I have never felt more a part of the Steemit community than in these last few days. First I was given the honour and privilege of having my work adorn the welcome page on the site, and now I find myself being invited to become a part of a growing community chain in the most blessed of fashions.

If you are unfamiliar with the User's Chain, it is an initiative conceived in the creative mind of our very own @tincho, with the intent of building and strengthening bonds within the community. More than that, it as an opportunity for us to give thanks to those members among our community who have served as beacons of unity, support and friendship.

If you do not yet follow @tincho, I'd suggest that you do. Especially if you enjoy a laugh..

As of now, the chain is constructed of the following links;

@tincho, @danilamarilu, @papa-pepper, @verbal-d, @jedau, @therealpaul, @dreemit.

Before being selected, I was fortunate enough to know a few of the prior links and the strength of community that they possessed, but after going back through the user's chain and reading the posts, I now look forward to getting to know the rest.

I am humbled to be a part of such a strong collective of organic bonds, and I do hope that each of you will forgive me for what I must do going forward.

The rules are clear. I must pick only one person.

I have never been too good at following rules, laws, commands or anything of the like. So as much as I really did want to adhere to the rules set in place for this initiative, it proved far too difficult a task. If it is any consolation, I wanted to pick over ten people to bestow this honour upon, but after extensive deliberation, I have managed to narrow that number down to three.

I may or may not get some stick for this decision, but it matters not regardless. Life has rewarded me with some very thick skin, so no matter what people say about me choosing three links instead of one, it will be worth it to seize an opportunity to highlight the exceptionalism of three pillars within this Steemit community.

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@nikflossus

I shall begin with my good friend, @nikflossus. He was among the first that I had the pleasure of truly conversing with upon my commitment to this platform. Whilst I had previously enjoyed some interestingly insightful discussion in the comment's section of many posts on Steemit, @nikflossus was the first that I spoke with on a deeper level through Steemit chat. I found our conversations to be profound in nature, with the subject matter being that which I am most interested in. Beyond surprised by his knowledge, I was. He was able to teach me a few things, as well as offer me guidance towards finding answers to curiosities that had long been a source of bother for me.

I already knew there was something a tad different about this community before meeting him. But, it was around the time I started talking to @nikflossus that I began to realise what that difference was. Through him, the realisation that the Steemit community is predominantly composed of very intelligent people became most evident. Perhaps it is arrogant on behalf of Steemit to assert such a thing, but I truly believe the average IQ among Steemians is considerably higher than that of society. Furthermore, the majority of the community seem wise to the ways of the world, to a degree that is far more of a rarity outside of the boundaries of the platform. I consider @nikflossus to be one of the most enlightened beings to be among us during this social experiment of ours. If you would like to learn a thing or two, I advise that you follow him for a chance to have some of that light shine on you.

Admittedly, the man is not as frequent a poster as he once was. This is because he has fatherly duties, having just invited a new member into his family(Congratulations once again by the way.). But in spite of this, he has still found the time to help the community in a rather innovative manner. Firstly, there is his "How to Learn Russian" series. This was started so that others might learn how to teach themselves Russian efficiently, ultimately so that they can extend the visibility of their Steemit portfolios to the Golos network. It also just happens to be executed in a very humorous fashion, which is probably why I have found myself to be an avid follower of the series. @nikflossus is also directly responsible for the ongoing chess match between Steemit and Golos, which is doing wonders to integrate both communities and demonstrate the power of blockchain social media. So, I reiterate; if you are not following my friend, @nikflossus, then I implore you to do so. He is a most worthy Steemian and a blessing to the community.

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@dwinblood

This is another person that I simply could not pass up an opportunity to link to this chain. If you have not heard of this man yet, then you will probably be able to identify him as the poster of that 7000 word comment you noticed on a post you were viewing recently. What I enjoy most about @dwinblood, is that they seemingly have time for everyone. If you spark up a discussion with this man, you will get a committed, lengthy response-- and typically one ripe with wisdom and insight.

The longest and most fruitful discussions that I have participated in here on the Steemit platform, have all come by means of @dwinblood. The subject matter is irrelevant, he will always find something of interest to add to the conversation. We have found ourselves discussing a number of subjects, such as religion, etymology, governmental oppression and even the flat Earth theory. Whilst it is just as common for us to have conflicting perspectives as it for us to be in agreement, I find it a genuine pleasure to speak with him because neither of us cling to those ideals too tight, so we are always able to converse in a respectful manner. Having read through a number of his discussions with others on Steemit, I find that this is no different for anyone else, and so I encourage you make the effort to talk to him if you see him commenting on something you are interested in. I can guarantee you he will put just as much, if not a hell of a lot more effort into his responses.

