It's been a minute since I had a little window of time (and an idea), to write a post, but here we are! For those that wonder, as the responsible one in the family, I've been busy fixing "family things" IRL, while racing to catch up on content that I'd been falling behind with elsewhere.
If it wasn't for me, the drug-addicted grifters in my family would be running even wilder than they are now. So from time to time I've gotta reach in to protect the beloved elders from having their assets completely drained by these substance-abusing Vampires.
That's what I've been doing.
I haven't left Hive and have absolutely no plans to, but periodically I have to dip out to take care of real-life stuff and recharge my creative juices, as I tend to write only when I have something to say. I refuse to post junk just to "get something out" as I write from the heart and enjoy doing so. I will never allow Chat GPT to write my posts for me. Everything you're reading came from my own head.
You went from writing posts in broken English to SUDDENLY creating articles in perfectly flowing prose? As Joe Rogan would say: GTFOOH! We know who's cheating with Chat GPT. It’s so fucking obvious. Stop using the "English isn't my first language" excuse, and get off your lazy lard ass and learn, or better yet post in the language you DO know.
You'll never develop into a good writer naturally by cheating or copying and plagiarizing someone elses work. Its soul-destroying. Stop stealing content and copying people from English-speaking countries. Don't be a dick. Learn how to write better naturally. Get it done.
So I got to thinking about all of the people I've followed over the years here on Hive and it made me wonder about who we follow and why.
"This Ain't My First Rodeo"
This took me back to the early days of Steemit in the spring of 2016 when I was notified about the platform, popped on over and decided it had to be a scam because no way anybody was actually making $1,000 for writing a post.
However due to the fact that I'd been on hiatus from writing on Blogger for a few years due to a foreigner plagiarizing my content (there was no Chat GPT back then in order to cheat with), I saw the utility of combining blogging and crypto, and kept coming back to Steemit.
I didn't post back then, but I lurked, each day my faith that the platform might actually be legit, growing stronger. Before the year was out (2016), I believed everything was kosher and was in learning mode, trying to pick up as much knowledge about the place as I could.
I didn't want to go in half-cocked, and wanted to start strong with my first post. So I watched video tutorials on YouTube, and read the many posts that explained exactly how Steemit worked.
So I started following good Steemians who were observing best practices, so that when I was ready to write that first post I was already locked and loaded.
Many of the people you call whales today were brand new back then. I got to see them back when they were slumming it with their "crappy" early posts and no followers or hardly any upvotes.
Before They Were Whales...
That's why I know these whales are actually human just like you and me. You see them now flush with followers and regular earnings, all dolled up like Hollywood movie stars. But I saw them back when they were figuratively sleeping on a friends sofa, broke, no makeup, farting in public, scratching their ass, picking their nose and eating the boogers. :)
Yet there was something there with them, you know what I mean?
They kept showing up day after day even though their posts were getting almost no support. Even more inspiring, they liquidated assets and invested back when we were still in Steemit's early days. In short; they believed, and put their money where their mouth was.
So I started following them and by the time I felt ready to write my first post on Steemit, I was already aware of and following best practices.
For example: somebody (I don't remember who), taught me the folly of listing photo credits at the top of the page under the photo, as that started out your post as "Photo Credit: Pixabay" instead of your chosen intro paragraph containing your chosen keywords and phrases. This had the potential of fucking up your SEO on Google, which is why I decided to list my credits at the bottom of each post.
I still see people making this mistake today, and you can see it on LeoFinance where their opening line is a photo credit instead of the actual content. So little things like that caused me to follow and interact with a person because they seemed to get it and were living their example day after day.
So Who Do You Follow And Why?
Other people that I followed had an expressive way of writing and/or an expertise in a certain subject. I had very little money to invest back then (and still don't today), but I'm always happy for the success of others. I remember those days when the future whales slogged through it not knowing what the future would hold. So it was inspiring to see them take that calculated risk, invest in the platform and grow over the years.
This is why I say that the people that you see doing well on Hive absolutely deserve it. I only wished I had the money to invest back then along with them, but all I was able to muster was about $500 which I put into $STEEM back in late 2017 as the price was peaking.
I know, bad timing, right? But that was the window where I had a little bit of money with which to invest with, so I did. Before the great purge sparked by the downvoting gangs, there was a rich variety of voices to interact with, and I'm glad that I was around to experience that.
So no, I don't follow everybody that I run across, having learned from that mistake back in the early days of Twitter. Everyone that I follow has a unique perspective which I enjoy whenever I read them. So I'd love to hear your take: Who do you follow and why? What is it about them that keeps you coming back for more?
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Image Credit: [1] @EverNoticeThat Created using Canva.