Hello, good people on steemit
As you can tell from the title, and this being my #introduceyourself post, this is my first time putting myself out there on steemit. In fact, it is my first ever attempt to dabble in anything to do with the crypto world. And it is SCARY!! I want to understand it and so I read as much as time allows. The more I read, the clearer certain things become, but overall it gets more and more complex. For every question that is answered, several new ones pop up. I feel like I'm only scratching the surface and will never, ever know enough to make the best use of it. I can't even imagine in my head how a blockchain works. That whole concept is a fairly deep mystery to me and my brain just isn't wired for such things. So I have been reluctant because doing things I don't fully understand makes me uncomfortable.
Then again, I've come to believe that this is the future and there's no stopping it. And frankly, the thought of missing that rather important train makes me even more uncomfortable than getting on board. In fact, if there is a train to catch, I'd rather hop on early so I can get a seat with a nice view that enables me to observe the landscape, to learn how it all connects and eventually see the bigger picture. So here I am, hopping on (my phone apologises for the terrible picture quality):
(Yep, that fluffy thing in the right bottom corner is a cat. We have three of them and love them to death. No doubt, there will be a cat post at some point...)
How did I come to steemit?
I first read about steemit on the facebook page of an ex-politician who lives in my area, Rob Pyne. His story is pretty inspiring, check it out @robpyne. I don't know Rob very well so he's unaware that it was him who directed me here, but I hope a few new people will now read his posts. When I checked #steemit out, I found the idea of a blog with the potential to make a few dollars pretty cool! Even if it's not a lot of money, it's better than nothing, right? I shared this with my daughter who is a writer and editor and has had a wonderful blog for a while [Tamara Drazic] (https://tamaradrazic.com/). Tamara is extremely busy studying, working and writing so I wasn't expecting her to sign up as fast as she did, but sure enough, there it was @tamarajoy. When I saw that, I thought, ok, if she can find time to do this, then so can I. I do have some ideas that will hopefully spark some interesting debate.
But hang on, before I continue, I should probably finally introduce myself...
After all, this is an introductory post, so I better tell people who I am (putting this in bullet points to practice making lists with markdown):
Here it goes. My name is Yvonne and I...
- ...was born in Switzerland in 1966 which makes me 52 years old this year
- ...came to Australia with my husband Peter in 1994
- ...live in Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland (where it's always warm)
- ...love peace and trees, cats and other natural wonders (and the fact that I can walk to the beach from my place)
- ...have two daughters, born in 1994 and 1996, whom I absolutely adore (proud mother syndrome). No, seriously, they ARE the BEST!! You already saw a link to my younger one's writing work, and the older is a marvellous photographer, definitely worth a look on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/larissadrazic/) and her website [LD Imagery] (https://larissadrazicimagery.com/)
Not quite finished yet. I also...
- ...have a Bpsych(Hons) degree and plan to finish writing a masters thesis by the end of this year
- ...currently have two part-time jobs within Queensland Health (but often choose a day off over more money)
- ...have chronic hepatitis B which kills far too many people every year (more about that in a future post)
- ...am grateful for what I have and take nothing for granted
- ...am not a fan of religion and neither do I need religion to be a good person (huge topic, may well put my thoughts in a post one day)
- ...have a few more dislikes, mostly to do with injustices caused by greed and unequal distribution of power and money (also big topics that make one's head spin)
- ...I still have big dreams (especially one but more about that in a future post)
That should give a bit of an overview of who I am but, of course, it is not complete. No person can be fully described in a few bullet points. Also, some may think they would like me based on the above and some not, but if they'd actually meet me in person, it could well be the other way round. Human psychology is such an interesting study that has given me at least as much benefit in my personal life as it did in my work. One important thing it has taught me is to never judge a person until I know their whole story.
