What Do Curators Look For?

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(Edited)

Today someone I hadn't come across before, a fairly new account in fact, commented on my last blog post. It led to me visiting their account and reading their most recent post. It was a science experiment they demonstrated at home, suitable for children, so I reblogged it to the @HomeEdders account, where some other parents could find it useful. I also put it in the queue for a @curangel curation. Then I looked at their post from 3 days ago and it was a recipe for making pizza from scratch and with plenty of step by step photos. It was in Spanish, however, so I needed to run it through Google translate to understand it, but I remembered I know some lovely Spanish curators for the @naturalmedicine community. I dropped a link to it in that community and called out to those Spanish curators to see if they could bring some more attention to this under-rewarded post and perhaps introduced the author to the Spanish communities.

If this doesn't illustrate how important it is to comment on other posts if you want to get eyes on your own account, then I really don't know what would.

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This year, since the hardfork that helped to eliminate the choke hold of the bidbots and moved them onto different, more generally supportive curation, I have also made a move towards making connections and trying to help this sort of curation to continue. I now have multiple outlets that I can send quality content to receive more of the support it deserves and where it goes depends on the type of content and the level of rewards already received.

So if you've wondered what sort of things curators are looking for, then allow me to share what I look for and what I know some of the curators I'm sending things to look for. I'll be tagging a few people who I have encountered along the way and hopefully they'll add their own criteria in the comments, if they're not too peeved at me for tagging them.

One of my favourite curators is @curangel, for multiple reasons. It's become a strong account and curates content across all categories and languages, with curators from across the world keeping the queues full. It has the support of some great people who add their own considerable VP behind it and we have some wonderful curators there too, including the lovely @m31 who helps to keep the curators on track with reminders. Another who keeps us on our toes is @azircon, who often trails the @curangel vote, so has a reputation to keep up which could be tarnished if we put spam, plagiarism or just generally low effort content in the queue.

Why am I discussing this? Because this dictates some of what I look for in a post if I'm going to consider sending it there for curation. Because @pharesim's goal with @curangel is to support under rewarded content, rather than those who already have good support, there is an upper limit on what we can put in the queue. When a post hits $10 worth of rewards it won't be voted on. I use this as guidance. Because everyone has different opinions on quality, we, as curators, are trusted to make our own decisions and the criteria for @curangel is a bit more generous than with some other curators like @ocd and @curie. So if a post is reasonable, but has received merely a few cents, I will likely put it in the queue. However, if it's got between $5-$10 in rewards, I'll only put it in the queue if it stands out a bit more and really deserves a high reward.

With @curangel I am limited to submitting an author no more than once a week, however, another curator can still submit from that author once a week, so the author can have up to one vote a day. My take from that is that you have every reason to keep up the quality in all your posts. Besides, while I'm not allowed to stack votes (that means adding multiple high level votes onto one post), I have a range of other places I can send things for curation, so people don't miss out.

Another curator which covers all categories is @c-squared/@c-cubed. I don't have any rigid restrictions on what I put in there, but I believe they are checked manually before a vote is given. I'm not sure, but it's also possible that particularly good posts might even be submitted for a @curie vote at the discretion of @carlgnash. They also have curation for the Spanish, Indonesian, Turkish, Italian and Philippine languages too, so Hive is really expanding outside of English for content curation.

My interest specific curation area lies in alternative lifestyles and, as you may have already guessed, the @naturalmedicine account is my favourite curator in those categories. Apart from natural medicine content, it's founder, @riverflows, has taken homesteading, gardening, health, meditation, vegan foods, home education and many more topics which lean towards nature and earth healing under the expanding and warm wing of the community account. Recently a team of Spanish curators have expanded the community's reach into Spanish language posts. @riverflows is able to submit selected, high quality posts to be considered for @ocd curation, giving me connection to another strong curator within the alternative lifestyle categories. Admittedly, I don't often send things to her, because high quality content with low reward (generally below $3) is actually not very common, which is a good sign that our many curators are doing a good job.

My main tips to you if you're wanting to catch the eye of curators is to be genuine, put some effort into your content and comment on other people's posts. Even if it's not my post you've commented on, if your comment elsewhere gets my attention, I'll likely look at your account and might even give it a follow if I like what I'm seeing.

I'm not to saying you have to post quality; I have some great conversations with authors on their content who don't post curation standard posts, but instead get the conversation going. I'm pretty sure they aren't posting it to be curated, though.

I might get into trouble for tagging here, but would like to invite some more of the curators I know to add their thoughts in the comments, because they will be looking in different places and at different things to me.
@galenkp, @joshman, @nikv, @artemislives, @tarazkp, @livinguktaiwan.

Feel free to ask questions and if any of the other curators respond in the comments I'm sure you can ask them questions too.

