Take the time

I remember my first post on the blockchain - It was 13 June 2017 - I agonised for an hour or two about it being right, a good enough representation of who I was and that I had arrived - I knew I'd only have one chance to leave a first impression and I wanted to make a good one. When I clicked post I was nervous.

Since then I've written thousands of posts, 2516 to be exact, and made something like 52,500+ comments and because of that effort and consistency have a few great relationships, some since day one. I'm happy with my consistency, and whilst I used the word effort above (because it has been an effort) I have really enjoyed it - I'm still here and wouldn't be if I didn't have fun writing and interacting on the blockchain.

In taking time to write well, inserting good, in focus pictures, my own as much as possible, and presenting my posts as well as I could I've managed to attract interest from other users that I then built relationships with over time; then nurtured and deepened them. Most of that happened on the blockchain as I'm not one to enjoy Discord channels and chat rooms at all. I've got a small selection of people I communicate on a one-on-one basis with on Discord and some even have my WhatsApp details - Largely though, it all happened on the blockchain.

I put my Discord user-ID on my posts. I do that because sometimes people like to contact me and ask for help with their communities or general Hive questions and as I'm always ready to help I roll up my sleeves and lend a hand. It doesn't happen too often but when it does we converse, sort things out and move on happily; relationships form. But I get other contacts also.

I'd say at least twice a week I get contacted by total strangers who either send a random friend request despite me having no clue who they are or ever having any on-blockchain interaction with or they just straight-out ask for votes or curangel curation.

Just for the record, the friend requests are largely denied or outright ignored as are the requests for votes.

Sometimes I take a few minutes to write, often lengthy text outlining what I did to build my account - On those occasions I usually get zero response or something like, "thanks".

I think what they really mean is: Thanks for nothing you ignorant bastard - I asked for your help in the form of free votes for low effort work in this rude and arrogant manner and what do I get in return for it? Nothing!

Umm yeah, you get nothing. Ever.

I reward effort and I'm very happy to do so when it is shown and a reward is earned; I mean here and in real life. I don't mind giving a little encouragement either - support - but in doing so I never remove the responsibility from the individual; they have to apply some effort of their own.

Here, this means concepts like my #weekend-engagement concept where I suggest some topics for people to post about and reward the better ones with some hive transfers, voting and curangel curation.

In the 80 weeks of that concept I've handed out (with the help of a couple sponsors) something like 4,800 hive transferred directly to the accounts of participating users and so much more in votes. I do some other things as well but the central theme is providing support without removing the responsibility of the user to make some effort - That is, actively do something to help themselves! Handing out free rewards, especially for low-effort work, is something I do not agree with. There's enough people out there doing that simply for the curation rewards they gain from it - But rewarding low effort work sets the bar low and for others looking in and coming in that cold set a cycle in motion that spirals downward.

I'm not sure if other people get the Discord thing like I do, the begging. I know a few who do, but just how widespread is it?

What I know is that it's never going to work. It's repulsive, especially to a man who built his account through posting, commenting and actual effort. I have the same feeling about those accounts that insist on tagging me all the time even if their post has nothing to do with me at all...And those people who tag multiple accounts including whales and bot-accounts? Come on folks, how about you take the time to put in some effort, take some ownership and responsibility? Having the expectation of reward simply because you're on the blockchain isn't legit.

The sad thing is that the people doing all that tagging and Discord-begging will probably never read a post like this, or anything else for that matter. I wonder, when did taking the easy way out became so popular and when did the transition from reward for effort change to reward for nothing? It's sickening to be honest, truly repellant...But a sign of the times I suppose. What to do but ignore it, move on and invest my time and effort into those who deserve it...But it annoys me, I won't lie.

What's your thoughts on the matter folks? Do you think the older and larger accounts should support a culture of reward for no effort or should they work towards promoting greater effort from individuals?

It's probably important to remember that it's up to the community to set the tone for those from outside looking in right? Did you take the time to work hard on your account, to produce quality and real posts and build lasting relationships? Do you comment on other people's posts with relevance and validity? What are you doing to support and promote the community, besides posting stuff on Twitter? Feel free to take the time and tell me below.