There's a lot on my mind in regards to the IFC and.. I guess a quick blog post would help.
So.. First of all. Even though we've had a few setbacks recently.. I still have as much faith in this idea as ever and I believe it will go far in time. :)
Setbacks we had were.. @rarebooksleuth left as a judge due to not having enough time.
And @charisma777 has not been able to participate as much due to real life issues she's dealing with as well.
Also.. Recently I had some issues with my vision which were concerning and limiting to how much I can interact with people on here.
I was doing a good job of responding to almost every single message that was real and not from a bot and that I felt I could respond to. And then there was a day where my vision went blurry and I had to sit down.. And ever since then my eyes have felt a little more tired than usual and I've been trying to limit my time in front of screens and get out in nature more to exercise my eyes.
I was just doing way too much work to try to make this all happen and over extended myself quite a bit, but I believe in this idea so much and I want to see it succeed so I asked the community for help and thankfully a number of people stepped up.
@iexplore is now going to be doing the catch up rounds, and @bashadow offered to do the round winner results, and @charisma777 is going to do the leaderboards.
So thankfully all of that is covered and hopefully I can still do one quest a week, cause I really enjoy doing quests and sending people out on missions to help others or the world or make art or to help solve problems or whatever. I think I can definitely handle posting once a week and people showed me that they believe in this idea enough to help me keep it alive which means a lot to me!
I suggest you follow the @ifc account to start getting all those other updates, it should be a much more organized page with less resteems! So hopefully you can find everything much better there than on my page, since I resteem a lot.
Hopefully one day we can even move my last quest over to that channel, though right now I think we still benefit from the almost 3000 followers I have and more people will see the quests if I keep posting here for now.
I also wanted to apologize to @rarebooksleuth as I didn't give the warmest response when he quit. I feel bad about it, I guess I was just sort of mad that a number of others were working so hard to help make the IFC something much more than it is and I was practically going blind trying to make it happen and so many are sacrificing so much to try to see this come to life that.. It frustrated me in a way I shouldn't have let it.
All of the judges have done a lot of hard work, even those who weren't commenting as much and interacting with the community as much. I value all of them, even if some clearly do much more than others. So I want to publicly apologize for not being more gracious of the time and effort that was given. I'm sorry.
I was partly upset that my vision was giving me trouble and I was arguing with someone else on another social media site and when I saw the resignation I was just.. In a really bad mental place and I shouldn't have responded in the quick and perhaps somewhat callous way I did. I should have taken time to write a much more thoughtful message and been much more thankful.
PS.. If you read this @rarebooksleuth you're free to come back and guest judge any time you want and I'm sorry I was sort of an asshole in the way I responded. It's no excuse, but I have been extremely overworked and stressed out.
Okay.. So.. We've been having some struggles, I spent a lot more steem than I thought I did on this already, and.. I need to stop using computers as much, but thank god.. Some good peoples really stepped up to help cause I think this idea could help the world a lot some day. I wouldn't invest so much of my spirit and time and steem if I didn't believe in this.
And I think the others who are helping a lot probably feel similar. Special shout outs to bashadow, kryptocek and charisma777 as they have been here since the beginning or close to it and have helped a ton to get the word out and even spend their own steem sometimes to help do unique quests or get artwork made for others, etc. Without those three heroes, this would be a much different thing. I'm extremely thankful for them and how much they have helped.
I've already had so many people tell me so many positive things, especially in regards to how they are learning new things.. That.. It would be tragic to see this IFC idea go away just as it was starting to come into existence..
Which is another reason why I think I was sort of upset at hearing about the resignation.. Cause I see this as such a special idea that could help change the world and I guess it annoyed me that that vision wasn't shared more among others. Or the importance and significance and seriousness of the implications that this contest could be some day and how much it could help people over time wasn't similarly held..
But.. Now that people are helping take much of the burden off of me and showing that they also value what we are doing here to such extents.. It helps a lot, and I still think this is going to be a really popular game some day. There's enough spirit alive in it from myself and others to help keep it going, and.. I think that's important.
And I mean theoretically.. I could keep it going myself if I reduced it to one challenge a week or something like that, but I really want to see this grow.. Not get smaller, and I think in order to grow.. We need both more players and more people who help in other ways. So naturally we have to try to find both more people to play and more people to help in other ways if this is to keep growing to the levels many of us want to see.
