About to get forked: A Minnow's View
I recently found out that in the Steemit food chain I am what is referred to as a minnow. Apparently I share the Steemit sea with other inhabitants called whales and dolphins and perhaps others I have yet to meet. I quickly learned that all who swim in the Steemit sea of posts, upvotes and comments are rewarded according to their individual investments towards preserving and promoting the Steemit ecosystem. Now for some, that investment is monetary in nature, for others it is earned through a process that involves creating their own posts, reading, and upvoting the best posts by other Steemit users.
I have not been on Steemit that long (about a week now) but I am enjoying the process of meeting new people, reading great content and in general just trying to find my way. In my mind I see myself as an immigrant to the Steemit shores who is trying to find his way in a world and culture that is foreign. So far I feel very welcomed. I was greeted with open arms and even given a bit of currency to get me started on my journey. I feel inspired by all of the dolphins and whales swimming around me because I know the potential for growth in Steemit. Yet to be honest as all little fish do when bigger ones are swimming about, at times I feel a bit intimidated by the sheer size and power they are capable of wielding. I wonder if there is room for little fish to grow into bigger ones too.
A few days ago I started to hear talk of something called a Fork. After some reading I began to understand that things were about to change. The general consensus is that the changes will benefit the minnows of the community by giving them more of an impact when it comes to voting. I hope that is true because I have read some really great posts by new users and when I apply my upvote to it nothing (or almost nothing happens). I had thought it would be nice if I could spend all of my available votes on one or two posts that really made me think, or ones that covered a subject well but was unable to provide more than a fraction of a cent to promoting them. Hopefully the Fork will help with this issue.
I have read many fantastic posts by whales and posts that whales have upvoted (they clearly have great taste) but I just think in order for this system to work well into the future all users should have the potential to determine a posts worth. Perhaps a Minnows Top 10 of the day list would work or even a Dolphins\Whales Daily List.
Anyway as with all things time will tell.
Keep swimming.
You will indeed grow. As with anything, it takes a bit of an investment of time to fully understand the new waters and find your way around. My biggest question when I was a week old was if the money was real lol. It is, btw. I followed :)
Good to know that the potential for growth and the money are both real. Thanks for the follow ... I followed too.
Thoughtful comments. We've only got about 30 minutes to go until the fork!
Thank You @trogdor I appreciate it.
here's my minnow upvote to add to your collection, i hope a dolphin or maybe a whale takes notice and helps propel you into the stratosphere of earnings.
lol ... much appreciated. That would be nice but I think there is a great deal to be said for our little school of determined minnows. Btw Followed and returned the upvote ... keeping the school strong. :)
The minnow in me is getting stronger. I just voted you and you got the 1 cent as potential payout.
The platform has a lot of potential. Also for a minnow it is harder then for a whale, because whales get the popularity. Also the downside for the whales are that they are targeted also by the lower value minnows. If a minnow is good and keeps the good track it can difference itself from the noise and become a whale himself.
We got active almost the same time, and I was one of you first followers, like you were mine. I see potential in growing. Don't worry about the HF. This is like the goverment. Mostly you are responsible for the outcome, but the rules are set by others.
I agree @alexvan we just have to keep at it and support one another when ever we can. It is getting lost in the wave of mainstream adoption that is going to come soon that worries me. I feel a bit of an urgency to grow before a huge wave of casual and celebrity users flood in.
Have you seen the HF effects on your potential payouts? Mine are skyrocketing compared to the value they had before. Let's see now what the future brings. It will motivate people to make good posts, but you are totally right, we need to grow fast before the flood.
I was surprised too by the increase ... really changed things. We minnows have to stick together and make sure that our posts stay in front of as many eyes as we can collectively get.
Will do Sir, will do!
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