The end of the year arrives and Cervantes has grown. It is time to - and before the Earth returns to the Sun -, speak a little with Cervantes, that character who has returned to Steemit and our lives, forcing us to create, grow and produce different things that continually help us improve ourselves.

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Do you remember the day you met Cervantes? Do you remember the day you arrived in the Steemit community? What are you hoping for, now that the new year begins, with us?

Now we will ask @cervantes about what happens to us in 2018. What will happen to this Spanish-speaking community sheltered by the name of the famous Spanish writer?

How do you rate everything that happened during the year 2017?

This year has been incredible. In every sense. Steemit.com is consolidating itself as one of the most famous websites in the world and STEEM as a consolidated currency with a stability given by the more than 70,000 active users on the platform (and more than 500,000 accounts). Therefore, the Hispanic community is growing fast. Only last week more than 150 new users joined the cervantes chat in Discord. And in terms of articles, you just have to see the #spanish tag.

How is the relationship with your followers?

Very good and in many ways and levels. On one hand there are my friends on the platform, whom I appreciate, I follow, I love very much and with whom I spend a lot of time in private or in conferences. On the other hand, there are the members and collaborators of the Cervantes project (among whom there are many new and old friendships) who see me, logically, as one of the biggest responsible along with Manu @gargon for this to work. There is confidence and very good vibes. Although also clarity and the greatest possible transparency. In addition, there are the followers of @cervantes and other projects, such as @hisparadio, @lince or @don.quijote. All the good feedback and the words of encouragement fill my soul personally. As well as the criticisms. And finally there are the followers and readers of my personal account @pgarcgo. After all, I'm also a blogger and I joined Steemit for that a year and a half ago. There is nothing more comforting than a good comment from an unknown user in one of your posts.

Have dreams been fulfilled?

My dream / prediction was always that STEEM would reach $10 before the end of the year. It hasn't yet, but curiously the SBD did. So dream accomplished. 2018 will be the year of STEEM. As the anglo-speakers say: "to the moon".

What were the highlights of 2017?

The consolidation of the cervantes witness as top 30 worldwide.
The exponential growth of users and articles.
The Steemfest2 in Llisboa and my presentation.
The people that I have met.

What projects do you expect for 2018?

As a team we are constantly thinking about creating new initiatives and ways for the Hispanic community to grow on the platform.

On one hand, @cervantes and all its initiatives will continue to catalyze Hispanic content under the brand steemit.com and in the Discord chat.

On the other hand, we are going to launch a new independent page to Steemit: bloque64.com, the first Spanish-language decentralized newspaper based on Steem.

How can Steemit users approach @cervantes?

Entering our Discord chat and promoting the blog and articles in the channels intended for it. Connecting to the general chat and interacting with its members. Commenting on the posts of @cervantes. Voting the witness @cervantes and explaining in a post the reasons.

Can we expect more contests this year?

Definitely yes. They are an ideal way to incentivize quality posts and reward even more excellent content.

Are you aware that a vote can change a person's economic situation?

It depends a lot on the purchasing power of the person and the country where he lives, as well as, of course, the price of STEEM and SBD.

But yes, we receive messages of gratitude daily from people who are beginning to fulfill their dreams.

How do you carry that responsibility?

I see it as an opportunity to do something completely different to all the projects I have worked on so far, both professionally and personally. The crypto are still in their infancy stage, but their potential to change established socio-economic powers is immense.

How do you manage curation and requests for votes?

I personally as a Cervantes curator, reward users who interact in the discord chat in a positive and constructive way. I like to use the vote as a tool to reflect that participating in our chat is worthwhile. Normally when they send me a link by private (unless I have explicitly requested it) I ignore it or even block the user for spam.

What would you like to improve in Steemit?

So many things. But The team of @ned made important advances in Condenser (the application that gives life to steemit.com) which anyone can see, but we need an official app that includes a comfortable and safe multi-count wallet.

What message would Cervantes give to readers?

Happy New Year and see you at the Blockchain.