Few people have been as fortunate as I have on Steemit.

This past year has been an amazing ride with all of you, and as such, I'd like to give thanks and share some of my thoughts with you today.

Passion, Perseverence and Consistency

When I look back on this year, I can't believe how far I've come.

I would never have imagined that I would have more than 2,500 followers (debatable), close to 70 rep, and enough voting power to make or break someone's day.

I started at the bottom with nothing and clawed my way up slowly to the position I now hold. There's no magic formula to divulge or secret wisdom, for me it's all about putting in the extra effort, improving as you progress, learning from observing others and, equally as important, learning from your own mistakes.

The Importance of Community

Whether you're a regular poster in politics, a member of the MSP Discord channel, a part of @teamaustralia or just a curious mind commenting and replying to posts you like, being part of a community is a crucial part in speeding up your progression as a Steemian.

When I joined Steemit a year ago, I was what you might call a Reddit Refugee looking for a new home after witnessing the banning of several communities like r/pizzagate and r/operation_berenstein. The bannings were preceded by the complete flooding of r/politics with CTR shills and the brazen mod censorship in r/wikileaks, I was searching for a haven from the rampant censorship.

What I found on Steemit was a small but lively community of truth seekers dedicated to the cause and mostly making posts worth a few cents to a dollar.

I didn't come for the Steem Dollars, I came for the underlying blockchain. I felt, as others surely did, that Steemit provided a unique way to fight censorship. Since there are no moderators or advertisers on the block controlling the flow of information, it seemed to be the ideal solution. What you posted was preserved on the block, period.

The friends I made early on debating issues, discussing leaks, sharing research and posting with are what kept me going on the platform. The addition of new blood in the months and weeks that followed brought a new sophistication with their posts and raised the bar for the rest of us, myself included.

The community itself was, and still is, the most valuable part of the blockchain.

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Manual Curation

A 100% manual curator is perhaps becoming a rare thing these days, but I remain part of this minority. There are certainly as many drawbacks as there are benefits to this approach but as a content oriented person I can't bring myself to blindly auto-upvote accounts.

I have no bots and I don't follow any curation trails.

I generally rely on my feed and resteems from other steemians to find a lot of the posts that I upvote. However, this understandably limits the amount of posts that i come in contact with. At the same time, I would like to stress that I do read 95% of the posts that I vote on.

I have stated elsewhere that I'm trying to promote and foster censorship-free, independent media and investigative journalism on Steemit. The types of articles I tend to vote for are well sourced, well written and well researched. In case you're wondering, I don't like copy and paste material (unless it comes from your own blog or publication) and I don't like sensational and click-bait titles: "The Truth about...", "Why the Left...", "Why the Right...", "What you Need to Know about...", "BREAKING..." - if I ever use one of these, please call me out on it.

Delegation

It's no secret that I have benefited immensely from an incomprehensibly generous delegation of steem power. Lately, when I stick my head out of the rabbit hole for some air, I've been feeling enormously fortunate and grateful to all the people who have supported me along this journey. There are really too many to name but I feel compelled to try. In no particular order:

@jamesc, @ausbitbank, @titusfrost, @rebelskum, @tremendospercy, @an0nkn0wledge, @aggroed, @ramengirl, @kafkanarchy84, @canadian-coconut, @fulltimegeek, @teamsteeem, @johalfiles, @perceptualflaws, @karensuestudios, @frankbacon, @ura-soul, @thatsnumberwang, @richq11, @lyndsaybowes, @rhondak, @gmuxx, @wakeupworldnews, @r0nd0n, @discordiant, @stackin, @sarahabed, @clarityofsignal, @creatr, @jacuzzisurfer, @jockey, @dwinblood, @minnowsupport, @pulpworx, @steemtruth, @goldenarms, @markwhittam, @docdeluxe, @matrjoschka, @lighteye, @thelightreports, @thehoneybee, @jrcornel, @pfunk, @acidyo, @drakos, @dotivoluntarily, @son-of-satire, @benjojo, @patrice ...

Also like to thank: @corbettreport, @reallygraceful, @lukewearechange, @pressfortruth, @dbroze, @sgtreport, @activistpost, @theouterlight, ...

Special thank you to my friend @fortified who made this 1 year anniversary post in my honor and made the awesome gifs at the bottom of this page with his @animate account. I've had some fantastic conversations with @fortified on and off chain I've thoroughly enjoyed talking with you and the insightful feedback you give me.

Giving Back - 5000sp

There are some debts that cannot be repaid but I'd like to do more to give back to the community. I've recently freed up some steempower and I'll be delegating five separate 1000sp.

The first person to receive delegation is @jasonshick who seems to be everywhere in the comment sections these days. Maybe you already have an idea who the remaining are.

1000sp delegations

1. @jasonshick
2. @perceptualflaws
3. @tremendospercy
4. @an0nkn0wledge
5. @rebelskum

Note: It may take a few days before I can send them out, patience please ;)

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A Few Questions for V

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How do you say your name?

It rhymes with rapid.

What does your name mean?

Well, it has 2 parts really.

1. It's a play on words from: V for Vendetta
2. It's a social commentary on how stupidity is exalted in western culture .

Why are you anonymous?

I choose to be anonymous for several reasons but the main reason is it allows me to focus on my research. We see time and time again that when certain taboo subjects come to the surface or an investigation begins to expose the powers that shouldn't be, the motis operandi is to attack and discredit the messenger. We see this in the mainstream and alternative media as well. I prefer that my research does the talking.

What's the Deal with Your Profile Picture?

Our eyes are open but we do not see. Open your third eye.

Will You Ever Reveal Your Identity?

Anything is possible.

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img: ipinimg.com

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