YAH!!! It's REPLAY TIME! - Steem 2018 Replay

I started out intending to create a YouTube Rewind Parody vid but for Steem after bringing it up on the Steemspeak Discord. Actually, using "Replay" in the title was inspired by a Hive account@inertia and I ran with it. I spent entirely too much time on this shit but had fun and learned a few tricks along the way.

How to deep-fry a meme the easy way. (https://deepfriedmemes.com/)

How to add the glowing eyes effect on Photoshop Elements 15.

Terrifying Isn't It
Transitions out the wazoo. Learning how to use them and what one can do.

Besides the fun and games, I do go into rant mode about a slew of problems that I believe plague the platform to include:

Irresponsible bid bot owners contributing to abuse and coin dumping. _{ex Hive account@emperorofnapscrap , alfanso /prameshtyagi}

Circlejerkers / Collusive voters: _{You know who you are.}

Issues with Initial Distribution: Ninja Mine Abusers _{I'm looking at you Xeldal / Pink Spectre.}
Linear Rewards: I hear this one come up a lot and wasn't really active during n^2 but I can see the argument.

_{Note that you won't find not having a separate flagging pool or discounted downvotes as part of the problem as I don't believe either of those things actually solve the underlying problems. It give abusers additional power to revenge flag which we already deal with. I believe off-chain solutions are the ticket but requires stakeholder coordination.}

I also recount some of my blockchain memories of 2018. Mostly dRAMA (credit to Hive account@fyrstikken for that quip.) but a few good things thrown in. I'm still bullish on Steem hence I have never powered down even though the coins have lost significant BTC value since I first invested. Maybe, I should have listened to Hive account@lexaconical but I'm stubborn like that especially on account of the friends I have in this place in my over 2 years and SO MUCH time invested.

Guess I'm another crab in the bucket. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

This is an interesting demotivational I stumbled upon and it hit me. So, those of us that are working together to build Steem into something great are like the crabs that have been red-pilled. We believe in something brighter around the horizon.

Could come with SMTs (_{Not holding my breath. Don't worry.}), communities or, if all else fails, some really smart people fork the chain and leave the shitty crabs to twiddle their thumbs. The last is not an option I take lightly and prefer it be avoided by salvaging what we have here.

Whoa whoa. Easy Bender. Let's not get carried away now.

Friends, that's what I've been working my ass off trying to do with my minnow stake working my way to dolphin. I'm about halfway there thanks to the support of my friends and associates. Most credit of my positive rshares comes from Hive account@utopian-io and Hive account@fulltimegeek who really helped kickstart my work. Those that know me know that I will not use bid bots. It's just too much of a slippery slope and too prone to abuse. Moreover, it's counter to what I believe optimal curation ought a be which involves stakeholders getting off their ass and voting on content that makes this platform great. _{And that is NOT seeing Hive account@chbartist on trending 6 times a day.}

In conclusion, Steem is a mixed bag for me but I'm committed already so not going anywhere in th foreseeable future. Funny sidebar. I actually screwed up on changing my passphrase and damn near locked myself out of this account but the powers that be (namely StINC) approved my recovery and I'm back business.

I am grateful for Hive account@ned keeping the account recovery services up otherwise I would have been super boned. Destiny would have that I would remain so my account was recovered and made triple sure I hit save on my password manager. Hive account@iamstan is going to give me shit because the same thing nearly happened with another account but I deserve it. 2 strikes so I'm not out yet. 😉

Steem on and all that jazz! 🎷

Supporter Shout outs!

All SFR Flag Staff and the Righteous Flaggers
Hive account@enforcer48
Hive account@iamstan
Hive account@lovenfreedom
Hive account@steemseph
Hive account@adamada
Hive account@flugschwein
^Special mention as SFR Dev Contributor
Hive account@jplaughing
Hive account@naturicia
Hive account@reazuliqbal
Hive account@serylt
Delegators:
Hive account@themarkymark (witness voting link)
^Special mention for hosting the SFR bot!
Hive account@lukestokes.mhth (witness voting link)
Hive account@fulltimegeek
Hive account@yabapmatt (witness voting link)
Hive account@steevc
Hive account@slobberchops
Hive account@underground
Hive account@pjau (witness voting link)
Hive account@church-of-piglet
Hive account@pfunk (witness voting link)
Hive account@crokkon
^Special mention as SFR Dev Contributor
Hive account@emrebeyler (witness voting link)
Hive account@scalextrix
Hive account@shanibeer
Hive account@kabir88
Hive account@natubat
Hive account@reazuliqbal
Hive account@captainklaus
Hive account@freebornangel
And many more...

Also, thanks to Hive account@nathanmars for bringing me into the Hive account@dtube family!

_{Oh and lastly. Shout out to Hive account@jackmiller for giving the idea for the one of the memes. Am I going to tell what it is? Nope. You'll have to watch to find out. 😉}