Are you helping new players?

It is difficult to get new people to join a blockchain social network, when the markets are declining and social networks are substituted by Instagram, Tinder and what not. Content wise other platforms (Modum for example) have more to offer and with the content payout rate being not worth mentioning at the moment, it is hard to convince somebody to join Steem(it).

I gave it a try because I wanted to start blogging without hosting my own blog. I soon abandoned the idea because I could afford even less time for writing articles than I initially expected.  The financial aspect was also no motivation. I could spend 1-2 hours writing an article and the payout would be what? 2-3 cents? Half of that going to curators? Thank you, I may just as well collect bottles and claim the deposit. The pay would be so much better.

So what made me stay? Easy enough: Steemmonsters. But I would never have found that had I not had the means to explore the blockchain and its apps.

As a new member you hardly have enough resources to reply to the comments people add to your post. This can lead to frustration really quickly and make you want to think “screw it, I’m leaving”. 

Luckily, I did not have to face that problem. There was one user who helped me understand the platform. She offered a lot of information to me, even about related applications that were not directly connected to Steemit. Like what Discord was all about, for example. I never felt like I was pressured into anything and also not bombed with referral links (because those comments in my introducemyself post I simply ignored). She even delegated a bunch of Steem Power to me without interest, or me pleading for it. The only condition to keep it: Stay active. And when I started out writing my first posts, she even upped the delegation. Eventually I almost had a Steem Power balance of 100 SP and only about 15 of those were my own. 

That user was @simplymike. I am certain that many users reading this post know her and have made the same experience as myself. As a small token of appreciation, I intend to nominate her for the Steem Silver Gold SSG community contest

I also want to use this opportunity to call out for action in following her example. Can you imagine what will happen, if nobody kept up her efforts? New members would leave immediately after signing up, due to being frustrated by the hurdles placed in front of them. With old members (naturally) leaving over time. What would be left were a handful of whales curating their own content in circles, the value of the Steem token dropping slowly dropping to zero. 

I have to admit, that I did so far not really practice what I’m preaching here. Again, the (poor) excuse is missing time. It can be difficult to find the time and motivation to help new members and explain the same things over and over again, when instead you could be playing games or reading posts by your favorite content creators. I intend to leave useful advice to newbies whenever possible, though. 

Let us onboard new users together! Not just Steem Inc.'s but also our action is required for mass adoption!  



0
0
0.000
3 comments
avatar

Thanks, @handtalk5. I can't explain what this post means to me :0)

I've been a bit hesitant when it comes to delegating to newcomers after HF21 - it feels like I still don't understand enough of the mechanics to be able to figure out what could really be helpful for a newcomer.
You just made me realize that I've been wasting my time pondering over irrelevant stuff. I should just go back to what i was doing before, so newcomers can at least be active without running out of RC all the time.

Thanks for opening my eyes :0)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Very nicely written...

October 1, 2019... 2.7 Hollywood Time...

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @handtalk5! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You made more than 600 comments. Your next target is to reach 700 comments.

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

You can upvote this notification to help all Steem users. Learn how here!

0
0
0.000