RE: The Splinterlands Card GiveAway Controversy

Hi @flauwy, I would just like to begin by stating that I meant no disrespect towards you. It was not my intention if it came across that way.

If I may explain my emotional exit it came down to this; attempting to do something with the little means that I have to both help people and make a small amount for myself with each daily post. I use the few cents I make to buy whatever cards I can afford for myself but it doesn't end of being much. Even though I'm an extremely small account with only 63 followers, they're all followers interested in Steem Monsters and they participate in my giveaways. I have to imagine that many of them are people in similar positions as myself financially hoping that every now and then they can scoop up something for free because what I giveaway comes at no cost to anyone other than myself (maybe not directly out of my pocket if it's a reward card I won for playing but it's still lost earnings potential on my end).

But the financial bit of it all aside, my contention with the comments made in the discord were solely from the sentiment that in a generalized sense there is a view that people like myself that do giveaways of this nature are "pathetic" and what's worse, is there have been several people over a period of time I have seen discuss a dislike toward these giveaways but none that I have seen personally that went as far as to say that we're pathetic individuals. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that is fine but generalize comments even can carry a lot of weight especially when there are individuals that are trying or that want to try to be better or stand out from the rest. We're not all scheming to take advantage or to kill the platform and honestly I'm receptive to criticism of any kind and I'll take every opportunity to try to heed those words of advice.

There is nothing I can argue about your points of my repetitiveness, you're absolutely correct. If I knew how to do fancier things with thumbnails I would do it, but I don't presently know how. I created that logo using an collage maker app on my cell phone...I'm still trying to learn how to use markdown formatting too because even simple things like creating an underline or a table can sometimes be very difficult and time consuming to figure out when you have to google the life out of each and every small edit you want to make in a post.

However, I will be the first to admit that I have been taking the easy way out and using the template creator and post scheduling features on Steempeak to conduct my daily giveaway posts. (coincidentally I do so on Steempeak - Jarvie's platform) and my brother and I do use peakmonsters to purchase cards and rent cards so I did feel an overwhelming amount of frustration when that particular "pathetic" comment was made by Jarvie. This is not someone I would have expected to hear that type of comment from given his position and involved with the game and with peakmonsters.

The frustration had been building up for some time but came to a head when I read that comment for if that mindset existed close to the top then why should I continue my efforts and even make an attempt to try to improve if I know the possibility of being downvoted for it was lingering out there. If there's a general perception of $0.02 card giveaways being pathetic or useless and at risk of being downvoted then it wouldn't matter how fancy my post if I were still giving away those $0.02 cards.

With all of this said, I will say that I did not expect to receive words of encouragement or find any support really from the post I made. I did not think the 63 people following me would be affected all that much as there are a whole slew of other giveaways out there doing comparable things as I am, and upon completing that post I really did have zero intention of playing anymore, of posting anymore or for even making a concerted effort to hash it out with others or to try to have an impact on the way people viewed giveaways or the way people viewed myself and the things I put out there. It was the support that came from you and from others like @jacekw @rentmoney @senstless among others that has since changed my perspective and reminded me that this is a great community and a great game. There's no doubt the game is addicting but it's been some of the people and the experiences so far that has made this experience enjoyable and what keeps me coming back.

While I may take a period of self-reflection off from posting with perhaps the hopes of learning how to make better content or mix things up more, I have centered myself and reconsidered my position. I still want to be around and I still want to be a part of this community.

I want to thank you for making an effort and for being as understanding as you have been. As I said, I did not expect to receive these types of responses nor did I expect to receive any level of kindness out of this situation. I would absolutely like to take you up on your offer for assistance/pointers of any kind when it comes time for me to return to posting again. Until then please know that I wholeheartedly appreciate what you've done here and for trying to bring light to something like this.

If you ever want to talk more about this personally I'd be happy to connect with you on discord as well.

Thank you again, sorry for the novel here, but there were a lot of things here that I wanted to say that I hope you can appreciate my views on and again I never meant for anything I said to be directed at you because that's truly not what I was focused on.

All the best,
Just4kicks46

This is by far the most eloquent and poignant reply I have ever received on the Steem blockchain. I applaud you for the self-reflection and to allow yourself to receive the positive feedback and love that has been poured towards you after this whole dilemma. Hold on to that feeling because it is not just part of Splinterlands but human nature in general. It is easy for all of us to forget that in our society, where the gap between rich and poor is growing larger every day, all around the world. We are being played against each other, men vs women, young vs old, left vs right. But at the end we are all one and want nothing else but love respect for ourselves and for others.

I have certainly learned a new degree of humbleness from this and have already begun to shift my focus towards the community of new and smaller accounts. Getting started on Steem is tough, particularly when you have little time to research all the things that are possible here, to help you grow. I have been super nerdy from the start and spend 24/7 to acquire every little bit of skill I needed and wanted, plus I already had years of experience in content creation like professional writing and graphic design, when I landed here. Sometimes I forget that others don't have the advantage with which I started here and ask to much of my fellow Steemians.

Splinterlands is something extraordinary, I see a massive potential for this company. The game itself will be transcended eventually, I don't think we will still play cards in 5 years from now. They underlying technology and ingenuity is a game changer for the industry and Matt and Aggy have invented something unseen before. Every 2 cent card is a potential ticket for a new life, because there is s much more to come that can and will turn them into something people have demand for. But even that is beyond the point. Your frustration was certainly justified and an important wake-up call for all of us. Words can be hurtful and there are many eyes on the Mavericks channel, even though it is limited to write there for the larger investors.

I shall create more valuable content for you smaller accounts out there, like I used to do in my old days on Steem. I had a collection of over 60 animated tutorial videos for Steem a long time ago - they still exist but are mostly outdated. I will begin anew and start with things like Markdown and so on. In the meantime, here is an old video of mine about Markdown tables which should help you right away, as that stuff hasn't changed a bit.