Another thing I wanted to mention is that we are looking for another full time judge now, and we're always looking for more guest judges. So if you might be interested, lemme know. It's not easy, and the pay isn't a lot yet either.. But it appears to be very rewarding to some who do it, and in time if the IFC grows like some of us believe it will, it could end up being a well paying job with a lot of other neat perks.
Oh also.. Another issue I wanted to touch on briefly are these new quests we just started doing where we are sending people out into the real world and I'm really excited about that. So far it seems like people are interested in these quests, and to me this is fascinating because we're more and more blurring the lines between the game world and the real world..
And if this game ever does get a lot more popular.. Like.. Instead of 5-10 entries per round, if we start getting hundreds or a thousand or more.. We could literally be sending hundreds or thousands of people out into the real world to go on quests.. And this just blows my minds.. And is one reason why I don't want to see this idea go away..
I can see a world where we're sending huge amounts of people out to help the world, sort of like a video game.. Or a movie, where we have heroes going on quests, but it's not a video game, it's the real world.. And, it's almost like this is happening at an important time cause the world is dying. And.. We need people to go out into the world on quests and help save things more than ever. Not just in video games, but in the real world as well. We need real heroes going out and helping things in my opinion.
I've spoke out about issues happening in the world much of my life, but I've never seen the kind of energy and receptivity until recently with this game in regards to people being open minded to controversial information or in regards to brainstorming important and helpful ideas.. And if you have to turn it into a game, so be it! But to me, this is much more than just a game.. It's a tool to help others. And in time I truly believe it could be a really powerful tool.
Within the first month or so we managed to get two witnesses to help sponsor the IFC and numerous other smaller sponsors as well and we have over 50 who've used our discord now whether they are still active or not. I think in time if we get numerous more significant sponsors and a significant amount of more players.. This could be epic!
I think we could really do some real good in the world with this idea and the great people who have made up our community and who will continue to. We're still just getting started, not even quite half way through the first season.. If we're still here in 5 or 10 years.. WOW.. I can only imagine.. No.. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like.
If we ever do get more popular I think we'll probably have to hire a lot more judges to keep up with all the new players.. So.. If you'd like to get involved in any way please let me know, whether you wanna be a judge, a player, a sponsor or maybe something else.. We could definitely use more engagement and help, and we have a good group of awesome people who really believe in this who want to help others with some of their time. Which I think is very noble and admirable.
Oh by the way.. I definitely think there's still time for someone new to get in and win the 155 steem grand prize, especially now that we are doing a sweet 16 style. Even though we're almost half way through the season it's definitely not too late!!! And your stats carry over into next season as well, so you may wanna get a head start on season 2 by working on leveling up now. :)
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or drop by our discord channel! If I'm not around someone usually is that will probably be willing to help. :) Link is below.
https://discordapp.com/invite/bKVnKQF
Anyways.. I think that's it for now. Exciting times around here even though it's been a bit difficult and challenging recently.. And hopefully things get even more exciting in time! Thanks for listening and I hope you're doing well out there in steemitland. :)
Artwork credit - @yeszuzia on steemit and instagram
I just wanted to share some of my thoughts too because often people don't get enough credit for what they are doing and sometimes it is easier for another person to do that.
Of all the initiatives I have been involved in since my short time on Steemit (all of 165 days), there are two that have really given me any faith or reason to spend more time on social media. The first was the @newbieresteemday initiative that started off with @davemccoy and @mudcat36, and the second one is of course @ifc that started out with @apolymask.
There are certainly people with greater SP and SBD out there doing great things but I think it takes people with relatively less resources to show the newbies and minnows just the kind of difference you can make on Steemit if you are willing to be part of the change that you want to see. And not only do these initiatives give people the help and support they need when first coming into this strange environment, we are also starting to see people build on this to learn and grow so much more than just as individuals.
I have so much respect for the IFC because it is:
Well, I know that there are other groups out there too, like @asapers, @helpie and @newbieresteemday that all share a lot of the same hope and vision for Steemit that's why I am very optimistic about the future of IFC :) I think the new direction of rewarding people for real life interactions is a bold new step and I am very excited by the idea. I feel like we can try to add a little bit more automation to reduce the amount of work by the judges and organizers, and I hope to have an update soon on this.
