Steem - The Dysfunctional Family I Never Knew I Wanted

in #randomthoughts5 years ago (edited)



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Lately I have been doing a lot of questioning - questioning what I am doing here, what my end goals are and what the goals of Steem are, where the platform is heading, an overall vision for Steem, if there will ever be a balance .. etc etc etc. My mind has just been all over.

I have been here for nearly 2 years and I have spent most of that time working towards this vision I had for Steem - A vision of alternative economy. One which took the control out of middle men's hands and gave it back to the people. One which empowered communities by giving them the tools they needed to build what they would like to see. One which gave individuals ownership of their data and a web 3.0 that could be revolutionary.

I saw this potential, and I wanted to do my part to get it there. So while you may just know me from this blog or llfarms or all those sock puppet accounts I apparently have... truly most of what I have always done is behind the scenes - building. Working and building on what I thought would get Steem to where I thought it could be. I think due to that I see things differently here. I see the shared inflation pool as something that is pulling the price down unless it's being allocated to what "adds value."

This means I find myself annoyed with payouts, including my own. I get annoyed with the farming of autos, the bs posts that are clearly just made to suck as much rewards as possible, the content that is heavily rewarded due to popularity over that which, at least in my opinion, adds value due to attentiveness to those outside of Steem. The projects who seem to just be using the rewards pool to line their pockets without returning any value, the socialist mentality of many as well as some serious entitlement etc. I find myself annoyed often due to what feels like the majority of people only caring about increasing the size of their own wallet rather than increasing the overall value of STEEM.

Why? I don't know and I wish I didn't but maybe because I just have never seen it that way. To me working towards improving the price of STEEM improves all of our investments. And in the opposite taking value while adding none back, decreases the value of all that STEEM we own. Yes, that means I am annoyed often, and maybe that makes me a pretentious asshole due to that... I am not really sure. I guess I have always just viewed things more in a big picture way, which could possibly mean I miss out on smaller details that are also important.. that is completely possible and maybe my focus is completely wrong - old habits die hard.

So I think that even though I am really loving seeing the changes after the fork, I find myself questioning what the end goal is a lot lately, and what my part in it is.

Then after a few conversations, and seeing some recent meet up posts - I realized the reason why that, even with all the flaws, I am a still here...


The Community

That's right, this insane and amazingly dysfunctional family I never knew I wanted. I have met the most amazing people through Steem. Some who quite frankly I can't even stand what they do on Steem, but I love them and will get a beer with them and chat to weeee hours of the morning any chance I get. That sounds snarky, but I don't mean it to be.. I just mean that there is not a single steemian I have met that I didn't enjoy spending time with, even if we didn't see eye to eye on the platform.

That human aspect behind the avatars... that is what I love here - all you crazy bastards.

I saw a few posts about the recent Finland meet up and in one it was mentioned how even though they had never met most of them before, there was not an awkward moment the whole time - and that totally resonated with me. I have been to many meetups and it always feels like meeting old friends... and I think that is something pretty special.

I remember heading to my first meetup - SteemFest 3, which also happened to be my first solo trip overseas as well as many other things, and having anxiety about the idea of walking into a room of people I have never met before... all by myself. It was one of my biggest fears of going, no lie. So the idea that after being there only a few minutes and seeing familiar names, who then immediately felt like old friends (and not having an awkward moment for the whole week) really wasn't lost on me. That is something pretty amazing and not something I have experienced elsewhere.

Since then I got to spend a weekend in a house with Steemians in Austin (something else I never thought I would do) and had one of the best times of my life. Just family and friends making food together and chatting about all things, and well.. you know, that thing that pulls us all together - Steem.

I have always believed that our community is what adds the value here, and I realize that the more I go to non Steem conferences - where that same feeling just doesn't exist. I have this idea in my head that our amazing community may be the special thing needed to onboard "normies" to crypto.. a safe and interesting group of individuals that can immediately welcome people with open arms and offer assistance with anything. Maybe our meetups will eventually become a way to do that, invite people in. I think it could work, and one of these days I'll maybe try to test it out.

The truth is that these meetups (with our dysfunctional family) lead to collaboration and probably some much needed motivation for many to keep going and keep on believing. I know it has for me in the past. And maybe, just maybe they could be harnessed to show the rest of the world why we are all so crazy about Steem. Until then, they just bring us closer together.

So while I sit and wonder what I am doing here and why... I am remembering the dysfunctional family I never knew I wanted.. but am extremely thankful for. The friends I have met in real life, and even those I have not.. who all feel like family. And while we have a few escapees from the local mental facility running around screaming (who I would rather not know), most of you guys I like quite a bit ;) and am so very glad to have you in my life.

Maybe I am just overdue for a meetup, to remind me of why I am here.



Ok enough ramblings out of me...