~○♤○~

Logo courtesy of @sitaru



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47 comments
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thanks @minismallholding so much for writing this post! in fact, my story is similar, but this is actually the first article I fully read after re-stumbling back into what I thought was steemit -> now turned hive. I couldn't believe that after 3 years of being absent, so much has changed. I am glad to see that the community is still what I remembered it from steemit: a community striving to create original and awesome content. it's a shame that I wasn't part of this community this whole time due to some life events, but posts like these make me believe that even after the hard fork, people need serious curators and original authors! My question would be: what changes have people seen since hive became what it is today compared to what it was before during steemit?

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Welcome back @blackmox! 3 years!! How funny that you landed on Hive rather than Steem on your return. Perhaps it's fate. 😉

I'm actually coming up to 3 years of my Steem/Hive journey, so you may have experienced a different Steem to me. It was good for about 6 months after I started, before the community lost their way a bit. We lost a lot of good people over the next year or two, before steps were taken to try and get things back on track, towards that community you remember. Then Steem got sold out, just as things were improving and we ended up here. Glad it's coming back to the community you remember. I hope we get more people returning. There are a lot of people committed to trying to keep a supportive community and make things work.

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haha! it was through a recommendation from a friend that I went to hive. thank you @minismallholding. I have really noticed a sharp decrease in the activity that steemit used to have. Besides the obvious bots / spam accounts / vote bots that I remember, there was always a valiant community effort to push good content to the top where it deserved to be. I too, will be hoping that more people will be looking to return.

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I am admittedly a little bit of a lazy curator in some ways when it comes to search, but I have an ulterior motive with part of my approach. Just like you who reblogged the posts, I look for content that people I have followed have reblogged and as long as they don't go overboard, it is fantastic. I follow a lot of great accounts that have gone from small to relatively well supported over the last few years and they are generally active and quality authors. When they reblog, it probably means it is worth having a read and likely, worth a vote.

I also check out and follow many of the accounts that comment on my posts with a little effort, but very rarely on their first comments. People need to engage, get out there and show that they are interested in participating in the community first.

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Crafty! I have to admit that I do that with reblogs too! @inalittlewhile reblogs me some good ones on occasion. ;D

I'm also a little lazy on checking out newcomer content if it seems too much like a formal article, in case it's plagiarised. It can be time consuming to try vet it and make sure it's original and even then it could still be copied from another language or spun and I'll end up copping it for not being thorough enough. So I tend to only curate those posts I'm fairly confident are original.

You're a tougher one to impress, then. They'll need to stalk you for a bit! 😜

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Thanks for this valuable insider tips! I really appreciate the efforts of curators to find quality contents deserving of more visibility and subsequently, rewards.
Cheers!

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You've already had my attention for a while! 😁 I enjoy much of your content and I think others do too.

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Yey! Thanks a lot. It's a compliment coming from you. ☺️

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Wish every curators thinks and supports like you do for curangel and other account. Lately I saw some of the curation by big voter like bd , appreciator or rocky they simply supports all the shit posts and content especially the vlogs or few pic post without any head an tail....that simply hurts the hard work of other author. That made me to give up on hive....and started curating through my own hp and our Indiaunited account......I especially focus on content and the authors who made genuine effort ......though I avoid commenting but if something attracts me I simply comment on it.....for sure curating is not an easy job. And you doing the best by praising some good content...

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While things have certainly improved, there will always be those whose methods we might disagree with. I think your approach to curate yourself is a positive step to take. Just do what you can to get some rewards where you feel they belong rather than letting others make you feel like walking away. Your efforts count.

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Walking away is certainly not in my cards...playing around and helping others in whatever way delight me 🙂 if not more but a little lessor rewards does make thing brighten up....and ocassionally some post to make my presence felt

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Good to know that. I think it would be a loss to the community not having you here. 💚

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(Edited)

Hahah...that makes me happy...👌 Good heart like yours keep me to stick on the platform..🙂

Anyway, just curious to know...mentioning of the curators name , doesn't let user to focus on their content and comment only rather than involving and engaging overall in the community.? ...I think that as people know abt the curators they keep themselves buzzing around them and that would lead the flow one way.....just a concern 🤟

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!ENGAGE 50

No way can we lose my flow bro!

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That wins my heart..🥰
You know...Even if I want to leave the love from great soul like mini,you, artmis, and few others wouldn't let that to happen😉

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Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

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The tagging of the curators was an invite for them to add their own views, tips and points of view to the conversation (Taraz has shared above how he finds content to submit, which shows how beneficial reblogging can be). This isn't a curation post, it's to give people an idea of what curators are looking for in content and how they find content. Some of these curators rarely post themselves and are more focused on curating.

Those who are curated get celebrated and mentioned in curation compilations. Curangel posts a daily review of who they curated that day. NM, as you probably know, shares several curation posts throughout the week on the different categories they support. I'm pretty sure ocd does a daily roundup too.

