A short post blowing smoke up the arse of Ned Scott, Daniel Larimer, Valentine Zavgorodnev, Benjamin Johnson, James Calfee and Michael Vandeberg. Thats one way to interpret this article, and if you were to say it, i wouldn't deny it.

The platform these individuals have created is truly a thing of beauty, and as i dive more into the depths of understanding it, i find a wholesome idea of sociality, wealth creation and philosophy. If only this could be replicated in the offline world, i reckon things could be, maybe, just a little bit better.

If youve read all of the Steem White Paper then firstly, your a massive nerd, but secondly, you will be aware of the ideologies and prime principles of how steemit works. If you havent read it, i dont blame you. Its a 44 page document with a lot of confusing words and algorithms. I personally prefer reading things with lots of pictures (with the odd blank one for colouring in) but i felt it necessary to give the paper a skim through if i had any chance of understanding the platform at a deeper level.

The first section that really caught my eye was 'The Story of the Crab Bucket':

A man was walking along the beach and saw another man fishing in the surf with a bait bucket beside him. As he drew closer, he saw that the bait bucket had no lid and had live crabs inside.
"Why don't you cover your bait bucket so the crabs won't escape?", he said.
"You don't understand.", the man replied, "If there is one crab in the bucket it would surely crawl out very quickly. However, when there are many crabs in the bucket, if one tries to crawl up the side, the others grab hold of it and pull it back down so that it will share the same fate as the rest of them."
So it is with people. If one tries to do something different, get better grades, improve herself, escape her environment, or dream big dreams, other people will try to drag her back down to share their fate.

Now, i spend my fair share of time around the ocean, and i have to say, i had no idea that crabs were such shits.

Its an interesting metaphor. Although my interpretation is that rather than bringing each other down, we as a community, stick on the afterburners and try to push each other up and out of the bucket! Generally, the only thing that separates a whale from a minnow is just their wealth and reputation, yet they still work collectively to upvote each other and strive for the same goals. Sure theres the odd dickhead that trys to abuse it for his own personal gain, but i have yet to see anyone succeed by going down that route, and id put a crab salad on it that no one ever will.

Of course, we naturally look up to the whales as possibly Steemit Gods or money machines, but from what ive read its all shone in a positive light. Theres no Tall Poppy Syndrome here, and if there is its quickly eliminated by the rest of the community.

The other thing that caught my eye was in the 'Account Creation' section:

A blockchain can enforce a minimum value per user through the simple process of
requiring a minimum balance. Any business that wishes to bring a new customer to the
blockchain can pre-fund that user’s account with the minimum balance that would allow
them to transact.

You remember all them times your teacher said "nothing in life is free"? Well it turns out Steemit doesnt like to conform to the rules of the education system that we are raised in. When we register an account, we dont pay a cent. In fact, I read somewhere recently that it costs Steemit a certain amount ($9?) for each account that is created. On top of that your account comes loaded with free steem-power already in there. Its like getting a birthday cake with candles, then being given sparklers to go on top of it, and then being given it when its not even your birthday. You are literally being given the opportunity to create wealth from nothing - how inspiring is that!

In fact, all i see on here is inspiration and opportunity (and the odd nudie in NSFW section). The energy of Steemit is so positive and so unique its like the dictionary, numbers and a rainbow had a threesome and out popped the Steemit community.

Image source

It really is a beautiful thing to see people pushing to thrive and inspire each other, and empowering to know that every single individuals opinion is not only considered, but also rewarded. I honestly believe there are huge things in store for the future of Steemit, and although i dont have a lot of money to invest, i will be investing more time in it.

As for the rest of the White Paper, a fair bit of it consists of diagrams and blockchain/award explanations that admittedly i didn't read in too much depth (it was 1am when i mistakingly though id have an enjoyable light read before bed) however it was still enjoyable to read the foundations of Steemit and i will be going back to it at a later date to find more understanding in the blockchain side of things.

So, in essence, the true beauty of Steemit is YOU, the community! Built on the foundation of a wonderful philosophy of digital socialism.

A massive thanks to the legends at the top for building the platform. Steem on hombre's, and have an epic day!