We Are Still here, While Others Are Not? Coincidence? I Don't Think so!

in Loving HIVE ❤3 years ago (edited)

So yesterday I decided to prune my following list.

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I gotta tell you I keep coming across the most insidious looking utterly depressing graphic, or rather it is a badge.

Now I'm sure the vast majority of you have come across it before and not given it all that much thought. The thing is though I stumbled across it a lot!

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Now you may well see it as just another status badge but every time I noticed it, I realised that there was a story behind every one of these innocuous-looking graphics.

On the flip side though, there is also a story to tell about every single one of us here today.

Firstly, let me tell you why I decided to do a little spring clean of my following list. Now I don't want to be controversial here, not me, not little old, friendly, optimistic Steven BUT when I click on the friends feed I see a lot of garbage...

Oops! There I said it. The thing is, I know that you probably see it too. Some people used to put in a lot of effort back in the day, but somewhere along the line, they started going through the motions, putting out a few lines of half-arsed text and waiting to hit the claim payout button.

Now you may have heard me say before, and I still stand by it today, People can do whatever the hell they want with their stake, their account, and their influence.

It's not my business. Some people get really angry about the voting practices of others, the shoddy content blurted out by others they even take exception with the views of others. Wow! Imagine that, people only wanting to see the thoughts of those they share the exact same view with.

Bloody nonsense if ya ask me (which I admit, you didn't!)

I am not into that kind of world vision, wanting to be trapped in an echo chamber of your own design never hearing a view an opinion, or an idea that may force you to question your own.

More importantly, that is the opposite of the space I want to inhabit. I want diversity of ideas, controversial thoughts, and opinions and sometimes I want to read something that plays 'devil's advocate' with my core beliefs.

Hey if ya read enough contradictory ideas you may just learn something you didn't know.

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People in my offline life find me to be a little opinionated, confrontational in a debate, and very sure of my own thoughts. They are wrong, as it happens. I just think deeply, enjoy research and learning and self-education and I KNOW how I came to my conclusions and can explain if asked.

I have, however, changed my mind on many things I believed I was right about when I was younger. It's called growth and evolution of thought. I am not embarrassed about changing my mind about something I thought I knew, on the contrary, it is bloody thrilling to me to uncover the last piece of the jigsaw that changes one of my long-held, fundamental beliefs.

This is one of the reasons I love, I mean absolutely bloody relish great conversation. I don't spend too much of my life discussing the weather or the latest tabloid headline, I go straight to the big stuff, even though I know others sometimes find it tiring.

When I see this kind of thing played out here, I question why some people are even part of a decentralised, censorship-resistant community. It seems they don't truly believe in those values.

We have all heard it a million times...

I might disagree with your opinion, but I am willing to give my life for your right to express it.
~ Voltaire ~

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Yeah, I know we have all heard it quoted in many other forms much later in the timeline, but I have a lot of time for that Voltaire dude, so I always use that one. By the way, in my opinion, if that quote doesn't stir something almost primeval deep within you, check your pulse, you may just be dead.

As far as the traditional legacy social media platforms are concerned, I only ever use them to send a private message to someone in my family or to get a message to a workmate or my favourite reason to promote our very own Hive.

The core beliefs of a decentralised community speak to me and hearken at something we need to be reminded of. We are, every one of us, a sovereign individual with inalienable rights and the privilege, no, I mean to say, the obligation to hold and even share views that resonate with us even when they may seem unpalatable to some.

The last category of person I am looking to weed out, Plagiarists, I look out for those who have been accused of this heinous crime, if I do a little digging and find they are content-thieving lowlife's I unfollow and mute instantly. This I have a 100% zero-tolerance threshold for.

Oops! I got way off track there, not like me, right? All I meant to say is that there are those whose views no longer resonate with me, those whose views are just too unpalatable to me, and even though, as the quote said I agree with their ability to share such views maybe I don't want to see them in my following feed, make sense?

Many people write on topics that are just not relevant or interesting enough to me, so they create noise in my feed and distract me from the stuff I really don't want to miss.

The other reason I occasionally scroll through the list of those I am following is that I see a face and a name and wonder why I haven't seen them around for a while, sometimes I see that they are moving to another city or country. Sometimes I see they haven't been feeling very well or have suffered a bereavement, this is a great opportunity to send a few encouraging words or just a Hi, I missed you kinda message.

Many people for whatever reason, stayed in that Steemy place, I may think it is a centralised dictatorship but some for one reason or another chose to stay there rather than make the uncertain journey to a more befitting environment.

So I began to delete some of those I was following for the reasons I have outlined above. Some names I hovered over with a tinge of sadness before hitting the unfollow button.

Often though I stumbled across someone I just knew was gonna do fantastic here, they started off on the Hive journey with such promise, wonderful warm engagement, and then disappeared into the ether... Sad and such a bloody waste, right? People may have had a whole myriad of reasons for not sticking with Hive, who am I to judge?

The thing I hated to see is these:

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Beside the names of people I had a really great connection with.

It felt like each time I saw one, I wondered at the story behind that icon changing from a vibrantly coloured rank badge to this ugly floating dead thing that you may see being dropped by a cat in a children's cartoon.

Did this person come to earn megabucks overnight and cash out to buy 50 Bitcoin with their hard-earned, get rich quick, proceeds?
Did they get discouraged because no one seemed to notice them in month 1?
Did they think this crazy, fake internet moneyzzz, Ponzi scheme would crash and burn by January 31st, even though they joined on January 15th?

