It is my duty today to warn you about this thing called Steem.

Steem ruined my life and I can't let it happen to you

I first found SteemIt.com in 2016, it was a new social media site that was anonymous, private, free of advertising and would pay me money to post my content on their site.

At the time I was a beautiful, well-adjusted, middle-class American living the good life. In the early days, I still had a family, nice house, cars, quality clothing, friends and a bank account.

When I landed on SteemIt I didn't understand much of what I read, there were posts about blockchains, Crypto-Currency, other cultures and other seemingly random topics. There was this thing called the trending page where people were making thousands of dollars on their posts!

I knew this would be my future

It all started when I made my first post. Those people wouldn't vote for me. I posted about Steemit, I posted about life, I posted about my first car, some of them got a few votes, which only gave me enough to want more.

I never got enough. I started to explore writing fiction and creating "Quality Art" using MS Paint. I posted hot chick pictures, opinions, snark, deep thoughts, some personal details, and it was never enough. I wanted and needed "All of the votes".

As soon as I posted I wanted to post again

In my quest to reach the trending page I left my job, neglected my family, soon the financial woes began to start... I was on a relentless hunt for votes.

I woke in the morning with one goal in mind, to get the votes. More and more votes, as soon as I got a vote, I just wanted more. I moved into comments and even tried other platforms like chainbb, zappl and busy - I never cared about those things. I just wanted votes.

The Bank took my House and the Cars

When the banks started repossessing my belongings, I barely noticed... I was busy posting. My family left, I made a post about it. I didn't talk to real life people anymore, I just couldn't relate to them. I stopped moving and started to gain weight, I rarely got out of the chair. My hair hadn't been brushed in months and there was this strange smell. My health was being compromised as well.

I kept posting... I started a twitter account to promote my Steem account

I opened a Bittrex Account, I bought Bitcoin, but failed to pay my other obligations. I now understood what a blockchain was and I could explain several cryptocurrency projects. I listened to "Banking on Bitcoin", while I posted. I needed those votes.

There were never enough votes.

I took a break recently to move to my new place

https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatsup/don-t-sign-up-for-steemit-my-riches-to-rags-story
Original post

@whatsup