Dealing with the current frustration of Steemit

I have noticed in the tone of conversations that a lot of people are getting frustrated at many of the goings on at Steemit and I have to admit, things do get to me quite often also. This is especially true because a lot of my interest areas require looking at behaviours and challenges and when there are so many, they do tend to rub off and affect moods.

Having said that though, overall the system is working relatively well considering how few believe it. Distribution is very slowly happening, as is onboarding, app development, SMTs and finally, some action on the dealing with some of the worst community members. Where it all leads is anyone's guess but I feel, upward.

It has been over a year since I joined Steemit and the platform is coming up to its second year birthday, there have been many ups and downs yet, look at the general trends and you will see that it is decidedly positive. Not that it has much value in the comparison but, Facebook was founded in 2004 yet, most people didn't actually join until 2007 as it was a largely closed group of users from a couple universities. They have 2.1 billion users now but, it took a lot of time.

This is a startup type environment and the beauty of this platform is that our investment isn't upfront. People seem to continually forget this. Yes, there were early people in and some of them mined or bought in but, that is the benefit of early adoption. Would you behave differently if it was you?

However for most investment opportunities, an upfront amount is required and that amount is gong to be locked into the investment for some period of time with no immediate returns and no guarantee it will provide any return at all. Most do not take the risks, even if they happen to have capital free to invest.

How many of you bought Microsoft in 1977, Apple in 1979, Google in 2000 or Bitcoin 2011? Did you hold? Those years are each two years after the companies were founded and if you had bought in and held, you probably aren't reading this post.

But, here we are at Steemit and for the vast majority, we did not buy in with anything other than the work we provide yet, many of us are earning something along the pathway. People don't seem to understand the gravity of that here, they think buying in is easy yet, they forget that the money to buy in with has to be earned also, often by doing much more difficult and soul sucking work than writing our thoughts, talking about our interests, showing off our artistic talents and creativity.

If you work in a terrible job and had a few hundred dollars saved up at this time last year knowing what you did then, would you have invested it into Steem, would you have bought 7c Steem after it had crashed from 4 dollars? Would you risk your hard earned capital on this investment?

Facebook

Google

Microsoft

Apple

So, would you invest in those companies in their first two years listed knowing what you do now?

The beauty of Steemit however is that it draws us in, makes us feel connected, holds some of our power so weak hands are a little less likely to sell. There are plenty of weak hands though, plenty looking for the short gains without thinking long, plenty thinking that this money is free so has no value. This is not true, it is earned and hopefully has a much higher future value.

Look at Microsoft between 2000 and 2010, talk about a dip... Look at Apple.... did you hold? Or, did you have the capital to buy? Did using Windows or iOS day in day out increase your investment in the company without ever having to purchase a share? You must be rich by now .. Didn't think so.

We all get frustrated by the immediate circumstances we face but the cure is to look long. No, no, no... longer. No, longer still.....

We are two years in. Only.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]