Thank you for your awesome support @plushzilla! You are a big part of the IFC family!
As someone who is new to the platform, I have been particularly grateful for @newbieresteemday. Thank you to those of you who are behind this effort. And as I said in a comment below to @apolymask, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help with these contests and initiatives. I've had a lot of fun as a participant, but I'm happy to put in work as well if that would be helpful to the IFC community.
That's awesome I'm sure @davemccoy and/or @apolymask would love more help! There is surely a place for you!!!
Thanks! I've been trying to let writers who are new to Steemit know about these contests, so I've been working on some newbie outreach. If you need anything more, though, let me know.
Feel free to make a post to tell others about the open rounds! That could be some help! I have seen you have been getting the word out to others for sure and I am grateful for that for sure. Since we are still just a small group with people like you and @plushzilla, @xomegax, @kryptocek, @amariespeaks, and soooo many others getting the word out is the best thing we can do!!!! Thank you again for all your help so far!
@lynncoyle1 and @beeyou @bashadow and @deliberator could probably help find something since they too work with alot of newbies!!!
Great! I'll make a post about it. I think @apolymask was telling people to follow @ifc. Is that still the case?
Yes maam, you will start seeing the leaderboard posts and other entries come through the @ifc for now, and I think @bashadow will be posting winning announcements. So for now keep watching out for the rounds from apolymask's page he will be doing them from there since he has a lot more followers under his name.
I wanna say thank you to @apolymask, @charisma777, and @bashadow for getting me into @ifc and getting me started on Steemit in general. You guys are awesome! I hope this contest can keep going and grow. I was walking around last night with a friend trying to find a garden gnome, and it felt like playing Pokemon Go again. lol
If you feel fatigued, take your rest man!
I am glad you have entered the contest! Also glad you are enjoying the platform. I love that you are out searching for the items from @kryptocek's quest! I am also looking for a few of these items. I thought it was going to be easy, I was a little bit wrong!! Good luck on finding the garden gnome! Love the reference to the pokemon GO game. It's funny because months back apolymask had said it would be cool to get people out on these quests kind of like that game pokemon go! Really cool how it is coming to fruition!
I think the contest put out, are varied and not specific to just one talent, maybe no one can do them all maybe one of us can. With the variety of the contests, it opens it up to all of us. Each progressive contests opens the door to even more to enter.
I do this myself, my vote is not worth much but I do it on a general moral of community support. one or two of the other entrants to the competition I go and give a vote to too, I do this as encouragement to others to participate in the events. It is an individual choice and we would not have the votes to vote for everyone, but if you are inclined to share a vote with other participants. Supporting each other is supporting the group too.
One step at a time.
Thank you @jan23com for being the community minded person you are! It's people like you that will keep the communities here on steemit strong! Definitely couldn't have said it better myself!
Thank you, That's pretty cool when my comment gets a comment, thank you :)
Apolymask! First of all I wanted to say thank you for the drawing! I discovered about it randomly!!?!? I didn't expect it and I didn't know where to thank you.
I don't know who else should I thank you, but again THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I am truly sorry this IFCwas soo much for you. Too much work and too much steem.
Steemit is not a job. Take it easy and enjoy your life.
Also, I want to see your steemit blog go back to what you were writing before, who apolymask is! Anarchy, philosophy, veganism, photography and much more, so I am glad you opened another account for the IFC!
I leave you with this song, I hope it will cheer your up.
Always, your follower =)
Thanks for the nice message and the song! :) You're welcome for the image, glad to hear you liked it! And yeah.. I'm feeling a lot better now! Doing my best to not overdo it and when my eyes get tired I turn the screens off and try to get out in nature more. That's cool to hear you appreciated all the stuff I used to post! Maybe in time I'll start posting more of that again. Right now still very focused on the IFC though, it's doing so well and so busy I can't even keep up with it all! It's fun trying though. :D Hope you've been doing well!
