I have been surprised by Steemit in many ways recently. This platform is flawed. It has many issues and I am unsure if they will be fixable in the long-term but, I remain positive. There are a lot of people gaming the system, many outright lying cheating and stealing in an attempt to get gains, attempts to drain the pool of whatever value they can.<div class="pull-right">https://i.imgur.com/5gcrIub.jpg</div>

Yes, I am not sure what the future holds when it comes to this kind of activity and whether the platform can grow well with so much nonsense piling on top of it. But, this is not what surprises me. It is no surprise when there is money up for grabs that poor behavior rises to the surface. No surprise at all.

What does surprise me is the community that does actually exist here and some very invested people working very hard to try and get Steemit to succeed. Not only that, they do a pretty decent job of getting people to help them on their quest. On top of this, they seem to genuinely like and care about each other.

I really enjoy spending time getting to know people in chat, people come and go, people tease and poke fun at each other and occasionally, there are arguments and quarrels over a whole range of topics, most not related to Steemit at all.

The topics vary greatly as do the backgrounds and personalities of all of the members. Sometimes people clash, sometimes emotions boil but mostly, there is a lot of fun and laughter. It is like a family holiday dinner where there is a full range of experience on offer yet in the end, a good time is had by all.

Even though I have never met these people, even though I do not know their lives, experiences or even how much of what they say is who they really are, I have found that I feel like I know them and, even trust them to some degree. This is very surprising as in general, it is not easy to win my trust, I am cynical of human nature at best.

It is not that I am planning on handing over my keys and wallets to them, what I mean is that through experience, I can trust they are actually trying to do what they say. There is a level of authenticity behind the cartoon profile pictures, an integrity that I find missing in much of the world I observe.

If anything is going to help Steemit, it is people like them. Yes, it will take a lot of technical development to solve many of the issues but, the community builders are the ones who will create the atmosphere that brings people in and helps them want to stay and add value themselves.

It is also these kinds of communities that will slowly weed out the scammers, thieves and attempted pool rapists and drive the platform towards a more healthy position. The reason is that many of these people also feel like they are part of the community here and are looking to help it be as strong as possible.

Personally for me, I feel like I am somewhat part of something though I am yet to find my place. Currently it is as a content provider only but I think in time I may be able to add more value in other areas too, although I am unsure where yet. For the time being however, I will be content to add thoughts, questions and sometimes make people think differently or even better, smile.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]