The Shit That's Bugging Me: Episode Three
Nope.
That's probably false advertising.
I doubt this episode will be dramatic.
I lost that spark! And it's bugging me.
I have a terrible headache and feel like I can't do a goddamn thing right today. Tried several times to produce some of that eye candy a few of you out there, from all over the world, enjoy. Probably hit that fancy red 'x' that closes the app about five times.
I feel so tiny!
But I'm not sure that's bugging me.
More people are downvoting now. I've always used the damn things. Never to be a prick though!
It bugs me when folks are accused of being nasty people for curating content.
Often my account name would be nice and high on the voter list after downvoting. Often after upvoting, again my account name would sit nice and high on the voter list. So what I'm noticing, these past few days, is the fact people with more than 27000 SP are actually voting again, because my name isn't up as high as it used to be. That's good to see, so I can't complain, though it does kinda suck that I can't feel like a bigshot anymore...
I'm just kidding.
I have a funny story about downvotes.
Yes, in the past I'd use downvotes, occasionally. So I expected, at some point, someone from the past would want to retaliate, just to be a prick, even though I never used my downvotes to be a prick.
Some simply don't like being called out on their bullshit, like being an art fraud, plagiarist, or a lazy copy/paste commando. That's normal. Any shoplifter, for instance, even with video evidence, will act innocent and claim the one apprehending them is the bad guy. That's just how the shady brain works. Lies are easy, if you're a liar.
Just like being honest is easy, when you can handle the pain of truth.
So anyway...
I noticed I received a downvote.
I saw the name, remembered this individual, and knew right away the downvote only existed as a little poke. He just wanted to get me all triggered and upset.
Didn't work.
I think the post lost about sixteen cents.
He was probably thinking:
Payback's a bitch! Moohoo hahahahahahhaha!
So I pulled up his information on Steemworld, just to have a look and see if he's going on a downvote rampage or if it was just an isolated incident.
What I discovered was hilarious!
I was the only one he downvoted. Not even five minutes after he gave me that little poke, one of his copy/paste, low effort, overly promoted shit posts was on the receiving end of a downvote that knocked it down about 16 bucks.
So I chuckled to myself and thanked the universe for that one. Instant karma, they say.
And no, I had nothing to do with it. I looked through his mentions and shortly before he downvoted me, someone had reported him for bidbot abuse so that whale pounced. It's all on the blockchain.
On an unrelated note...
This also happened:
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That's the funniest downvote I have ever received.
And once again I found myself doing the 'LOL' stuff.
It makes more sense within the context of my previous post.
Speaking of which.
And maybe this does bug me, a bit.
That previous post, at the time of this writing, was sitting in the fifth slot under the 'art' tag trending tab on Steemit, and taking up slot 72 overall. It should be number one!
Just kidding.
After struggling for however long taking the 100% organic approach, it is so goddamn refreshing to see some positive change.
Normally I'd publish my daily post, see the usual amount of votes come in, enjoy the comment section with you folks as you visit, then the post would die, so I'd go back to the drawing board to get busy on my next unpopular and no chance of going viral by default post.
So what changed?
Uhm. Have you been living under a rock?
On many occasions in the past, in posts and as well as comments, I had explained, to the best of my ability, what I expected to see, in time, once that hardfork went into effect.
I had predicted that yes indeed, I'd see a decrease in rewards due to the fact 50% is less than 75%, but I had explained how I suspected the overall post value would eventually increase, leading to myself, as a content producer, earning more after receiving 50% than I would with a 75% cut due to the increase of eager curators willing to vote again.
To me, back then when I'd say it, it felt like common sense. Now I'm seeing it actually happen. As I stated earlier, I'm seeing more names on those voter lists out there. More people are curating and, it's still early. These changes haven't even been in effect for a full week yet, so at this point I feel comfortable saying it is only going to improve.
I'm not kidding.
But you know what really bugs me?!
