This is not a recap nor a photo album, we´ve seen plenty of those so far; this piece will be a bit more profound and critical, I´m not tagging any of you and don´t expect all the content here to be positive - altought most of it, it is.
The crypto side of the story
I hitchhiked, camped in a highway, slept in a park and powered down a bit, just to be able to attend this event. I could have done it in a different way but for me, whatever I´m doing, if doesn´t involve a challenge, I might as well not do it - this is just how I´m hardwired, don´t try to understand it because I can´t, I just need to achieve something along the way, otherwise it seems it´s not worth the hazzle.
But I was not the only one who made a true effort to be able to have a beer with you, my fellow steemfest atendee. After speaking with a lot of my new IRL - in real life - friends, I´m guessing that around 30% of the people who attended our fest, made some sort of effort or sacrifice to share a seat in our dinner table each day.
This means that a significant percentage of the people who came to Lisbon trully believes in this platform, the coin behind it and all the side projects that orbit around Steem. People who are investing time, effort and perhaps money to make things happen. From some developers I spoke to in the hackaton, to thinkers I met while having a beer - or maybe more than one -, to crypto enthusiasts who attended just to see where does all the fuzz behind Steem comes from I can only tell you one thing:
The future of Steem will decide a lot of people´s futures, including some atendee´s futures I believe.
Is this good or bad?
We all have to believe in something. We are chosing to believe in this coin and we are fully committed with it, at least as committed as it gets when you fly several thousands of miles just to be able to see first hand a conference about a new app, a visionary project, a revolutionary garden or an over the top charity story.
But we all believe in it, right? Or at least 98% of the attendees believe in Steem, don´t we?
I heard some people speaking trash about the coin, the platform or the founder - I won´t tag anyone, stop asking - and at some point I started to believe some of it.
I´m quite skeptical regarding something new, this is the main reason I decided to see it from myself, to be able to analyze and make a decision within my own criteria and not based on other people´s comments or recap - because let´s face it, most recaps are positive, full of joy and only showing the good side of the story.
But I´m also an optimistic. Even after speaking with some high profile investors or crypto-holders, I believe in the coin and the platforms being built around it. I don´t believe Steem will hit the 10 dollar price soon, but it will, some day.
There are some particularities that unsettle me, but they are not as big nor important to be worth mentioning, and I think the people who have to - if I say names or position you´ll know what I´m talking about - will get to it when the moment is right.
A social pyramid within a social pyramid.
All of us who attended Steemfest made a lot of networking. Some people came especially for that, some came to put a face behing the username and some of us just came for the free drinks - I know I did, jk - but one thing is clear: I started following a lot of people and unfollowed a few more and I bet you did the same.
Why? Because now I want to know more about the most amazing people I met during these days. I want to read their articles, to be up to date with some stories I was told about, to simply just stay in touch with these bros and sis.
But, is this fair my other followers? Will I be voting on their content less times a month just to be able to vote on yours?
The social pyramid that exists within the steemit community is shattered by the Steemfest community. We are closer, we have an advantage towards other people who weren´t so lucky to attend. Perhaps some people are spending several hours a day for weeks, just to do some networking with a dolphin and bam, here comes a Steemfest atendee and maybe with just a 1 hour conversation now that same dolphin will be voting on the Steemfestbro content instead of the online-networker fellow.
But as we said, some people really made an effort to attend, perhaps because the user really wanted to bond and make some networking IRL - in real life, remember -.
So we have a socio-economic pyramid in our platform - whales, dolphins, piranhas, minnows -, but now we have another pyramid, which involves people whoh attended SF2 - no matter your size or your SP, you are now part of a select group, an elite if you allow me to be this parabolic.
So which one is better? Should we feel guilty that after this amazing event where we meet a lot of new friends, some of us will get a few more votes, just because said new friends want to keep in touch with us?
It is up to you. This social analysis doesn´t go as far as I would want it to go but let´s face it, none of you would read it if it was longer.
I can only say. After SF2 my life within Steemit and IRL will not be the same. I believe in the platform and I will buy some Steem in the near future... and after meeting some of you guys, I have one more reason to stay and I think it is the most important one so far...
Now I have IRL friends I want to stay in touch with within Steemit.com
Go Figure
Thank you for reading this long as hell piece, here is a picture of my dogs sleeping in return for your attention.