OR, maybe, they knew they just did not have the discipline to quietly create with a long-term view while enjoying the compound growth effect that has the potential to move from a linear line on a graph to an exponential tsunami in a few years.

I guess the reasons really don't matter, they are simply gone, with a scabby fish skeleton the only proof they were ever here.

This however led me on a whole other train of thought, considering those who did not leave. It made me question the motivations and beliefs of those who are still here. What is it that keeps us here exactly? For some, I am certain it is simply the lure of financial return in time. So be it, good luck to them.

For some, it is the idea of this place being a repository for their thoughts, ideas, and musings to live eternal preserved within the blocks of the chain, or their art, their fiction, their live streams, or videos. For many, the chance to meet a ridiculously diverse collective from every single corner of the planet and get to know them, and learn about their culture is a huge boon.

This community is a fabulous antidote to loneliness or isolation too, do you doubt it? If you do, you haven't spoken to enough people here.

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For many, I am sure the sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself and bigger than the sum of its parts is hugely rewarding too. I have genuinely met a bunch of people whose lives I sincerely care about, it is as if I am invested in their life, their happiness, and their story.

I revel in their joys and victories and I share in their sadness, there are times I have gone to work and worried about something someone is going through that day.

If you think that is me using a little embellishment and poetic license and overstating things then you do not know me or you haven't met the caliber of people I have here, or worse still, you haven't taken the time to open up, I mean, really open up to them. If that last point is the case, I pity you. There is so much more on offer than some free crypto here.

What I have begun thinking about though is that those of us who have been here for some measure of time have found a reason to stay. Some may find me a little hypocritical in this assessment, after all, I disappeared for 3 months recently and it certainly isn't the first time. I doubt it will be the last either.

We all have jobs, family, health, bills, and life-stuff that takes over at times, it's normal that occasionally the balance of your priorities will shift and there will be less time, energy, motivation or inclination to be writing about what you did yesterday on your blog.

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Hive isn't going anywhere in my belief. I may be wrong but I doubt it. When I am away I never even question if I will return, I know deep inside that my journey here is incredibly fulfilling, I enjoy interacting with those I am friends with and it makes me happy to spend time in the community.

Where else could I get to pretend I am a real writer in the company of those who are kind enough not to point out my shortcomings and grammatical, punctuational faux-pas?

I think those who are still here discovered a very different path than those who melted into oblivion. Maybe they just discovered a big enough WHY?...

Try not to get too swept up in the highs & the lows of life. Give gratitude for the good stuff, try & move on quickly from the bad & remember that all of these things are merely steps on the pathway to who knows where...

That was a direct quote from a post I wrote yesterday evening and I stand by it wholeheartedly, however...

Whatever your reasons for being a part of this vibrant, thriving community and adding your distinct uniqueness to the melting pot that makes 'all of us', I think you should take a moment to give yourself a pat on the back for being one of those who chose to play a part in building something special here.

I would venture to suggest that if you simply make a commitment to be here 5 years from today and go through the motions you know you must while searching for as much joy and fulfillment as you can, You will win.

Whatever winning means to you!

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Thank YOU for taking the time to read my post & if you're one of those amazing people who like to hit the comments section... Then I doubly thank YOU!

Either way, I want you to know that you are appreciated!

Keep taking the time to connect with each other both here & in the 'so-called' real-world & try & look after each other, because as you already know...

Together We're Just Better.png

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I am an incredibly proud member of #TeamUK I love the global community immensely, but it is nice to have a home-team banner to add to my posts. The banner was made by the inimitable Roastmaster General himself @c0ff33a If you are an active UK member & would like to be added to the team UK community on Discord, just let me know 😎

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For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am

Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!

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very well written post steven, I am quite happy with my follow list I often see some great content including posts by yourself. I would like to expand that list over time of course.

Have A good rest of your weekend man :)

!PIZZA

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@stevenwood! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @chris-uk.

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!PIZZA

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@chris-uk! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @stevenwood.

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I was to lazy to read all the text but amazing words and I love this pic:

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So you are welcome to connect me an each other!

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I liked the part with the words ;)

Plagiarists are the worst. Not just the writing plagiarists but the art plagiarists too. Downvote and mute into oblivion!

I liked the part with the words

Oh now that is feedback I can use, thank you, I'm glad to hear it as I contemplated skipping that aspect of the post!!!

The time when the notion of plagiarists stings the most is when you have spent hours creating something that reflects your true thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and you know you could have shaved off an hour or so here or there, but you realise that wouldn't reflect your integrity. Then some snake pops up after cutting and pasting the work that someone else has spent time and effort on, attempting to gain respect, kudos, praise, and reward.

That really is a tad slimy, isn't it?

Retraction. I in no way intended to confer any disrespect to the reptile community with my comparison. I wholeheartedly rescind the offending comments and assure you they do not reflect the views of myself or anyone else in my organisation, (also me).As a one-time herpetologist, I have a longheld respect for all reptiles and I apologise, I should have known better. Please don't cancel me!

How do I miss all your posts? I love your long format! Never stop. Could you post more?

For God's sake, I promise to catch the next one.

I think you are the king of long content! I have done some long ones, but probably not over 2000 words. I keep mine pruned as well, mostly people who don't do anything for 6 months+

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This... I have yet to see. I know it's one of @arcange's graphics, I can tell by the style.