Am I even allowed to say this?
With all of these naysayers around preaching their doom and gloom, am I even allowed to mention my observations?
Is it okay to say something good?
Can I say these things without being called names? Am I allowed to mention these things without feeling like I'm going to be attacked by a horde of paranoid and delusional conspiracy theorists who will claim I work for Ned or say I must be part of some mystical Steem inner circle illuminati Rockefeller whatever the fucks CIA agent ass kisser?
You can't simply produce content and get votes! It must be something else! You're a circle jerker probably! It's not what you do it's who you know! It's only because you were here early! Sockpuppets! Yadda yadda fucking yadda I'm annoying and I've been saying STEEM is dead for three years twenty times every single goddamn fucking day and it's still alive for some reason but there's no possible way I can be wrong so I will waste my life until I get my way and then nothing will be here so I can't even say I told you so and now I don't know what the fuck I'm doing because I never thought that far ahead!
Whoa!
Sorry. I think I'm experiencing flashbacks.
If there's a point I'm trying to make, it's probably something like: I can accept the fact there have been problems and at the same time take a moment to acknowledge the progression towards something better.
I'm seeing small changes, and it's early. I expect things to improve, over time, and of course, in time, there might be new problems we'll have to tackle. Isn't that life?
Since I'm out so much actually looking, I'm noticing nearly every time someone wants to acknowledge the good, report new positive developments, or attempt to encourage others to contribute to a productive environment meant to stimulate growth — they are being shot down by some of the same naysayers who have been consistently wrong, for years.
And that bugs me.
They don't seem to understand that when they make bogus claims, and pretend to be there to defend minnows or noobs, whatever, it's actually them doing the damage and scaring people away. They're new. They don't know these same people have been acting like that for months, if not years.
Downvotes have existed for over three years. Those who use them abusively have always been a tiny minority.
They said people will stop commenting now because we can't upvote comments as much. Nothing changed, people still comment, and I'd like to take a moment to thank you folks for stopping in to my place and acknowledging my existence. That means a lot to me.
Seriously. It does. Thank you.
They said everyone will quit. I'm still here and I'm seeing a lot of people trying to be pumped up and ready for the next set of challenges. In three years I haven't seen development exceed current rates and I feel we've passed that too big to fail stage long ago. Things are moving along nicely now and you'd need to be wearing some thick blinders in order to not be able to see it.
Those wearing the blinders bug me.
I could go on and on and on.
But I think it's time to shut up.
I'll close by mentioning how I've always felt we're all on the same playing field, playing by the same set of rules. I'm seeing improvements and certainly don't want to come across like I'm rubbing it in. If things are getting better for me, then I feel I'm not alone. Others should be seeing improvements, gradually, and as more catch on, more and more will see improvements.
It is still quite early though, so I'm not saying, "It's fixed!"
With three years of experience, I'll notice the small things.
Of course, much like anywhere else, this platform isn't designed to be a free lunch. Effort and consistency are important, especially now, since more eyeballs are coming back to the platform to look. I've chosen one of most difficult roads to travel here. Since day one, keeping folks interested and growing the following organically has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life, and I didn't spend a lot of my life being a vegetable, I've seen some shit in my day.
So don't be afraid to work hard and impress yourself.
Anyway!
That's enough of that.
And I still have a nasty headache.
Have a nice day.
I wonder if you leave a comment if you downvote someone. Do you give a reason for it?
Do writers know what they have to change?
I thought downvoting is meant to fight plagiarism but I read all kind of reasons why people downvote except this.
There was a dpoll about "curating or creating". Most said they would curate instead of writing. I assume it takes less time.
You seem to know how it works here, I wait, see and read what will happen.
Have a happy day I hope your headache is over now you shared what is bugging you.
💕
Leaving honest and polite comments is recommended, if you decide to comment, but I still run into arguments from time to time. In most cases, if you simply don't like something, look elsewhere, leave it alone. Saying nothing is fine. Currently many seemed focused on downvoting paid vote abuse.
