Thank you for this inspiring article, @wwf.
I'm intrigued by the idea of organic growth on Steemit. How far do you think it can be pushed with regards to groups? Can one grow - it would of course be at a much much slower rate than your own meteoric rise - without allegiance to groups or whales? Groups have rules and dictate behaviour - I've seen several references to flag wars since joining Steemit just over a fortnight ago and would hate to be penalized because of refusing to join in the mob, to resteem an article I don't agree with and so on.
Also, I'm fascinated by Steemit's wildlife analogies. This is the first I'm hearing of orcas. What's their role?
And are there other species that I and my fellow plankton should know about?
I'm not sure how groups work on steemit. Can you expand on that? Are you a member of a group?
As for the rules, that would be one reason for me NOT to join a group. Having somebody dictate to me what I can or cannot do is not appealing at all, especially in a system that was designed to operate under anarchy. That does not fit in at all. If the groups are built to help people grow but doing so through control of behaviour, then I am not game for that.
I was delegated steem from @fulltimegeek, but it was in support of what I am already doing. I was honoured by the gift, so I do extra to pay it forward, but the main spirit and intent of my work has not changed.
If you do some searches on plankton, red fish, minnow, dolphin, orca, whale and steemit, you will find lots of articles written about the different stages within the platform orcas are whales too. @fulltimegeek is an orca for example. Check it out. Thanks for writing.
It's the defined communities formed around common interests I'm curious about. A common theme is supporting members by having them upvote each other's posts. My question is whether you can grow if you don't belong to such communities. And no, I don't belong to any.
Thank you for the wildlife list. I'll check it out.
The growth comes from social interaction with one another and by individuals adding value to the community. For those that add value, they do well. I've also seen many who end up begging for support, upvotes, etc and they won't find much support here as a result. This platform demands that everyone contribute as everyone has value to contribute. The challenge is for people to find the calling and engage it so that they can do well. The community rewards that initiative and commitment.
On top of that, curating, commenting on posts and performing full on participation can bring all kinds of rewards and get people noticed. There is lots that people can do here to provide for the community.
An eco-system which acknowledges that everyone has something to contribute is incredible.
The challenge for me and other newbies, as you point out, is to explore and figure out what this value can be.
Thank you for the insight.