I just don't think the developers are that focused on enhancing the website's interface. I have been hammering away at this subject and because it's not getting voted up as an issue, and we are mere minnows, it's not going to get up there. This is an issue we the little guys can see but the big guys can't because they aren't looking down here in the murky depths where we dig the gold out of the mud.
I am a veteran of online forums for years and I think it is great that the developers of Steem are attempting to make top-down metrics and interaction systems that help filter out spam. But they have not paid enough attention to user customisable search, or filtering. It can be quite laborious to even just find a post you saw the other day, if you didn't happen to remember a unique keyword amongst it.
This is why I am focusing on development. Steemit.com is just an app. It doesn't have to be the only one, and if others are better, maybe the decline in traffic will make the devs think 'hm, maybe it's time to improve the website instead of have debates about core system stuff'. But then, on the other hand, maybe it is better that they are so narrow in their focus. With good apps with functional block filters, and maybe with something like my proposed sub-chain of group/group membership.
You are not the first person in my feed to also be talking about the serious problems of moderation. The system already works well to push spammers and marketers down to the bottom, below the zero line, but it does not have any effect on the dumb retards who believe some nonsense because CNN or NASA told them so, who use quite frankly, abusive language. And Whales are not immune to this nonsense either. The need for user and group driven content moderation features is growing acute the bigger the userbase gets.
If you are a bit handy with Python and Gtk, or maybe if you want to draw on what I am doing with these two platform, using @xeroc's Piston platform, you could contribute to making an app. I know that I probably need to gather a group of developers to make this happen more quickly, but I haven't the foggiest idea how to attract people. On one hand is the python/xeroc fans, and on the other is people like you who see also serious deficiencies in the interface of the website.
I am making a big sacrifice to do this work, in fact I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that it was part of the reason why I decided to quit my job and try to focus on something more productive and innovative. I am staring down the barrel of having no money very soon, for maybe 5 days, before the unknown amount of money I get from my former job comes in. I am working on my programming project:
https://github.com/l0k1-smirenski/steemportal
and I know that it's probably not going to win me a lot of votes or money in the short term. I have ways and means of getting by, and this is not the only thing I am doing at the moment. I have another business partnership with some other people that has finally caught its' first customer, and next week I will yield a little income from it.
But for lack of anything else to do, I am splitting my time between trying to make insightful comments here and on other discussions, writing code for this project, and I am hoping that I hit on a few good articles that put more than 20 or so Steem into my wallet, because that much would be more than ample for me to sell it and buy bitcoin, and load my wirex debit card, and eat until the almost certain input of money from my half a month of work at my former job, and the customer in the other business pays for their services.
If you need some help, and you have a good attitude, I would be willing to give you a fair bit of help in getting into the coding. Once Steemportal can let you view, post, and vote, you personally have your own solution to the problems you address in this post. You also get kudos for contributing to help it become a reality, and the codebase will help other developers move it to other platforms.
I am looking for other developers, who have the same motivation as me, to implement effective filters for this blockchain based forum. I think that the core design principles of this system are very sound, the fact that it's not full of spam, should tell you this. The competitors are only just coming now and we personally directly benefit if we can escalate this platform faster to addressing observed deficiencies quickly, before others build this in. Steem is more decentralised than Synereo and the other me-toos that are coming in. A lot of people are stuck in the 'cloud' mentality and don't realise that all-you-can-eat is not a recipe for a system that becomes universally adopted.
hiveblocks