We've created a technology that is so powerful that it inspires our creativiy, our freedom and our relationships. - Ned Scott

I loved listening to your keynote speech at the Steemfest in Amsterdam @ned, because your vision was truly groundbreaking, and many of us were definitely willing to share it.

The ones that joined Steemit early were amazed by the opportunity given by this new environment, so we started to follow the ones that had created this revulutionary blockchain.

More and more supporters joined.

Now a bit more than one year after the above mentioned speech, I wonder were the vision has gone. Obviously, when you look at today's situation on Steemit, there is few room for that original culture of value. Self-voting, vote buying and flag wars are the dominating elements in that culture now.

There is zero solidarity and team spirit on Steemit. Constructive debates do not exist anymore. Most users send out their voting bots in order to allocate their contribution while the real conversations between human beings take place on discord.

And then when a supposedly unimposing little voting application like Steemvoter failes, the whole rewards distribution is turned upside down.

Now ignoring all these problems and focussing on the launch of new tokens looks a bit as if we decided to have a baby in order to fix our broken relationship. That strategy hardly ever worked.

Picture kindly providad by pixabay.com

The vision pulls us

Any great culture starts with a vision or mission statement - like the one that Ned introduced in Amsterdam.

According to the previously mentioned speech, Steem was created to reward people for their attention, and to give value back to those who contribute to the system. The idea was to build an independent eco-system that was able to constantly nurture itself by the creation of valuable social interaction, the production, consumption and curation of valuable content.

It was meant to set THE example of tokenized social networking and like that attract investors.

Steem was one of the first currencies whose value wasn't simply based on speculation. The social network run on this blockchain provided the token with real value, fed by an inspiring, creative and freedom-loving community.

Now how much of that vision is still valid?

Ned Scott's speaking at Steemfest 2016 in Amsterdam

Do we even have a common vision?

It seems that everybody has their own version of it.

There was a comment pusblished by @benjojo in @dan's Proof of Governance article I appreciated a lot and that pretty much hit the nail on the head:

This economy should be on a journey to being for everyone or it's for no-one. Can you imagine Steem becoming a globally accepted unit of exchange, store of value etc with some of today's whales holding the power they will have, wielding it as they have been?

To be honest, from today's point of view I don't believe that this economy is for everyone, unless you buy yourself in with 100K+ Steem, start blog posting about cryptocurrencies and close some voting agreements with other investors on discord.

Please excuse this little hint of sarcasm.

On the 5th of December 2016 I wrote an article about Steemit's missing identity and cheekily asked:

Who are you Steemit?

@surfermarly trying to identify Steemit's brand values (original article)

Funny enough more than one year later this inquiry still seems to be unsolved.

I could copy and paste my article and it would be still contemporary.

Isn't that a bit strange?

After having published that article, other users told me that one of the ideas of decentralization was that there were no rules or presettings regarding the identity or purpose of the platform. Even though I was completely new to the whole crypto world and decentralized concepts, I strictly disagreed about that.

Decentralization doesn't mean that there is no coherence required. Also a decentralized brand is still a brand that needs an identity, a story, a unique selling proposition.

You may build a decentralized environment where people enjoy freedom of speech and self-governance, but hey - you still need a common vision, an idea towards which harbour this ship is navigating.

Now what is Steemit's final destination? Or don't we need Steemit anymore now that we're going to have Smart Media Tokens?

Independently from any future projects, Steemit will always be the very first application launched on this blockchain, and it'll always be the main reference for the community, for new investors and for the media.

This no. 1 reference is of inestimable value and we should all treat it as such.

Now if we wanted to create a culture for Steemit - that common belief system -, what would we exactly need to talk about?

The following list is inspired by Six Components Of Culture:

1. Values: Values are the core of a community's culture. While a vision articulates a team's purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviors and mindsets that are required to pursue that vision. Especially in decentralized environments, values are key to ensure stability.


2. Practices: Obviously values are of little importance until they're put into practice. It's important that these values are especially lived by established members of the community, setting a good example for the new ones who join later.

   Shit rolls down hill.



3. People: No community in the world would be able to establish and live a coherent culture without people who either share its core values or possess the willingness and ability to embrace them.


4. Narrative: Every community has a story. Steem has such story (see quote in the headline). The ability to unearth that story and craft it into a narrative is a core element of culture creation. Steem is one of the first crypto currencies that is backed by real (social) value. Damn, that's not just a story, that's a revolution!

Theoretically Steem and the Steemit community provide the perfect basis to create and live a culture that is strong enough to change the whole understanding of the internet.

The big question is: Are we still aware of that great potential?

Do we all possess the willingness and ability to embrace the same core values in this community? Or are most of us rather interested in following their own personal vision here?

Getting back to what I said in the beginning of this article: Steem was created to give value back to those who create value, thus to those who contribute to the system.

So the one million dollar question is: how do we contribute? What does value mean to us?

There may be uncountable answers to that one question, and they could be all valid. We only need to agree on them.

As long as we don't talk about how we want this place to be, there will be people coming to abuse the system we have created, and step by step this great invention will lose its glory.

If we stopped backing Steem by its unique narrative, it would become just another token, and its value would be simply defined by speculation.

This revolutionary concept requires a community with a healthy and stable culture, shared values and common practice. Otherwise it'd be just another website.

Now I'd like to repeat the initial quote:

We've created a technology that is so powerful that it inspires our creativiy, our freedom and our relationships. - Ned Scott

Creativity, freedom and relationships - are these still our core values and aims?

What is your understanding of today's Steem vision and culture? @ned it'd be great if you shared yours as well.

I'm looking forward to reading your statements.
Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.

Original content. Quote found on canva.com