Self-Upvotes? Bots? Spam? Paid Resteems? Paid Upvotes? How About a Moment of GRATITUDE!
As I started in on my "daily rounds" on Steemit today, I found it hard to get past the increasing "density" of posts complaining and lamenting and bellyaching about the various issues the Steemit community currently faces.
The Blue Butterfly of Happiness?
Sure, "abusive" self-upvoting, botnets, paid resteems, comment spam, vote-4-vote begging, paid upvotes and other things are definitely an issue... and I'm not suggesting we should ignore them, or sweep them under the rug.
I just wanted to take a moment to remind myself-- and all of YOU-- that we're still part of a pretty amazing and awesome "social experiment" here. Steemit may have its flaws-- and we definitely need to talk about them-- but I'd still rather be spending my social media time here, as opposed to on Farcebook or elsewhere.
Which made me think...
So Let's Take a Moment for GRATITUDE!
Frankly, I'm grateful I found Steemit and have been able to blog here, for the last six months! And I'm grateful that I have rekindled an interest in writing that fizzled over a decade ago... thanks to Steemit.
Complaints... or Gratitude?
Source: https://me.me/i/o-mike-baldwin-cornered-complaints-gratitude-subscribe-to-our-mailing-3119752
I am also grateful for having earned enough rewards this year to buy two rear tires for our car, and to pay a couple of our spring heating bills that were super high. That's my best result from content creation since the early days of Squidoo and HubPages. That's pretty awesome... especially in a time when "rewards for content" sites had been mostly written off as a "dead format" due to declining ad revenues.
I'm grateful for the many great people I have had the privilege of meeting here; people I would not otherwise have known were it not for the exceptionally high level of engagement and community Steemit offers!
I'm grateful for having improved my writing quite a bit, as a result of venturing outside some of my fairly tight niche topics.
I'm grateful for my renewed interest in photography, which has also served to help me pay more active attention to the world around me.
I'm really grateful for being able to publish on an advertising free platform. How cool is THAT, in these times of eternal "targeted" ads and ads masquerading as content? And how cool that we don't have to "support" our rewards by endorsing an ocean of advertising!
Just pause for a moment... and consider some of these. Perhaps you have others, of your own?
Steemit Didn't "Hire" You, nor Did They Contract With You!
Autumn leaf
Another thing I would like to point out to those who are deeply immersed in complaining-- especially about their (shrinking?) rewards-- is that Steemit didn't hire you.
You are not an employee who was promised a paycheck in exchange for doing anything. You are also not a contractor who was promised something in exchange for services rendered!
To the extent there was any promise AT ALL, it was that this is a social content platform where you can publish your creativity, and the possibility exists that you might get a reward.
Please read that last sentence really carefully, before regaling anyone with sob stories about what "Steemit owes you." And if you think "Steemit owes you" because one of your friends showed you a post that made $1000s... it's not Steemit you need to be mad at, but your friend... for using deceptive marketing.
Red Admiral Butterfly
Well, that was mostly what I wanted to say... we now return to our regularly scheduled programming!
If this post offered you a brief change of perspective... why not take a moment to resteem it. Not because because I'm going to "make a few cents," but because it's a right thing to spread a little positivity. Let's see how many people we can reach!
How about YOU? What are YOU grateful for? Has Steemit changed your life-- in little ways, or large? Notwithstanding that there definitely are some things that need to change-- isn't this a pretty amazing place, all in all? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170809 16:39 PDT
I, as always, have enjoyed reading this post and if steemit made you an even better writer, hey, that's one thing I'm thankful for! Your posts flow very well, it is easy for me too follow your train of thought. To answer your questions...
1) How about YOU? What are YOU grateful for
I'm ever grateful to have finally found a platform that satisfies me. I never was satisfied on the book of face. At least not on my personal page. Groups can be great. But my "friends " paid little mind to things i found interesting or wanted to talk about. Or if they did, i somehow offended someone, etc etc. Here a lot of that drama is eliminated save for the trolls. I am thankful for all the cool people I have met and the alliances formed. And, i get paid too? Well, hot damn.
Has Steemit changed your life-- in little ways, or large?
Both! The social aspect for me has made a big impact on my daily life. It is nice to share things I care about with an audience that interacts! I have made some financial gain here in my 9 something weeks. It has helped with various expenses to include some recent unexpected vehicle expenses. Very grateful for that.
Notwithstanding that there definitely are some things that need to change-- isn't this a pretty amazing place, all in all?
YES, YES, AND YES. as you said, steemit didn't hire us. Steemit doesn't owe us. Steemit has us though! I am on steemit for the long haul. One of the best things ever and an invaluable part of my daily life
Resteeming this wasn't even a question. Great post and message. I just had to resteem! :D
Now that my friend is how to rant. Good points all and done with sensitivity and good humor.
Brilliant comments as well people.
So many valid reasons why steemit is the change we all needed.
Yes me too. I had given up writing as it had become a nightmare what with Panda's and Penquin's and god knows how many stitch-ups by Googly.
It just became a pain.
I get a cheque about every six months from my hubs for $50!?
I make that in no time here and I power up every cent.
We are building a great future here. Ignore the naysayers or just mute them and forget about it.