On a trending page here, if the current top slot was valued at say $50, and someone bought $150 worth of votes to purchase the top slot, they have overpaid by $99 and that's a huge waste of resources, since the reward pool is shared between ALL of us. Downvoting those posts to reasonable levels places the rewards back into the pool. If I downvoted, that downvote is worth about 40 cents, so 40 cents would be redistributed to every other post in existence that is still active. Most people wouldn't notice the increase but when many downvote, people will notice more value added to their posts, over time. That's one way to think about it.
Combating abuse is the main reason to downvote.
Having more curators than creators is ideal. That's how the entertainment industry works. You have one performer on stage and thousands of butts in the seats.
This headache sucks.
Sorry to hear you still have a headache ☹
I think people should downvote for a reason and give thst reason. Not every comment needs to be attentive. It is also encouraging if you know ehat to change and do it better plus commenting is a way to dngage to others. Personally I do not need to like the person to see if it its good content (to my opinion) and vote for it. But that is me.
Thanks for taking the time to answer and explaining,I appreciate it.
Have you heard there are no payouts sny longer/earnings on comments/posts etc? If so can it be it is a calculation mistake of the site or alp people use?
I wish you a great day 💕
There are still payouts on everything showing value, provided it's higher than about 2 or 3 cents.
I laughed too much with the first part haha!
With the other, interesting your thinking. It is reduced to 50% but more voters are coming. I hadn't thought of that. Difficult for me, I'm still a novice here haha!
pd: get better soon!
That's good you're laughing. I get a kick out of writing these rants. I mean well.
And yeah, with far more curators than creators, creators can stand a chance to earn more. Just playing the numbers game, it adds up. It's like selling something with a smaller profit per unit, expecting to gain profits back with bulk sales, rather than selling something for a huge profit, and only selling a few units because of the price. Something like that.
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I'm not sure if it is the fact that Steem has no KYC or that crypto is a breeding ground for them, but we got so many conspiracy theorists on STEEM... I can't even fart without someone telling me my fart was caused by chemicals that the bildebergs put in the cattle food... Not that I'm complaining, all content is appreciated, and I often enjoy reading and watching conspiracy theory content, but I don't change my whole life because of it neither do I bother other people with it.
Well, regardless of that, I've been flagging bidbot abUSERS ever since the HF came out, some of them have since stopped using bidbots, the worst part is that some of them actually have good content but they upvote it with bidbots and drink way too much out of the reward pool screwing all the other content producers (which they don't understand why because most don't understand how the inflation system works). Now it just takes time for things to normalize.
I am afraid of one scenario tbh, abusers realize they can't abuse the system anymore and cashout, dumping STEEM and crashing the price... but, even if this happens, the good curators, good content producers, and non-abusers will just scoop up that STEEM at low levels and in the long-run this will be a good thing, better content, better curation means more users and readers which means bigger value for steem and all of the tokens running on the blockchain.
Let's see if things become better or worse, at the moment I don't think anyone can trully say what is going to happen, human psychology is hard to predict, a minor shift can have a mass mentality shift that can be detrimental to the whole ecosystem.
I like reading some of that stuff, for entertainment. That's what tabloid journalism is. I'm not meaning to take a dump on those types. When some folks start thinking the whole STEEM is one big boogieman though, that gets to be a bit sickening, especially after three years. With every change it's some of the same people, saying the same things, and over time, consistently wrong. It's annoying, they don't make much money doing it, I don't see why they bother.
Those using bidbots will be happy with the pure profits of an organic approach.
Yeah, some STEEM might get dumped, but having only those focused on making the place thrive is far better in the long run anyway. It's no real loss.
I hope they get better. I'll continue on with this social experiment stuff and see where it leads. I have fun most days anyway. I think I have more friends here now than I do in life.