Do you have more ideas on how we can celebrate and bring awareness to the content producers? It would be great to share that here.

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For sure tagging some top curators will bring great insight.and views.....but at the same time there might be few users who would assume that following and engaging on such user content (curators) would benefit them....and they get regular to their post...just to get little bit of attention.....it was just my assumption..may be I am wrong on my thought...

Currently I am too focusing to get some way to create awareness...and many top curators doing best by highlighting some top post by the authors...hats off to all curators who making genuine effort to search such amazing content

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True, some people might assume that, which is why I am a bit hesitant and apologetic about tagging them. I know some don't like to be harassed. Part of the reason for this guide on what curators look for is also to try and explain that it's more than just about getting the attention of the right people. It's about a certain level of effort in your work. Not that everyone particularly posts with the goal of getting curated. People post for a variety of reasons.

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Really proud of the curators like you at @naturalmedicine. Your comments really make peoples day. We might not have massive rewards but we have curators with good eyes that send them on for more love.

I really think HIVE is much better these days, though I still cant understand why some people get big rewards for a photo of their cat and a oneliner. All the time. No wonder new folk get discouraged. Supporting new users is so important here and appreciate the work you do to get them noticed.

Curators are such an important part of ecosystem. I've been trying to upvote curation posts and comment on them as it all feeds back to the little guy eventually and curators work so hard. I now go click on nearly all the featured posts in Natural Medicine to see what I missed.

Great post. I hope some new users read this to see what we are after and to know we have their back.

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(Edited)

I can't say I come across those over rewarded posts, but then I try to avoid looking where I might find them. 😆 I hope they aren't so prominent that new users see them much.

The best part of posting, for me, is the comments. Just love coming on to all those interactions and it's disappointing when there are none. It can be draining when you've spent half a day curating, though, trying to get a tired brain in gear to add a thoughtful comment.

I think a few more curators are targeting the curation posts lately. It's a good way of spreading the curation goodness, when you only have a limited amount of VP. Build the accounts that curate and reach that bit further. A few people are working on building that middle class to even the odds a bit more. That's something else Joshman has been working on, creating more dolphins.

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Thank you for sharing those insights of yours, very useful! It's wonderful to have the chance to learn new things every day!

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Thank you for dropping by. It's lovely to meet someone new. I've just been having a look at some of your work. My daughter loves photography.

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Thank you, after a couple of years on the chain I forget new people and great content could be still discovered. Have a great week!

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I try to make it a point to spend at least 30 minutes a day commenting on random posts, which is how I wound up here now. Unfortunately sometimes I have a hard time finding posts that I feel I have anything to add to the conversation since I’m basically crypto illiterate or the boards are bogged down with low effort posts.

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That can be a tough one. I find it easiest commenting on those I'm following, but then I followed them for a reason. 😅 Finding other content to comment on is a bit harder, but I guess looking under the tags for topics that interest you helps. I mostly come across new content producers when I'm curating in certain areas and even then I have to sift through a fair amount of content. Not something I could accomplish in half an hour!

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I usually look through my feed and see if any post gets my attention. I follow some really great 're-bloggers' who seem to have a keen eye on quality posts.

Anyway, I had a vague idea about what curators might look for—but wasn't really sure. Thanks for clearing things up.

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I have always wondered this question, thanks for sharing the recommendations and that useful information with the community.

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@blocktrades you downvoted this by mistake?

Hey @minismallholding,great post and I'm wondering what in general would make things better for you as a curator? What could be done to help your work?

I'm also wondering what your thoughts are about comment curation. These days I find myself curating lots of comments, maybe more than posts.

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(Edited)

With regards comment curation, @abh12345's ENGAGE token project is trying to encourage engagement through voting and awarding engage. The uptake on that seems to be going well. Asher might be able to point you to a post for more on that. Outstanding comments can actually be put in the queue for a curangel vote, too, although I haven't submitted many myself. Personally I try to vote and support comments as well, but really it's down to individuals how they want to approach it. It's certainly being encouraged and it's good to know you support it too. I'm not sure if you are aware, but in order to reach payout, a post/comment has to reach a minimum value of 2c, so smaller accounts may not see the point in voting a comment if they can't give them that value.

Off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything else that would make things easier for me as a curator, other than having more outlets to send posts to. Sadly, c-squared have announced that they will be discontinuing, so we will be an opportunity down.

Blocktrades is downvoting to knock a little off the ranchorelaxo votes I believe. It doesn't remove the vote in its entirety, though, so still more than I'd normally get.

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I'm not sure if you are aware, but in order to reach payout, a post/comment has to reach a minimum value of 2c, so smaller accounts may not see the point in voting a comment of they can't give them that value.

Oh, I didn't know that, no.

Off the top of my head, I can't really think of anything else that would make things easier for me as a curator, other than having more outlets to send posts to.

