RE: First Meet Up in Manila, Philippines
I found this through the Steemit Talk Podcast, and I have to say, that I really have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, it's great that Steemit is gaining traction in the country. But, can this really be called an "official" meetup? I mean, is there really an official sponsorship or was this just an informal gathering. Out of the 8 participants, only 3 were members, 2 of which are related and 1 is, I'm not sure about this, not even a Filipino. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome that @surpassinggoogle has adopted the Philippines as his home. This to me, sounds more like a recruitment drive for new members.
I guess the exclusion of the other Filipino members is what gets to me. It's hard to stake claim over anything without gathering at least majority of the members. There's a Philippines channel on chat, but no one hardly ever uses it for its intended purpose. I've mentioned a call for unity before there, but no one even paid that any attention. I suggested that we all support each others' posts by not only voting, but also interacting in each others' comments section to draw in more readers.
That, to me, is the difference between us and other countries. They seem to be more united, there are informal structures in place and they seem to be much more organized. It's a pity because we have such a huge potential, but there are no recognized figureheads, and most of us just seem to care about our own posts.
In any case, nice effort though, and good luck with future gatherings.
Maybe this is just a start-up and could not be called "official" as of now... I also noticed that the Steemit Philippines' FB group has only 8 members... "Great things come in small packages" as many would say... Please do correct me if I'm wrong about my thoughts on this. :)
i left a comment just above to explain things a bit
Sure, I guess that's one way to look at it :)
it is the beginning of formal, there was sponsorship, even my transportation was paid for. it felt nice. @hulkbuster will tell you more and that part will unmix your feelings. it was pretty sponsored!
Oh, that's great if it was sponsored then! It's nice that it was covered by Steemit as an official function. Though, I wouldn't say my feelings would be unmixed in retrospect.
yep, i read the remainder of your comment and it makes so much sense. only that concerted effort will fix things. after the meetup i thought the same things. really gathering the philippine community of steemit together is hugely powerful but the first part is, do we know all the philippines steemians. i just saw @hulkbuster for the first and his bro as well and before that, i only knew a few and i am sure the same applied to @hulkbuster. it starts there! and i think this meetup restarts it. @allmonitors is doing something to gather us together. if this effort is concerted like you and i and several others wish, then this is huge. hopefully, this sparks up something big. a discord channel would work better than steemit.chat in this case or perhaps back to conventional facebook. @hulkbuster has a facebook page. i dont think there was any intention to exclude. for me to attend, i wonder how i was even known to be in ph
Oh, sorry, let me rephrase. I didn't mean for it to sound like you guys were excluding others. I meant, the non-inclusion of the others, since you guys were the only one who attended, and I only found out about this when your post was mentioned in STP.
yep, i understood you perfectly. i only joined impromptuly as well. we are almost saying the same thing. it is only after the meeting that i started to see oh, it can work. before the meetup, i didnt know anything about being part of a filipino community of steemians. i was mostly on my own, till recently, did i see that this interest existed and until now, i'm seeing your own interesting or knowing that you are in the philippines. i am surprised i was known to be in filippines. it is quite easy to miss out on this things except one is known to write about the philippines etc. @allmonitors for instance, i didnt really know he was in the philippines until i saw a contest of his that mentioned that results will be based on the philippine lotto and before then i knew just a few others and especially one username that posts mostly on philippines history. i didnt even know @hulkbuster. so basically, he must have faced the same and not have known fully all the steemians in the philippines on steemit but this post can spur the change and it is pretty easy. at the very least, it has become evident that you are here and i doubt that you will not be in the nect meetup or involved. i was only part of the meetup that day, as i learned it will be in manila and not too faraway from me. before then, i can have been said to be in some isolation. i didn't know there was aim for a community in PH. i understood you.
Awesome! :D I'm glad we're on the same page regarding that. Yeah, I do agree that the level of anonymity here makes it hard to spot the location. It's a double-edged sword. As such, I'll be including the "filipino" tag in my future posts, and I will change my signature to fit the initiative.
perhaps! we'll talk more. Perhaps, this weekend, i will be able to say hi on steemit podcast. i am usually there and couldnt have known @jedau to have been in ph.
Thanks for backing me up @surpassinggoogle! :)
it was interesting to back you. anyone would. anyone would admire you really, school + this, and you are already all grown. tis all good!
Knowing you from our conversations during the meetup, I can tell that you're strong and smart. I admire you for that :)
Hi @jedau. I appreciate what you expressed.
Filipino members of Steemit were invited. We even have an FB group where I posted there. They were either just busy or away from Metro Manila that's why they weren't able to come. I also reached out to other members through steemit such as unhorsepower777, immarojas, and allmonitors.
I apologize 'cos I missed your profile. In the meantime, please join these groups: 1 | 2. I hope this post will reach out to the others.
The meet up is a mix of gathering members and inviting nonmembers to join.
By the way, we may not be as united as others but we'll get there :)
I appreciate the invite. Maybe it's best to stick with communicating on the platform itself and not on FB, if we want Steemit to thrive. We actually stumbled upon each other on steemit chat a while back, but not much interaction since.
I'm always excluded in lists of Filipino users on Steemit that I've seen, so I've grown a bit used to it :) It's good that you guys are gaining traction though, I'm happy for your progress.
You won't be anymore. Starting now.
I also can't remember having to talk with you on Steemit chat. Sorry for forgetting.
I see no traces of our chat on steemit.chat. Was it on the @philippines channel? Maybe it was another person.
I distinctly remember your name, and because you're one of the few Filipinos I've interacted with here. I think it's in a promo channel. Don't worry about it, man. I have this curse of being easily forgotten :D
We're looking forward to meeting you soon, sir @jedau. We would love to hear from you.
Sure. Thanks for the invite. I hope that I could get a chance to attend some day.
Are you within Metro Manila sir?
I live in Cavite, though I do go to Metro Manila from time to time.
I think we can cover your transportation cost for the next meet up. Can you tell me how much is it? Thanks!