I think we all can attest that it is a tough life in the open sea. The whales get the attention because of their massive size. The dolphins get the attention because of their cuteness and high pitched squeals.

(the tireless and edible samurai and the proponent of SKILLcoins)

Some talents are spotted by @curie through their amazing work and relentless quest to reward good posts. But there are still always the unfortunate few that get left out. They do not lack in talent but somehow they probably lacked in luck.

The curie sieve may have inadvertently left out some deserving posts and it could be one of the following reasons:-

1. The author has a reputation of 53 and above;
2. The author has received upvotes of more than $1 within the first 3 hours of posting; and
3. The author may have a weird talent that may not jive with the curators or reviewers.

The sad reality of the world today is, talent is only discovered if you are in the right crowd or right community. In other situation, when you are a minnow swimming alone, the likelihood of being noticed is faint or negligible. Hence, a helping hand is needed.

Skillcoins

The name suggests that these coins are meant for the skilful, the talented and the overlooked. It is a communal effort to identify individuals with quality, talent, creativity, drive and skill. Lurking in one corner a ginger samurai will appear stashed with skillcoins to reward such posts. The benefit of having such coins is that it can be exchanged for upvotes.

There is a close collaboration between skillscoins and @ninjawhale. The following picture was quietly taken in breach of privacy but for a good purpose. @ninjawhale has undertaken the task of upvoting posts that has been fed with skillcoins. A detailed explanation on the use of skillcoins is available here.

Working to Build a Credible Platform

We all live in this community that interacts with one another. An ecosystem that works on the basis of forging good relationship. Hence, any communal effort to build a platform that has integrity will not be a wasteful exercise. Hence to the minnows that has been neglected, fear not, skillcoins is your ticket to the kingdom of whales.

So tell us what are your skills?