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[You are a steemian who wants Steem to be better! 👍](https://steemit.com/wsteem/@wsteem/steem-what-are-steem-witnesses-and-why-you-should-support-them)

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I would not post often is you remove the economic reward from the equation.

money may be part of thee lure.   I find a bigger lure for me is the desire to keep upping my reputation score.   Finally the opportunity to use my creative brain in writing is a large perk.  thanks @krnel

I would still research and share my content because that's what I do but I wouldn't post as often.  The community here on Steemit is different than other platforms too.  It's full of very insightful bright people.  I think that keeps me here too.  I learn so much from everyone.

Steemit is the best of both worlds . . . 

Doing what I truly love doing 

Plus,

Getting paid for it

>Would you still be here if there was no money? 

Yes.

>Would you still be posting as much? 

No. But I'd still be posting and commenting and resteeming  will be the same if not more.

>Would you find other things to do instead?

I already have too many things to do. And I've also got to make a living.

The ability to earn for writing content is what brought me here in the first place. But as anyone who has been a member for more than a couple of months will attest, your first couple of months are spent writing into a proverbial black abyss. Your early content will make no money at all, if you're lucky maybe a few cents.

What motivated me in the beginning was the promise of profit and building an audience. Steem isn't for everyone, it's definitely not a get rich quick scheme, it's an exercise in patience. I go through the motions of wanting to give up and then I get a @curie or @utopian-io vote and my faith is restored once again.

Still at the end of the day, Steemit will never be profitable for me considering my hourly development rate for freelance work is $100 and I can easily spend hours writing a Steemit post, but what keeps me around is the ability to write about whatever I want and earn a little bit of money.

There are a handful of people like you that stay at the same level, but most of us are weaker!

And I think the posts now are a pale comparison of what they were 6 months ago

Personally, If I was getting up to $100 for my longer posts 6 months ago, but now I don't have a shit show of getting over $20 - two things happen.

One - I do shorter posts

Two - I set up a second account were I don't feel I have to stick to the unwritten rule of not using bidbots - and then I do my longer posts on that account and not feel so spanked :)

https://steemit.com/@frot

https://steemit.com/vaccination/@frot/vaccinations-potentially-lethal-and-totally-ineffective

![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmP6oyN2M7a56di9JN9dQYvdxps2oPKnBwMmotqxYLA7FQ/image.png)

Excellent post, sir!

I came to steemit _because_ of the possibility to earn writing.

In an ideal world, it is something I would have pursued in another life, and steemit offered me the prospect to investigate that avenue.
One I never had before.

The cemetery like energy on steemit at the moment, _does_ change your input style I find - but not necessarily in a negative way.

I find myself looking at avenues of writing (my fictional stuff, fun stuff for example) rather than writing to churn out posts...

It's almost like taking a step back, and giving you the chance to reevaluate..

I'm staying the distance with steemit...and that's never changed since I joined.
Commitment is good.

You only have to see the amount of texts that are published in Steemit when the SBD was worth more than $ 10 and the amount of texts that are written now, to give you the reason. Almost everything in society is a game of incentives, if you are rewarded for doing something once, you will want a reward every time you do it. Therefore, when lowering the value of SBD, many people became discouraged and lowered their production of texts, since the reward for publishing had also fallen.

Of course, this does not apply to all people, because there are people who have other incentives that are not money income, however, the rule continues to apply, instead of money the reward for these people can be anything else.

I don't think so that I would still be here if there is no reward for my little effort. Everyone gives his time energy to steemit for gaining a little or more for themselves. and I think this is the best connection between steemit and the users which keeps us motivated. It reminds us that our effort is not gonna be wasted. 
Thanks you!

No doubt, the financial award is motivating. We can say, that we are doing it cause we like it, and this is true, but the financial aspect is pulling are to do more and more. I try do stick to topics and things that I like and that is that :)

If I stopped getting paid for what I did, I wouldn't drop it all instantly. But it depends.

If it's something that I don't enjoy doing, then I'll drop it instantly. No problem.
But if it's something that I absolutely love doing  and am appreciated for and known for, then I would do it no matter what. Maybe I'll slow down at first, but I won't drop it altogether.

Well, I guess it's exactly the same as what happens in the monkey experiment, but the other way around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-PvBo75PDo

Positive and negative reinforcement.

# Hey very true and great article!

# I am upvoting it!!


# Please also welcome Lestat and CICADA 3301 to the Steemit community everyone!

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https://busy.org/@tafoyovsky

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**CICADA 3301 - Lestat Exposes Fake Q & Defends Q SOURCE X!!**

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https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmP9po24fNzuDngbEJuNFhqGix8XaVHpPSVRuG4nyAeH2T

https://busy.org/@motherlibertynow/lestat-cicada-3301-expose-fake-q