As I write this, Steem’s going through a Hard Fork with the usual hiccups that come when one tries to achieve something vastly complicated. The wolves are at the door, howling at those they see as responsible for any perceived failings and inadequacies, rueing supposed wasted hours tapping out blog posts and hoping for huge upvotes to prove their worth and eventually make their riches. Ah, how we all dream, and expect things to come easily, or to remain the same! But the wonderful thing about technology is that is always in flux, always growing. If this wasn’t it’s nature, we’d still be throwing messages in bottles for them to land on distant shores or rub ochred ibyx in firelit caves. I doff my virtual cap to the developers and witnesses who are trying to make this hugely experimental form of social media better - even if mistakes are made along the way.

At the moment, the ‘chain is still doing what it needs to do to right itself. If I try to open any front end to the Steem blockchain (because there’s more than one way to access it) I get spinning wheels and error codes. I’m writing this on Word rather than drafting in Steempeak – an alternative front end to Steemit you should be using, like you’d use a Iphone 7 over a Nokia N9 – and listening to a podcast in the sunshine. Patience is called for. They’ll fix it, of that I have no doubt. It does no use to moan at anyone you believe might be responsible. It’s far better to trust that the techies know what they are doing. So instead, I am compiling a list of the most inspiring features of the Steem blockchain, and when it is all systems go again, I’ll post this and power-up, just in love with the Steemiverse as I’ve ever been.

Developers

When I signed up for Steemit, I wasn’t even sure what a developer was. I knew that what I saw on my computer was ‘code’, and that someone was responsible for this and very clever for making it happen. Since I’ve been here, I’ve learnt more about that side of things than ever. Whilst I could never make a bot and I’m terrified of tweaking the wrong thing in Github, I’ve learnt what Github is and have more respect for, and knowledge of, open source than I did a year ago. These guys are world builders. There are so many cool Dapps (decentralised apps – I’m having to explain this things because I’m publishing this on Medium too) that are re-inventing the internet in a way that I hope eventually brings monopolies like Google to it’s knees. Whilst this may seem far off in the future, I’m proud to be signed up to a place that gives us the inkling of a possibility that the internet might be re-invented the people want it to be, not the way they’re told they want it to be by companies that make a huge profit from this.

Charity and Kindness

I’m the kinda Steemian – in fact, global citizen – that knows full well that there are trolls in the world and choose to look the other way. I think ignoring them is the worse thing you can do to a troll. I instead focus on the goodness of humanity that I see on this platform. Whilst the low price of Steem prohibits under privileged bloggers or people struggling through tough times from truly feeding their families, we cannot underestimate how much a whale upvote (or a whole heap of little upvotes from the people, which I’m hoping this hard fork will stimulate) can mean to someone who needs to put food on their table, or buy a smart phone to run a charity in Venuzuela.
This blockchain based social media narrows the distances between people. It is very hard to feel altruistic toward people you don’t know – that is just human nature. We look after our own, and what’s closest to us. Yet this online world does just that – make our fellow Steemians our people. Once you get to know someone online, and how they live, and what they face day to day, we start to realise their humanity. When they fall on tough times, we jump to help, just as we would our neighbours. I have seen it countless times – a few hundred dollars sent to someone who couldn’t afford their rent, a funny card arriving in the mail to cheer someone up who’d been depressed of late, a crowdfunding to raise money for a generator for a charity in Africa, or the aforementioned phone in Venuzuela. And if it’s not a Steemian, we trust a Steemian and try to help if they ask us to. If they say it’s an important cause, we believe them, and chip in, because we’re more likely to trust them than a cold caller who begs a subscription from us when we’re not even sure where our cash is going.

Creativity

Creativity is a vast space. Whilst I do admire the painters, the writers, the poets and the photographers on Steemit, I also admire the other creative folk here who are often making do with what they have, or figuring out creative solutions to problems. I love the homesteaders sharing wisdoms about permaculture and livestock, the eco-warriors and their re-use ethic and shunning of practices that harm the earth, the food lovers with their combinations of spices and vegetables and love into gorgeous meals. I love the herbalists, the foragers, the DIY pirate mentality of Steemians that’d rather make something themselves. I love the ‘can do’ attitude, the projects, the solutions to everyday problems.

Conversations

Curation – upvoting and commenting on people’s posts – is the heart of the communities on Steem. Without curation, we are shouting into the void, and that’s what can depress people most here. We are a social media because we are social people. We like to interact. We like to soundboard and brainstorm and inquire. We’re curious and we like to help if someone has a question. In fact, ask the Steemiverse anything and as long as someone’s there listening, there’s a solution. It’s added value to blog posts. Most people here will say they have had far more interaction on Steem than any other social media (unless they are a celebrity on Instagram) and that’s what keeps them here, even when the prices drop.

There’s still a way to go, of course. We could do with a good app. Bidbots still suck. Many of us are befuddled with why so many conversations happen on Discord behind the scenes rather than on our blog posts where we could get more rewards for upvoted comments, but Discord does bring a more personalised vibe where conversations are less brightly lit than on our front ends. To me, Steem and Discord are intertwined, and I’m okay with that. It’s just all part of this crazy world that I love – not all of it makes sense, but a lot of it does, and I wouldn’t wish it any other way.

This was written in response to the @ecotrain Question of the Week, proposed by @eco-alex, which asked what inspires us about the Steem blockchain. I encourage you to respond, spreading the positive potential of this wonderful universe!