I Said I'd Take a Break - Two Weeks Later: Still Here
![NoNamesLeftToUse - E.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmU93yBxB7evFRYZBVSVKbzz5HrRtHgkFNT9STPpFYL5b7/NoNamesLeftToUse%20-%20E.jpeg)
First, I said I needed to chill out.
Then, I said I needed to leave for a bit.
Instead of leaving, I chilled out.
And it's working. Just doing my thing, focusing on me, all while hoping the better side of my personality rubs off on others, I guess. That negativity nonsense is contagious. Why would I want to make others sick?
That's a good start, right?
So much talk about retention lately. The latest, greatest, fad.
Let's write articles about retention, scratch our heads in confusion and argue about solutions all while blaming the platform itself instead of ourselves.
Yeah! That's a great idea! I'll get to work on mine right away!
Me too!
Me three!
Sigh
Please. Just do your part. Carry your weight.
Why is it: When I look around, I'm constantly entertained?
Because, that's where I'm looking. I'm looking for posts and people who satisfy my own personal content consumption requirements, whatever those are.
Meanwhile
I create my own content.
That simple action of creating content helps steer the eyes towards my direction. People are looking at this blog, sure, but they're also looking at the platform as they're seeing this blog. I've given them a reason to be here, just as those who produce their own stuff give me a reason to stay and look.
So why, oh why, is there so much focus and attention being spent on those who are not here?
Every single day there's a handful of new posts about the problems people have with those who are not here.
Wouldn't it help retention if we shifted our focus onto those who are here instead of those who are not?
![Yes.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWHuNMziNZfDUzwKTkuji2kPeARkvmFz8D7B7wwyXUPq8/Yes.jpeg)
Then the content police show up.
"Low quality content," they say.
Why is it: I'm not seeing this low quality content?
Because, I'm not spending my days looking at the crap! I enjoy looking at what I'd consider to be entertaining content. That stuff gives me a buzz so I guess I'll call it high quality. Why not?
I don't know anyone who blames Youtube for providing poor quality content any time they see junk. There's far more shit posts on Youtube and even more crap on Facebook. The people spending time to comment complaints under those shoddy videos and bland status messages about having a weekend off (of all things) are anti-social bottom feeders. Losers. Plain and simple.
When you visit a Facebook group or community, do you see a whining complainer at the top of the page with the most likes?
![no.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVCr7aAeNp1ah71NtV4TdvkcW8zwr6tWodCLwZSWLCTjF/no.jpeg)
You won't see someone blaming Facebook for the quality of the group either.
Why do I only get three likes on my post and I see others here getting 100?!?!
This place must be broken!
Sigh
Say something like that here.
Hundreds more who share that same sort of demented mentality slither out of the cracks to agree, and of course the post is a paid promotion sent straight to the top of the mountain...
Sigh.
Meanwhile, back in reality land, there are thousands of us who produce and enjoy what we consider to be solid stuff.
Most days the place reminds me of a park where buskers are all setup to entertain. Everywhere you look, something to see, and many little containers to hold the money being dropped here, there, and everywhere.
The buskers in this park of ours can do whatever they want though. It doesn't have to be a musical performance. We have a woman, sitting on a bench, a small crowd gathers around, and all she's doing is telling a story about her life. Over on the hill, there's a man wearing a lab coat, sharing some knowledge. Under the tree, in the shade, someone takes a picture of a frog, and it's a nice frog, so they walk around the park showing off this picture of a frog. This park has something for everyone.
If someone walked into the park blindfolded, holding a megaphone, and started complaining about how there's nobody around and those who are here, suck; how long would that guy last before someone steps up to say, "Dude, shut the hell up. Get out of here."
One minute.
Tops.
But if an army of these whiners with blinders on enter the park and commence cramming their narrative down the throats of everyone else, the buskers will leave because nobody can hear their sound over all of the noise.
I won't tell anyone here how to think or what to do. I do understand the differences between rationalized grievances and whining as well.
Personally, after being here this long, consistently busy producing my blog, accepting the contributions of others I come across... sigh
I think it's time to finally embrace the people and their contributions instead of turning a blind eye.
I know from experience, it's not easy to stick around after spending nearly two years of being indirectly told there's nothing to see here and nobody to look at.
It's 2018. Why can't I reach through my screen and shake some of these people?
Time to wake up!
Is retention truly an issue?
I recently visited a few of the Facebook groups I'm a member of.
Thousands upon thousands of members in each group. Only a handful of them actually post. I didn't see thousands upon thousands of likes on those posts. It's always been like that.
This platform will have communities or groups soon as well. We will see the same results. Will we see a new set of whiners here to tell everyone how the new features are broken?
I hope not. It's annoying.
I just finished watching a Youtubers latest vlog. The video is four hours old. He has 268000 subscribers. So far this video has 17000 views and 3000 upvotes. A normal day there. He's not complaining. Tomorrow's another day.
Of course those numbers are higher than here. If you stand next to the freeway, you'll see more cars. This platform is still a road under construction. So what's the problem? Be patient. Each lane will be open soon enough and the road will eventually lead somewhere.
Some say this publishing tool is too difficult.
Sigh
When I was six years old, my dad gave me a hammer and taught me how to pound a nail into wood.
I missed the nail on my first try. I'd hit the wood. I'd bash my fingers. I'd bend nails.
I didn't care though. I wanted to build my own fort, and the only way to do that is to learn how to use the tools first.
Some of those walls are still standing today. They wouldn't even be there today though if I had given up after missing the nail. The hammer wasn't defective or too difficult of a tool to master.
Learning is easy but if you're unwilling to put in the time and effort it takes to master something, that's your fault. Deal with it.
Have a nice day.
