An open letter for the #openmic community

All if not most of us are well aware of the challenges the Steem ecosystem faces. For all the amazing things it offers, the life changing communities it's home to, there are other elements of Steem that are still holding us back from reaching our true potential. Some of the challenges are code based, things that we as users can't control directly, but on some of the issues we do have control over, and this is why I'm writing to you today.

The truth is I need your help

We all do, its simply impossible for the judges of the #openmic to police everything that happens on the competition, and as you know keeping its integrity will take all of us to get involved. It might seem odd, uncomfortable even, that I would say this to you, after all you are just here to share your music with us and trust me I get it, but its exactly because we want this competition to stay alive, to keep on keeping on as they say, that Its going to take your involvement as well.

In any case what we need from you is nothing that will put your account in jeopardy, not in the slightest. There are ways we can police our community without engaging into flag wars, insults or anything of the sort. To be honest with you, the last thing I would like to see is that you take this letter as a green light to attack people on this platform, even if those people are obvious scammers and cheaters.

The plan is real simple, everyone in the community should be alert to people who are trying to cheat the system, creating multiple accounts, multiple entries, stealing videos, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about because you have bumped into one of these accounts already. Once you've done some due diligence, reach out to me or one of the judges on discord with the information, and we will take care of the rest. It's really that simple.

The openmic Community has a Discord Server now

You may know this already, but in case you don't the loved and respected @ausbitbank along with @krystle have been working on this project for some time now, and it finally got its wings about a week ago. If you are a participant of this community I would encourage you to come join the party.

As more and more people join we can coordinate many more things regarding our community as well as make any prompt announcements on the fly. As you might guess, all judges will be looming around the open mic server making it really easy to get in touch with us.

Why am I writing to you today?

Honestly, because this call for action is long overdue, but also because if December and January taught me something is that when the prices of Steem increase, so does the abuse and this time we need to be ready. We had weeks with close to a thousand entries being a considerable chunk of them scammers who where trying to win upvotes from the @openmic community.

With the price of Steem and crypto in general turning around and the bull market taking over, I fully expect for all the dormant cheaters, scammers and overall unwelcome users to make their undesired comeback. It might sound like I'm being a negative nancy as they say, but I assure you the job of being an #openmic judge is very time consuming and the last thing we need need is people who are trying to waste our time and scam the system.

I fully expect this year to be amazing for us

I would love nothing more than to start the songwriter's challenge season 2, double the size of our community and keep on producing amazing content, amazing songs for those who love music as much as we do. So after you read this letter my friend, think that I'm only writing to you because I care about you, I see your effort and I know how much love you put into your craft, because I'm just like you and this is why we need to take care of what we have.

But listen, do not let my words disappoint you or make you feel small, they are meant to do the opposite. Many musicians on this platform may be small minnow accounts, but together we have been able to build one of the most powerful communities on Steem. My letter is meant to empower you, to let you know that you can help the judges smile a little more every single week.

In any case, I'm off to listen to some entries... I already have chosen one that is sure to be in my list for this week...

Much love to you all..