Perhaps we shouldn't always feel obligated to comment on posts, or even to read all of them.
First world problems. Steem rants. I know.
I hope not to be too ranty or offend anyone. But I need to say something, so you understand my (often mistakenly perceived) distance at times.
I've been seeing a problem here ever since day 1. Or, well.. for me something probably like day 100+ since because for the first 4 months I ignored the blockchain entirely.. because it seemed weird.
Ironically, that was exactly the precise moment in time when everything was climbing up to the all-time high. I signed up last September. Left entirely, never even peeked back at the site again until February. It is so super typical of me to miss out on all that excitement and money.
The whole thing will probably forever crash and burn now. Remember in The Lion King, that phrase.. "Everything the light touches is ours"? Well.. everything Serena touches DIES. Wheeee!
Welcome to the Show by Jeffrey
I kid. I don't really kill things. I don't even kill flies. Or ants. Or spiders. Or neighbors. But, yeah. It's fine. If I must take credit for the heartbreaking decline in the value of Steem, I will do it. I heartily apologize.
BUT I do have a tendency to stick things out and do kind things in the meantime and then maybe from the results of good karma someone gives me a free coupon for some breath mints or something.
Serena karma for the win, everybody. Hell, yeah. Coupons are coming. So, you don't have to hold your breath anymore. Let it out. It will smell good eventually.
But I do have a tiny little complaint.
In the Steemit world there is the widespread encouragement to be social, to comment on posts and to reply to comments on your own posts, and to read every post by every person you follow and to upvote and resteem and give cocaine cookies for SBD and to conduct bank robberies for steem (probably these are things of truth.)
And, well.. good Lord! If you're new to this place, you need to prepare yourself to become offended when your followers don't read your posts or watch your videos. I mean I've been troubled before. I can admit it. I mean, true story.. this was me one day after I uploaded an open mic..
"Why didn't anyone listen to my song yet? OMG! Steemit HATES me."
Yep. That happened. But, to be fair, I'm pretty sensitive. I'm really just actually very downright moody sometimes. I mean.. I hold grudges and I can't let go of things.
For instance, I don't like it when people don't pamper their animals. I become disgruntled when people throw cigarettes on the ground and when someone tailgates me if I'm driving too slowly, I wish (at times) that they would suddenly have a flat tire and be stuck on the side of the road for the whole night. (I have to drive slow on some roads near here because squirrels running in front of cars is a problem.)
It's funny, though, because I'm also very laid back and mellow about most other things. I get this from my dad. He's the exact same way. Look at him the wrong way and he won't talk to you for days, but he'll also chill out and watch the sunset for its entire duration and never even wonder what time it is.
Are you still with me? I know it's hard.
It's like this. I don't want people to come over and read my blog because they feel like a bad follower if they're not up to date on everything I'm doing. And I don't want to feel the same way in return, either. If I am following you it's because I think you are cool and I enjoy seeing your posts pop up in my feed.
But as much as do like to tell myself otherwise, I'm not blessed with very many magical superpowers. I can't see everything all at once. I can't reply to everything in one day and I can't grow a furry tail and use it to balance on a tightrope. Sometimes I'm a social disappointment. I get it.
But I ask you this
When it becomes a social obligation to reply to everything and to comment on everything, where then does the genuine interaction exist? If I don't comment, sometimes it just means that I was tired. Sometimes it means nothing in your post really resonated with me and sometimes it means I just didn't see it and sometimes it means I might have even rolled my eyes at your weird thoughts. (But don't fret.. usually the eye roll is me wondering why i didn't think those thoughts first.How'd you beat me to it???)
Sometimes I really love something that was posted so very much but I don't ever get around to commenting.. because LIFE. And sometimes I get too many replies at once on one of my posts and I don't reply to one comment because I then feel like I need to reply to all of them or I'll seem rude. So there are times when my posts fly by without my interacting to even a single comment on them. I mean, honestly, I know that's just bad manners on my part. I should comment back to every reply. But this is just who I am. I am not perfect.
Not that too many comments on my blog is ever usually a daunting thing. And I love every single comment I get. I really do. I even love teasing the bots and the spammers and the scammers. I flag people a lot if they're spammers. Like that account that sells bibles. That one really ticks me off. Is that really what Jesus would do? Am I going to get religious bot comments now from saying Jesus? I wonder.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8098/8428479456_1d5f98d615_o.jpg)
Here sits a spontaneous random old playground giraffe picture for no reason.
Actual title is upload by Osamu Iwasaki
Am I making any sense to anyone? I can hear the lectures I'll get already and the justifications of why it's good to always interact. It's just good business and it's just the polite way to behave. But is it really beneficial to the community to put so much pressure on ourselves to be always so socially decent?
That sounds awful to say. But I really mean the question. You wanna know what though? If I tell you that I like something you've done, it's because I liked it. If you look around at my comments on this platform, you will not see me tell someone that a crappy song sounds good. I won't say a 20 word poem about a pile of dirt sounds like Shakespeare wrote it and, unless I'm just being weird, I won't say it's raining if the sun is shining.
So when I do comment and reply, please take it for what it is. It's my gratitude and my sincere admiration. And when I don't comment or reply, please don't feel upset or overlooked. Sometimes I walk through the fields when I go back home to visit my parents and I walk through so many wildflowers and it's legitimately impossible to notice all of them.
