Thanks ~ I tried to avoid the used car salesman or late-night TV advertisement sales pitch and go with an honest and sober approach that would make a retired librarian or nun nod slightly in approval.

Thanks. Really like this tribe. Best place to curate on when I have extra VP.

Nice tribe! 🌺

It's interesting how Steem enabled this unexpected learning. I've met a lot of people here who had no idea what blockchain was or just thought it had something to do with The Bitcoin.

Glad you like it. Decentralized social media should be the future. Massive corporations never should have controlled information. It's dangerous.

Glad you liked my perspective. It's been awhile since I did a post like this. Learning people's approach to onboarding is interesting. I think the key is sustainable onboarding. There is no 'try it and you'll be hooked' here. It's too complicated, frustrating and doesn't have enough bells and whistles. Explaining what makes Steem fundamentally unique is important.

If another project copies Steem, they won't have the dedicated userbase, however, they could get it right from the start (or very wrong). I have a feeling those who copy (or Facebook Libra) are going to not get the decentralized correct. I actually really enjoy listening to people complain about the decentralized aspect of Steem. It's something that never should be fixed.

That lake isn't close enough to my house to walk to and parking isn't good near there so I don't go very often, especially during winter when riding my bike is unpleasant. However, I do like that lake....Actually I like most of the lakes near my home 4 seasons, all unique.

Glad you also liked the freedom of speech the most. I do think this is the least advertised and most fundamental thing to understand after decentralized. It's interesting to hear people complain about being censored here when censoring someone here is basically impossible. It's the most free speech on the Internet. I've seen so many topics on Steem that I really would never see on Facebook or Google just because they are afraid they will be sued.

That doesn't mean we cannot make an individual choice to downvote or mute. It's just never done at a system level.

>Nobody ever punished me

I've actually never been punished either for something I've written (also just randomly punished by whales). I cover edgy topics from time to time and I won't back down from a controversial topic or expressing my opinion. I do follow basic etiquette like be careful about trolling and revenge voting, no cheating or spamming.

Occasionally, I use a footer, but to be honest I had those posts where people have 3+ footers and I need to scroll and scroll. Some haven't changed it for years and it's difficult to see the value it adds if any. Maybe a front end solution will happen sooner or later for people to promote things or show off their memberships without having to do that (I don't care really).

I think it's neat that you found your 'authentic' self. I'm not quite sure what that means, I think you are able to express yourself. In my case it took me some time to figure out what I actually like to write about. I've changed my style a bit too. However, I try never to compromise on quality or sincere feedback.
You mentioned rewards = appreciation. It's so true, and it's not just some social point, these rewards could mean serious money at some point.

I really wish I was on Steem in June 2016. It seems like crazy times back then. During that time I was on a social media break. It just wasn't interesting. I had finished a course that required me to do a professional blog and I was doing an Internet forum moderation for my employment. I wasn't too happy with that either. Glad I found a social media I like, here.

I find the people I engage with on Steem are constantly changing. I'm worried it's going to get too complicated before it becomes a ghost town or something.

Like you , I started with nothing on Steemit, so everything I earn here is a bonus and stays here to support others m, the biggest bonus being the friends I made

!engage 25

<center><div class="center">https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/50x50/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdHfkhCPGYcfUqZqT4Br3nsmCpeVPj1BcLoepVX2PYeAE/engagetoken.png/ </div><br><br> @mammasitta you have received `25 ENGAGE` from @livinguktaiwan!<br>View and trade the tokens on [Steem Engine](https://steem-engine.com?p=market&t=ENGAGE).</center><br><hr><center><sup>This tip bot is powered by witness <a href="https://untersatz.steem.design">untersatz</a>!</sup></center>

I think they are slowly improving, too.

Glad to hear it!

> I’ve experience groups making decisions through consensus building before but I’ve never seen it done among strangers across the world

I think this is an underrated aspect of Steem. I've heard all kinds of blockchains promise this is what will be done. Steem has already done this in practice and allows people to communicate together on the same platform. Maybe we need a few more years, especially with Steem.dao and soon to be SMTs and communities, but so far I haven't seen any critical issues with the model and it has faced a few challenges.

I also think a celebrity could have a hard time, however, they could also reach out to someone with experience. There are a few community managers and other talented people here more than capable of advising or helping out a celebrity. First, we need to get more readers. The content is alright.

Thank you ~♡~

Glad you liked it. Shame you didn't join in time, Although, reading more opinions is always good.

I'm going to start adding photography to blogs on different things now, especially text heavy subjects. 

I'm drawn to it exactly because it isn't mainstream social media. There aren't so many people here selling nonsense stuff amd trying to rip people off because they will get downvoted and they cannot simply report or delete stuff they don't like.