Now back to me and steemit
Soooo, why did it take me so long to finally get going and write my first post? Well, I'll be very honest with you, after an initial wave of excitement about the idea behind steemit (namely that rewards will be in accordance with the quality and value of a contribution), I quickly became disillusioned when I realised that it is clearly not so. I admit that I hadn't read enough about steempower at the beginning, and I should have done that before I even started to read posts. In any case, when I wanted to write my first post soon after signing up, I thought to myself, "let's look at some other #introduceyourself posts, maybe one that got lots of upvotes, just to see how it's done". So with expectations running high, I read one with hundreds of votes and $$ on it, only to be bitterly disappointed. I am a bit of a spelling and grammar freak, and the grammar of that post was appalling. But it wasn't that. Knowing that people from all over the world are using the platform and English is a second language for many, I have no problem with that. I even applaud people for having the courage to write in a language other than their own. But aside from that, the post (yes, the one with hundreds of dollars on it) was a dull account of a non-eventful life, lacking any kind of wisdom or useful message, and without a trace of humour or emotion. I took absolutely nothing away from it except the feeling of having wasted my time. And I was puzzled to no end as to what this post contained that could possibly warrant the high number of votes and dollars on it. It was a true moment of What the hell?? (using the word 'hell' here because to this day, I can't manage to get the 'f' word over my lips, or on paper or onto a screen, but really, that was how the thought very uncharacteristically articulated itself in my head).
After that, I read a few posts and comments about steempower, vote bots, whales and all that, and I didn't like the sound of it at all. In fact, it put me off, majorly. The thought that those who can afford it can just buy themselves votes and power to vote, and consequently help themselves (and those they like) to earn even more, doesn't sit well with me. My whole life I objected to the notion how easy it is for the rich to get richer, as they get higher interest on their capital and lower fees on services, and even the power to influence markets. My first thought was "is there even a point participating if I don't want to use bots?"
Those who know me also know that I'm not about money. I feel like steemit may be a good place to share what's in my head without worrying whether or not others agree with me, a place where people are open-minded and interested, tell it as it is (or as they see it) and are supportive even if they have different opinions. I don't expect to earn much money here, but I was hoping it would be a fair and just place where people can find what is actually relevant and most useful to them, and not just what ends up at the top of trending because that person bought the most votes. Unfortunately, right now it doesn't quite feel that way. I would love to stand corrected though and hear that I'm wrong, that steemit really is an equal playground for EVERYONE, where those who produce valuable content can get rewarded accordingly, and those who post rubbish won't be successful in the long run.
Please help me understand
Being new to steem and steemit, I totally appreciate that I simply don't know enough yet. There are a million posts to read and I never have enough hours in the day to read as many as I want, and sometimes my eyes just don't want to look into a screen anymore at the end of a working day.
I often find that I learn the most from insightful, concise, and relevant comments on the most interesting posts. The comments usually make the picture whole, enhance my understanding and tie up loose ends. A post is not complete without comments, and a post that doesn't receive any valuable feedback is probably not very valuable to begin with. So, my hope is for my first post here that some of the people who know best how all this works will take the time to comment and make it whole. Make it into something that helps me and other newbies to become productive members who will in turn add lots of value to the steemit community.
Thank you and please don't go away, I'll be back with more after the break (haha)!
Yours truly
Steem(it) is the perfect way to dive into the world of cryptos since you can sign up for free and earn some - Then you can try out stuff without ever investing a cent :)
Resteeming you for some publicity!
Greets, @theaustrianguy
Welcome to Steemit. I wish you all the best in your journey. Reach out to several of the people that have commented here as they will have many helpful hints. I found you through the #payitforward contest. You were featured by @honeysim. Congratulations.
Thank you! Yes, I'm grateful to @honeysim for nominating me. I followed you and will read more of your posts as they help me understand things better.
Welcome! Great to have you here, friend.
Crypto is the big world now. Keep steem on dear
welcome to the steemit community !
Hello and welcome to steemit, first things first, i found your post via @honeysim featuring you in their "Pay it Forward" contest entry. Crypto and money issue things there is a ton of help available on that but, not something I really know about.
The social aspects, people on steemit seem to be pretty friendly for the most part, watch out for the whale wars and try not to get sucked in to them. Their are a lot of groups/communities forming on steemit, pretty much one for everyone. I myself tend to stay around just a few of them. If you like to meet and chat at and find good quality post and such, then #newbieresteemday is a very good place to look. After almost 9 months on steemit, it seems as if most of the real good, and the quality post is coming from the newer users. As you have already experienced with the "Trending" tab of steemit. The well off whales and larger accounts do not really have a lot of good content, there are exceptions, but I have found the new user content to be of higher quality. So a search through the #newbieresteemday tag will generally turn up some pretty good content.