You are like the wildflower fields, my friends. Sometimes I'll take your picture, and other times I'll just enjoy your company in silence as I so very often do. But just please know that I really do love you, even if I think your song is trash. I'm not going to tell you it sucks, but I'm not going to tell you it'll win a grammy, either.
Not that grammy awards are any any way indicative of what good music really is. That's a whole other rant, lemme tell you about that someday.
So, please do not ever feel socially obliged to comment on my posts. If you're doing it, I want to know you're really doing it because you wanted to, and not because you feel it's just the proper thing to do. I will never ask you to comment. Maybe if I got a new haircut I might ask, "Did you like my haircut?" But, really.. I can't see myself doing that nowadays either. I haven't paid for a haircut in years.
Lots of love..
♥ - Serena
girl you be you every day in every way. Where your heart call you go and where it does not do not fret it. You are loved here!
https://steemit.com/music/@soundlegion/tonight-serena-matthews-paintingangels-blesses-my-soul-with-her-original-song
listening to everything you got up tonight and I am just ..... blessed huge love to you
Shavon Bonnie Legion
omg I just love you!
Same here, please never feel compromised to feedback or reply unless it resonates or you feel like it. YesI read it to the end,I kind of find funny you usually filter your readers with have you reached here? Lol I tey my best, life happens, imI like to actually do read and genuinely reply with no trails. If i reply,I read, and wont do out of obligation dont worry ♥️♥️♥️♥️
Pris you're the sweetest , most genuinely engaging person on Steemit that i know of. I always treasure your feedback so much and I think I probably comment on your posts more than I comment on anyones. They're the best of the best. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Aww you are the sweetest and this statement can go back and forth many times. :) hahaha May all the love you give get back to you.
Haha maybe we're all too scared to reply now. I love your Wildflower analogy and I'm not lying just to pretend to be nice. I absolutely hate it when people are saying they like my post and you can tell they're lying through their teeth. I do get guilty when I ignore my good friends here because I do think it's a social nicety to drop in every now and then and say hello and read their work. It's a shame we all get so busy that we actually don't have time to read the post of others because we're too busy putting our own words out and trying to make a dollar or a few cents lol. The best thing I found lately is the Dictaphone keyboard that downloaded with my new Samsung update. It means I can actually speak to text which gives me more time for comments that are longer and Less superficial. I love the humour in this post and so I will be brave enough to comment lol.
Oh I have heard about that dictaphone keyboard, one of my friends got it just to use for Steemit. He hasn't used Steemit at ALL since he got it though. I think he may have jumped ship.
Oh no. It does take some staying power. The dictaphone keyboard is the best!! I'm not using it now, so my comment won't be as long lol..
Amen. I tend to think in terms of quality over quantity. I want my interactions (here, and everywhere, online or off) to be meaningful and intentional.
Big hugs to you, Heather! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
you're so right, or at least i resonate with you... i think that its exactly like you say, the relations here has to be more real! <3
♥♥♥♥♥
I know of what you speak...
I don't comment very often; if I allow myself to feel obligated, I just feel like a bullshitter. It's easy to say lots of things that don't need to be said. For example, this very comment used to be three paragraphs long. Hehehe.
Anyway, nice post :D
I wish i could hvae seen the 3 paragraphs!! And this used to be about 7 sentences longer! :D
In that case you'll be happy to know that I'm a big fat liar... I was speaking proverbially. There were no three paragraphs. If I'm gonna expend the energy to write three paragraphs, you know it's gonna be for official Steem Monsters lore. ;) :D
I know it's hard to not feel guilty, but I think if everyone really looks inside themselves, they know what you say to be true for all of us. Especially if they have been on Steemit for a while already. Life does happen sometimes and usually things like social networking (or if you're like me, any social activity at all) is one of the first things that takes a back burner for a while. No harm, no foul! You do so much to help people and that in itself is hard work! <3
Thanks Jen!! And unrelated, I am so excited to hear you on Meno's show next week!!
Hehe! Thanks! I'm so nervous but I know it's going to be a fun time!
Something which I detest about the non-Steemit social media platforms is that their "message alert" feature is designed to make the user feel obligated to reply right away—even when the post or comment or e-mail is not about a superficial matter and should require at least one good night’s sleep in order for the person to properly process and reflect upon what was said—that their reply may also be thoughtful and not only passionate.
After more than a decade of having used those non-Steemit platforms, many Steemit users hath unfortunately internalized that manipulative and anti-social "message alert" feature, despite the fact that it is thankfully nowhere to be found at Steemit.
Those of us who value quality over quantity hope for Steemit to stay that way, and thus for its users to help each other to realize the wisdom of the great English poet William Blake who wrote that “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.”
Anyone who quotes William Blake is awesome. Just want to say that real quick. And thank you for the comment i really do appreciate you reading all my ranting up there. ♥♥♥
Well. i feel obligated with myself to do what I want... and right now i feel like leaving you a comment, tell you that im super happy to call you a friend and.. that i loved your little rant.
Here.. Cocaine cookie.
Lol Meno. You don't know how badly I needed that smile just now. Thank you❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Proud to call you friend too.
"Why didn't anyone listen to my song yet? OMG! Steemit HATES me."
Yes! I do the same thing! lol
Well, I feel better knowing that I'm not the only person who feels this way. I totally suck at commenting and replying to comments....although I do make a sincere effort to send psychic comments....I hope everyone is receiving them...
Please don't feel the need to respond to this....just send me a psychic cookie.
<3
sends a dozen psychic cookies every day for next 80 years :D