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Greetings, Steemland!

I'm so sorry I've not posted in DAYS.

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I've simply had a rough go at it this week. But we can't stay down all the time, right? So, I'm back. 😍 To be fair, I HAVE been reading and commenting a LOT... er, as much as I can. I'm a bit behind still, but will catch up.

About that.

My Comment Challenge has been going for 5 days now and the interaction is pretty great. 😀When I first found I had so many entries, I freaked out. Totally. Like.... TOTALLY.

I am not bragging about this, just being transparent.

"Why'd ya freak out, Carrie?"

Excellent question. For a few reasons, actually. Initially, I was terrified seeing so many enter, many more than ever anticipated. And suddenly, there was a REAL possibility I wouldn't be able to pay out when I said I would (which has been updated to when I can 😏). At the time of the post, I had about $40SBD in my wallet and was totally willing to share that with the community, but honestly assumed no more than 7 or 8 (maybe 10 if I got lucky) people would participate. So, in my mind (whatever that's good for), I was assuming I'd be paying out about $30SBD for the contest at most. However, I totally didn't state that anywhere... again, assuming not many would even see it.

Luckily, I HAVE had a donation of 3 SBD towards the pay out. Thank you @philiment ! And @syndicates said they would help out if I got in a real pickle. Hopefully, that won't happen, but it's super nice to know I've got support.

I also set up the contest with me in mind.

Another small mistake. I designed the contest based on how hard/easy I believe it is to comment thoughtfully on a post. If I were entering the contest, for example, I would most certainly choose the first option: 1x10. This is because I would take very seriously the idea of the challenge. I would know that going out and finding NEW content to absorb and then commenting thoughtfully would not be an easy task. I also tend to enjoy longer, wordier posts that can take 10+ minutes to read, plus formulating a reply and then typing it out and making it fabulous.😍 So realistically, most people, simply won't have the time to do this correctly. Or so I thought...

Alas, they still enter. 😏

And honestly, though not really thoughtful or even spell-checked, they don't have bad comments. Just ones that are fleeting. Ones that no one feels pulled to respond to. Ones that are just nice. And I haven't found TONS of these in the challenge, but several.
TO BE CLEAR: These are NOT bad. They are still pretty wonderful, if you ask me. 😍 They just weren't the point of the challenge.

"Well, what's the point?"

To challenge yourself to get out there and read new, exciting content, and to meet new people from all over the globe.
How do you do that? IMPRESS them with your comments. SHOW them you read what they painstakingly spent possible hours pouring over. TELL them what you identify with, what it reminds you of, how it makes you feel. Make connections. 😍

Can you do that in a tiny sentence?

Sure. But why half-ass anything in life? Can't we all just wanna be better than we were yesterday? No need to compete with others (which is why I wanted to set up the challenge in this way- challenge yourself to go above and beyond), just do better today than ya did yesterday and you win. 😍

A little shout out to all the current Steemians working on this challenge:

When THAT post pays out your time is up. 🕰️
You need to tell me what you completed. OVER HALF that entered have not done this and will be disqualified for not following directions. I'm a stickler for those. 😏 So please! Go update me! (Hint: 1x10)
You got this!
Late to the party, but wanna join? Do it!

I've come across some of the MOST AMAZING comments because of this challenge.

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This was exactly what I was hoping for! Some people ARE going above and beyond. You can tell they understood the point and took it and ran. And really, if only one person figured that out, I'd be pretty happy. 😀
It's totally more than one. 😉

I plan to do a highlight post of some of the people, maybe not the specific comments... Really, it will depend on the comment. I'd like us all getting out there and connecting like ... what's something that connects well....

Like Magnets!

Cause they PULL each other in. 😁 But be careful! The opposite can also be true! 😎

I will be going back over everyone's comments (again in some cases, I wasn't in a great state of mind during the beginning of the week...)... and I'm going to be a stickler. I'm going to see if you really put forth some effort. Something more than what you would normally do. As mentioned above, I've come across several really excellent comments and I'd like to reward a few people for taking the extra special time and care, but simply won't have the funds if I just let everyone who commented win.

I always want everything to be fair and transparent. I thought I was being smart. I thought I had anticipated the possibilities. Turns out, I moved a little hastily, but have learned a great (not the awesome kind, the big kind) lesson.

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Hopefully😏

I probably won't do a contest exactly like this again. For those wondering, going through 60+ comments/person is a LOT of comments.😲 A lot. But, I've not given up completely. I have an idea where I can still do something like this, but make it much easier on everyone involved (mostly me 😀).

I would like to again apologize for being cranky and not posting. I have a TON of excuses, but who wants to hear about those?😏