A Drunken Rant on Why Steemit is Awesome: Why It's Not About the Money

Hey Steemers/Steemians, it's Odin.

I'm primarily a network security and political blogger. I primarily talk about cyber threat analysis, research on the guys behind the keyboards that create the infamous attacks you hear about just about every day.

But that's not why I'm writing this today.

I was reading over @calaber24p 's post about Reddit censorship and came to the realization that Steemit isn't (or shouldn't be) about the money. Over a glass of cheap brandy, after a dinner of wonderful pork roast, I realized what Steemit really is, or what it's meant to be.

Steemit is an economy of ideas.

Sure, there are those of you who comment on every post you see, begging for follows and upvotes for every single cent you can gain. I understand, life is hard and you're trying to monetize this as much as possible. The reality is though, that's not what Steemit is all about!

Steemit is an economy that incentivizes ideas. You might have an idea that is far from mainstream. One of my contacts, @an0nkn0wledge , posts conspiracy theories and far-from-mainstream news, but made a post about how Steemit kept him fed for a week. That's an awesome thing, where we can all share ideas as a community and receive monetary rewards for ideas that we would be shunned for IRL.

That's not the economy I'm talking about, though.

Steemit's economy rewards ideas, and rewards community interaction. I could write some awesome material, and I think I have, not to toot my own horn, but if I don't constantly interact with my peers, follow people with different ideas and content than mine, I won't succeed. What's awesome about this, is that I can't sit here in my echo chamber, surrounding myself with the same ideas I hold in my mind, repeating the same misgivings and prejudices that are inherent in any member of society. I have to follow people, to interact with people, that I may not necessarily agree with.

Damn this brandy is good...

It also means I can't keep reading about the same 'ole technology stuff I've been reading about. I've been looking at content about motivation, something I had no idea I actually had a problem with. I've been reading political ideas that I never would have been exposed to if it weren't for Steemit. I dove into the wild world of crypto trading because of @sflaherty 's posts making it fun and interesting.

Steemit trades dollars for ideas.

Those of you here looking for a quick buck, you're likely to fail. I wanted to only post the stuff that interested me and gain a wide following, not for money, but for contacts and career boosting. I now realize that, in order to succeed in a free-market of ideas, one has to post content that user's of all walks of life will want to read.

That's one reason why I thought of this, aside from my enlightenment. People need to see the true value of an idea economy like Steemit. It's innovative, groundbreaking, and difficult to come by. It's an idea I've fallen in love with, and I look forward to continuing my content on this platform, whether it's for a dollar or a thousand.