Okay, that takes care of one aspect, If you enjoy challenges and games, and meeting good, kind and personable people, you may want to look into @IFC, (this is also something you may want to mention to your daughter), IFC stands for Information Finding Championship. Season 1 is coming to a close soon, but the people are all very nice that are involved with it. We even have spectators to our challenges in our Discord chat room.
If you are a person that likes to shop for those special one of a kind type things, in the IFC Discord Chatroom, we have a side room, (actually about 15), for vendors to sell things or for shoppers to look for things or make request of vendors. (part of the @IFC spectators). The Marketplace was born because of a desire for some of the IFC watchers to help out and because well we are a very fun group of social people. @IFC and the Marketplace were all spawned from the brain of @apolymask, and his page is still one of the primary for finding out about the IFC next season it will all mostly be carried over on the @IFC channel.
Well that is about it for now, I tend to get long winded sometimes. For crypto info, you will have no problem finding help. For good content, the Newbieresteemday group are good hunters, and for nice people interaction @IFC is hard to beat.
Thanks for this very informative comment. There is so much out there that sounds interesting but it's hard to tell on first glance what is quality information and what is not (don't we all hate to waste our time). So it's extremely helpful to be directed to some of the good stuff. It's great to see how many steemians really want to help the newbies. Thanks so much for your suggestions, I'll definitely check them out :)
Yep quality is a very individual thing. In one of the discord rooms I look into every now and then there are a few foreign language posters that I take a look at and use the browser translate function, some time it works real well, sometime, you can get funny looking sentences, and sometimes it just doesn't work at all.
But Quality really is in the eye of the beholder, kind of like beauty. Some people really really hat fiction, and think that fiction authors are all over voted and rewarded, some people hate Cryptanalysis and think they are overrated and paid, but for all the dislikers there are more that vote for the content than those that down vote the content.
There are groups of people that do want to help new users out, I mean who is going to make us something new to read, who is going to read what we put out, it is the new users, they are key to keeping steemit growing and improving, and a positive environment is a happy environment.
Hi, I'm @edosweet. I stopped by to give you a warm welcome to the Steemit platform. I wish you good luck and many good things as you join us.
Welcome, Yvonne! Great to have you here, friend. I would definitely recommend entering the train of crypto, especially Steemit because you can earn Steem and SBD without investing anything! How cool is that? If you wish to invest in other cryptos I would recommend investing a moderate amount of money that in case you would not regret losing it all. Hope it helps. Followed ;)
I highly recommend reading through Steemit's FAQ to get to know more details about the system --> https://steemit.com/faq.html
Thanks. I forgot that I have signed up for a crypto thing called Manna around the same time I signed up for steemit. I liked the idea of a universal basic income, and that it costs nothing and I didn't have to do anything after sign-up. And now some free Manna coin is added to my account every week which is pretty awesome. But I haven't had the courage to pay for crypto currency yet. If you're interested in Manna you can sign up through here (https://www.mannabase.com/?ref=121ed33a76). I think I get a few extra coins if someone signs up through this link, but I really don't care, you can also do it directly on their website. I just think it's great if it gets bigger so more people in poorer countries can get a bit of extra regular income. I'll learn more about it and might write a post sometime but I think @taskmaster4450 has it covered.
Will check that out. Thanks for info!
Hey dear
Welcome to steemit
You can join this discord channel to be taught how to go about steemit and learn business,poetry,art,crypto and get motivated,taught how to make good posts and comment...Meet over 6k+ members and get to make friends from steemit all over the world including where you're from--> click link
https://discord.gg/dKsHwVz
Join the steemit school on discord channel today
Hi @ydraz, let me first welcome you to steemit. I am fairly new here myself and had the same thoughts about entering the crypto world or missing out. I am happy that you decided to join us and stay onboard. Dont allow the presence of huge upvotes on poor quality content to discourage you. Just do the best you can and be true to what you do. That is the true aim of steemit - producing and adding value. There is still so much for us to learn and I assure you that there are some really lovely and genuine people here on steemit who are willing to guide us along the way. I look forward to reading some of your future posts.
