Building the Community - Living on the Block Chain

Full Disclosure...  This post is nearly a full copy and paste of a post I did regarding the site and the community 5 months ago.  It feels relevant again and with new players,..  I really wanted to share it again.  Vote Accordingly as this would be considered a re-run.   

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What is a community?  

According to Dictionary.com:

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality,share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
We can take that definition and apply it to the residents of SteemIt”.  We reside at least part of the time on Steemit, although we are decentralized, there is definitely a power structure we could call government, and our cultural heritage is what we are currently creating.  We have somethings in common - at least some amount of computer skills, blogging, reading, and whether it is new to us or we are experts the element of Steem as a currency is also involved.

*Original bad art by @whatsup
Despite what we have in common, as with any community we have many different personality types, we have different goals, and different visions and approaches on  where we want to see SteemIt go.  Personally, I think those differences are good and ultimately add value to the platform and will help create a diverse and interesting social media platform in the future.

In our diverse community we have people from different nations, socio-economic backgrounds, vastly different careers, ideologies, politics, etc.  We have suspended our differences to come here and participate.  As vast as our social differences are our motives for being here.  Some are here to express themselves via, blog, vblog, cartoons, jokes, art, political statements, investigations, programming or coding, we all have a medium.  Some are here to make money, blog in privacy, or without advertisements, some do not want to be censored and some are just “testing” the waters of something new.  

                                                             

If you have ever lived in a small town you can imagine the different personalities there. The nosy mail lady, the old men who have coffee at the cafe every morning while they discuss world issues, the sweet lady down the road who has an ear for anyone who needs it.  The anxious PTO moms trying to make sure the kids get everything they need to be successful.  The grumpy old man who lives on the corner and yells at the kids, but if you dog get’s out he will walk “Fluffy” home.  After you live in the community for a while you end up with a  respect for all the personalities, especially if you take the time to understand their point of view.

*bad art by @whatsup

Recently, there was some conflict in our community and some are distressed by this.  My position is we are ironing out our different roles and finding our place in this community.  We are getting to know each other, we are learning to manage our expectations, we are seeking what role we can play here, and we are questioning the structure of the very community we live in.   Some like visibility, some like quiet, some hate conflict and others use it as a way to find their place.  Everyone wants to achieve or accomplish what they came here to do.  Things rarely go as planned, so when you plan isn’t working out, adjust.  I won’t say Beta, because I get tired of hearing it.  I will say this is a young community still building a culture.  

I am a people watcher, I love social dynamics and I am always curious about what drives other people.  I am not of the “Everything is Perfect” so, just sing praises crowd.  Yet,  I am certain the phase we are in is necessary for growth and the overall health of the community.  As a community if we just keep the conversation going, keep participating and keep respecting the experiment as a whole we will find our places, our roles and our voices.  SteemIt is to each of us, whatever we make it.  I see people say, “I have faith in SteemIt”.  I do not have faith, faith sounds kind of passive and as if someone else is going to do it for you.  I have commitment for SteemIt and I believe with effort, participation and yes, even some drama we can be successful.

To each one of us, that means find your niche, experiment, speak up, if you are wrong apologize, if someone wrongs you forgive, if this isn’t your thing, people come and go from communities all of the time.  If you need help, find a mentor, ask for feedback.  But, remember,  not everyone was meant to live on the Block Chain.  However, many of us are.