YOU'RE A FUCKING CIA SHILL. I'M SICK OF THIS CRAP. I'M QUITTING!???
ah, it's funny. :0)
I am humming the where is my mind tune now.
I was downvoting a post part night and you had beaten me to it and the chap was hilarious because he was a bid bot abuser who didn't follow anyone!?! these people are the pits. I had a good laugh anyway at the exchange!
That is a great song you goddamn AGENT of DOOM!
You saw that post?!?! That's what gave me the headache. That exchange lasted far too long and dude, I was trying to be nice and just explain another way to look at things. Another one was telling me I'm not even supposed to be leaving comments on threads I'm not involved with. It just went on and on and honestly, that might be the last time I ever leave a comment on a fake trending post like that.
And yeah, wasn't following anyone. I don't even know how that's possible. Oh well. I'm over it.
I can understand, I have had similar threads where you are just like, fuck, in trying to be respectful and nice and they just can't let it go. Then they drag everything and their dog into it too!!
Yeah, best left behind you!
One thing I am quite pleased about with the old downvoting is the lack of explanation required now because it's more normal even at this early stage.
Good times!
I'll never forget that one dude who was selling some strange white powder he wanted people to eat or whatever, got the living shit kicked out of him with downvotes, so he edited the post to make everyone sound like thugs. I mean, if hundreds of people are saying there's something wrong with this post, that probably means there's a problem somewhere. I snapped on that guy. I think I got paid 10 bucks for that rant, which is probably now worth fuck all... LOL!
Finally, someone who sees the truth.
Upvoted for visibility!
Hurrah!! Fight the deep state!!!
:0D
But they are helping the newbies settle into "reality".
Most don't look at the numbers. Comments took about 1.2% of the pool. It was an encouragement, not an earner. Now voting on them is a comment ranking system again.
It is funny. I went through 12 years of school and 4 of university / and in the last 2 years I have probably quadrupled my total output.
Sure, the reality of don't believe everything you read on the internet.
One thing I've always enjoyed about the blockchain though, is how I can tell a story, like I did up there about the instant karma, and don't need to provide proof. It's like, well, if you really think I'm going to bullshit on a blockchain, there's your proof.
And yeah, I hope folks don't take it personally when I can't vote up a comment. I enjoyed doing it but now I try to visit their posts and maybe leave a little something there, if it's something I liked. That 1.2% going to posts is huge when people lost a few percent. The reality is, lose some, win some.
And I hated art class...
Yes, this is a good way at the moment.
:D
I realized today that if we say something positive then we are just “obeying the overlords” and if we suggest working together to curate good content we are killing individualism 😃 I guess we just can’t win. I’m sure the same doom and gloom people will find something else to complain about if this actually works... I mean what else would they do?
I’m proud to see how things are going so far, and we are only a few days in. We have a long way to go but hey.. things are looking up.
Great write up and thank you for saying what I was thinking in a much more eloquent (and not bitchy) way than I ever could. ❤️
I've often wondered, since they seem to know everything, why not just fire up a new tribe? Show everyone how it's done!
Can you imagine that place?
Wow.
Things are looking up. Confidence levels are rising, gradually, safely. Still early though, yes indeed. Have to start somewhere and some time though, so here and now seems fitting.
I didn't sound bitchy? That's good.
It's been a pleasant sight when I'm noticing some authors who've been posting consistently, now getting rewarded and voted left and right by different curation collectives after the Hard Fork(s). Authors with good stuff.
You know, I have this crazy theory about it, on how to get votes. Come closer, please.Just a little closer.
Make quality content.
"Woahh, dude, that's like... that's like genious level type of shit that bends the space time continuum harder than Einstein coming from Goku's ass!!!"
