I am just a minnow and I so guess my opinion is only small.
But for what its worth.
As a newbie I basically joined because I liked the idea of people voting on a post because they read it and they liked it. E money attached this a voting it added an extra dimension. Not as a way to earn money, but as a way to show that you genuinely liked and appreciated the post.
My grandmother used to say "Put your money where you mouth is".
Thus when you vote you are literally doing that. I like the honesty and simplicity of that and it is refreshing.
I had not heard of this Guild until reading this post and I have to say I found it rather disturbing.If sort of smells of a form of elitism and as such I feel this is not healthy for the eco system of Steemit.
It is tough to start on Steemit and somewhat daunting in the begining and in a sense you have to be brave and patient and stick it out.
I was lucky in that I was given a good "Welcome" and so now I pass forward that and make sure I dedicate some of my time to new minnows.
If I had heard that there were such Guilds on Steemit from the beginning I am not sure I would had joined. I might be legit but it does look suspicious.
At the moment I am having a great time on Steemit and have got to know some amazing folk that I never would have got to know in the outside world or on the FaceBook "bubble", and so at the moment I believe strongly in the platform.
I guess it is early days and it is said the first 3 years are always the hardest and so we all have to work it out somehow.
Anyone who survives their first month on Steemit, like me lol! becomes pretty much hooked and will stay because then they believe in it.
I know there are problems on here that need sorting out and we must hope the will be in the future. Lets face it Steemit is the first of its kind and as such is the flagship for the future. We owe it to ourselves to make it succeed.
There are things on here that are concerning but I believe they will eventually sort themselves out.
"An empire does not fall by invading armies at its gates, but when the people themselves stop believing in it" Marcus Aurelius
As I say, I am just a minnow so please dont eat me up lol!
Followed.
You are one of many who's been strongly supported by these guilds without knowing it. Every post you put out is exceptional, so myself and a team of others have made sure you got the votes you deserve. If there were a lot more people with significantly more voting power, or if reputation played the right role in reward distribution, these guilds might not be necessary.
But, in the past, without the guilds, we have seen countless outstanding posts be relegated to the depths of the Steemit abyss, earning just a few cents. I suspect that without the guilds, you and many other great authors would see a large percentage of your posts suffer the same fate.
I see. It seems it is not so simple as it first appears.
I appreciate you telling me @shenanigator .
I guess I feel a little embarrassed and a little naive. But then that´s always been my problem.
The post came across to me a little scary to me, like some kind of secret society like "eyes wide shut" or something lol !
Of course there are two sides to everything and the way you explain it I can see that there is a lot of good that can be done.
I will tell you a little secret, I may as well tell you now. For I see there may now be consequences for my comment.
I had this crazy plan that I would work hard and become a whale. Not because of money, or power, or status or anything, but because I wanted to do exactly the same thing as you have just mentioned.
I also see amazing posts on here that I feel perhaps do not get the attention they deserve and so I felt frustrated that I did not have a bigger voting power so that I could give encouragement to others.
I saw it as a way of doing good in the world.
I believe in this platform and I guess the encouragement I have been given, even it is was in secret, has much to do with that.
I don´t know what to say
I am just myself and will always speak my mind. I was raised to be an honorable person and as such I try to do the right thing. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong.
I will continue to give my best on my posts, as is my nature. And I will also continue to spend time on welcoming new people as well as trying to read as many posts as I can and joining in conversations.
This is not hard work for I actually love to do it.
The idea of Guilds are completely new to me and I know very little about them or how they work.
I admit, on this matter I am somewhat confused.
One part of me feels grateful for being helped and encouraged, and another part of me feels sad that groups or Guilds like this are needed on Steemit.
I thank you for telling me the truth @shenanigator
I have much to think about.
For clarity, the guild I help out with (and the one that has voted on your posts) is Curie. Your reputation is getting higher now, so soon we'll give your name to Steem Guild. At that point, they will be checking for and voting on your posts instead of us.