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RE: Top 12 Things I Didn't Know I Would Be Doing On Steemit
@glenalbrethsen, the thing that surprises me is that I've never been a social media person before. Sure I had a Facebook account, and still use it to keep in touch with long distance friends and family, but I can count on one hand the pictures I posted or comments I made. I have, as you know, bared my soul here, but it's only because I realized, after a certain amount of time, that it seems safe to do so. You're right though, it all helps "ease our own fears, tears and aches".
I've never bought any SP, and with all of the things I'm involved with, I just simply run out. That's the easiest thing to understand about everything :)
No kidding! Dust thresholds!!??
So, I have a degree in Social Media Marketing, but as an individual person, I haven't really posted a whole lot of my life on Facebook or anywhere else. Here, though, just like you, I've opened up a lot more. I'm still hesitant to go all out as some do, but I feel more comfortable about it, since, as you note, it does have more of a safe feeling to it.
That said, there's no way to get rid of anything that's here, so any entity coming in with the intent to hunt you down dirt or information won't have a hard time of it. Certainly, hopefully, there will be a lot of things that will need to happen before that occurs, but Steemit's updated Terms of Service policies aren't necessarily instilling people with confidence of maintaining privacy in the event a government, law enforcement or even someone else with a legitimate request comes calling.
There is a level of privacy here, and anonymity, but with it, there's phishing and spamming and other scamming that we can't ever shut down entirely because account ownership is sacrosanct. With maybe an exception that I'm not even sure exists but I have heard does and don't really even know what it is. Just that it would set a precedent that no one really wants so we tolerate the rest.
We live in a sea of shark infested water, but as long as we keep each other apprised of where they are at and do our best to avoid them, some of us may fall prey but the rest of us will be okay until we also fall prey. Or not. :)
re: buying SP
I bought in, I'm not involved anything but one thing (the leagues) and I also run out. It's apparently the name of the game, at least until you reach a certain SP threshold, where the word threshold actually works for you instead of against you. :)
Yes, the "forever" thing is a bit daunting when you really stop to think about it. There's positives to that as well; I know a couple of moms who are opening accounts in their kids names, only to upload photos, art work, etc.; all that stuff we piled in boxes and store it somewhere in the attic or basement. That's a pretty cool thing. All of Brian's poems and writing to me; here forever, never to be lost on a broken hard drive somewhere.
But, then there's what you said; the other side to it, and it's a big "other side" for sure.
Well, see, that does concern me. When people start saying, that's impossible, it can't be done, I think, Oh, yeah?! Tell that to every scientific advancement that was impossible before it wasn't. Or tell that to everyone who thought Germany wouldn't take over most of Europe or that Mao wouldn't kill so many of his own people.
It's only impossible because it hasn't been done yet. Not because it can't be done.
So, here we are, sitting on the latest and greatest bit of technology that mankind has to offer, with all its promises, and man, if they ever happen, what a glorious day it will be. But, in the meantime, there's a worldwide apparatus and status quo and power struggle that needs to be dismantled and that's not going to happen without a battle.
Oh, but technology will sweep them all into the dustbin of history. Or, they'll seize it and wield it against you like every other scientific breakthrough that ended up weaponized. I don't know how they do that to STEEM, as in, make it a weapon of mass destruction. But they can take what's here and use it for whatever purpose they want. And really, anyone can see it, so there's nothing to stop them from using it now.
How's that for doom and gloom on a Friday Night. It is/was the 13th, right? :) Sorry. I just kind of ran with it.
Yikes! How do I erase this stuff????
Well, you could make it harder on them and start deleting things when we're able to edit all our old posts. They'd still be able to get to it on another app, but they would have to go to that hassle first. :) Then you could follow in the footsteps of the nijeah guy and come up with a way to freeze the blockchain so no one can access it.
Actually, though, I think I would rather find a way to preserve decentralization and liberty. That seems to be a better use of time, energy and effort. :)
Alright, I too am going with Door #2.
Here is the problem as I see it. There are those who will always selfishly take advantage of freedom/liberty/decentralizaton while the other optimists (like me clears throat), sits back and thinks, "isn't this wonderful? A utopia! Finally! We can trust others to behave in this new and amazing decentralized world!!!"
And even still, those who see the wrongs being done and say, "who is going to take care of this sacrilege?" , all the while, helplessly throwing their arms up in the air.
It's a weird mix of bits of real life here, with a big dash of selfless visionaries and the selfish trying to make a buck. And no one fully responsible for any of it, because we are all supposed to be responsible for ourselves. Which as you know, only seems to work for some.
It is a weird mix, but there's a distorted concentration of some bits and not enough of others.
Right now, it feels like it's predominated by 20-30 something males, mostly single, mostly middle class to crypto affluent, who haven't really had much in the way of major life responsibilities or experiences, who are geeks of some kind, be it dev work or game theory or the crypto investor, who brings the same kind of attitude as the Wolf of Wall Street, except in a technobabble kind of way. They will fight over Star Wars, Marvel movies and Steem Monsters before they'll have a serious conversation of where they're going to be in 10 years.
They're largely out of touch, either don't know it, can't see it , or don't care. It's mostly about them.
On the other end of it, you have the folks from Venezuela and Nigeria and the Philippines and other areas that are turning to this platform as a means of day to day support. They have access, some of them are educated beyond some grade school or high school, but most are just hoping to find a way to make ends meet. They have families and extended families to support and some of them have already lived a lifetime of hard knocks before they're 30.
In the middle of that comes the rest of us. A little older, a little wiser, a little more seasoned, a little more patient, a little less irritable, a little more willing to help if we can, a little more thoughtful, and some of us are actually smarter than our younger geekier male crypto-investor/reddit minded counterparts, while being financially in better shape, with less on the line than our Venezuelan and Nigerian friends.
So, here we are, in a tug of war between realities, saying it's going to be okay in one direction while we're railing in the other for them to get a clue and start acting like it matters.
Where I generalize, you hit on specifics. Beautifully, I might add.
I've been semi-following the steemmonsters thing, and I see others gaming hard, yet today, I had a "friend" here from Uganda in desperate need of money because they must pay 3-5 months' rent at one time. She's just finished university, can't find a job in the capital city, doing research for lazy wealthier students to survive, and doesn't want to go back to her village because there is a future of an arranged marriage, children and hard work to make ends meet day to day. An intelligent woman, and this is her future.
And there's steemmonsters.
I hear you loud and clear Glen. Am I "dissing" steemmonsters? Not really. Just because half the planet suffers, should our young, fortunate to have been born in a wealthier part of the world, have to suffer as well. No. But yes. How about just be aware, and if we are actually on a platform that can make a difference, why isn't everyone doing just that?
Has it always been as such, and now we are literally having conversations with people around the world, so it's much harder to ignore the hardships that others face? Although, according to your summation, there are plenty of 30 something year olds who are doing just that.
It's a sad state of affairs. I wonder if a few of us see it as a tug of war, but really, there's no tug and no war, because there's too many without a clue, or with a clue and just don't care.
sigh