Another thing worth mentioning about @dwinblood, is their commitment to this platform. I feel a strong sense of comradery towards him, and I find that we are very much alike in one particular regard. Whilst there are those on the platform who can be hesitant to speak out against potential abusers of the system, @dwinblood is certainly not one of those people. You can all feel rest assured that you have a warrior fighting on behalf of Steemit, and ensuring that if anyone does act in a distasteful way, @dwinblood will not be deterred by the threat of potential flags, and will speak directly to that abuser and convince them to see the errors of their ways. I can learn a lot from @dwinblood in relation to this. Whilst I too find it hard to shut up if I think someone is a acting like a cunt, it seems that I lack the ability to do so in an effective manner. Before long, my voicing of my concerns escalates into somewhat of an argument, and nothing productive comes out of the conversation. @dwinblood, based on my observations-- and many of them, is able to handle the situation more delicately. He is able to do what I am not; voice a concern and suggest a better course of action, without disrespecting the other party or showing contempt for their actions. This is how it should be done, and so I am glad that there is someone in the community who possess such a talent. Another great Steemian, and one that I would consider somewhat of a father figure in regards to Steemit.

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@thecryptofiend

Last, but certainly not least, we have @thecryptofiend. I very much doubt there is a single person here who does not know of whom I speak. They are one of Steemit's most prolific posters, and their work often(and deservedly) sits atop the trending page. I will speak very little about their work, because not only do I feel that most are already familiar with it, but it is not the reason that I have chosen to select them as a part of this chain. I will briefly state my favourite thing about their work, and that is the level of objectivity that can be found nowhere else on this platform. I strive to be objective with many of my posts, yet I feel that my opinions tends to bleed into my writing regardless of my desire to bury them. I feel that over 99% of us in this world are afflicted with the same problem, but @thecryptofiend is most definitely not. Their work is typically related to science, which is one area where you need to be objective, and they do not fail to adhere to this standard. This allows room for the reader to make up their own mind based on facts rather than subtly or overtly being led towards one interpretation or another. I hope that one day I shall be able to write in such a way.

As I stated though, this is not why I have chosen @thecryptofiend to be a part of this chain. It is their attitude towards the community that I feel is most worthy of merit. Though they are but a dolphin, I observe how @thecryptofiend behaves and cannot help but feel as though they are the perfect example of how a whale should act. They make a huge effort to welcome new users to the platform, as well as providing the useful steemithelp.net to assist with the transition onto the platform. They selflessly burn copious amounts of SBD on the promotion page to help lower the amount of debt in the system, in spite of knowing that their follower base is large enough that they would make just as much on their posts without doing so. I have even noticed my own posts on the promotion page a couple of times, and later found out that it was @thecryptofiend who had randomly spent their SBD promoting it. Not only this, but they did not even inform me of doing so, which speaks to the selfless nature of the act. One other thing @thecryptofiend does that we should all offer our appreciation for, is resteem a lot of fellow users posts. For a while, I was earning literally nothing on this site, as I opened my mouth when I supposedly should not have, sacrificing a lot potential support from key points of influence on the site. Where as people typically rely on whalevotes to make a payout worth mentioning on here, for a month or two there, I found myself relying on a @cryptofiend resteem. I noticed that whenever they resteemed my post, I would actually make something, as well as obtaining a few followers in the process. It was through this magnanimous gesture that I was able to earn a large enough following that my posts could earn me a little something regardless of whalevotes or resteems. I have never spoken of this before, so I would really like to thank @thecryptofiend for that right now.

I expect that I am not the only one who owes them my gratitude for this type of thing, because they are constantly going the extra 2 miles to support each and every person that it is within their power to do so. This is why @thecryptofiend is one of my very favourite Steemians, and why this community would be at a severe loss without their presence.

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Going forward with the chain

My picking three links has caused only one problem with this chain that I can see. No longer will it be possible to add a link number in the title. Again, I hope you guys will forgive me for this, but it can be easily addressed by simply following the format that I have used in the title of this post. I think that with three links now to chose a new link, this chain will find its way around the community a lot faster, and we will all be given the opportunity to see community members through the eyes of our fellow Steemians.

Thank you @tincho for starting this thing. It has already shown me positive aspects of community members I had not yet spoken too, and I look forward to being introduced to more members through the extension of this chain.

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Final note

@nikflossus, @dwinblood and @thecryptofiend. Thank you for being here on Steemit with me. You have made the journey a lot more interesting, and certainly a lot more enjoyable. It's your turn to pass this honour onto someone else now, and don't forget to put the first tag as #userschain so that anyone in the community will be able to easily look up everyone that has been selected so far and learn a little about them.

Final final note

Thank you, @dreemit for the selection. You know a shitload of people on here so I feel very honoured to have been your second choice. LOL I really do, as sarcastic as that sounds..