Thank you all for being you, as you are all kickass human beings that I am glad to know.



Much Love,

Justine


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We win this thing city by city. I've been holding the monthly Adelaide meetups here in South Australia, for almost 2 years now; and there's nothing like it.
Coming out of Winter, last Thursday was out in the beer garden. Three hours felt like 1.Twelve people all wanting to talk to everyone else at once.
Easiest way to buy STEEM? Bring cash to the meetup and ask around.
Easiest way to sell STEEM? Bring your device to the meetup and ask around.
Confused about something? Ask around.
Trying to onboard a friend and get them some early support? Ask around.
We win this thing city by city.

We need one in Geelong lol.

@metametheus lets do a Melbourne one soon. I cant think of anyone else bar @bobaphet and @trevorpetrie that lives anywhere near? Radelaide has such a good group of Radsteemaussies.

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The trick is consistency. Lock in a recurring time and place, so people can go mark a full year on the calendar. Nobody can make it to every one, but once people know others will definitely be there, it just grows on itself. People thrive on certainty. Totally different Steem experience when you have a monthly meetup to look forward to.
I compare it to skimming a stone. The stone is in the air most of the time, but just touching the water briefly every now and again, keeps its momentum going.

Love the metaphor. Xx And sooo gonna land my stone in the Adelaide pool one day!

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Last Thursday of the month, from 6pm at The Jade. We'll be there :)

Melbournians are too much hipster to stick with a date.... 🤣

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We had 4 or 5 well attended (15-20 members) Melbourne steemit meetups last year but as the price dropped so did attendance.

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I didn't know you guys were pulling in those kinds of numbers at meetups; that's actually fantastic.

Thats a shame!!!!

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I totally agree with this and love that you are doing it consistently. I’ve heard of the Adelaide meetups quite a bit and am always a bit jealous of the bond you have built there 😜

I need to move closer to people.

I think our community could onboard many, as who doesn’t want to join a crazy family like ours!?

I like the dysfunctional family analogy. It really is like that sometimes. There are a lot of things that I don't agree with or am not happy about here too, but being on Steemit has helped me realise my true potential and has increased my sense of self-worth. I have had to redefine what my self-worth is, what the worth of my content is, no matter what attention it got. I've had to stop reflexively evaluating my worth based on the popularity or rewards I might receive. Instead, I started to look at each individual, the relationships I formed with them. The worth one comment had for them, what one person got from something I shared, and also, what I got from what others shared and commented. It's not easy, but the community here, despite it being very socialist at times, more than I would like, is very different than your typical social media platforms. I have also started to adopt the mindset I got from Steem onto the other platform I use, like Twitter, and connecting with people outside of Steem there too. I still don't use fb much except for specific niche groups and even there I must be careful because the minute someone doesn't like what you say or is jealous of work you've done, you're flagged for something or other and that mentality angers me. I only sometimes share there.

While Steem might be a dysfuntional family as you call it, it's a lot more respectful and encouraging than any other social media platform, according to me. While there are individuals on those other platforms I appreciate, it's mroe difficult to feel free there.

I love this perspective and really enjoyed hearing your experience as a content creator on multiple platforms. I keep hearing that out there they have dysfunctional but not that family feel, which confirms what I have always felt about this place - the people make it special.

Thanks for being here and being a part of this crazy family of ours! 🤗

It's a pleasure. Thanks.

THIS ^^^^ CAN I JUST DITTO¿

you are amazing... watch you SHINE. Xxxx

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Thanks :) /hugs

You're one of my favourite people here on the block-chain. I do love Star Wars and RPGs, maybe not as much as you (you get right into the lore, etc.) and your videos are funny too!

I am glad that the Steemit community has reinforced your sense of selfworth.

:)

Personally, I find it very liberating to be here. I can post what I like, mostly.

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I agree that this platform is way more permissive than other social media platforms and gives you much more liberty to express yourself and reveal your potential, or, who knows, discover some new skills and interests you never knew you had. You can hardly do the same on mainstream platforms where you are bombarded by gossip, hate and baby photos :).
Although I've been blogging on other platforms and websites too, I can say that Steem is the only one where I truly feel like home and proud of my work.

Yeah, I've stopped blogging anywhere else, aside from certain relevant posts on Wordpress for my website. If I posted half the things I post here on Fb, damn. I tweet them out though, most things. When I was posting my videos on fb I got people who weren't interested in my niche requesting videos that have nothing to do with it. So I just stopped, it was more work to share there than I was benefiting from. So far, twitter is treating me well in regards to sharing my content. I had not been using twitter much before, so I'm giving it an honest try.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts... I'm new to Steem and trying to figure it all out. I'm hoping to contribute some original music and maybe some other content... and get something out of it as well.

