Returning to normal
It is nice writing on Steem now, as I don't have to worry about the platform side of it at all - I can just write as I do. I have spent thousands of hours writing on Steem and a lot of it has been about Steem itself - I fought against bidbot operators for a very long time and then helped convert them through the EIP - bidbots are back now so I am guessing the price is really going to go up because of all the demand they create....
Meh, I don't feel it is my issue anymore - like the Trending page which has become I don't know what, some kind of weird, frozen in time propaganda? It is funny how people used to complain about what was on Trending and now people seem content with 18-day old posts. I guess it was never about the content after all.
However, I do see that under those posts some quite good content getting created and supported, but I think that support is going to drop off over the next 3 months as the stake gets powered down. That is okay, as slowly the various supporters of each chain will drift away. *It actually might be a good thing for Steem that some creators stay awhile, as having some decent content and a bit of engagement makes a better impression than a ghost town.
As expected, I have found it interesting to see how various people have acted and reacted to the events of the last couple months. Some people have surprised me at how they have degraded their content, but I can't bring myself to do it and rather, I have just moved away further from the Steem-centric topics as I am not keen to get involved in the governance any longer. Too many hours spent that amounted to nought and I feel bad for having tried for three years to make this place into something I hoped would be somewhat better.
Better or worse I don't know, but it is different and it is the kind of different that doesn't compel me to get involved as I had before, but perhaps it is suitable for others who weren't interested earlier. As they say, one man's trash is another's treasure and preference plays a large role in the will to participate.
I enjoyed earning on my writing, but I also enjoyed the community and he friends - people talking about their lives and sharing a bit of digital intimacy. I think that spending time here was a nice way to get to know people and make lasting friends - but I am not sure if that is the case for me now.
I am finding that there are some users commenting that I haven't engaged with much before, and that is nice to have here. I am guessing that there is somewhat of a reduction in content contributions that offer something different, but I don't have any statistics to really know what is going on.
I also have no idea what is happening with the stake of users, as many are selling, which means some must be buying. Is that stake coming back onto the platform, or is it sitting on the exchanges hoping for a pump?
I get the sense that there is going to be quite a large consolidation of STEEM into a small group of users, but I wonder if they are the kind that are looking to grow the platform, or if they see this as just a place to collect more tokens. I think that if people see the value of a social media here, they should look to distribute out further - but that is up to them.
For a long time I did all I could to encourage wider distribution, but was constantly undermined by maximizers. All in the past though, even though many of them are still here and some have recently returned since the conditions are better for their type of content and behavior.
Anyway, this is Steem content I guess, but as I said a few weeks ago, I am going to stick around for a while as I am interested in what happens here. I put a lot of time in and learned a lot, so I want to see where the community takes it.
Wherever that is, I hope people get what they want out of what they put in.
Taraz
[ an original ]
Well what I have noticed is that many of the posts with high up-votes have no engagement or real support from the community! So I'm going around and trying to find some type of content which I can interact with. Because this thing is not just abut posting a bunch of pictures and just getting the rewards from the boosting pools.
Just like you I have put almost 3 years of my life on and off working on this so I can't just power down and get move to the other side. Will wait and see what happens next.
A lot of people are taking the opportunity to move over to Hive, and I understand them. People put a lot of work and money into this place, many never took anything out of it before it was ripped apart.
To be honest I'm not hating the hive part , though I'm not leaving the Steemit either. :)
Really is a very interesting time. I don’t know if it’s a return to normal, or some kind of alternate universe, a different normal. I have not left Steem, but it is difficult to straddle multiple social block chains that are similar but different, and have some of the same people. I am not sure how it will all play out. The cards are all still up in the air. I don’t know whether I’m hanging on for sentimental reasons or because I think there may be something promising yet in Steem’s future. We shall see.
It is a weird normal, whatever it is. I like to observe human behaviors and after being on Steem so long it is interesting to see how people change.
it is nice to read your articles (after all these event). Let's see how it ends up.
Lots of things have come to pass, but we are all alive and the future is ahead :)
It does seem eerie around here, but I don’t spend as much time on it as I used to. I hear you—spending all that time battling and now it seems like everyone’s gone? I’m posting to Hive but I might cross post here as well. The timing wasn’t right with all this stuff and especially given the current state of the world.
Yeah, 2020 has been a bit of a trial by fire year so far, but hey, we are still standing - on two chains :D
Effectively doubled your holdings :P
Working on my Korean for the post power down period.
달에!
전력 다운!
That's why I'm currently not posting here :) At this stage I don't mind commenting and upvoting though.
Meh, post along the way and add it into the kids' account :)
I have the type of pride that is a strong contender for one of the character flaws that will get me killed XD
Pride is a sin, remember ;D
As it's responsible for a lot of things including driving me to get better I guess I'll have to go to hell then x_x XD
I still spend some time here... and find time to vote and comment on posts that do add some value (by my own metric), but feel pretty disconnected from it all, in some way.
To the limited degree I still publish here, I am creating unique content... I'm stick by a very old personal value of not cross posting the same content; something I have stood by for 20+ years of web publishing.
My curiosity will probably keep me here for at least 13 weeks... we'll see, after that.
yes, it is an interesting pullback in a very short time for me.
I am crossposting non-specific content and at this stage, I don't have a problem with it. I am also adding some original posts here too, just for personal differentiation.
Excellent insights! Thank you!
I thought I'd will sadness for STEEM. It's been a little over 10 days. I dont sadness for STEEM :)
Here, I only comment on you and my friends from Ukraine.
@tarazkp,
Good write.
As I've mentioned in numerous Discord conversations, Hive is STEEM/Steemit on February 13, the day before Justin Sun announced his buyout of Steemit Inc. The blockchain's user base was down to 12,000 active users and struggled to stay in the top 80 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Despite all the bravado and chest thumping, that's not a very auspicious state of affairs.
On Hive, the Steemit Inc. stake was placed in a "trust fund" (Dao) to fund the development of DApps. But how many STEEM DApps, previously funded by Steemit Inc. via delegations, were successful? How many even had anything to do with improving the operations of the STEEM blockchain?
STEEM then (and Hive now) evolved into an "alternative source of venture capital" for software developers. The problem is that that massive diversion of scarce resources (SP) away from curation meant that Steemit was always crippled.
And yet, Steemit was the DApp that the vast majority of Steemians were actually interested in.
I don't know what Justin Sun is doing behind the scenes but if he has developers modifying Steemit such that it becomes what people originally envisioned, Steemit 2.0 could become an extremely attractive place to blog.
Respecting all the "decentralization" rhetoric ... most people couldn't care less. They, like I, just want a FAIR and FUNCTIONAL social media platform where we're paid to create and curate. If I get that, it doesn't much matter whether power is yielded by one tyrant or a group of them (a handful of Whales determine who's appointed a Top 20 Witness).
Until such time, I will continue to post on both blockchains while also participating in Voice Beta. Whichever chain creates a FAIR and FUNCTIONAL social media platform first is the one for which I will launch a marketing blitzkrieg.
Quill