<p>Steemit is changing mine and many others lives for the better, and I believe next up is the world!<br />
My reputation was sitting at a meager ( - 6) after the reputation system was implemented a few days ago, which meant that my content was getting filtered. It had basically counted an old downvote (aka - flag) that I'd received from a misleading article I'd chucked up a few weeks back. From the point of the reputation system implementation, my posts thereby had the tinge of a ghost when they showed up on the boards. I was calling for help...<br />
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Being pretty certain that my time in the Steemit ocean was up, I decided to write one last post which incorporated an apology, a call for help and an article about ants, to see if I had any chance of saving my reputation before calling it quits. I sat there, refreshing the page every 5 minutes - as you do with Steemit. Within the first 30 minutes I had some strong upvotes from a lot of people I'd been talking to on steemit.chat about my reputation, but it wasn't anywhere near the amount that I needed in order to get back and running with Steemit... I left the computer, grabbed the guitar and started busting out some improvised, melancholy blues.<br />
(Music tends to be the answer to a lot of problems for me. You hear someone singing and you're more likely to take into account what they're saying. You hear someone playing a song on an instrument, and even without lyrics there to give you a deeper meaning about the song, you perceive the meaning and 'create' it. I found that throughout school, I wasn't just a passionate follower of music, but I also fitted in with the musical crowds. Even the music teachers had a way of holding my strict attention. I think it had something to do with having that 'wild' expression and image you tend to see with a lot of people involved in music and the music industry. Not just that, but music always tells us stories of people going through struggles which we can relate to, so I'm almost certain that this fires off certain points in our brain to practice empathy and love or other things. I'm not saying that all of it does this, but it certainly makes you feel like you're not alone.)  <br />
I could talk about music forever... Back to the point anyway. I came back to the seat, opened up Steemit and </p>
<p><strong>BooOoOoOoOOM</strong>!!!!!<br />
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<p>My reputation was fixed!!!!!<br />
Infact, it flipped from minus six to a hefty seven. Not just that, but my post had also made over $2200!!!!!  I wasn't even expecting to get a reward out of it. I just wanted my rep fixed so I could write on Steemit again and not be a ghost. It kept growing as I refreshed the page in disbelief... I went back the home page of Steemit and realised that my article was trending. 'Wow,' I thought to myself.' This is incredible. What the hell.... I can get my car back on the road! I can fix my oven, my fridge and most importantly my stomach! This changes so much for me... I can't thank the Steemit community enough. The past two days all I've been talking about is Steemit and cryptocurrency to mates. They've probably been getting annoyed. :)<br />
I withdrew some of the Steem dollars I was awarded from my post, converted them into Bitcoin in Bittrex and sent them to my markets accounts where I could trade them in for other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Etherium, Etherium Classic, The DAO or even just to my home currency, the AUD. I can have some fun with Steem trading too! I've had a bit of experience buying &amp; selling stocks in the market before, so it isn't completely new to me, but the mere fact that I can now do this with Steem Dollars and other cryptocurrencies has just astounded me. The feeling of butterflies rushed into my stomach again, like old times when I get really excited about something. I was holding 1 whole bitcoin just the other day for example. My friend was blown away when he realised it's legit. Cryptocurrencies are an exciting and new thing, just starting to pop their heads up into mainstream territory after all. Steemit is simply the easiest way to get into it for this type of crowd.<br />
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Steemit is still in beta, and so has a long way to go, but so far I'm amazed by the community and the standards that have been set by the Devs. I must admit I was bummed about having my reputation destroyed after the rep system was implemented, but I can understand it now. I feel safer here, as an artist and writer, than to throw my work and thoughts out upon the plates of other social media because of it. I like you Steemit. I like you a lot.<br />
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In the time that it is in beta, this could be a great time to discuss improvements that could be made, features that could be added and problems that need to be solved. 'Mona Lisa's' don't pump out on a conveyor belt line every 10 seconds. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a master in your field as well. If we push ourselves to that level though, that's when our lives stand as a monument and a testament to the times.</p>
<p>When it comes to improvements, I wouldn't know jack-$#!@ about programming or making something like Steemit. Perhaps we can write more articles telling the developers about what we like, what we don't like and what we want. I really like the fact that Steemit is a place you can come to and read information that people have pieced together from their lives and perspectives, and with the incentive of money this tends to grab people into a frenzy of writing well written, polished articles that could actually be worth money. The way those articles are found and brought to the top is through the democracy of the Steemit community. If you think of a vote as being a way to throw someone a particle of a cent because their idea means something to you, this is where the value comes in. It's an online community where we (the people of the world) can discuss things together and have a valued choice whether or not we agree on something collectively.<br />
It's like a library too - One of human thoughts, experiences, arts and stories.<br />
And that's worth a lot!<br />
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The rep system worked out well for the majority of Steemit users, and I think it's important to note that we should treat/use this system responsibly, as I'd found out the hard way that reasonable implementation can apply retroactively. I'm glad that people are so understanding around here though. People literally helped me out of a hole and raised me to the sky! And my vote is now worth over a cent!<br />
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http://images.mentalfloss.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_640x430/public/7a6b99449afbed4076af34f79e9f490b1bfe56ba.jpg<br />
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Thanks for reading and Thankyou Steemit!</p>