No Free Money!!

I don't know what got into me. It was stupid. I like free money and I saw this post that said, "free SBD (Part # 6)". In the post she goes on to explain that if you like the post and upvote it and resteem it then she will divide the earnings of the post with you. I should have been clued in by the word "free SBD." There is no free money. We work hard to curate posts that will benefit the community.

This post in itself is not too bad and that is why I fell for it and resteemed it and upvoted the post. I thought, "Wow groovy, a lot of people will upvote and we will share the money. Free love." Then three days later I came to look at my blog and thought, "Oh here is the post I reteemed. I wonder how much it is worth..." So I went pack to elizabthtom's blog and it was saturated with posts repeat after repeat with the same exact words each time. When here post said (free SBD Part #6) I thought she had made 6 creative ways to give away SBD. But looking through her blog made my stomach hurt. I knew it could be worse and I know it was my fault for upvoting and resteeming it. I just hope no one else blindly follows SBD. We always have to check where the source is. A good indicator is the number next to her profile picture. There must be a reason her number is (4). Actually that should have been warning enough. In Asia four is a very unlucky number. I think in Steemit this number indicates how you are benefiting the community.

I'm sorry. I'm not one to complain but she has 565 followers and zero content. A post like this once in a while can be fun and enjoy a sense of sharing but this is the last 13 entries in her blog. When I read about Stemians like this I think, "Oh I should be aware," but instead I fell into it just as well as 500 others. Why does this happen? It is because of greed. It is also because starting steemit feels a little scary. At first I worked hard to try to find people with useful content on Steemit. Then I joined Steemfollower. I got follow for follow but the people I was following were not people I wanted to follow. There were not many choices. I got 200 or so followers after a week and it was a good start but just like I was not following them. They were not really following me. Now my feed is blocked up with stuff I don't read. If I want to read something I will have to search that person's user name or my old comments. Follow follow and upvote upvote lead to no content. In the beginning there was nothing. The world was formless and empty and dark. But then came the word. This is content. Word in itself is content. Although pictures are useful in a visual generation and videos are entertaining. Content challenges a reader to think or give amusement or good cheer. Content without content repeated post after post is empty. Please do not do follow for follow or upvote for upvote. Instead work on getting to know people. Offer some useful comments and create something you like and post about it. I'm sorry this was not a groovy day and this is not a groovy post but I am upset about my basic way of going about steemit. It really is not about "elizabethtom". It is really about me. I don't want my portion of her post. I unfollowed her. She is the first of many I have in my "following" section who have no content that I will have to unfollow.

This is my Christmas present for all Steemians in 2018, "Let's make friends." Sounds silly, but true. Upvote your friend's material when you think it is good and you think it's useful to others and that others may enjoy it too. If you find yourself following people that have no content then unfollow them. It is no use to clutter your feed. It will take some time but do it little by little and yes... If you think I have no content then please unfollow me. But I know you guys. I gave a test earlier to check. I posted this post that had absolutely no content. I gave the post the title: Do not upvote or comment. I added two pictures of a white screen and tagged as "challenge". I was very proud of my readers who saw the post had no content and did not comment or upvote. I began to see from this vote that people in Steemit know how to read and want to read something amusing and enlightening. I don't always have something to say but every once in a while I do. So in my spare time I have been writing using word docs and a pen and paper if I'm on the go. Please write and please take pictures and please share your talents. I want to see and enjoy and experience your world as well.

I know there is no way to get rid of the "give me SBD and I will give you SBD" or "give me upvote and resteem and I will resteem and upvote". Or "follow me and I will give you SBD". But for your own sanity I warn you to follow posts that you enjoy reading or if you want to thank others for upvoting you then go back to the page where you posted and open it up. You will find a list of all the people who upvoted. Click on their name and find a post of theirs that you like. Then upvote them and leave a nice comment. This is really upvote for upvote. If they don't respond then that's OK. If you don't like any of their posts then that's ok. There is no rule that you have to upvote or follow. People who upvote me are really cool people. You can see there names. They help others in the community. Oh and just like you can unfollow you can un-upvote. This will take away your curation of the post but sometimes necessary. Please go to posts that you like. Look at the profile of those that look questionable. Steemit is wonderful and there are great people here. Please take the time to meet them and avoid trying to make money quick.

All the people who upvoted my post are great people in the community. You can find them on discord at PAL.https://discord.gg/8WraTyn They helped me out a lot. It will take some time for me to get my steemit account the way I want it but that's OK. I have time. I wish users would change their attitude toward posting empty content but that is irrelevant. It is most essential for me to change the way I think about Steemit and the community. And really give my two cents in each post.

Thank you to all and Merry Christmas!!

Love,

365GROOVY