Onwards and upwards @denmarkguy
@molometer, I was just putting into perspective a few days ago that my three best articles on Steemit this year rewarded me more than 30 articles on HubPages for ALL of 2016. And more than I made from Google Adsense across a dozen blogs and web properties.
Just saw that i accidentally wrote "Steemit does owe us "
obviously, meant to write doesn't oops
Chelsea, as always-- thanks for your kind words and your thoughtful feedback!
That, in a nutshell, is what made it very easy for me to slowly withdraw from Farcebook. That and the eternal petty mudslinging during and after the election. I sometimes look around Steemit and wonder if the fact that the platform is "slightly difficult" to use serves as an ingenious "sort mechanism" to steer a more courteous and intelligent crowd this way... while keeping the worst of the knuckle draggers (yes, I just said that!) from being significantly interested in being here.
So let's keep plugging forward here... and do our part (individually) to keep the spamfest under control... or some semblance thereof. Thankfully, there's a growing community moment to put a lid on it.
Ha, yes i think the learning curve to Steemit does help keep a lot of the drama bs to a minimum ...or these stupid "magical " tests that take two seconds people are always posting that apparently will tell you all you ever need to know about your personality sigh
I am gratefully resteeming this.
Thank you Squirl!
Not trying to be blind to the obvious problems we have around here... just advocating a little balance.
The balance is nice.
Not something you see other places.
Sadly I think gratitude needs a moment of silence for its death. I sometimes worry about humanity.
I am eternally grateful for some of the most awesome people I get to interact with here every day. I sometimes end up in some very dark trenches in my life. Steemit has the ability to bring a smile on my face, and that sometimes does not happen for years on end.
@enjar... I'm inclined to agree and simply say "The cartoon says it all, doesn't it?"
This post was partly brought on by remembering that late last year I reached "maximum saturation" on being disgusted with Facebook. These days, I barely use Facebook, except for business purposes... and even that is getting minimal.
Then I remind myself that even the worst petty bickering here is mild compared to the garbage pit of nonsense and ad-hominem attacks I was seeing in supposedly "intelligent" Facebook groups.
The cartoon definitely does! Thankfully I never felt a need to use much social media. I simply do not know much of the horrors of it. Other than the very strange religious posts a few of my family tree share on Facebook. Come to think of it. I don’t see a lot of that going around here. Maybe it’s because I’m just not looking and it’s not being “selected” to show up in my feed!
You have a great night.
I'm sorry, this isn't accurate enough:
I need to know the milliseconds too... was it 16:39:05 or 16:39:25 ?
Just kidding....
Absolutely correct. I love it being ad-free here. My brain can't take another animated banner shoved in my face... it just can't.
I just get SO tired of those sites where you try to read some (possibly?) authentic content, and it's almost impossible to FIND it. And then there's a whole section of "you might also be interested in" which is actually NOTHING but ads, even though it looks like it might be content....
Thank you for the reminder. It is easy sometimes for the "mood" to turn me off. I am taking more and more "breaks".
Yeah, I get that-- it has happened to me, as well. Which is why I write most of my stuff when I'm actually nowhere near Steemit.
Amazing daily raunds...
Nice information..
Good job and forever good luck...
Success for you @denmarkguy....
Thank you.
I am Grateful to Steemit for coming into my life at a time when I am just starting to truly understand this technology, what it is, why it is different and what we can already do if we start to pull ourselves out of the 'like a blog but better' mentality. No, this place is revolution disguised as a Social Media site with built in Crypto. People could quit their jobs, start businesses, trade goods, ideas, solutions, stories, love and what humanity remains in these trying and troubling times.
Steemit has come when we need it most.
I love being able to easily blog about this and that, but I am in awe of the potential to CREATE THE WORLD WE WISH TO SEE, like, today. Grateful isn't quite the word, but I'll go with it for now. English is my mother tongue and it still seems so limiting to explain the length, breadth, depth and scope of here.
Look forward to exploring it all with you.
Thank you Thank you Thank you! @denmarkguy ! Exactly! I have been feeling the same and people seem to be interpreting this place through their own good and bad experiences filter....mostly from other platforms. As much as we want to impose our own visions of the future on here on others, it is all about the freedom offered and most people would probably admit that that is what attracted them in the first place. After a few weeks, everyone wants to police their own front lawn and get others to walk around shouting at others for littering or being too loud on their own lawns. I say let it happen... this place has a way of clustering people together based on their commonalities. Ignore the noise and keep making your own music, it is the only way you will remember the point of being here. Cheers!!! @ecoknowme
Life is like Music. Steemit is no different.
Hi @denmarkguy - what a delightful breath of fresh air to read your post this morning. I have been so put off by all the complaining and accusations and drama recently on Steem. Thank you for reminding us all that we need to change our perspectives a little and think differently. I am so grateful to you that you wrote this.
It's good to see a positive take on things.
I have been here a few months, been one heck of a ride.
I don't post as often as I would like, nor comment, but I am still here.
The flag wars are a downer, so is the spam. I make a point of flagging obvious spam, even though it drains my voting power. But thats negativity again.
Absolutely nowhere else that I have ever posted content have I been rewarded for it, except right here, so I am grateful for Steem, warts and all!