A comment that needed to be a post -April 5, 2019
My response to @paulag's post about making minnows.
https://steemit.com/steem/@paulag/make-250-minnows-insights-and-observations-steem-has-a-big-problem
If I had not found the #needleworkmonday and #beersaturday communities, I would have left from boredom. Leveling here is tough. I will invest my time to post and interact to generate value but I won't buy Steem with real money, I am not a crypto-geek. I have no idea what half the cryptocoin postings mean and I am not here for that aspect.
I think of Steem as points towards rankings. I just this week got to 100 and that means that I am 1/5 of the way to the next rank/level. The nice thing about the level system is that once I accumulate enough value, I can reward other players for good posts with more than just a meaningless upvote.
Right now... you are thinking... Jamethiel- you have completely misunderstood the whole website! But have I? Or am I looking at it from a non-crypto point of view?
It took me forever to figure out the power up stuff and I have to use steemworld to find mentions and basic information about my account since Steemit is so crypto focused that the developers don't seem to understand the simplest needs of their potential customers.
And no, I haven't bothered trying any of the dozen alternative interfaces- again, not a crypto geek and the options are hard to identify. Plus they didn't always look very secure. And I would need a lot more time in order to even try to identify an actual user friendly interface.
There is a significant difference between the power users here and the casual users and the deadfish. If the interactions you hoped for did not happen, why stay and play?
And Steem is interesting but too hard for most people to "get" the basics and get started if they don't join a community and engage with similarly minded folks pretty early on.
I feel lucky that I found communities that were interesting to participate in. Without them, the site is simply too hard to get noticed on and it is a struggle for new users to break past the lower levels.
I posted this as a comment and thought... why not make it a full post, a real statement about why I am here and still playing. Is this site a game? Not in the way the creators expected I am sure. But it does involve gamification of rewards. So as long as I enjoy playing, I will continue to do so.
And I hope that you all continue to enjoy playing here as well. :)
Here is a cool picture of what I post about to make people notice my post...
I can relate to that. I'm not interested in crypto-whatever and fear the moment where someones asks me how a blockchain works. Though I learnt quite a lot about how Steem works because I wanted it to work for me, wanted to know how to do the things I wanted. But it was a steep learning curve. And like you I never could have done that without communities. For me it was the Needleworkmonday and the German DACH-Discord. Both gave me kind of a homezone. NWM was a place away from all these crypto-gurus and gamers etc. and the DACH-Discord provided me with a place to ask even the most stupid questions :) I think in a way being part of a quite small community with a common language makes things easier. It's easier to find your place, your niche if you're only one of 1000 and not one of ten thousands.
In my head I know that Steem is money (kind of) but it doesn't feel that way. Perhaps that's the roleplayer in me, but SP is more like Exp in a game. Hey, they even talk about levels: redfish, minnow, whale. In the last fortnight I spent the equivalent of 15 Euros from my rewards to buy Steemmonsters while I would think twice about paying the same amount in Euros for something non-essential. Maybe that will change when I pay for something "real" for the first time with Steem: in August there will be a German Steemcamp where you have to pay with Steem. I started to put Steem + SBD away for that purpose into Savings - finally a use for that feature ;)
Finding other gamers as was a major plus for us. It really does come down to making personal connections due to mutual interests.
There was a thing in the early D&D systems where the player had to spend XP to create certain magic items. Steem is kinda like that... you play and it slowly accumulates, then you make a big post and get a bunch at once, and then you can either spend it on something cool or save it to level up. :)
I can't remember which system did this but I remember being annoyed about it as magic users would use up their XP and could lose a level. It was so weird.
I agree with the finding of the #Needleworkmonday and #BeerSaturday groups. I also would have probably lost interest without groups interested in what I posted.
I have been posting my "Star Wars Shirt of the Week" last year and this year the "RPG Book of the Week" and I enjoy doing this. But that is all I was doing for the majority of my time here. Discovering other groups has peaked my interest and I have been posting and commenting much more often in the last few months.