I am impressed with your introduction and as such decided to feature you in my entry to a Curation Contest. As soon as my entry has been entered, I will let you know. I have upvoted your post. All the best dear. You can see what the contest is about at the link below:
https://steemit.com/payitforward/@thedarkhorse/week-6-pay-it-forward-curation-contest-win-sbi-and-steem-bounty
Here is the link to my entry to the contest in which you were featured:
https://steemit.com/payitforward/@honeysim/my-entry-to-pay-it-forward-curation-contest-week-6-win-sbi-and-steem-bounty-by-thedarkhorse
Please consider participating in the contest yourself. It doesnt have to be this week's contest but maybe future ones. All the best.
Hi @honeysim! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment and especially for including my post in your contest entry. I will look at right after writing this. I have a lot to learn and it's people like you who make me feel very welcome. I still have to read up on what these contests even are but if it helps new people, I will definitely join one sometime soon. I wish you luck with everything you do :)
Youre most welcome my dear. It was my pleasure. Yeah, no rush, take your time and enjoy the platform while youre at it. Thank you for the wish. :-)
I have my own gardens I eat from. I love cats too. Yeah, cryptocurrencies can be scary. I love Australia have a friend that went to Switzerland. Nice to meet you. Love your glasses. I'm Oatmeal.
Welcome to Steemit!! I found you through the #payitforward contest. You were featured by @honeysim. Congratulations.
This is still true no matter how long you have been in Crypto and I would advise against anyone who claims to understand it overall. It is all full of ideals and progress but we have not reached the true basis for crypto.
~ErodedThoughts
Thanks for finding me and for commenting on my post. I'm blown away how many people responded through being in that contest so I'm so grateful to @honeysim for entering me. Yes, it is a complex world and quite some cryptomania going on. It's hard to imagine that anyone really knows everything about it. But it's so exciting to be in it and learn, and I'm very happy with the responses I'm getting and how helpful people are. I'm trying to get my daughter to join. She's an artist and could enter some of your artist of the day contests :)
Welcome Yvonne. You should get your other daughter to come to Steemit too if she's a photographer :)
Posted using Partiko Android
great post and good idea
Please Stop - @salman199311
You just said "great post" and in your your last 100 comments you used 70 phrases considered to be spam and you made this exact same comment 1 times. You've received 0 flags and you may see more on comments like these. These comments are the reason why your Steem Sincerity API classification scores are Spam: 60.10% and Bot: 3.40%
Please stop making comments like this and read the ways to avoid @pleasestop and earn the support of the community.
Welcome to Steemit @ydraz!
I wish you much success and hope you find Steemit to be as rewarding and informative as I have.
Yes, I love Crpto too! Lots of detailed analysis on my blog along with some predictions
Here are some links you might find useful.
Your stats on SteemNow
Your stats on SteemWorld
Your stats on SteemD
How does Steemit actually work?
Introbot is hosted and managed with donations from @byColeman to help make your journey on Steemit be truly rewarding. Your feedback is always welcome so that we may improve this welcome message.
Oh yea, I have upvoted you and followed you. Many blessings from @introbot & @bycoleman
Hello how are you? I wish you a good time on Steam, please support, vote and follow up
hi @ydraz Welcome to Steemit Community. Looking forward for your next post. See you around. You can also join in STEEMSCHOOLS discord here https://discord.gg/8CRS4j4 They can help you grow in this steemit community. If you still don't have a discord account. Just register first through the link I gave you. I'm glad to help you. See you there!
Welcome to the big family of steemit @ydraz.
Welcome to the steemit community :-)
Welcome! If you have any questions, post them here, and I will do my best to answer them for you.
Hello dear ! Welcome to Steemit ! I'm a cryptocurrency trader with really good results, 70%, 258%, 300% (REAL) Feel free to join me on Steemit to get great info&way to understand & invest in the crypto world ! CQRTC.
hi ! Welcome to Steemit ! :)
Welcome to this community. anything you need we are to order...
Welcome to Steemit. You are from OZ eh. I visited your country several times now, I had so much fun over there. I did enjoy it.
