So not much has changed I see... unfortunately

I can't believe that it's July already! So much has been going on in my little corner of the world but I've lost the initiative to share my life and experiences on steemit.

Why you ask?

Back in the day when I joined steemit, everything seemed too good to be true. Unlike Fakebook and other social media platforms, you had the opportunity to make money by creating quality content. There were definitely flaws but it was still a very cool and electric environment to be a part of.

Don't get me wrong, there were several quality posts that flew under the radar without being noticed by hardly anyone, but that one post that eventually hit the trending page made it all worth while.

Then came the "bot boom".

It started out as just a handful here and there and it was almost considered taboo to use any type of bidding bot. People were unsure if it was unethical or not to use bidding bots or not. Hell, I remember the huge controversy over whether it was ethical or not to upvote your own posts and/or comments, but let's not pick off that scab ummmkay?

Now it seems like bots have taken over the platform and the only way to get a decent upvote is to buy it.

I've also noticed that the "communities" have taken on a generic feel to them. It used to be that if you wrote an interesting post, several people would flood the comment section to give their opinions or just to show support and say hi. Now I have noticed that less and less people leave comments AND the creators aren't even taking the time to reply back to many of the comments that they get. I've been looking at more popular community figures posts and have noticed this change, I'm not judging solely by my own posts.

It's unfortunate that this platform has taken on this type of role. Going from a social outlet where you had the potential to earn money, to just a mining camp for the bots that be.

I just read a comment written by ronaldoavelino in a post about the upcoming hardfork that hit the nail on the head... "The rich (whales, investors, bots) will be richer and the poor (content producers) will be poorer...I think they call it life."

But the thing about it is, if you don't have the poor people (content creators) actively participating on the platform, what will happen to steemit?

To be honest, the only reason that I have even been logging on when I do is to see if the 2019 Steemit round has been released for pre order yet. Anyone have any intel on that topic? Last I heard it had been delayed but was still going to happen. I was logging on frequently just to check on it but I eventually started losing interest after several weeks. Hell with my luck, it has already come and gone lol. It's okay if it has though. But if anyone knows anything about it, I would appreciate the information. I don't frequent discord anymore and I'm not with the in crowd so there's not really any information on it, that I can find at least.

So that's pretty much it. I'm not wanting to spark a bot debate or anything like that. It is what it is, do what you want and what makes you happy. I felt like creating a post and this was what was on my mind.

I hope everyone has a great holiday. Have fun and be safe.

Bluelightbandit