Would it make sense to cross-post the post to communities that you think may find the post relevant? Ideally the author would do that but many don't know what communities there are out there and overall aren't that familiar with the platform. So for new authors it might be worth helping them with that, or maybe suggesting they do it themselves, or something like that. I'm spitballing more than anything.

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(Edited)

Always good to hear ideas. Fate might be trying to tell me something, because @ryivhnn also suggested crossposting recently. Are you two ganging up on me?

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Thanks for the mention :)

!ENGAGE 25 is ticking along it seems, and the alts are providing a few tokens along the way.

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Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

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I really have no system besides curating for the worst possible return :-)

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Thanks for sharing these tips. I always wonder what types of posts are most attractive to curators.

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Thanks a lot @minismallholding for writing this important post! This information is important for both beginners and those who have been here for a long time! I will try to amaze with my content!

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Reading this post a week ago would have both relieved me and upset me more than I already was. Yes, a few weeks ago I used to get very discouraged when I was trying to create a high quality post and then nobody was interested; and I got discouraged and confused at the same time because I didn't understand why there were people making such low quality posts but receiving much better ratings than me. I tried then to lower the quality of my content to just post more often, but that didn't work and made me feel worse because now I thought I was being ignored because I had lowered the quality of my posts. I remember asking myself endlessly, "WHAT THE HELL DO THESE CURATORS WANT?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND THEM!"

But luckily I recently stopped to think about things and came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth worrying about the attention of the curators, so I stopped worrying about that and started to dedicate myself to simply enjoying hive.blog, appreciating good posts, leaving positive comments and congratulating everyone who deserved it.

In my last post I felt that I had to get these ideas out of my head to be even happier, so I did and this is a part of what I wrote:

"I have recently learned that when one immerses oneself a lot in this blockchain, when one creates content, curates, comments and socializes just for the sake of it, one's interests can be extended to other things. This, curiously, I have discovered this last week here, and not after two years on the platform.

The last few days I've stopped worrying about the whale votes and started spending time enjoying hive.blog, appreciating the outstanding content of OnChainArt and the users I follow. I've made more comments this week than I probably have in the previous two years at Hive as a simple "content creator"; I've stopped coming to just "throw out" my posts and leave, and then come back when I have another post to throw out. I've interacted, I've socialized; and I've enjoyed it a lot."

"I've discovered that rewards are not the only way to get happy at Hive: interacting with others is too. And that's a piece of advice I give in case anyone reading this post is discouraged and feels undervalued on the platform: what you can do is worry about what you can control, and leave aside what you can't. Going to give other users the support and encouragement you would like them to give you is something you can control. You can't imagine how many people you can make their day with your comments and how much that can make your day.

Don't be discouraged if they don't give you big upvotes or leave you comments. Enjoy being a good Hiver and the rewards and comments will come."

All this was translated with the help of deepl.com because I am a Spanish speaker who only knows English at an intermediate level hahaha

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This is such a positive mindset to have taken! I believe that only those who find their enjoyment here end up staying and it sounds like you have. When I first came on here, there were lots of homesteaders, but we were all new and low on power. There were lots of great conversations, but the rewards weren't there. Over time those who stayed have grown and with it the rewards have come. The reason we stayed was the connections, though.

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My apologies, I'm living 13 months behind, I blame this on Covid.

As a curator for Pinmapple, there are a few things I look for in a travel post:

1 talk about your own experience of the travels, how you felt, what it meant for you, what did you like or not like about it, what insight can you bring to this location
2 information is good but don't overload. Travel tourism board does a great job of that already, we don't need you to repeat all the facts and figures again
3 good photos enhances a travel post, but don't make it a photography post instead of a travel post. We prefer to hear you talk about your travel experience instead of getting the photos to do all the talking
4 make people want to go there and experience what you experienced, or better still make people not want to go there because they can feel how bad it was by reading your post

Hope this helps, albeit being a year late 😃

H

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😆 I'm amazed you came across this after so long!

As they say, better late than never and the feedback is very much appreciated.

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Yeah, this is exactly what I needed for now...I feel like I still have no idea about how hive rewarding syste works, and mostly when I feel confused and a bit this appointed is not even because of the rewards, but because sometimes it seems like only a few people see my posts. Like, small rewards are okay, even no rewards are okay, but the feeling that you worked on a drawing (that's what I usually post) for hours and 3-4 people can see it probably, even if I post in groups.

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It takes time to build up a following as well. Interaction is the best way to do that. Connect with others, show interest in others' content as well, then people will gradually get to know you.

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Glad to know these things. I posted my introductory blog more than a week now. These learnings can really guide me in my succeeding posts. Thank you for this.

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I guess I should say welcome to Hive, then. 🙂 I'll take a quick look before I go to bed.

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Thank you for welcoming me.🙂

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