Thanks, @mountrock! Yes, Oz is my chosen place to live. I love the wide open spaces and especially the nature up here in the tropics. I like your photos, am following you so I can see more of it :)
Thanks. Followed you too :)
first let me say welcome to Steemit
I came to your post because @honeysim featured you in the "Pay It Forward " contest
Most Welcome to Steemit.........
Hello @ydraz :) Warm welcome hugs to you, especially hearing that you feel overwhelmed. There is a saying on Steemit that goes: here for the rewards, but stay for the community.
I think it is a good platform to just write and also learn about other information, if not being too bothered about the money. After all, I find blogging therapeutic for my soul. At the same time, if there are some earnings with great contents like from yourself, there will be earnings and followers, that would serve as the extra BONUS! Hence, just be yourself and make yourself comfortable on this platform as you explore. Bots aren't necessary if you think you don't need them and don't subscribe for the concept of "buying votes" :)
I can see from the way you write, you have a lot to offer, Yvonne and with your life experiences, I am so encouraged by you wanting to explore Steemit at your age. I want to congratulate you for taking your first steps. I tried to persuade my mom and mom-in-law, but they gave up :P
Anyway, erm there's a community called @greetersguild who is willing to guide and support newcomers so we don't feel alone exploring in this vast ocean. It is true that there are many things to learn but I think you will get the hang of it and perhaps just start with what is in front of you first? It is okay to also ask from help. @greetersguild has a discord group where we can chat and be "trained". Discord is another program that we sign up for free to interact with others in various communities. Here's the link to greetersguild's Discord server, if you are keen: https://discord.gg/AkzNSKx. You can also find out more on what we do here. Feel free to tag #greetersguild too as you create your posts.
Thank you so much for even taking the first leap. Cryptocurrency can be a whole big new world, but if you are here to want to write about your thoughts, Steemit is the place. Since we do write elsewhere but there has not been rewards, why not write somewhere that perhaps earn us something (if there isn't, it would be fine too, since money is not the first concern anyway)?
Hope you feel better after many constructive comments on your posts. I see many people are being friendly and helpful, which is why this platform is wonderful with the people in it and we connect across the globe! :) Looking forward to your posts!
Thanks so much for this lovely comment. Yes, I do feel very welcome and I've learned so much already thanks to people being so willing to help. It's just so much more efficient if someone can quickly explain something in plain language that you would otherwise spend hours to find and understand. I'm definitely here for the community rather than the money but I'm finding myself getting hooked on the rewards as a whole. So grateful I found it all. I followed you too, will try read more of your posts when I have a minute :)
Welcome to steemit! You seem like an interesting individual. You have some valid concerns, and they are concerning.. But perhaps I could help add some context or light to some of it.
What's happening here actually happens pretty much everywhere else. Both on other social media like Facebook and YouTube and in the real world. People who pay, can get more. It's just free market principles to an extent.
I'm not saying steemit has everything perfect either, I think things could use a bit of refining, but.. Steemit is sort of like a microcosm of the real world. You're going to find pretty much all the corruption here you find elsewhere, BUT.. I'd say in much lower amounts. For two reasons.
#1 everything is out there for everyone to see.
#2 steemit has more freedom minded, respectful and politically conscious people.
There are some trying to address the shortcomings, and you could help them if you believe in that. Though.. This in my opinion is sort of an experiment in freedom, and there will probably be better social media before too long, but I think steemit is still a really great place to be and I spend a lot of time here. In fact, I still think steemit is the best social media out there right now. And it's bigger than steemit, it's steem with dtube and everything else, though.. I would suggest you perhaps just try to look at it for what it essentially is.. An experiment in a better direction. It's not perfect, but neither is society or the real world either. Yet one of the coolest things about steemit is you tend to meet a lot of other leaders in their fields and just general and good people who are looking to sort of escape the old paradigm and create something new. :) The money making aspect is great, the lack of censorship is even more important to me, and the people... Make it just a totally awesome place in my opinion.
Hope that helps in some way! Please let me know if you have any more questions about the platform and I'll do my best to try to help answer, or if I can't, I'll try to find someone who can.
Cheers!
I'd definitely stay. I'm impressed with your style. Glad to read you.