Thanks to all those who follow me and engage in discussions. I am not as prolific a commenter as I could be but I am doing it more as I become more involved in the community here.
Also, I have now turned this into a post.
I'm glad you made your comment into a post, @jamethiel - as always what you write resonates a lot.
I quite liked the concept of 'proof of brain', but that's irrelevant now from what I can see.
If it wasn't for the community aspect I'd be long gone too. In fact, I only resurface to greet a few people now :D
What would happen if there was a chat system here ? So much 'happens' behind the scenes - I reckon a lot more people would stay if there was a more 'direct' point of contact.
I finally joined the Discord so I could see some of the community outside of Steemit. But I have not had time to really do more than just check it out a little.
Building a community takes time. And that time is limited as users have to get the attention of new users and bring them up to a certain comfort level before the new people grow frustrated and wander off.
I appreciated how welcoming you were when I started. If the NWM folks had been mean or annoying, I would have left so quickly... :)
Discord drives me crazy. It's a good resource, but I haven't got time to be on it. I notice there's a chat version of partiko and I might try that.
ha ha, discord is vast, @shanibeer. I can easily spend hours there, but I'm strong and still clearing clutter :D I will investigate partiko again - we've got a bit more broadband now so hopefully that will help.
I always enjoy reading your posts, @jamethiel. I always learn something new from them : when you visit new places; when you tell us about the geocaching and the games + the knitting of course. Also, the photos that you post are amazing.
blush
There is steem.chat - though all I found out about it in my 9 months on Steem is that it's dead and I couldn't find a tutorial or any information about it. No idea how to get access.
Sadly aware of this, thanks @muscara :D
Glad you made this a post - I saw the comment.
As you probably guessed, I'm fascinated by steem :0), but it is the communities that make it so interesting. The first two I came across were #needleworkmonday and #runningproject and it was great to find myself in conversations. I love the tags that @akipponn has set up, #breadbakers and #planthub and they've sent me on a journey I'd been meaning to do.
Another thing I adore about steem, with all its imperfections, are the fabulous photographs and stories from around the world. I really enjoy the pictures you post of your home and surrounding area and the region you live in. It was also interesting reading about your recent trip and the various beer joints - I could imagine myself visiting and looking for those places. For the same reason, I love tags like #marketfriday and #sublimesunday.
I do get fed up with people telling me what I should do - post more, post better, get more followers blah blah blah. This isn't a job!
Perhaps I should have made a post ... hehe :0)
You should definitely make it a post! The posts from around the world help it become a less scary and more interesting place. I had never thought about visiting Italy until I saw @alequandro's photographs of the hikes he has done. They opened my eyes to places I would never have thought to visit. And @dronegraphica has made me want to visit so many parts of the UK. Without the worldwide connections, Steemit would be just another echo room of people never leaving their comfort zone.
you have a great outlook on steem. many people like the idea of a points system, thats why we run the power up leagues and asher does the engagement leagues. Keep playing, and you will do well :-)
Thank you!
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
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As you said nice things about some #BeerSaturday related stuff, I love to send you now a virtual !BEER and I hope you enjoy this.
Thank you! Now I have to go and learn about these tokens... :)
Mmmmmm beer!
That's a very positive word cloud and a sensible post. I guess I need to hit the follow button. :)
Posted using Partiko Android
Glad I could post something sensible, I was low on sleep and that tends to make me chatty. And then I wrote so much that I needed to really post it as something to the whole community instead of just within a thread.
Thanks for the follow, I have followed you now. Hope you like beer, cats, and knitting posts... plus random deep thoughts. :)
To view or trade
BEERgo to steem-engine.com.Here is your
BEERtoken!Thank you for this! I am so with you... without the needlworkmonday community and all the helpful members I would not only be absolute ignorant about many steem related topics, I also would have left because of loneliness :-D
And as @muscara wrote steem currency is still irreal for me...
How can I find you on discord? Do you want to share your username?
I just sent you a friend request on Discord. I'm not on there much but am around. :)