Welcome back to the Steemian Spotlight series!

Today we take a look at a user who is active in many ways across Steemit: @GMuxx

I first encountered @GMuxx when his bot account Hive account@muxxybot featured one of my posts in its curation post. I was curious about the initiative, so I investigated and discovered a whole community behind the curation efforts of Hive account@muxxybot. But more on that later.

First, I wanted to know what brought @GMuxx to Steemit in the first place. When I asked him how he found out about Steemit, he responded:

I was watching an alternative news personality on Youtube, around the time they were getting demonetized. Looking for alternative streams of income, Steemit was mentioned in a throwaway comment.

It's been interesting over the course of this series to see how several of the Steemians I've interviewed have been referred to the platform via YouTube. I also know that many people have become unhappy with how YouTube is monetized, so they've made the switch to Steemit and DTube.

The alternative source of income aspect of Steemit seems to drive many people here as well, however, actually having it as an income stream takes much time and dedication. @GMuxx has done well for himself since joining the platform in May of 2017. He's reached reputation 64 after blogging 397 times with an average payout of $13.37 (Stats via SteemTracked). @GMuxx has dedicated his time on the platform to many initiatives, but when I asked him what he enjoys blogging about most, he replied:

I enjoy posting about my 3D modeling when I have time to do some. My main focus of late is fiction writing.

If you have encountered @GMuxx at all, the fiction writing does not come as a surprise to you. However, I did not know he had an interest in 3D modeling. So I scrolled back a bit on his blog to see what I could find. The most recent 3D modeling project I could find on his blog has to do with The Writers' Block, a group @GMuxx is the administrator of that you'll hear more about later in this post. Gmuxx recently designed a new logo for The Writers' Block, and he did so using a 3D modeling program. The result is a great looking logo:

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@GMuxx has written many fiction blogs during his time on Steemit, including an ongoing story entitled, Virtual Mortality. You can read all of the chapters so far by visiting GMuxx's profile on Steemshelves.

As for fiction curation, this is where @GMuxx hits his stride on the platform. When I asked him what sorts of posts he enjoys curating, it was no surprise that he said art and fiction posts. Since his actions speak for themselves, let's take a look at the initiatives GMuxx is involved in that promote art and fiction posts across Steemit.

Muxxybot, The Writers' Block, and More!

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@GMuxx's largest undertaking so far is Muxxybot, a group curation account that gets its name from one of GMuxx's nicknames, Muxxy. I asked him about his motivation for creating the initiative, and here's what he had to say:

My overall aim with Muxxybot is to help struggling minnows find followers by sharing their content on the platform, encouraging them along their journey and hopefully getting their work more upvotes.

Many initiatives on Steemit have started out with these goals in mind. It takes dedication to make it happen, and GMuxx has devoted much work to the project. Here's what he had to say about how the project got off to a start:

I created Muxxybot originally as a curation account for Minnow Support Project members, opening it up to all minnows shortly thereafter. I wanted to shed a spotlight on those hidden gems posted by newcomers to the platform, getting more eyes on their articles and hopefully more upvotes. Every featured post gets upvoted 100% by Muxxybot and I resteem each curation post to my 2500 followers.

I started adding curators to the team several months ago and have gone from posting general curation on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, to curating poetry on a Tuesday, fiction on a Friday and French posts on a Saturday. During my recent visit to Steemfest I learned that the French speaking community struggles to get a foothold on the platform, so this is a way I hope can help that community. At present, the curation team stands at 22.

Gmuxx has built a fantastic team of curators who scour Steemit looking for undervalued posts. The headquarters for Hive account@muxxybot is the Discord server for The Writers' Block. After one of my posts was featured in a Hive account@muxxybot curation post, I headed over to the server to find out more information. I was very pleased with the effort, and I ultimately decided to delegate some SP to the initiative. It's great knowing Hive account@muxxybot is helping add value to so many members' posts across the platform. If you would like to see the types of posts that muxxybot curates, check out "Muxxybot Curation #48".

The Writer's Block is not only the home of the Hive account@muxxybot curation team, but it's also home to one of the most helpful and encouraging writing communities on Steemit. Everyone I've talked to who is active in the community says that it has helped them become a better writer. Many of the users there are frequent fiction writers, however, The Writers' Block Discord server has specialized channels for help on fiction, non-fiction, songwriting, poetry, and the English language.

While I personally have never sent anything through The Writers' Block, I've met many Steemians who have been glad they did. Perhaps sometime in the future I'll finally get brave enough to let Hive account@rhondak and her team of writers give me some pointers. If you're looking to contact @GMuxx on Discord, you can usually find him in The Writers' Block. So if you want to improve your writing and get to know a great community of users that are very helpful, head over to their Discord server!

