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When I heard about Steemit a year ago from Hive account@gbenga, I looked at him and laughed. It was entirely beyond me as to how an individual could get money when people upvote his articles. To me, it was like telling a man that he could get money when people like his posts or pictures on Facebook. I paid no mind to it but he kept preaching the "Steemit gospel " to me and eventually, I got converted and became a Steemian (on an alternate account) last December.

Back then, I was usually ecstatic, if a post got me a couple of cents. I continued posting and my writing prowess, if not my payouts improved and I was able to produce better articles.

Like some converts to a new faith become due to lack of miracles or incentives which really attracted them to the faith, I became a lukewarm Steemian. I started producing articles which even I would not upvote if I saw them today. I started engaging in plagiarism and eventually I started lifting whole articles from other sources and and dropping them here. I got so much comments from Hive account@cheetah that I would be quite wealthy now, if I got paid for each comment Hive account@cheetah left on my post. Initially, I did not understand these comments and I thought that Hive account@cheetah was just a bot that would let you know if there was an article like what you have written somewhere on the internet. I just kept dropping my plagiarised articles and kept complaining about how I got no money from my work. I guess Karma was just been herself, coupled with the fact that Steemians are not stupid. I eventually got a comment from Hive account@steemcleaners where I was accused of plagiarism. I tried to defend myself and tried to stand up to Hive account@steemcleaners, with the claim that I wrote the work myself. That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Hive account@steemcleaners gave me the precise reference for my work and I had nothing else to say. At that moment, Hive account@pfunk dived in and gave the command !cheetah ban and that was it. I was still oblivious as to the gravity of what had happened until I wrote my next article (which was actually an original) and got downvotes from 11 different cheetah accounts and a downvote from Hive account@blacklist-a. I tried appealing but all my appeals fell on deaf ears. I moped for a while and then got this account. In a way, I'm kind of happy that this happened, otherwise, I might not have improved myself. While my articles might not be as good as I might be able to make them to be, I'm proud of myself as to what I've been able to accomplish. I might still be lukewarm in some ways due to my busy schedule, I'm way better than I used to be and hope that I can become even better. Thanks a lot for reading, live long and prosper.