I still remember when I read the Steemit white paper. The thrill of finally having a place to blog that didn't rely on AdSense for payouts, built-in sustainability model, community building and saving my stuff on the blockchain! I'd written for too many sites where they shut down, payouts were never honored, and my stuff disappeared with them.

To this day I still have no expectations of earnings. Never have, Never will. I know that community building, by default, will bring greater earnings because it's all about keeping someone's attention. Frankly, when I started on Steemit, my comments earned more than my posts. One only has to look at my history to see that I spent MONTHS earning zero. And yet I stayed.

The well-being of Steemit will always be dependent on the community interaction. We build friendships and family here. Heck, I'm closer a lot of my Steemit friends than I am with family. And when I'm not here I think about the lot of you. I think it was the day after lauralemons committed suicide, my aunt died. I am still more upset and moved by the loss of Laura from my life. These connections are real and we harvest them through honest communication.