One year Steem blockchain blogging celebration

oaldamster (68)in #steemit • 7 years ago

It has been a roller coaster ride so far.

And it has only just started.

Ultra fast, highly scalable

Actually the day that I registered this account at SteemIt dot Com, a year ago tomorrow, was the 26th of may 2016. I came across SteemIt because it was mentioned in video on JooTjoop by a man called Fyrstikken (Thank you!). Blogging on a blockchain, that was actually what got me in. And I wondered how was that even possible. Slothcoin, the sourcecode that I had been digging into for a while, did two and a half minute blocks... Now way that a blockchains like that could serve as a decentralized blogging system! Turned out, it did and it introduced me to a whole new and exciting part of the Blockchain realm. This was amazing, blocks were made like 3-2-1-DONE!

Yes, it was the geeky part of me that got me in this thing called Steem. First known as to be build on the same Graphene blockchain technology as the Bitshares {BTS} Decentralized Exchange {DEX}. After a while Steem got a further developed system that is known as Chainbase. And recently a parallel processing smart contract blockchain operating system, called EOS, was added to that ultra fast, super scaling blockchain family. All doing the same mantra: "3-2-1-DONE!" Steem would be able to do hundreds of thousands of transactions. Hard to imagine right? Well, EOS can do millions and more, because it is in scale as much as needed. Maybe Steem can even run on it, who knows, this technology keeps baffling me.

Great community and more

At first I was a bit out off my comfort zone. Used to different kinds of Social Media platforms and blogsystems like Wordpress. And then there was the community that gave support, like Stellabelle, who gave the advice to add photos. And she was so kind to allow me to use some of her great artistic photography back then. Oh and there was something with payouts, a dollar sign underneath the posts. Upvoting changed that value, in the beginning it did quite clear change the value. The 4th of july would be the day it really would show what that 'payout' actually ment. (SteemD dot com shows more detailed information how things are moving on the Steem blockchain by the way.)

That first payout moment was really awesome. There was a lot of excitement, this was a real thing happening. Blogging on a Blockchain actually payed out in Steem and that had value that could be used in the real world! Some payouts were beyond belief, 40.000 US Dollar!? It went through the sky and beyond. And I remember seeing a post of mine do very well at the time, it made my jaw drop several times. Hard to believe, even when I payed bills with it, after converting Steem Backed Dollar to Bitcoin, Gulden or some other one that I could use for that. And it payed for diner and lots of other things. No need to cash out at a machine every time, mostly done electronicly. And the community helping each other with how-to posts and replies.

What an amazing platform!

Growth and change

As time went one and the inflation went down, which was a good choice by the way, new bloggers came in and sub groups slowly started to emerge. Famous internet people joined, boosted the attention attraction and Steem grew fast in less than a year. An already there was a SteemFest in Amsterdam, soon to be followed by a second one. Driving force behind this is fellow Steem member RoelandP. Also in this case the community showed awesome support for a travel fund. That helped finance the trip for many. One of many examples that showes how supportive the Steem community is.

Actually there is so much going on, it triggered a lot of developements. A long list of applications, like eSteem, to much to name here, just have a look at SteemTools dot come and maybe you'll get the idea. Even get inspired to create something yourself? The community will support it with upvotes and resteems, that could make quite a nice kind of crowdfund. Artists, performers, writers and so on, they all found their place to express themselves here on the Steem blockchain. And the same accounts for me too, freedom of expression on a blockchain. With as much woman as men, nicely balanced, maybe not even aware it is all on a blockchain, like it is written in stone.

Party tomorrow

One year at Steem tomorrow, the 26th of may, with over 500 followers, a big THANK YOU to all who supported me being at Steem from day one. Thank you for all the upvotes, replies, following and resteeming. And while the first year of Steem membership is a fact I will be at great party. Not because I am a year at Steem, but because my foster brother and his soon to be wife are getting married and I have the honor to be their master of ceremony. The weather is expected to be very nice for an outdoor wedding ceremony. And I am really looking forward to in. So, in certain way, it is two celebrations in one day!

Until next time, Steem on!