Lost opportunities and a bright future that may be closer than you think it is.

Lemme tell you a little story...

It starts back in January 2018. It is when I officially became part of the Steem project. And for the first time ever, after being a member in several social media applications, I had this strange feeling that while Steemit kept being promoted by clueless individuals as the "blog, and get rich as fuck in no time" application, which was the reason I discovered it in the first place back then, there had to be something more than that.

It can't be so easy...otherwise we would have millions of users registered already and this place would have been overcrowded, right?

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Nothing comes easy, and I've experienced it first hand as a new-comer, just like most if not all of you as well. And it is exactly what new users are experiencing but also what future ones will experience too.

But it forged my will.

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Ya it did. It wasn't a pleasant experience trying really hard to produce something interesting for the rest of the community (now I know that back in the day, most of my content wasn't of the best quality) only to receive a few cents here and there and at the same time tons of posts from the so called "famous authors" paying out thousands of dollars.

A couple of weeks later I just knew it. Steem wasn't supposed to be a walk at the beach but a fight through fire and dust. And that's exactly the reason why I've stick around. It was and still is a challenge. There are no shortcuts to success and to financial freedom and there was absolutely zero chance to get there through the use of centralized applications.

And since stubbornness is part of my nature...

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...it was time to step up my game.

I figured out that unless I start reading other people's posts and drop meaningful comments just like every decent reader / "consumer" would do in order to get noticed, there was absolutely no chance to drag people into my blog. And so I did...reading and commenting like there was no tomorrow. I still DO read a lot but I don't drop as many comments as then...

But my hunger for further interaction with my followers and the ones I was following coincided with the beginning of the bear market. Fewer posts on my feed and even fewer that were paying out hundreds of dollars this time...

And the more the price declined, so did the daily activity. I get it...if one is used to earn 500$ per post why bother write something when they knew they wouldn't even reach the 100$ mark? REALLY NOW?

That was an opportunity of course for every stubborn user such as myself to grow their accounts and build stronger bonds with the ones that remained active. The die hard Steemians.

But the price kept going down...fast. And that was the point where people who love this place became more...creative.

This is how Steem-engine and Tribes popped up. A whole new economy built on top of the existing economy...

Some things were wrong all this time...but we used to sweep it under the rug...

And then it was the glorious HF21/22. Now serious stakeholders had finally a reason to come out of the shadows and support content creators. 50 - 50 reward split idea had many proponents all those years and guess what, it was finally a reality.

Next on the line were plagiarists, spammers and abusers. They got blacklisted, at least a big percentage of them, their reputation was ruined and now had a very rough time to milk from the pool.

But the price kept going down along with the activity...

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...so there were more things that had to be fixed. Bidding bots were targeted next. It wasn't entirely their fault that awful he had for years. I know that their owners could have been way more careful regarding what deserves to be promoted and what not. The most important challenge was to change the mentality of the users that kept promoting trash...

Bot's are a promoting tool and just like in real life where people pay for such services BUT they have no ROI from that, it had to be fixed here too, so that we can enjoy a healthier economy.

But the price kept going down...till it bottomed out...and remains at these levels for many months in a row...

And then it was Justin Sun who acquired Steemit.Inc along with ~ 75 mill STEEM.

Now you could almost feel that breeze of hope everyone felt when that acquisition was announced. People started dreaming again...

Some confusing public statements through Twitter regarding their intentions and BANG. There you go. A reversible fork this time to protect the chain from a possible hostile takeover this time, right at our gates. A lot of people are against this SF. Others support this decision made by the top 20, 100%

In the meantime, average hard core Steemians who didn't possess development skills, kept enjoying their Steem journey. And I think it is absolutely fascinating to see people not give up and chase their Steem dream.

They are the ones who managed to grow their accounts and strengthen their position for years to come.

Bottom line is that we 've been building here those past years, regardless of possible delays and unfulfilled commitments so far, is unique.

That's exactly the reason similar platforms pop up by the day left and right. But make no mistake...we have a huge advantage over them. 4 years of experience already and learning from our mistakes, plus a relatively big community of active users and that shouldn't be taken lightly.

Now if you think you can find a better place to express your beliefs...your concerns and at the same time be rewarded...then be my guest...

But I highly doubt that...

Don't make the very same mistake hundreds before you have made...Stick around...have fun...enjoy the ride...

The future you've been dreaming of might be closer than you think it is...

Have a great one people.
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Cheers!