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It's the path of least resistance. It's a lot easier to blame others than it is to take responsibility yourself. It's a lot easier to bash someone else's work than it is to create your own. It's a lot easier to go with the crowd than it is to forge your own opinion. When it comes to the herd, you'll always have more people taking this path than the other. Such is life.
Cigarettes. I was fourteen years old. I think that was last time I ever did something with the hopes of fitting in.
I could have lit up a post about "problems" today. Could have regurgitated the same old whine fest. I'd probably be on the front page by now. Oh well. Maybe some day this view will be the status quo.
I haven't come up with anything to say today, I seriously thought about trying to figure out how to emulate your style and still sound like me!
Negativity attracts negativity, and I swear those people just believe everything that gets said without considering it at all.
Great post... For those who look around and see shit posting... Get the shit out of your eyes! :)
"If it's on the internet, it must be true."
"Since this loud minority agrees, it must be fact"
I don't mind doing a post like this once in awhile. I think it's a healthier approach than visiting a few random commentators and giving them a piece of my mind. That usually turns into a shit show. I suck at following the herd and contributing to the fashionable group think.
There has been far too much credit going out to the shit posters though, and not enough going to those who tried their best. If people can channel that much energy into bashing that freak who just got out of the shower (LOL), I'm sure they can spare some and maybe help push something incredibly honest and organic to the top of our interest.
Some random farts of thoughts after reading your post and feeling your vibes but with no real direct reply to anything you typed...
Maybe crypto got too big for a minute and it is good to shake out people who were buying ICOs and other get rick quick ideas, I like the current users I see on Steemit regularly.
We all freely gave content away on Facebook, Twitter, and etc for so long.
People on Steemit need to not be afraid to share their Steemit blog and links on other networks.
Cheer up, look at me pantsless.
Edit: No need to click links, here is the pic ;)
It's a damn good thing those get rich quick types ended up becoming broke faster. They got exactly what they signed up for.
20 cents for a photo here is still far more than what anyone can earn on Facebook, plus that 20 cents will be worth more soon enough. That's a good deal no matter how one looks at it.
Sharing links elsewhere was one of the first things I did once I got settled here, because I wanted my work to be viewed long after release day. Some of my old posts are still circulating because of that. Free ad for me and the platform all at once.
I'm in a great mood. Don't let this post fool you, just like I won't let that link fool me.
Complaining is great if it is done in a funny way, and pointing out problems can be a good thing. The way things are I can't really blame people for leaving; not everybody can ignore the presence of bidbots and other skulduggery indefinitely and still feel at home and do their thing.
Maybe I should set up a separate account for complaining.
Oh wait.
I've said all I can say about the bidbot issue in the past. All I'll really say now is: It's unfortunate that had to happen here. For the most part though, it's self inflicted harm. People are choosing to cause the damage. And since those folks obviously don't need my help and since they'd prefer to have a worthless value beside their work instead of a reward, I simply stopped voting for those posts. The way I see it, using bots turns the post into an advertisement, and I don't pay Walmart for leaving a flyer in my mailbox.
I am glad you are here since a lot of people have stopped posting because of the low earnings in dollars. I read a report today where the rewards pool is brimming with steem and SBD since posting is the lowest in 2018:
Posting during these lulls is how many of us ended up earning a small fortune during the peaks. The math is quite simple. I'm not sure why so many give up. Some of my old $5 posts are worth $50 today. Nothing wrong with that.
My tiny upvote for not giving up on that nail and everything else in this post.
I liked when you wrote about “If someone walked into the park blindfolded, holding a megaphone,...” Than I liked when you wrote about “Be patient. Each lane will be open soon enough and the road will eventually lead somewhere.” I like your art as well especially the first one with the reflection in his eyes showing all good things coming in the near future. That’s what I see as well. I like “E”.
I didn't use the art tag for this post, even though I included something new. I guess I could have. Your brain hammer nailed the hidden the message there.
Nice analogy, nice message.
I always tell people to come from a place of love in their hearts.
Everyone's experience is unique. Story writing, article writing, motivational pieces, poetry, music, videos. It's all unique.
The key is to really celebrate the human experience, with its unique facets as an end in their own.
That's true. And this place opened my eyes to a lot of things I wasn't interested in before, simply because I wasn't looking at it. Now I see, and I'd like to look further.
thank you for your message! interesting point of view for a newbie like me.
whining a bit about other whiners can be nice. maybe one of the few examples where i think whining is tolerable ;)
If this comes across as whining, what more is left to say?
Have you been hanging out on the trending page again?
I'm everywhere. That particular street is turning back into a slum quite quickly. I called it though when I wrote about the bots and compared them to crack cocaine, then explained what happens to the neighborhoods when people allow something like that to take over. That was about six months ago, I was right, oh well.
lol
Okay read all of that and had many good thoughts lots of head nodding and mmmhmmms and it all flew right out of my brain when I saw "Some say this publishing tool is too difficult."
https://giphy.com/gifs/reaction-what-despicable-me-SqmkZ5IdwzTP2
I, as well as many others, got our work out in front of a global audience within months. It could not have been easier, yet daily, I'm reading a comment here and there about how difficult it is. I spent five minutes googling what I needed to know and then many months improving upon it, or at least trying.
Maybe people mislabel the unknown as difficult, then base their lives around that simple mistake? I dunno.
It's not any harder than Facebook or instagram @.@
Facebook and instagram was hard to use in the beginning too. despite the process being not so different to how it is today.
If everyone around you has a thing, you'd wanna get the thing too no matter how hard it is to get.
That's sadly the human thinking in general.
Maybe the loud noises are argueing the wrong thing thinking about "user acquisition" when we are still very much in the "innovators" part of the tech.