In addition to his curation initiatives via Hive account@muxxybot and The Writers' Block, Gmuxx also hosts several initiatives on his personal blog. Among these are the "Art Prompt Writing Contests," where users may submit an original piece of fiction based on a piece of art that @Gmuxx shares in the contest post. He has not hosted one of these contests in a few weeks, but stay tuned to his blog if this sort of thing interests you. Check out one of the past prompts here to get an idea of what the contest entails.

And as if that wasn't enough, @GMuxx also participates in a similar initiative to several of the Steemians I have already interviewed: welcoming new users. His post series, "Introduce a New Steemian" features a new user's introduceyourself post, and @GMuxx donates the SBD payouts from these posts to the new users to help them get started on Steemit. A very valiant initiative, indeed. I'm sure Hive account@gogogadgetupvote and Hive account@mikepm74 would approve. Check out the latest post, "Introduce a New Steemian Week #5" if you are interested!

Now that we've explored many of @GMuxx's contributions to the platform, let's take a brief look at life away from Steemit.

Life, Offline

@GMuxx had this to say when I asked him about what his life is like away from Steemit:

Due to illness I do not work, so I get to spend lots of time with my family, children and on Steemit.

Despite dealing with illness, I believe @GMuxx has a great outlook here since he considers his time at home as time to spend with his family. There are many users across Steemit who are also grateful that @GMuxx has time to dedicate to the platform.

@GMuxx is a PC user who said he enjoys the movie Vanilla Sky.

He doesn't often blog about his personal life, but if you scroll back far enough through his blog, you can find a few posts about his life, including several visits to the beach, and a couple of personal experiences recounted as stories..

I believe it's great that GMuxx can take time for his family and time for Steemit. He's accomplished some great things, and we look forward to many more!

Thoughts on Steemit

When I asked @GMuxx to describe Steemit in one word or phrase, he said:

Amazing.

I agree. There are many amazing things about Steemit, including the communities and initiatives that have been started by @GMuxx and the other interviewees for this series. @GMuxx said his favorite communities to participate in are Hive account@minnowsupport and of course, The Writers' Block.

I asked @GMuxx for his thoughts on something he would change about the platform, and he mentioned the issue of flagging and downvoting, which has been a common discussion of late. While he didn't elaborate much in the interview response, his recent blog post "How not to Steem & a good use for flags" outlines a use for flagging that he does deem appropriate, specifically involving plagiarized content. His stance is derived from events that have occurred in the past, such as a minor flag war back in August of last year, during which he advocated for de-escalation, and his advice in July of 2017 to minnows about the practice of flagging.

I hope that we'll see more thoughts on this subject from @GMuxx in the future, because I believe he has some great ideas and opinions that could add to the discussion.

Becoming a Witness

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Generally, I've asked my interviewees if they have a witness they would like to promote in this interview. I'm happy to say that this time, I can directly recommend that you vote for @GMuxx for witness.

@GMuxx is brand-new to the witness scene, and he asked me to include a section about his efforts as a witness. Recently, he shared his complete thoughts about his new witness efforts in a blog entitled, "Announcing My Witness." I encourage you to read this post, as it outlines his motivations and goals. By becoming a witness, @GMuxx wants to promote the voice of his group The Writers' Block:

I foresee great things with Steem as a platform and a currency. I want to support its growth and do my little bit to help steer it into the future. As one of the leaders of The Writers' Block, the fastest growing writers' group on Steem, I want us to have a voice in how things change here in future. In my role as admin for The Writers' Block, I will support and champion original fiction on Steem.

He also has pledged to keep his server up to date:

I will keep my server running and up to date, and upgrade it when the need arises. I will keep my price feed up to date. In the near future I will get a backup server. I will support great development, and communities large and small, making Steem a better place for all.

I believe @GMuxx has a great vision for STEEM and the future of Steemit, so it's my pleasure to promote his witness on this post today. I personally have given him one of my witness votes, and I encourage you to do the same. If you aren't sure what witnesses do or why they are important, I encourage you to read this blog. If you are interested in other witness efforts, check out what my other interviewees in this series have said. There are many great witnesses out there to vote on, and every vote counts! Cast your votes for witnesses here.

Final Thoughts

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I hope you've enjoyed this look into @GMuxx's efforts across Steemit. He's done much to advocate for undervalued content, and now his witness efforts will be able to propel the community even further. If you would like to read more about @GMuxx's Steemit journey, I encourage you to read his blog, "Muxxy's Year on Steemit". It's been great getting to know @GMuxx, especially when he drops into @ShadowsPub's PYPT segment. He's always got great thoughts to share, so I'll end this post with his final thoughts:

Community is key when it comes to Steem. Build a following organically, engage constructively, help others as much as you can without asking 'what's in it for me?'

That's all for this edition of The Steemian Spotlight! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Get caught up on the Steemian Spotlight Series:

• Volume 1: Inertia
• Volume 2: HopeHuggs
• Volume 3: topkpop
• Volume 4: ShadowsPub
• Volume 5: carlgnash
• Volume 6: gogogadgetupvote
• Volume 7: mikepm74