20,000 follower milestone achieved!

it feels like I've been here forever, but truth be told it hasn't been that long. I started on Steem as the first crypto currency I'd ever been a part of. That was a little shy of two years ago. It wasn't because I was a hardcore advocate for Steem or bitcoin... I had heard of bitcoin, but didn't know much about it. It was simply because I was pissed at Facebook.

See, if you haven't been paying attention to my wall I believe some things about our government. They aren't good things. Our government seems intimately involved in pedophilia, human trafficking, gun running, war profiteering, and a plethora of financial crimes. Actually, I'm not even really sure we have a de jure government. I think it's a corporation masquerading as a government and claiming to represent it.

People have a hard time believing these kind of things. They go to public schools where they learn we're a city on a hill. We spread Democracy. Americans are exceptional. Don't get me wrong. I love my brothers and sisters on this planet and occupying this continent, but I can't stand the government. Have you watched the headlines? We're constantly at war. The opioid epidemic, which comes from US occupied Afghanistan is raging. Pedophiles are being busted on the daily in the domestic news and on an international scope. Every major social media company is spying on you and selling the data to governments and corporations. The veil is lifting almost faster than I can keep up! I'm amazed other people can miss it entirely!

Anyway, I was posting away on Facebook starting back in 2012 and I have been kicked no less than 5 times. I go by Aggroed Lighthacker. you think that was my first choice? I started as Aggroed. Then Aggroed Occupy. Then Aggroed Reoccupy. Aggroed Occupythebook. Aggroed Anonymous. Aggroed Enonymous. Lastly Aggroed Lighthacker. I might have even missed one or two along the way. I saw a post come by my wall authored by @stellabelle. Rather than starting another doomed account on Facebook I took a chance on Steem.

I sucked at first

There is no doubt that I started as a terrible blogger, a minor troll, and a platform idiot. I asked for follow for follow. I tried vote for vote. I flagged some people and ate rewards shit for it. I disrespected the platform. I tagged random whales. Literally, when I give advice on how to be successful on the platform it's only because I've personally done nearly all the stupid shit people do when they first start.

My breakthrough moment

At some point I decided I wanted to do more with this platform. To get there I realized I would have to be a better blogger. To do that I looked around for someone I thought was a good role model. I thought then and still do that @kaylinart is a solid blogger. Her articles are readable, quick but not short, thoughtful, and even have a call to action. I wrote a post about how to blog in her style and she was kind enough to resteem it. At the same time I had been hanging out @fyrstikken in Steemspeak. I asked him to resteem the post too. He obliged me.

It took me about 8 months to get up to 800-1000 followers and a lot of them were "dead." After those two resteems I basically doubled the number of followers I had. I realized then that Steem offered amazing opportunities to help other people. I changed my tune and committed myself to helping this platform and the community on it.

I created an account called @minnowsupport. I started a Discord community. I filled it with social mission driven rockstars/moderators and fellow witnesses that want a better world. PALnet is over 17,000 Steemians and growing daily. I've gotten folks to Steem Fest. Saved a few moms from eviction. Have the longest running resteem contest. I help manage the cost of an RPC server that's heavily used. We've built tools. Have off shoot communities. I've been able to earn a bunch of Steem and have delegated out 75k to good people and good projects. I helped build a streaming internet radio station. I've written dozens of get started on Steem article. I've answered at least 8 million DMs. And most recently I broke 20,000 FOLLOWERS!

Holy shit that's huge. What a crazy ride!

Keep in mind I haven't been able to have an account over 2k followers since 2012. I know Steemit isn't completely without any form of censorship, but I'm still here. My account is still here. My posts are still here. That to me is pretty amazing relative to where I've come from.

Steemit isn't perfect by any means. We have a pretty warped distribution. The curation plan hasn't been nailed perfectly. We have amazing technicals to the coin, but are still only top 30. We got some issues! That said I'm hopeful if for no other reason than considering the delta. Your other option is to be spied on by facebook, demonitized by Youtube, shadow banned by Twitter, or have your thread disappear on Reddit. Also, in 6 years on Facebook I haven't made a dime. I've been very fortunate on this platform and have been able to share that with the new member community as a result!

I think amazing days are ahead of us. I see the price of BTC spiking and the USD value of Steem rising with it. I think between velocity, communities, and SMTs Steem's best days are ahead. We're nearing 1M accounts soon, and I still think we'll hit 2 million by the end of the year. And we're still all early pioneers here!

This wall

All I really want is to be able to spend time with my family, relax, shoot the shit with friends, and rest easy that this world is a good place. I still have to fight for that!

So, this wall stands as a testament to a dream that one day my kids will have it better than I did. They'll have schools that aren't threatened by massacres (real or fake). They'll have hospitals that are more likely to cure than kill them. They'll have international discourse rather than international war. The tools they use online won't track them and their every thought from the day they are born to the day they die. One day we can shame our governments into peace. One day I'll be able to buy a house and not have to pay taxes on it or my labor until the day I die.

It's a blessing and I'm grateful

Thank you. Thank you for following me. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for your kindness. Thanks for letting me setup my digital home on this little plot on the internet. It's been a hell of a ride and I'm looking forward to where we go from here, and it's my ultimate hope that the journey that I've been on for the last two years makes your journey on this platform that much easier!

With love and many blessings of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty,

Aggroed