What Are You Squawking For? - Friday Night Freewrite

Lately there are a few to many posts complaining about some of the issues that are present on Steemit. Now I'd like to first say that I'm not sitting here looking at Steemit with rose colored glasses. There are issues here and right now I think a new one has popped up.

The rash of negative posts about Steemit's problems aren't helping Steemit attract new bloggers. They aren't actually doing anything other then maybe earning the complaining blogger some earning. See like the news stations have learned when you play on people's emotions of fear and anger you are likely to find an audience who will listen attentively.

I'm not picking on any single person, but rather the culture of negative posts just for the sake of negative posts. Most of those that are making these posts are just squawking, that is making noise for the sake of making noise. They aren't proposing positive changes that are realistic, they aren't dropping all witnesses that aren't on the same page as them, they aren't putting their money where their mouth is, and with very few exceptions they aren't even coming up with any original thoughts instead just spinning someone else's negative post into their own for financial gain.

It's Rape I Say!

See those that are complaining about manipulation of the reward pool learned to call it "rape" as it gains your attention. Is there issues with someone being able to write nearly 100 posts in a week and earn WAY to much for complete and total bullshit posts, YES! But is to compare it to rape is offensive to anyone who has been subject to rape, or to the families of someone that has been subject to actual rape. But again playing on fear and anger gains attention which means votes.

Now I know some of those complaining about the "TA God" (lol) are very sincere in their efforts towards trying to right a massive amount of manipulation that is being done by 1 member to the reward pool and I commend their efforts, but no matter what calling it rape and isn't helping Steemit gain users or investors.

Bid Bots are Destroying Curation!

The death of curation has been caused by Bid Bots! Really? I'm sure there is some level of truth that some people stopped curating because there is no value in doing so, but there is more then one reason people stop manually curating IMO.

Have you spent any amount of time looking at the posts of newbies here on steemit? The Pay It Forward Curation Contest requires an entry to curate 2 blog posts from steemit members with a reputation level 50 or below. As we are on week 9 and have featured hundreds and hundreds of posts during these 9 weeks and it's amazing how much time goes into finding just 2 posts worthy of being featured each week. Picture trying to live up to what many feel the whales should be doing and curating 9 full votes worth of their power each day...it many not even be possible on some days without giving very large votes...which is something else some people complain about...lol.

See without very sizable profits most people need to do this thing called work. While it's nice to think that every whale who holds $100k+ in Steem should be able to sit on Steemit all day running around giving others votes for content they are just supposed to care about, but that just isn't reality.

Most whales are whales purely by happenstance. They were at the right place at the right time and either invested a little time or money to put themselves in the position they are in. These aren't people with some altruistic view of the world where they feel the need to "give to the poor" just because the poor feel they "deserve it". Nor are they multi millionaires that can spend 10 hours a day on steemit. Rather most whales are just regular people trying to figure out how to make sure that their family is taken care of. So yes they monetize part of their investment to help better their lives. If I was sitting on $300k or 500k, or a million dollars worth of steem I'd be wanting to monetize some of it for sure. It would allow me to start properly funding my kids college funds, my retirement, help my parents, help my Wife's parents, and so forth. I would never let $100k+ sit in a bank earning 0% interest, so why would I give away all my earning potential if it was in the form of steem?

Then with what was left there is no question I'd be on the front lines trying to help the minnows get established so they stay longer then 60 days. While largely this is because I want to help others, it wouldn't be purely out of the kindness of my heart. I know that if people stay long enough they become hooked! Once they are hooked they invest in their SP by powering up rewards and like many of us we put our money into the system. This is good for everyone!

But Steemit Isn't Sustainable!

Talk that Steemit isn't sustainable by people who have never run a business like this...or in many case never run a real business at all is laughable. I challenge anyone who is making this claim to please tell the Steemit community what in you background makes you an expert is a social media site which allows it's users to monetize their content? Some of these posts are honestly as laughable as the level 25 newbie that hasn't even had a single post make 25 cents trying to tell others how to succeed on Steemit.

Now if you want to try and convince me that steem might drop to 50 cents again at some point in the future I would entertain the argument, but trying to tell me that the entire platform is doomed is crazy. If you feel this way stop blogging and cash out as your negativity isn't needed. If you are sure that steemit is a failed experiment prove that you aren't just full of hot air and sell all of your steem. If you aren't willing to do just that then you are just making these posts to jump on a bandwagon of negativity to try and sell fear and create anger for a profit.

So Many Things to Get Angry About

There are other "issues" that people seem to really enjoy squawking about lately, but I think you get the point. Each one of them has some valid points, but typically come from a very idealistic view of the world which just don't fit with reality.

If you haven't seen the movie Inside Out you probably don't have kids. But the Anger character can turn any situation into a reason to be Angry. At one point in the movie he decides he is taking over and starts the kid down a really bad path which could have been hard to come back from. Luckily there were other emotions to balance him out in the movie. Problem is the anger voice seems to be taking to much control lately. We need some emotional balance on steemit and it starts with you!

Instead of Squawking about negative crap how about we take the Month of June and focus on positivity. Focus on those that are doing good here on the platform and rewarding them for their efforts. Focus on the quality newbies that can become out next wave of investors if they become hooked (There is always a list of posts to look at on the contest post). Focus on building your own little community of positive minded steemians who want to change the platform by doing something nice for another person and helping set off some ripples of kindness that can lead to great things.

For the Month of June, can we just try and Pay It Forward each day in some way to a fellow steemian? Find one person and do something above and beyond for that person. Simple acts like an introduction to another steemian, spending a little extra time and writing a really thought out comment, giving someone that is doing good things an @steembasicincome share, or any number of ways to lend someone a hand.

My First June Pay It Forward

A member who left a comment on the week 9 contest page who I've never had any interaction with previously had their account hacked. They were driven down to a level 0 due to all the spam message the asshat that hacked their account left. Last night I took some time to give my thoughts to @goldbaba1 on how to fix their account and gave multiple 100% votes to try and restore some of their reputation score. I see today that they managed to get back up to a level 41 as of right now.

I'm not claiming to have fixed this situation by any means, I'm still a pretty small fish without the connection to pull that off. But while they were dealing with this stressful situation I stepped up and gave some support which hopefully helped at that moment.

Now I write this not to brag about what was done, but rather to show that there are opportunities all over steemit to step up and help someone.

My mission this month will be to help more steemians then I helped in May. What is your mission?

---

---

Photos were both taken by myself at the Museum of Science and Industry Pixar Exhibit. If this exhibit comes to your town it's worth the price of admission. The kids had a blast and all 3 adults in our party enjoyed it too. We spent over 2 hours on this exhibit and the kids whined when it was time to leave so we had time to get to our next ticked exhibit.

---

---