Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago · 2 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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There is a major issue here, and it's not beBee's fault. It's Ours

There is a major issue here, and it's not beBee's fault. It's Ours


Let me tell you a story about my son. He's 28 now, this happened when he was 4. He drew a picture. It may have been a cow. It might have been a deer. It was probably a horse. He liked horses a lot. He spent hours on that picture. 

I taped it to the refrigerator.

It wasn't because  he was another Vermeer. He put in the effort, so I taped it to the refrigerator. 

Peter was so proud, so impressed. He drew another. I taped that one to the fridge as well.

Now he was on to something!

He started just scribbling anything on paper and passing it over. He made a dozen scribbles in a minute or so. He expected them all to join his masterpieces on the fridge. 

They didn't.

Any thoughts why this memory came to mind?

I just scanned the Publishing platform's "Discover" tab. (Sorry, Guys, I just can't bring myself to call it the "Honey Maker")

I was looking for something to read. I was looking for new talent to follow. I was looking for inspiration.

I didn't find any of that. It looked more like Twitter.

This publishing platform is a phenomenal tool. It's being misused.

I expected some noise. but, this is just silly. Especially when beBee made sure there was a place for short notes and updates.

That place is on the regular beBee profile home page. It's on the top left, under the tab that looks like a house. It says "share content with like-minded bees"

You can add images. You can write quite a bit too. Formatting isn't as nice, but for a couple of hundred words, does it really matter?

Keep your little notes there. 

Keep your memes there.

Keep your re-hashed motivational posters there.

Keep your whatever the hell it was I read there.

Keep them the hell off the publishing platform.

They aren't articles. They aren't blog posts. 

The Wordpress plugin, Yoast SEO, warns you if your post is below 800 words. Yoast follows an accepted best-practice. Blog posts of less than 800 words rarely find a readership.

Yes, Hemmingway and Shakespeare would have managed.

You and I are neither Hemmingway nor Shakespeare.

It's difficult to provide value in a micro-post. If you don't provide value readers will know to ignore you. You are not helping your cause. You aren't helping it even a little bit.

You are hurting it.

I found 7 posts under 250 words in the first ten.  

I don't think Javier and Federico need to get involved. 

I think we are adult enough to police ourselves. 

Forget Yoast, if you like. 

Let's say that if a post is under 700 words it does not belong on a publishing platform. It belongs as a note on your home page.

If the consensus is that 500 words is enough, fine. I'll live with it.

Let's post the shorter stuff to our home pages.

I would love to hear thoughts on this.

Yes, I see the irony. 

Yes, this post is too short to qualify for what I describe. It's only about 680 words. Well, you're right. 

This post does not inform. 

It does not support.

It doesn't even entertain.

This post does not belong here. 

It's not really a post at all.

It's a rant against the sullying of a platform I enjoy.

It's a rant against a sense that everything is worthy of equal consideration.

It's a rant against people who are trying to "hack the system."

It's a rant against people ignoring their responsibility to their readers.

You do have a responsibility to us, you know. If we take the time to read you, you must take the time to give us something worth reading. 

We may not always agree. But we must come away thinking that the time reading you was well spent.

You don't need to be Hemmingway. You do need to make an effort. Poorly written works that provide meaningful thought are always appreciated.

Well-written works that have no thought behind them never are.

Scribbles shouldn't be taped to the fridge.

Let's smarten up before we kill this beautiful platform.



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Comments

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago #10

#24
Suzan Chamberlain early on in my writing I learned that the correct length is the length that provides value to the read, and no more. I guess I'm just not good enough of a writer to pull that off in 250 words. I can sometimes go as low as 600, or even slightly lower, if the subject is simple. Even then, I have to trim away a lot of meat The point I am trying to make is that there are two communication platforms here. The 700 mark may even be too high.

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago #9

There are two mechanisms each with their own purpose. I think I better understand now why people are turning to the publishing side for traction. I asked for opinions on a home page update and got nada but crickets. I was looking to see if anyone had thoughts about WordPress for a private blog.\

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago #8

#20
Javier C\u00e1mara Rica: I never understood why people don't use Twitter more. It has the best API (short of Google), it offers the greatest flexibility of use, it has Analytics so good we should expect to pay for them. It is the best and easiest way to promote content. I don't get it
#19
I like Twitter, i don't know why they are losing a lot of users in the US.

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago #6

#18
I think Twitter missed the boat there, Brian McKenzie. Twitter is like the actor who wins the Best Supporting every year, but doesn't get the recognition it deserves. They had a window of opportunity. It slammed shut in their faces. As someone else said lately, the roads are full of flat squirrels who couldn't make up their minds.

Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

7 years ago #5

Wow, for a bunch of bees, we are doing a great imitation of hornets. I think I touched a nerve. Many have commented that they are just "kicking the tires" of the publishing platform. I get that. It's new. It's shiny. It's fun to play with. IMHO: Play time is over. I am NOT suggesting an elitist platform. Nor am I suggesting anything silly like peer-review. I firmly believe everyone has a voice and I want to hear it. I just think there is a medium for every message and beBee has two of them for a reason.

Qamar Ali Khan

7 years ago #4

#15
Dean Carlton! Your logic also has a lots of weight. By the way can we differentiate between a blog post, article, long-form post, and content (content refers to quick ones catching the immediate and required engagements). This has to be very clear if we want to discuss all the things. I really have very limited knowledge about the true concepts of these terms.

Qamar Ali Khan

7 years ago #3

Paul Croubalian! Your point has a logic. I think there should be a difference between long-form posts and short posts, as there is a clear difference between a short story and a novel (long story, not an entire book). Both are meaningful. But you cannot rank a short story as a novel. Rather, a novel is also a story. I think, if possible, beBee should evolve a system to classify a post as a short one or a long-form. If we typically term a longer post as an article, then this classification might be helpful. Shorter posts surely are content, as they convey quick and relevant information. But longer posts are meant to analyze things or issues from multiple angles. These posts are not only highly informative, but they open some closed parts of our brain and provide us with new insights and perspectives to see the things. This is all my personal opinion.
#1
Don't worry Phil Friedman , this issue will be solved during the next days

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #1

Paul Croubalian and Frederico will have to deal with is that at this point the authors (Bees) archive is displaying authors in descending order of numbers of posts. So the "gamifiers" are encouraged to post a large number of short pieces so as to get pushed to the first page. Quantity becomes the Queen Bee. And that is a self-feeding problem. Position should be on the basis of a metric that factors response and engagement. Still possible to game, but a lot harder, and more reflective of quality and value. Perhaps the best approach would be a regularly rotating selection of "featured" writers, together with a general alphabetical listing.

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