, and comment effect my ability to earn money here.  Some of my content gets upvotes but no monetary shown.  Some got less upvote but go more monetary amount on my content.  I am confused.

Thank you very much for sharing this material, I like what you have posted

Really good suggestion to reward comments again. (I did not knew was not working anymore) It is one big good incentive to make people read what they are up-voting, u are 100% right. U got my up-vote and follow... and also a comment ;)

the problem with comment voting is, that you can barely vote for all the posts per day, if i start voting on the comments too, than my voting power would go down faster... so thats a no-go for me.

Nothing was changed as far as comment rewards, as far as I know. Some whales still vote on comments, but there's also a lot of really great content out there which deserves attention. Should we complain about them being ignored next? Things are what they are, and they will continue to change and evolve over time. If we changed the algorithm every other week people would freak out even more. I dunno, I guess I'm just getting tired of so much complaikging. Thanks for letting me rant a bit. There are some solutions out there for signup and more will emerge. Keep steeming. :)

those are good suggestions, but as long dan and ned are too scared to stop those whales that are fucking up steemit ... steemit will die

Well, I certainly like the comment section for sure.. It's one of the reasons I am enjoying Steemit so much..

I wasn't around to see large payouts on comments so don't know what I am missing so to speak, but I have been rewarded for comments... 

I think as Steemit matures we'll see a lot more interaction and better content as better content; both in post as well as comments, are rewarded and "spam" is simply ignored or down-voted...

Thanks for your help by the way and my friend did get her invite via email today.. So that's a good thing.

It's also good to know that the community are so involved with the development of the platform.. It may get bumpy once in awhile but in the end it should be awesome :)

Steem On...

Some great ideas sorry I missed this before.

Regarding the signup process, have you checked out <a href="https://steemit.com/steemit/@someguy123/anonsteem-create-anonymous-steem-accounts-without-social-media">anonsteem</a>? No authentication is needed. There is a small fee to setup the account though (currently .017 BTC).

When you talk about rewarding comments, I assume that you mean something in addition to the reward that people get when someone upvotes comments, is that correct? I'm not sure if it has ever done that, although maybe it was before my time. If you are referring more to the decline in people upvoting comments for large ammounts, that probably has to do more with the new voting slider. People can now upvote for less than 100%, so large SP holders who upvote a comment do not need to give as much reward.

This is a fantastic idea!
Also @someguy123 has a way to sign up with bitcoin...
https://anon.steem.network/

There is something coming in a few days that will make that even easier BTW.
Anyways I'm all for the suggestions.  Going to resteem this, more people need to see it.  I've also upvoted and I'm following you now too!

For a long time some of my comments paid much more than my posts, but that is probably something weird on my part. :) Even now, a lot of times my comments make more than my posts still. :-D

Anyhow the comments is where the best is usually at, so I usually comment and whatnot. And an incentive isn't needed for me. Still the fact that from like 40 upvotes there are zero to six comments that is the bit that is somewhat disheartening. But that probably has to do with people that are following me,  as well as what is in my posts.