Ok, hold on, don't get triggered, don't get your sensitive skin rashed by my soundwaves (or textwaves); you know, maybe, just maybe if you'll work on your content, people will vote it, especially when they now get more by voting than previously. Is it a possibility? Making so good stuff that the reader cannot help but just vote it. You know, I think I'm onto something groundbreaking here. I'm not sure whether anyone else has thought about it, but here I'm sharing this with you. First one is always free, if you're interested, you can get more for a coin. The latter was obviously a joke, and if you thought I was serious, please stop following Jerry Banfield, thank you, he's bad influence.
It was easy to see something was wrong when certain folks who actually do a good job struggle on steemit, but the post is trending in one of the tribes. So now, hopefully, things will balance out the good stuff can rise again.
Myself, I certainly don't expect to see the same reward outcome with each post now. It should fluctuate, and it is. That's how organic works. Those who depend on a circle and receieve rewards regardless of content always seem to remain at the same level, so with actual curation happening, they lose that circle advantage as well. Once in comfort zone, they rarely improve, people get bored, the blog stagnates.
Quality matters. And if not for everyone else, do it for yourself, so there's something to be proud of. It's also far easier to explain to the crowd something like, "Hey! I've been here for sixth months, working my ass off, and nobody is noticing! What the hell you guys!" Then people look and say, "Oh. Shit. Sorry. Thanks for getting my attention." If it's all shit posts though, then yeah, that's why nobody is noticing! Or maybe they did notice, and quickly looked away.
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here
I am still not sure how the down vote is going to improve, or if it will, but it is and has been part of the steem block chain for a long time. The free is the part I don't like, the blind fly by down votes I don't like, but that does not mean I am going to go on a down vote spree just because they are free now.
There is a lot of things I don't like about HF21, I still feel there is more to HF22 that is being mentioned, but I am at times one of those people that see things that may not be there.
Still even with all my dislike of HF20, I am still here, and even though I do not like HF21/22 I am still here, and powered up almost everything I could so I could get closer to 2000 SP.
Comment votes, I think I am glad, if it is true, that they now make only dust. It will stop the larger accounts and smaller accounts that make a post and comment and vote on their own post just for the potential reward. No more Grumpycat lessons, (I still think he did that to show people what was going on, and not to really benefit himself). So that type of reward pool extraction may be cut off.
In the mean time, I am still experimenting with the !BEER token, yesterday I could only give one out, you are my second try today, so hopefully it comes by, if not I will be back tomorrow to drop one by.
The majority will be responsible with the free downvotes. It's not some big conspiracy, it's simply a necessary function that wasn't being used to its full potential. If this was a house packed with people, nobody was cleaning up. People were complaining about the mess, but only a few of us were attempting to clean. I became annoyed because my downvote wouldn't even put a dent in some of that junk they were dumping all over the front lawn. Everyone else on the internet could see our mess as they drove by, and kept on driving, yet this used to be a nice place for people to stop in and relax. Something needed to be done.
HF22 was a bug fix that required a hardfork. Plenty of people inspected it. If there was something else, everyone would know.
2000 SP was once worth about $16000. Wouldn't it be nice to get the ball rolling here again? This cryptocurrency and blockchain is one of the only ones out there that actually does something. All those doom and gloomers help contribute to the lack of confidence. If anything, they're the conspiracy working against the platform. Seems strange they'd put so much effort into disturbing the peace, for free. Maybe a competitor pays them to be annoying. Who knows!
Less money to comments just means more money to posts, and I thought that's what people wanted. I was always upvoting comments to give folks a curation reward boost. They get that by default now, but I'll still upvote comments from time to time. I just won't say when and where.
It does take time for things to settle in, I am still going to fence sit on the down votes. When they come up with a method for me to down vote the stooges, those who have no post, no comments and only hand out annoying down votes I may start to use down votes. I'm talking about accounts like
@deito, the only thing they do is down vote. When a requirement is in place for a comment to be made with a down vote, then I will re think about down voting. I will still down vote items I know are** plagiarized**. People put a lot of work into their art or photography or stories, and plagiarism is one thing I have no issues at all down voting, no matter how high a reputation a person has.To view or trade
BEERgo to steem-engine.com.Hey @nonameslefttouse, here is your
Do you already know our BEER CrowdfundingBEERtoken. Enjoy it!I am not a fan of down votes and still wonder why they placed it directly next to the upvote. Best watch and vote sober or one may do a DUI -downvoting under the influence of vodka or some other drink. Hope your headache leaves you.