But I had no idea this whole "community" thing was a thing. Very interesting!

Hey! Welcome to Steem! Yes the community here is tightnit and very supportive. As someone just arriving it may take some time to find your audience and “family” but I promise you will.

Going out and commenting on others posts (like this) is probably the best advice I could give as its how people find you. Another thing is to look at the “tribes” which are small niche communities that use specific tags and have their own tokens. A good way to browse them is through here - https://steempeak.com/tribes (you log in with the same username/key as Steemit.com, its just another front end).

Also many of the communities discuss and chat through the discord app as we don’t have a integrated chat option yet. Just a heads up.

I followed your account and look forward to seeing the music you share! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

I think you just answered the most important question that goes through minds of many. What is the purpose of Steem? Not the price, not the rewards, not the tech. The People!

Steem indeed is a big family of amazing people.

This crazy bastard is glad to know you and have you around too.

Full disclosure: I can be a crazy bastard in real life too. 😊 But not today.

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Pretty sure we all have a bit of crazy bastard in us lol. 🤗❤️ Can’t wait for you to ship yourself here so we can have a beer.. as there is no way I’m coming near any of those killer spiders and mean kangaroos 😃

I get it...If I wasn't an Aussie I'd think Aussie's were mad! 🇦🇺😉

By the way, legit picture Jus! ✅🍪

Hey thanks ☺️ One of my older favorite shots I took.

I'm always drawn to those darker apocalyptic shots...Ones that show things as old and rundown, overgrown or neglected, forgotten. Not sure why. Maybe because I find most people fake these days and shots like this remind me of reality.

Legit picture.

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I agree. In fact that’s what inspired my whole “hidden beauty” photography posts I used to do. This shot was from this post which was meaningful for a few reasons.

I need to start the hidden beauty posts again, they were good for the soul. Thanks for the reminder ❤️

You should! Anything that has meaning to oneself has value. Looking forward to it. 💙

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You essentially encapsulated the whole essence of the Steem experience and what makes it a special place to be here. A community you haven't met yet, but feels like you have already.

We are literally the biggest place to meet strangers, yet, they don't feel like strangers. FB, allowed others to bring family onboard , we have the ability to make totally new friends here out of strangers. There is value in this as we've seen. I've always said, the value is in the community and still holds true to this day. Good post.

I totally agree with you and that’s a great way to put it, we can meet those we never would of before. Kind of crazy when you think about it! ❤️

Highlight of my Steem day: seeing you speak your vintage Justine mind as your kickass self, and resonating with much of what you said. If "nothing good ever comes easy," God this all better be really f'in good if and when it all works out. Worst case, we'll have new friends we met along the way.

I decided a long time ago to expect nothing of this, just enjoy it and anything over that is gravy. The friends alone are pretty much worth it.

It's so amazing to witness you from being someone with little social media knowledge to someone promoting Steem everywhere! I still remember you are just curating with your phone LOL which was crazy! And you were always talking about going out of your comfort zone and here you are now! All confident. I am so happy for you and I totally agree with the community here. I have been spending a lot of my time on the internet for years but the people that I met on Steem had been the greatest so far. I've never met any of you in real life yet but I feel like we have actually hung out in person before! Amazing connection that we have and I'm glad you're one of my lovely friends here. Proud of you girl! :D

Haha, thanks ☺️ Even though sometimes I think I’m really just better off not being seen at all 😜

Steemians are such a unique breed and it constantly blows my mind the connections that have been built here. So thankful to have you as one of them and we WILL meet in person one day.. it’s gonna happen.

oh btw I still totally still use my phone for everything, nothing has changed 😂

Love you ❤️

Thanks for helping keep OP on Steem so I could have the chance to meet her.

The nutters keep me on my toes and ever so aware that you can't please everyone. It's a garden party

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I do love garden parties!! The diversity here is what makes it interesting. The fact that I have met so many people here that I absolutely adore and would never have met otherwise is pretty damn special. So.. go to a meet up when you have the chance 😜

I’ve been around here for about 3 years now and have grown to know hundreds of Steemians. Funny thing is, I’ve only met one other Steemian face to face in real life! I guess I need to arrange a meetup in Saskatchewan with the help of @nonamesleftouse or something!

Yes, yes you do!! I am thinking about pushing for a big one in Vegas perhaps.. many think it’s an easy place to get to and relatively inexpensive. Could be like a second Steem fest or something.

Get that slacker @nonameslefttouse to help you get one going near you!

I've been saying one of these days, for years... LOL!

Lol, this does not shock me 😂

@porters is Satch too

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Let's do it Dave! Please keep me in the loop! Could become a very powerful community. I love the suggestion above. To choose a location and a consistent meeting time and place. #steemintheprairies

How often do you come back to Saskatchewan?

One of these days.