Reading Stories Through A Different Lens (A Guest Curator's POV)

August 31, 2022

Image from Unsplash by Etienne Girardet

There are a lot of stories of different people and different readers perceive them differently as well. Because we all have different thoughts, opinions, and perceptions. How we think is different from how others perceive things. What we expect is right is not how others think it is. Some may find things difficult while for others it's easy. And we really don't know what lies behind each story unless we see them through a different lens.

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It's almost a month now that I've been curating under a team on this platform and I could say that it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. There are a lot of factors to consider, not just the authenticity and quality of the content, but also the reputation of the writer and how he/she performs on the platform. Moreover, there are rules to consider when giving a vote. It's not as easy as I thought I could just give a vote to a post that I like and is authentic.

Along with curating is the realization of how I did curation before. Did I consider checking the reputation of the writer before voting for his/her post? Did I consider checking the links of the attached photos if they truly have no issue with copyright? Did I consider checking the authenticity of the content even if the writer is known to me? How many times do I vote each day? Did I ever abuse the curation rewards? Did I vote a higher percentage because I want to give the post a higher vote value, or is it because I want to get a higher curation reward? Did you think and do the same?

Those were just a few of the questions that have been running in my mind ever since I accepted this opportunity. Before, I never thought of considering those aforementioned matters, especially when curating someone I know. Little did I know that the consequences of my actions might badly affect my reputation. It always takes a lot of lessons before I absorb and apply them.

And while working with this team, I realized that we all have different perceptions, and not all that is good for me is good for him. Not all that is right for me is right for her. There have been times that I became hesitant to vote. I am uncertain about my decision because I considered other people's thoughts. So I had no choice but to ignore the post because I assumed it was the safest way. And if I see the post I curated got a downvote icon, I felt like I did a wrong one. I felt bad about my decision.

Image from Unsplash by Annie Spratt

Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough and I tend to doubt my curation and my potential. However, for some, they would ignore it. We all have different points of view, and we have different stories anyway.

Even in curating, all have different perceptions. Some want to be a curator to gain a reputation. Some want to gain more rewards. But some don't want any of those or to become a curator because they don't want to add a burden or feel any headache, they just want to blog and read, that's all. But in my case, the purpose of joining a curation team is to gain experience and satisfy the curiosity of this cat. Although it's temporary, the short period is enough to gain new knowledge and experiences, enough to read different stories and meet different new writers.

I remembered when I am curating on a staging platform, I feel light and easy with no hesitation at all. Because I felt confident with the people I am interacting with from this team and the posts they submit. But when I joined this current team, I felt differently. Why is that so? Because before, I only labeled myself as a writer who wants to read articles via this staging platform. Meanwhile, on this current team, I was labeled as a guest curator that needed to perform my duty under the team. It gives a little pressure because who wants to make a wrong curation anyway?

There was one occasion I scanned a post through the checker a friend recommended to me. Red marks were spotted after and the checker showed a small percentage of copied parts from somewhere else. Did I reject it? No, I didn't. As I manually checked it, the phrase is common that everyone is familiar with and anyone can use it. That left a question in my mind if others manually check the post or do they just base their curation on checkers? That would be an unfair judgment if we easily jump to a conclusion without finding out the real answer. What is right for them may not be right for me, and the other way around. However, as a curator, we should discern things from different perspectives to avoid making wrong judgments or putting someone at stake.

Image from Unsplash by Yosef Futsum

We make judgments based on our own perceptions. Yet, we should read stories through a different lens because each of us has a different understanding. We should see things from many different perspectives, not just on one side of it. Why don't you put yourself in someone else's shoes? Why don't you immerse yourself in his/her stories? You'll realize that things may look the same, but each has its own different story.

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Today is the end of the month and @dreemsteem once had a Bingo engagement challenge in collaboration with Ecency. Although I wasn't able to join here I continued engaging with people on my Bingo card.

So Dreemie, I still made it 🙂.