Today I was thinking about my humble beginnings on Steemit and how my thought process toward and actions on the platform has changed in the last year and a half.

This is the story of one Steemian's evolution from a minnow to a dolphin.

But first, some definitions are in order.

These are the correct scientific definitions, by the way. I've done my research.

So am I actually a dolphin? I'm not sure. You can look at my wallet/reputation and judge for yourself. There are no exact terms. If I am a dolphin, I'm certainly a small one. Maybe I'm just a big minnow. Either way, something has changed.

Evolution and Changing Attitudes

Maybe I'm not technically a dolphin, but I'm starting to think like one. By that, I mean I think like someone's who lives here rather than thinking like a person who's trying to get in the door. This has led to a lot of changes in my attitude and actions, some for the better and others for the worse.

What Gotten Worse?

I think my content has suffered from my evolution. I still put a lot of work into my art, but I rarely write posts like I used to. I used to come of with these really thorough and well-researched posts, and do you know why? Because I wanted to attract a following. I wanted to show the bigger fish that my blog was worth noticing.

It's possible that I've settled a bit now. I have a decent following and my post payout is all but guaranteed to be at least a dollar per post, though it's usually more. And I'm pretty comfortable with that. I still do try. I don't think I phone it in all that often, but I certainly don't push myself to create excellent content the way I used to.

Not only that, I used to frequently make original artwork for the banner image of each post or little cartoons to supplement the text. Now I only share original art for its own sake, rather than using it as an element to beef up my posts.

What Gotten Better?

I've become more honest here. This is the biggest and probably the best change I've seen in myself on the platform. I used to be (like a lot of minnows) relentlessly positive and encouraging. Minnows will leave uncritical, wholly positive comments on any post they can find. I'm not even talking about the worthless I-didn't-even-read-the-post style comments. Minnows act like this for two reasons.

1. They want to attract other users to their profile. They hope that they're presence and encouragement on the posts of others will send those users their way. In many cases, they're probably right.
2. They're scared that any challenging or negative reaction will send more powerful Steemians their way to rain destruction down on their posts and reputation.

Now that I'm comfortable in my "position" here on Steemit, I feel more free to be honest. I don't say things unless I mean them. If I leave a positive comment on your blog, I mean it. And not that I do this often, but I feel emboldened to leave critical comments from time to time. I'll even drop a flag on occasion, if I feel it's warranted. That's something I NEVER did as a young minnow.

And in terms of money, I now think of myself more as a user who has the power to give. I no longer feel like a nobody who needs the community's charity. My vote is actually worth something. It isn't a lot compared to other users, but I love finding great content that only has pennies and bumping that up by 25, 30 or 40 cents.

In Conclusion

Graduation from minnow (or at least small minnow) status has brought me a sense of security on Steemit. With that security I've found both honesty and complacency in myself.

Now that I've recognized these changes, I hope I can embrace the good and overcome the bad. I'll try to bring back the fire I felt as a minnow and push myself to strive for excellence on my blog.

~Seth