They are close together, but when you hit the downvote button, a pop up message appears and you must confirm the downvote so even when drunk, you'd notice.
One thing I don't like is how the menu under the avatar is close to the follow/unfollow button.
The headache is still lingering around. Damn things...
I love the positivity and humor in this post! Good to read some positive feedback on the recent changes.
Cheers!
OMG! A talking dog!
I'm just playing...
Thanks for reading and enjoying that. It's almost a relief some days to find out folks get the humor. I had fun putting this one together. Thanks again.
Impressing yourself is certainly the most satisfying. The ancient Egyptians thought that if a thing was written, it was put into existence, so they liked to put inscriptions all over their tombs of fancy stuff they wanted in the afterlife. I think that is true with creativity. When an idea is put on screen or paper it is written into existence, and that is all creativity craves - creation. I'm rambling.
Does your stomach commiserate with your head and give you terrible nausea with your headaches? That jerk of a stomach ruined my last night of camping on the beach recently. It was a perfect sunset too.
If I had a time machine and wasn't immediately enslaved upon arrival, that ancient Egypt place would be a cool vacation destination.
I think that headache was just trying to tell me to drink more water.
The sunrise here today was something else.
This promoted content generated 0.164 STEEM in curation reward payback. Thanks for using Steemium.
?
I didn't use steemium.
Hey!
Juss2Say:
Many roads have led me to NNLTU's words dotted around the blockchain in present and past discussions. I used to follow The Artist Himself back in the day and left a few meh comments which died unanswered. In a cleanup of those I follow, he got cancelled from my universe along with many others - I was in a bad mood back then!
Then one day, I passed along the street where you say you were thrown under a bus recently. Later on, your 'buzz-generating' presence on KK's and Ura's posts led me further down a few streets and backwaters.
At first I wasn't sure at what appeared to be the darker shades of colours in the paints you use (I guess that's the 'Asshole' palette lol) - I am after all ideologically not far from KK and Ura in many respects. I admired the sophistication and creativity of lang. usage, but had to explore more, at times going some distance sideways in order to understand that the foundations upon which you base your statements have structure and solidity.
As does a lot of your critique, 'offered' to folk on the BLOCK! IMHO.
I think challenging is healthy. I think being challenged is painful, but healthy lol.
I think for the most part what you say comes from the non-aligned, non-party-lined, non-grouped Voice that you claim is yours, and I hereby acknowledge. You speak for yourself only. I respect those kinda voices.
So I hit that 'follow' button again!
And I followed that street down a little further - the street where the Bus Incident took place. It led me here eventually!
This is that street right? Or did I purchase the wrong ticket at the counter?
Firstly, I apologize if you left a comment and I didn't respond. Normally I do respond but sometimes I miss them. Some days I had so many coming in I couldn't keep up, yet spent hours upon hours without a break trying to talk to everyone. I don't enjoy leaving people hanging but I know it has happened for various reasons and I had hoped they'd never take it personally.
That's just one of many shops on Hate Street.
I had been gone for awhile. Was excited to come back.
Not so much anymore. The issues date back years. It's always the same group or connected to the same group somehow. I don't really want to talk about it. It's the most dishonest and deceitful crowd around hellbent on destruction while serving it with a smile and pretending to be champions of the people, every time. Pay close enough attention and some might even notice they're not attempting to gain some form of freedom, they're seemingly attempting to destroy it. They're the only ones who will publish "Hive has failed," "Hive is censored", hive negative this, hive negative that. Constant smear campaign. If you're successful organically they'll quickly spin it to say that's impossible, enforcing the same illusions, tricking people into not even trying, chasing people away. Some pretend to be fighting government agents of doom, which would be a good cover, if you were an agent of doom...
