“Deep calls to deep,” which is what happens when you get a glimpse of what someone else has gone through or is currently in the throes of and you find yourself inextricably, mysteriously linked with that person because you have been reminded again of our common humanity and its singular source, the subsurface unity of all things... ~ Rob Bell. 

From the beginning, the thing that made Steemit great was its essence, its celebration of diversity and expression and creativity and sharing and learning and connecting... All of these things and more, in balance with being rewarded for doing what you love and being who you are, made Steemit a very exciting and somewhat magical place to be.  It was charged, electric.  Finally an opportunity unlike anything in the mainstream world.

That 'specialness' of Steemit once was so prevalent it hummed throughout the community, and everybody felt it.  It was the thing that made everyone say “Steem ON!” all the day long.  Everyone was smiling... you just knew it, you could intuit it. 

Source

Yet there's a lot of talk now about how the vibe has changed - how fewer people are bothering to make real connections, or voting, or replying to comments, or even reading other people's posts, yet are still expecting support for their own blogs. And many who used to spread their votes around now simply stick within a group and limit their curation to that group (or don't curate at all).  Less time spent curating, more time for creating.  Great... from a personal point of view.  But baaaaad for community, and therefore bad for yourself in the long-term.  

These strategies are understandable and to be expected, particularly now we're at a new plateau and prices are holding steady.  But the shift in focus – from community working together to grow a platform where all can benefit, to a very individual focus about how to maximise personal gain – has brought with it a shift in vibe and values.  Selfishness, insincerity.  Some previously friendly faces now revealing themselves to be, in fact, two.    

Many bloggers new to Steemit are now comparing it to Facebook and other mainstream social media sites, which focus more on celebrating popularity and competitiveness and showing-off.  Whilst ego has always been present in Steemit, it's never been as dominant.  Newbies are looking at the trending pages and turning away disheartened, as their own posts often earn next to nothing, nor do they get much attention.  A few months of this and you'll start to wonder what is there to stick around for?

Change, growth, evolution, it's all good.  I'm sure most of us would testify to that 'ants in your pants' itching for change and movement when things get stagnant.    
 

From tiny seed to shoot to plant to fruit, and there's all kinds of stages of beauty in growth.  That's good change.
 

But without nurturing the plant and looking after its holistic needs, so to speak, it can quickly start to wither and the life in it fades (and maybe dies without rescue).  That's bad change.
 

In this very simplified way, the same is true for Steemit, or any other community.  We want it to change and grow and evolve, but we don't want community spirit – the very essence of Steemit that made it great in the first place, that set it apart from all the mainstream social media sites, the thing that made it beautiful – to be choked out in the mad scrabble for dollars, power, and other self-gain strategies.  It feels like what would happen if they introduced rewards on Facebook.  Not like the Steemit we knew a year or more ago, and not a very inviting/inspiring place for new bloggers.
 

Yes, initially most people are attracted to Steemit because of the rewards.  But it was never that which made Steemit great.  Revolutionary, yes, but not great.  It was what happened soon after, once you came here and quickly realised there was so much more to it than rewards.   
 
This extract is taken from my #introduceyourself post, back in Aug 2106, which I share to highlight the difference between my reaction as a newbie back then compared to many people's newbie experience now:
 

“After a week or two of perusing the vast variety of talents, experiences, lives of the Steemit community I quickly sensed one very important thing – this site is special. I don't just mean the Steem dollars, it's more important than that: it seems to have this rather wonderful effect on people - it draws them out of themselves, it reveals something raw and courageous. There's a hearty vibe emanating from the Steemit community, like a large table bearing tasty treats, and a crowd of smiling faces beckoning you to join the feast. And it's for this reason I'm so excited – Steemit is unlike any other social community, e.g. facebook, which is largely judgement, competition and ego, where you constantly censor yourself, where your most meaningful posts usually don't even get 'likes' let alone any kind of engagement. Steemit celebrates audacity and diversity, and everybody fits in. It's like a really good New Year's Eve party where all are welcome and having a good time.”
 

When you joined the community, and made genuine efforts to connect with other people, this effort was noticed and embraced.  As you reached out you were met by the hands of others reaching out.  There was a really good balance of give and take.  Gifts of personalised graphics or signature logos was really common – like this one created for me by the well-known-well-liked @papa-pepper!  (The logo too evolved over time... another good change):
 

  
One of the aspects of community that gave this really wonderful sense of inclusion and worthiness, was that people actually read each other's posts!  Not only did they read posts, but they read the comments too.  You could end up with a handsome payout for quality comments (which was often an unexpected bonus of standing up for convictions or people) - note the comment reward below:

 
Perhaps, now that Steemit is no longer in the first formative stages we've stopped doing many of the things we used to... such as giving people hearty welcomes, offering 'newbie' advice, or posting about things that encouraged solidarity and community etiquette, and advice on creating quality posts rather than just expecting payouts for showing us what slop you just had for dinner.  

(Actually I love this photo - my Dad emailed it to me, supposed to be bread.  My mother was not impressed!)

The following article, written in 2016 by @thecryptofiend used to be shared widely, yet we see less of these in circulation now.  If you haven't come across this one before, and particularly if you're fairly new to Steemit, I do encourage a little read of it:
 

The Complete Steemit Etiquette Guide (Revision 2.0) by @thecryptofiend

Another great post designed last week by @kiwideb is this, which covers the 'five Cs' for Steemit conduct, nicely set out in a little box, and which she invites us to share at the end of our own posts if we wish (I have!).  I think it's a great idea, whatever helps to keep these important community etiquette approaches in mind for ourselves as well as others:

'Five New Tips for Steemians'

As I've said a couple of times now, it's really important to curate as well as create... Not just because you get curation rewards, but because it's the decent thing to do.  It shows community is important to us.  It lets other people know you value their post or blog, and you want them to continue sharing.  It's the thing that we do because we want people to stay and have a wonderful experience.  And it's the thing that will help Steemit endure.

But if, time after time, efforts and expression go unnoticed, many bloggers will not only stop posting, but likely feel a little rejected.  Not a very nice thought.  Is this the community we want to encourage and grow?    

Or perhaps we can ease off a wee bit on the self-gain attitude and spend a few hours here and there nurturing community.  Four posts a day leaves no time for attention to anyone else, unless you happen to be a whizz on the computer.  So maybe don't post four times a day seven days a week.  Set aside a little time for curating too, and remind yourself of the fact that without others we wouldn't earn squat.  So, do unto others...

And finally - newbies - don't lose heart!  And please don't leave!  There's a magical all-embracing undercurrent to Steemit, and a wealth of people who value sincere bloggers like you.  Perhaps you're just about to meet them!  There's some excellent strategies suggested by @kiwideb in the 'Five Cs' box below, which I agree with wholeheartedly, and it may just be a way for you to find real friendship, real connection and a real reason to stick around :-) 

Many thanks, much love.

(Shared with kind permission of @kiwideb - and you can too!)