It's funny how life unfolds.
I took pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday away from Steemlandia to work on my eBay related stuff... because that's actually how we make most of our living around here.
Come back here this morning to check in, only to find that I actually can't access anything, and finally find myself able to do a "read-only" view via @steempeak and try to make sense of the chaos.
Here, have an irrelevant — but cute — bunny!
Sadly, I'm not really surprised...
I'm not even really angry with Justin and his cohorts... he's merely a reflection of the greater predominant paradigm of the world we live in. In turn, maybe that paradigm is simply a reflection of human nature, or maybe it's something else.
One of my favorite social and economic commentators — Umair Haque — refers to the system as "Predatory Capitalism." It runs on the principle of "Profit before People."
Now I find myself reflecting back on my very first post here — three years and one month ago — in which I pointed out that every single attempt at having some kind of democratic cooperative user-generated content site I have been part of since 1999 has gone down in flames, in one way or another.
More than FIFTY of them...
Yes, I have a separate folder on my external hard drive with the texts and images of every single venue backed up... because some variation of the shit we're seeing here now always happens!
Springtime!
Notwithstanding...
The ostensibly "immutable" blockchain notwithstanding, I'm glad I saved copies of all the posts and images I used here, too.
Whether it be seen as pessimistic or simply realistic, I never trusted this place to be able to keep itself going in some semblance of a straight line. Don't get me wrong, I was always hopeful that this would prove to be the exception, but I never have counted on it.
In some sick sad way, it reminds me a lot of my nomadic childhood; never setting down roots, and always being somewhat ready to pack up and move on to the next venue.
In that same sick sad way, I guess we're often drawn towards the hope of that which we've never had. In my case, a sense of stability and permanence.
No such thing exists, I know...
The tiniest of webs...
I don't know...
... what's going to happen next. I'm a content creator, and social blogging is my favorite hobby and pastime.
I'm not all that deeply into "blockchains," and I really had very little knowledge of cryptos (outside of Bitcoin) when I came here, and I still don't. True functioning decentralization is a lovely ideal that occupies a soft spot in my heart in a location not far removed from Universal Basic Income and Rainbow Unicorns.
What worries me most about this whole current shit show is that this community of which I have grown very fond will evaporate into thin air like morning mist.
What also worries me is the actualization of one of my oldest criticisms of decentralization... namely that it so easily becomes FRAGMENTATION; a bunch of tiny separate "islands" that give us a nice warm feeling of having obtained autonomy, while lacking the greater benefits that come with the power of large numbers.
For now...
... I guess I'll just sit back and watch how things play out. And follow the suggestion of @eveuncovered and Just Keep Steeming! At least until some semblance of the lay of the land emerges.
Hopefully something will be salvaged out of this chaos... for now, I'm going to go wash the dishes.
(A #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)
How about YOU? What do YOU think will happen next? Have we reached the end of the road? Will this become just another of Justin Sun's hundreds of apps that have no users? Will there be compromise? Will a new community rise and begin again? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200303 00:31 PST
1213
@denmarkguy
I agree! That was what really gripped my heart when I first heard of the news. It's really because of the community that I have stayed in Steem for so long. Those who come merely for money are mostly long, long gone.
What will happen to PHC? And the others?
But for now, they're still staying strong. <3
Well, hopefully some "version" of the community will live on... perhaps even with the Steemit, Inc. employees who resigned as part of the picture... they had the vision but not the resources to get anything done.
Time will tell. For now, there has been a great sense of community, and that is cool. Justin Sun finds himself in a difficult position. He talked his "Crypto exchange friends"* into powering up Steem held in client trust accounts in order to control the witnesses... presumably on the assumption that he could fork the chain and reduce powerdown to one day. But as long as the community elected consensus witnesses stay at the top of the list... those funds will be locked up for 13 weeks.
This is where we get to discover whether decentralization really can stand up to pressure from the "conventional" way of doing business...
I truly hope so too. Change and progress is inevitable, but what is stronger than the tide is the human spirit.
It's so fishy that he wants to reduce the powerdown to one day - really lends credence to the narrative that he wishes to pump and dump.
It's good to read something different as the never ending scolding.
Action = reaction and what I see happen now is a great example of what people are. What surprises me is you only mention @justinsunsteemit as a product of... How about the rest, the witnesses, all those big fish and the engineers... All afraid for change, to lose their position and please do not tell me they did it all out of love for this platform, they are philanthropists because we all know they are not.
I wish you a great day 💕
Oh yes, I quite agree. Everyone is REacting, not simply assessing and acting on known information.
I came here because I was curious, and I actually never expected to make money. I have a 20-year history with web sites that "pay users" and my experience have been that they all — ALL — fail. That was my expectation here, as well... and I know that is far from the normal perspective of Steem users.
I cannot understand the crypto world either. And like you, I'm afraid that this platform that has become like a diary for me will disappear before my eyes. It's a sad reality. But I'm just happy seeing how everyone unitedly stand against the one who wants to snatch away our community that I have grown to love. 😊
Keep on steeming until we still can. 😉
Yep. let's just keep Steeming, and supporting the community!
The really good thing that has come out of all this is that so many more members of the greater community have become a whole lot more aware of the importance of casting their votes for witnesses.
Yes, I am one of them. I didn't think that it is important to vote for witnesses. Hahaha! 😊 So I learned from this too.
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