A Thousand Thank Yous!

I’m not one for tooting my own horn but this is as much about you than it is about me.

Thank you to my 500+ followers, I appreciate you all (even the dead ones).

Over 6 months I have slowly accumulated (almost) 5000SP through authorship and without any monetary investment.

Perhaps my rise could have been quicker if I posted on topics such as “I love steemit” , “crypto-anything” or “my bikini clad cooking and traveling extravaganza” (trust me, we all lose in this situation).

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The Journey

Steemit has been experiencing tremendous growth over the last 2 months and I’m blown away with the increase in activity and the numbers of new users.

My Journey here on Steemit started in November 2016, when Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms were actively censoring the open sourced investigation into Pizzagate/Pedogate I was seeking a sanctuary of free speech.

With mentions and recommendations from @Corbettreport and @titusfrost I found myself drawn to the Steemit blockchain. I’ve been here ever since.

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Steemit

Achieving 500 followers has been a long road for me and it has been a grind. There was a time where I even wondered if there even existed 500 regular users on Steemit!

Today, 500 followers doesn’t seem like much. Just the other day I saw a post by @stackin who has achieved an amazing feat of 2000 followers in under a month. Alas, I wish I had that kind of charisma.

For 2 or 3 months I posted quite regularly and just as regularly each of my posts received less than a dollar. My voting power remained the same for nearly 4 months – my voting power was zero.

My purpose here was never to make a fortune rather it was an ideal platform to share my research, ideas and comments with some like-minded individuals. The community here is like no other: friendly, supportive and intelligent.

Since, HF19 I’ve witnessed a lot of newcomers achieve things I never dreamed possible; $300 payouts, 1000 followers in a month, and benefiting from wonderful projects like @minnowsupport the brainchild of @aggroed and co. I love this aspect of the platform, organic growth and a collaborative initiative to help build the community.

It really is an incredible time to be a minnow.

Yet, some newcomers lack perspective and arrive with grand expectations with Steem Backed Dollar signs in their eyes. Some even complain that their posts have only received $20 dollars or their payouts are shrinking due to the market price of Steem or their copy and paste Shitpost is being overlooked. (I’m not going to mention the ‘follow begging’ epidemic).
Perspective is important, and as someone who has experienced the flagging experiment and HF18 rewards pool reset I have to say that today’s minnows really don’t know how lucky they are. Yes, after HF19 initial euphoria wore off things are starting to look like they did in the past. Back to normal, maybe.

That being said, the growth of the community is vitally important and I’m a full supporter of @minnowsupport delegating a modest 250SP to the cause and perhaps more in the future.

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My Fellow Researchers - True Detectives

The greatest gift of coming to Steemit has not been the rewards, it is the incredible people I have had the pleasure of meeting along the way. The research community here is amazing, inspiring and motivating. I’d like to take a moment to thank some very special and talented researchers.

@ausbitbank – When I arrived he was already a rising star on Steemit. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to him as he graciously supported my early (and largely invisible) research with upvotes, encouraging comments and timely resteems. There was a time when @ausbitbanks 100% vote was worth about 0.12, today it’s worth well over 100. Unreal! Perhaps the coolest part of his success is that it hasn’t gone to his head. He’s actively involved with @minnowsupport, continues to be a manual curator and all around solid person. After all that, I couldn't believe it when he offered to lend me 1000SP to improve my curation. Legend!

@rebelskum- What can I say about this phenomenal researcher and truth seeker? If you aren’t following this guy, do it now. He’s the Editor in Chief of the Pizzagatewiki creator of Esteem.life and has an incredible project in the making called Decentralized Intelligence Network (DIN). Be sure to go back through his archives an read - The Case Against DynCorp and the _Cost of Courage Series-some of the most in depth, trailblazing research on Steemit.

@fortified – One of best, most meticulous and analytical researchers I’ve come across. Underrated in my mind but this poster consistently produces quality content week after week. Be sure to check out his work on Vault 7, Wikileaks, DC Tunnel system and Cicada.

@titusfrost – One of the first people to recommend and bring the Steemit platform to my attention. Steemit Hater of the Year, Pizzagate investigator, original Youtube content creator, citizen journalist, and truth-seeker. His 3 part documentary series - Pizzagate/Pedogate The Unanswered Questions is one of the most detailed and exhaustive looks at the corruption, deception and depravity of the DC criminal syndicate.

There are a ton of very deserving authors that you should get to know that have made significant contributions to the open source investigative efforts and related topics. Thanks you; @richq11, @thelightreports, @thehoneybee, @mandireiserra, @blakemiles84, @frankbacon, @dwinblood, @lecrazycanuckeh and many more (sorry if I forgot anyone).

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Special Thanks

I want to extend a special thanks to @jamesc, @fulltimegeek @canadian-coconut, @krystle, @thejohafiles, @ramengirl and @ausbitbank for their support over the last 6 months. Deeply appreciated!

Also, I’d like to thank James @corbettreport, @sonofsatire, @lukewearechange, @krnel, @aggroed, @tftproject, @stevescoins, @matrkoschka, @kafkanarchy84,…

Future

The community is growing and it’s exciting to see @sgtreport, @reallygraceful and @theouterlight join the community. The future looks bright!

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Conspiracy Contest - 100SBD in Prizes

In order to celebrate 500+ followers / 1000 posts / 5000SP I’m holding a:

A Conspiracy Theory Creative Writing Contest with $100SBD on offer.

I will be adding the link to this post as soon as it’s up!

Contest Details (Coming Soon!)

Update:

https://steemit.com/flight370/@v4vapid/100sbd-in-prizes-conspiracy-theory-creative-writing-contest-what-happened-to-malaysia-flight-370

Please join in the fun!

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Images: 1 , 2, 3

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