Guys! Holders of Steem Power! Accounts of the Steem Blockchain!
Hang on in there - Ignore the in-house squabbling and focus on your business because the best is yet to come!

pixabay - source
Browsing our Blockchain recently, I concede that it has become difficult at times to avoid articles and comments that may induce negative feelings. However, there is so much value in the excellent work that's going here too, and this is where your attention should be.
We have growth!
At times you'd be forgiven for thinking STEEM was at an all time low, and that Steem Backed Dollars hadn't launched into double figures recently.
People may have wondered if the community was shrinking, or that there were no new projects or applications in the pipeline and being added to the Steem Blockchain.
The above is not true though! We are growing each day in user base, and the rate at which applications are arriving is increasing as we move forward.
We have curation teams including the below just waiting for your content:

We have @utopian-io, rewarding open source contributions:

We have @dTube, @esteem, @busy.org, @chainbb, @steepshot, @dmania, @zappl, and more, as alternate gateways onto the Steem Blockchain - directly rewarding you for using their application:

And the potential gamer-changer, Smart Media Tokens on the way this year too!

I'd really like to welcome our newer users, and approach some of the more seasoned Steemians, to make 2018 the year to focus on what value they can bring to the community.
Let's focus!
For the vast majority of us, getting involved in such things as 'flag wars' and arguing over what is a fair amount to send a bid-bot for example, is just not necessary. Of course everyone has an opinion and is absolutely allowed to voice it, but what this is doing among other things (like potentially raising your profile to the negative), is reducing your time and focus on your own deal.
I think to succeed here, this is not an option - time and focus on your own Steem-style is required.
Kicking up a fuss and throwing verbal abuse around isn't.
Understand that I'm not poo-pooing the 'crime-fighting' (and there are two sides both believing they are just in much of what I read), I just feel that many of us can have a more positive effect by supporting the good that we see.
This is a great time to be involved here and so I urge you not to let any pockets of negativity that you see, distract you from your focus and the potentially great year that lies ahead.
Don't be discouraged, hold your course, I see a fantastic times in the future and I would like you all to be there with me!
Welcome to 2018, lets do this!
Asher