Even humorous how they now want to convince everyone in that crowd with that mindset to get off this platform and move to the promised land where they're allowed to be 'free' again. Because placing so-called censored opinions in a concentration camp/echo chamber where nobody else can see it and they can all finally agree without anyone coming along to question it is 'freedom'.
Pied piper... ? Purely speculation.
So of course they'll hate people like me.
Thanks for the courteous reply.
Let's not, I don't wanna either. Besides, I wouldn't call you out over here to talk about that. I've said my bit. I don't wanna play sides, it's no fun. More liberating (and fun) to DYOR into things and walk the pathless path of one's own discovery, wherever....I am beginning to find!
I hope you received my opening comment as a compliment. It was intended as such. The style may have had a touch of faux-NNLTU about it (well, first time tawkin' to a 'celebrity' innit :). No reproach was intended. Those old meh comments were pretty meaningless as far as I remember.
I'm just speaking here quietly on an old post to two folk I consider to be 'independent actors', non-aligned and whose expression (and Integrity, from what I've seen) I have regard for and am thus kinda encouraged to express this lil' piece.
I've had conversations with LZ and conversations about LZ. They'll tell you why, if you're curious.
I see a conceptual bridge that doesn't necc. require words or actions but may lift some two-way/mutual misconceptions? misdiagnoses? mis-whatevers a touch
That's ALL!
🙏
I've tried so hard, on numerous occasions, to get folks together on these issues. Even here I wasted my life. Have fun reading that disaster. So of course that's July, I come back in December, all that is forgotten and it's straight back to the never ending smear campaign. I had stated somewhere else recently it's clear to me now 'progress' is not the goal. I've spoken to that TF individual in the past. LZ. Tried to talk to some others who'd been downvoted then play the role of victim and begin bashing everything and everyone, nonstop, daily; only to be shunned, bullied, treated like complete shit, labelled a monster, added to their hit pieces. They don't want a bridge, unless they can set it ablaze, and blame someone else for the inferno.
I stayed up into the wee hours reading the article itself and the discussions where you 'wasted' (many hours indeed by the looks of it! of) your life. I came back home yest. to see that I had been tagged by sm1 in the VYB tribe and there I saw your +ve comment first up (read the rest too). I had actually intended to mention VYB to you but I guess all roads lead everywhere!
Anyhow, wanted to say thanks for linking me to that July 2021 post. I've reblogged it for all-round excellent discussion and it's relevance to current discussions around the same issue! It does indeed make the present appear a remake of the recent past! I did notice that the quality of the interaction on the July post - as it appeared to me, was different somehow from what has gone on recently. There seemed to be more serious attention paid to the content of the discussion rather than - as I seem to have noticed a lot in the present debate - the emotions that may have been triggered by the discussion. I guess folk all round are now rather tired of the circularity of much of this, shorter fuses and all! In any case, you appear to me to be highly alert to certain things that seem to slip most people's attention and you call them out superbly I must say! When I was reading through the July comments I saw that some elders of the POB/VYB tribe were chatting with you and acknowledging food4thought and it seemed to me as if that convo would've had an influence on the thinking behind what is now being rolled out with VYB. It was an influential discussion IMHO.
I also clocked the convos further down the page, with LZ (+OP and a few others too). My HIVEbrain feels expanded...but I am not sorry I entered THIS here conversation in the manner I did. I now see my intention as naive, sure :), but in a goodhearted kinda way (the stuff behind the cliche). I think maybe your vote acknowledges something along those lines...and thanks! Part of what drew me to BOTH your and LZ's accounts (and still does) was... How you guys Speak your respectiveTruths (whateverTF that may mean as a cliche lol, or even as a measure of any Complex Combo of Concepts we may wanna label with the T word)...and ALSO, something about the manner in which you seem non-aligned-speak-for-self kinda folk....as it looks to me from where I've been sitting and watching the show. I feel I've learned Really Good Stuff in both Zones .. I'm grateful.