Hey @apolymask no worries! I get it. I really respect and value what you're doing, so much so that I didn't want to just do a half-ass job. Life is pretty crazy right now, so I figured hopefully someone else could step in and give the judging and IFC the attention it deserves! I'll still be dropping in to keep an eye on the contest, and thanks so much for your offer to guest judge. I'll be in touch!
Thanks for the response! Also sorry for it taking me almost a week to respond. I've been trying to get away from the computer more and also stay on top of the IFC as much as I can to keep it running. Which involves responding to a lot of comments, to the point I can't even really keep up with all the comments. But I definitely wanted to make sure to get back to this one.
I appreciate you not wanting to "half ass" it and I'm sorry to hear life is pretty crazy right now. I can sort of relate and you know.. I'd probably do similar if i was in your shoes! I can relate and understand. I was just in a bad place mentally and I feel like I should have been much more warm in my message to you when you left. When harj quit, I was like totally understanding.. And was much warmer, but when you quit I was in a dark place mentally especially cause of my vision problem and.. I just wasn't very professoinal or friend like and I'm sorry. You've been one of my favorite people in this whole IFC and I love your character and book smarts aspect of life. Sorry again, and glad to hear you'll be in touch! :)
Maybe it is time for you and your dad to go out on a new evening photo hunt. When I get to much time in front of this screen, or my wife, we go out on photo hunts. Mostly for new stuff to share on steemit, but also to just get out of the house and in the bright sunshine for a few hours for our eyes. Yeah we bitch left and right about how bright it is at times especially when it is reflecting off the snow, but when it is all said and done, we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves despite the idiot drivers, the dust from a winter's worth of street sanding, the wind whipping it up, all the puddles and splashing from the snow melt. Still a good and enjoyable time.
Take a break. Have some fun. This will all still be hear tomorrow.
Hi @apolymask, I am so sorry to hear about your vision troubles. It's an incredibly stressful thing to go through. You have my empathy, and I would be happy to help you out in any way that I can. Please don't be shy about reaching out. I don't have much reach, influence or steem yet, but I can help out with the grunt work. Part of being in a community, after all, is holding each other up when our members encounter challenges.
I will also add that I couldn't even tell that there were logistical issues with the contests -- they all seem to come off very smoothly. You're all doing a fine job, and I appreciate the efforts that you're all putting in to make Steemit a great experience.
Thanks for your condolences. And yes it is. I appreciate the empathy. :) Thanks for much for the offer! You seem like a really kind soul and I'm glad I met you! I think we have people who have stepped up to do the main things I needed help with, but if I think of anything I'll definitely let you know and a great way to help is just to play and have fun and chat with the others and help them and leave comments on their posts and stuff.. I think a healthy community is one of the best ways to give life to this world! :)
And yeah I agree with your sentiments about holding each other up and also that we've been doing a good job. It's a lot of hard work, but very worth it in my opinion! Hopefully this contest is around for a long time cause a lot of people seem to really enjoy it. :)
Thanks again for offering to help! I'll definitely keep that in mind.
The people involved in @ifc all believe in it's mission. It was proven itself over the course of this season and there is still lots to come! I agree with @plushzilla, @newbieresteemday and @ifc are great initiative for growing steemit and it's community. Kudos to @apolymask and the others for putting this together and having this vision for this world! I am grateful for that! I look forward to being a bigger part of @ifc and growing with each other as individuals!
Ahh there is so much I can comment on but I really wanna speak about the vision. This past month and a half I've definitely been spending more time on my computer then usual with Stemit, IFC, and other stuff and my eyes have definitely felt soar and tires as well.
If you need man seriously get some fresh air write up the weekly quest and let us handle some of the work load. We're all in this together and I would definitely be careful especially with your vision! You live in a beautiful part of the world go out and explore for a week. If I was back home and had my car I'd spend a week in the mountains because I definitely need it!
That's a very good initiative.There is few changes you mentioned.Adding anothe full time judge,collecting sponsor it looks you have made it your mission.I wish there is a good competition.Thanks for sharing.
The ifc will definitly grow bigger we will stay to see this event happend thia community will grow larger by the day your hardwork will payoff apolymask hope we can help you do this mission/vission and hope your eyes get well soon get some rest hope you get well soon
Yes! The IFC is growing by the day and hopefully we all can make some great memories in the meantime! Thank you for the support!
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