This is just a short post to describe what I feel my role in Steem is.
My account @demotruk is among the top 150 accounts measured by Steem Power. So I am certainly one of the larger stakeholders, even if I own only about 0.05% of all Vests.
I am not formally employed by anyone in Steem, but at the moment the network pays me about 600 Steem per month (about $1,400 at current price) for my curation and a varying amount for my blog posts. So this is like a well paying second job for me, one which I would like to become my primary job and source of income. Aside from those rewards, the network pays me much better in terms of the value of my stake. What had fallen in value to less than $7,000 earlier this year, was worth over a quarter of a million dollars at the high point yesterday. In my regular career, I would have to be at the top of my field to earn that much money in two years.
I honestly see the value of my stake going way, way higher. However it won't just happen on its own. It will take work from stakeholders of all sizes. Everyone who joins the network can add value to it merely by being present to facilitate financial transactions. People who contribute socially, by reading posts and writing comments can add more, and people who create compelling content which brings in more attention to the network, can create even more value than that. And there are a whole range of other services people can provide, which add value and the Steem Network which may not even be noticed by most users, but the Network is willing to give compensation for those too. I remember talking with @fubar-bdhr in a chat channel in July 2016. He didn't think that the Steem Network wanted someone like him, who wasn't a top blogger, and didn't have the social capital of the people getting to the front page at the time. Now he's a witness, formerly a miner, he helps to run @steemcleaners and his account is worth over $32,000 at this moment.
Getting to the point, this network will only be valuable if we make it valuable. My role in this I feel is twofold threefold.
- I try to allocate funds to where they are best served for the growth of the network. This means supporting great, consistent content creators as a kind of patron, especially those who provide value on other networks yet are barely rewarded for it. It means supporting developers who build the tools of the network. It means making new users feel welcome and rewarded, that they didn't just waste their time. Etc.
- It also means supporting people in non-financial ways. I try to help those same people who add value to the network on Steemit.chat, to give them a good experience on the network. I can intervene when someone is having a bad experience, although my ability may be more limited there. I can't do as much in the second role, in that I have only so much time to do it, but I try nonetheless.
- I am trying to help bootstrap a local Steem community jointly with @eroche, with the account @steem-dublin. I believe local networks of people who know each other in-person are also a key element to the network's increasing value and social cohesion.
I hope in the future to go beyond those and start building useful software tools for the Steem Network myself, but that won't happen until I've quit my day job.
Your a genuine bonus to Steemit...your support for steemit definitely helps it for the better.
And with @steem-dublin hopefully we'll be able to get steemed while out on a steemit session 😂 and of course maybe get a few intellectuals on board too!
Yeh I think you got it spot on in building local communities, on that side Steemit is no where near FB as this is mainly a blogging site. If we start building functions or features to build these groups then it will only strengthen the site.
Thanks by the way for helping out with that guy that was trying to scam me the other day, much appreciated!
Upvoted and resteemed. Glad to see larger stakeholders who have the best interests of Steemit at heart.
Just done some checking and I'm following you but you're not following me :'(
That means you've not read anything of mine and so not voted on anything I've done. :'(
My life is a wilderness, will I ever progress from n00b? :'(
LOL
Fair play to you for supporting people. As you say, there's many ways to support people that doesn't necessarily involve money.
I limit my following list to only a few people whose content I want to get an alert for. I actively curate with the /created page which does not give any particular user an advantage. This gives me the best of both worlds. The more people I follow, the closer my feed gets to the /created tab and thus the less direct utility it provides me. It could provide social utility by making people think I am seeing their posts more often, but I don't want to present my following list in a less honest way like that.
I did in fact provide you with an upvote on your intro post. Sadly it was at an unfortunate timing for you in terms of the reward pool.
This does not surprise me. I'm the sort of guy that would pick the winning lottery numbers but for the previous week. LOL
It's all good by the way. :-)
I think you add SO MUCH VALUE here!!! You are the best!
You do a great job! At least from the time I began to notice you. Well done!
Demo, I always enjoy our conversations here on steem. Your posts are always well received.
Thank you for the votes you gave me that brought me to where I am today. Let's continue to improve this place together.
I feel like the "linearization" of steem voting power would be massively useful to the platform, a quadratic relation between Steem power - voting power simply seemed like a monopoly of whales, minnow votes simply didn't matter.
This might as well be the turning point in steemit's life, bringing in new users and engagement, as someone on here said - this is going to transform steemit into what it was originally meant to be
Agreed. I expect my voting power will diminish proportionately, but it will make the network more valuable.
Steemit is definitely a team effort...Each person here adds value to the collective...You just have to find out what position you play...& what works best for the benefit of the whole team...I think that it would be wonderful to do this as a full time job...& I think that one day it will happen for you...This is only the beginning @demotruk ...We are very fortunate to be early adopters...So keep doing an awesome job adding value in your own unique way! Thanks, and take care my friend:)
I like the idea of going out and creating a local steem community between users who have IRL relationships. I think the steemit park that is being built will be a great way for people to meet up and foster these types of IRL relationships within the community. Keep on strengthening steem! I like the outline here of what you're doing to strengthen steem as a stakeholder!
Wow, that really is like a second income for you! I like your view on this and am glad you're trying to support the content creators and developers on here.
Thank you for these very considerable thoughts. You may be one of the few who realized his role as a patron. Some whales pump good, but not excellent posts up to more than 1000 dollar payout. And their authors do nothing else than transferring the rewards immediately to the Exchange to make money. So the whales do nothing good for the worth of steemit; no, they give a pressure on the market price. If I was whale I would only vote for the real true and faithful supporters of the platform. Why are they such fools? Why don't they think as you? I am glad to have read this post. Thanks a lot.e
@demotruk, can I tell you this? Your Role here is much more than what you just described.
I've been following your activities here. I noticed you usually upvote neiwbies and make them feel at home here with your encouraging and explanatory comments.
Furthermore, you go beyound the steemit activity to help other people here. You did that for me when I had issues with my bitcoin transactions.
I must confess, Steemians like you need to be appreciated in a special way.
Thank for helping to make steemit a nice place for me.
Steem On!
I think we will see a few people doing this full time. There were some talking about it in the early days, but when the price dropped they will have struggled. Now it's looking much more viable. There are lots of opportunities for paid services here. Let's see what people can come up with
Congrats
I think is better to become your primary job
As Really you are great steemer
Thanks for your post
You are a good man @demotruk !
I appreciate all that you do and I am always pleased when a fellow Steem advocate thinks about Steem as a full time thing. I am pretty small time in the scheme of things but Steem has had a major positive impact on my life. I hope you get to a point that you are able to quit your day Job. I think when Steem hits $8 you might start to consider it.
This is a very valuable post @demotruk,thank you for sharing and I just joined in steemit I will follow you to see see some of your post I hope you want to help me to learn to make posting a valuable post for the future, thanks for your understanding
We all have a place, here or there, but somewhere.