So, read the lot, most of it anyway. Skimmed technical discussions and followed your chat through its contours and colours, down the yellow-brick page. Quite a ride!
Observation if I may
Scathing Critique? (topical joke)You commented on the July post (I cd get the comment if you like, speaking extempo atm) something along the lines of 'you can't really understand a situation/argument/issue if you take sides'.
Sometimes, over and around the wonderful metaphors - and I loled and marvelled plenty - it seems to me that there lurks a sense of fighting something, encased within a hypersensitivity machinery with tankloads of armed and multicoloured paints, shades very rarely seen these days I declare! The NNLTU sensometer homes in with dead accuracy (can't say I've seen a lower fail-rate anywhere on Hive but I'm a stoner and may be stoned in my observing). Does NOT appear to 'attack' first but has a Long Memory of past tenses.
Words now fail me, so I ask my Dawg, @flamistan for some help and she obliges (IOW, don't shout at me :): Yo Hyumi if u b faytin' u b takin' sides innit?, she sez. But what if one is non-aligned?, I ask her. But what if one is fighting oneself?, she replies. An artist? The Artist Himself!, she continues....isn't ART also fed from painful inner colour-bursts of Polarities clashing? She continues yet further...and then stops, coz like whatever innit 🙏
I acknowledge that aspects of your WORK have been much misunderstood. Also unappreciated. I acknowledge the effort you have put in. I acknowledge the validity of what you have to say. I acknowledge that I have not seen you express an opinion on the 'covid drama' per se and so any accusations against you on this matter appear to be assumptions. I support your voice tho' I may not agree with everything it expresses - claro!...jusslike with LZ (or another friend of mine whom you also know, and who recently chucked some sizzling Bacon at you on a buzz-generating 'Boring' comment somewhere; he is sm1 I also respect for his voice and speakingOwnTruth stance and sm1 I just like anyhow).
....also wanting to show you some heartfelt appreciation in this comment!
May Art, Creativity, Self-Expression take Centre Stage over DRAMA....this, or something like it, I picked up as one of the core-kinda messages of what you were saying back in July....I think.
ps.gota go coz Flame is pushing me off the keyboard and I've spent a long time composing this. I know you've said you spend AGES on your WORK, so I guess you'll dig the vibe (did you spot my lack of spot placement/promotion there? My Dawg hangs about in that space btw). Also a PLEASURE to meet you.
pps. as I stated somewhere above, at an ideological level I am closer to one 'side' - I mean I may call it a pLandemic and others may call it Peter Pan, for example. I don't wanna fight, I don't wanna take sides...AFAIC, we're all in this (insert fav. descriptor) together. I don't wanna walk paths towards what seems to me to cause more division. That's the view from where I am...and recently, I've kinda got the impression that things may have calmed down on this BLOCK of late. I hope I'm not wrong!
You're lucky I speak several languages and they're all English. No trouble at all deciphering your code.
You've noticed the calm. Looks like my work here is done.
Of course I fight with myself.
My artwork though does not come from the region of my brain that does all the thinking. At times I'll spend several minutes and even hours simply applying colors and shapes, lines, at random, moving it all around, applying more and more layers, carrying on like that until something shows up, then I build upon the image that was presented to me from nothingness all while stashing little things here and there that'll play tricks on the eyes of the viewer, sometimes to the point of the image painting an entirely new image unique to each set of eyes looking at it. No different than seeing objects in the clouds or faces in tree bark. So I'm not using art to express the version of self I control. It comes from some other place. Of course, like most things, I'll never truly be able to explain exactly what I mean by any this, but it follows me everywhere I go. One can see it when not even looking at my art.