Everywhere you Look, on just about Every Blog, Someone is Talking about Money
Oops, I guess I just talked about Money too..
What Type of Articles Exist on Steemit?
Well, there is a large variety, but I'm going to group it into a few of the common ones that I have noticed since I've been here over the past ~89 days. (Listed in no particular order)
Category 1: "News" Articles
This includes the Crypto News, Political News, Random Event News, and other various current events / news updates. These can be interesting and useful posts on Steemit, for those who are interested in the subjects that are posted about.
However, I tend to get frustrated when news posts are effectively copy/paste of one or many news articles with no original content or point of view added. But, that's just me..
Category 2: SBD "Challenges"
This is where we all see people / accounts distributing the "Liquid SBD" portion of a post to "winners" based on Upvoting / Resteeming / Commenting on a Post. Some of these posts include a useful or fun idea that gets you involved in doing something better for yourself or others (for example 
There are several "gambling" challenges going around also. This is where you send SBD to a user, then have a #.##% chance of receiving some multiplier of the SBD amount that you sent to that user. I feel like these things are all scams, because just like a casino, they are all rigged to leave the person you're sending money to with more money in the end. Either way, they're typically well-marked as "gambling", and we aren't here to censor Steemit, so .. my best advice is to just avoid these "games".
You'll also see "Color" and "Picture" Challenges. I haven't honestly paid enough attention to these because I see so many people participating that I know my odds are slim-to-none, and I don't feel like creating a blog with that kind of a theme on it.
Category 3: Photography / Art / Poetry / Fiction and Other Writers
Thankfully, we have a large community of extremely talented photographers, artists, poets, and fiction / other writers. I love visiting all of their pages and seeing what they have come up with lately and I try to support them with my vote, when I have the power available to vote (and when I feel that those were the most interesting posts I saw in a day).
Unfortunately, we have a larger community of copy paste authors who find "free" photos online and simply use them as their own. You'll see single picture posts, or multi-picture posts, but by the time you get to the bottom of the article, you notice that everything is watermarked with someone else's signature or all of the pictures are sourced from various free sites.
The same goes for artwork. There have been many plagiarists of various talented artists on Steemit (the talented artists were not actually on Steemit, but a bad actor decided to exploit that artist on here). Many of the bad actors have been caught by some of our most extremely inquisitive community members, but I wouldn't be shocked if there are others who have not been caught yet.
Poetry and Fiction writers are becoming more abundant from what I've noticed. There are some serious talents in this field also. Since this is a newer area for me, I'm not sure if there is the same proliferation of scammers in this realm, but based on past experience, I'm sure once the bad actors realize there's profit in these areas, they will follow shortly after.
Category 4: Travel - Blogs / Photography / Stories
Tons of these people are around. Some of them are living off of Steem, others of them are living off of pennies, and others are at various levels in-between. We have several professional travel bloggers who seriously know how to post-process their photos and trips in an amazing way.
I've found myself steering away from the professionals more and more lately. I think of it from the perspective of: Most of these bloggers are already established and earning thousands of dollars in perks, then earning thousands more from us everyday people. I should probably focus my minimal powers on helping more people like myself -- the everyday people -- and maybe I can encourage more everyday people to start doing the same. Lead By Example :)
Category 5: About Steemit
Well, this post is a perfect example. Although there are many people who also post tutorials and how-to's (I'm guilty of those also). You get a full range of Steemit posts, from people offering suggestions to improve the platform to people complaining about the platform, to people explaining how to use the platform in one way or another, and everything else under the sun. Most of these posts don't bother me too much, except..
I find it frustrating when people post about "How to be Successful" on Steemit. Here are the reasons why I don't like the "How to be Successful" posts:
- There is a FAQ about Steemit Posting etiquette on the Welcome page, everyone should read the welcome page immediately when they join. I know that no one likes to read the instructions manual, but for Steemit, it's actually an extremely valuable guide to truly becoming a member of the Steemit Community.
With that said, can we please stop posting the same exact content over and over just in a different way? I understand that sometimes content changes, and we need to make minor changes to keep things up-to-date, but those things don't need to be updated or repeated every day. - There is not a "One-Size-Fits-All" method to becoming successful on Steemit. I understand that everyone loves talking about themselves, and how they "made it" on Steemit, but seriously .. times change and so does what it will take to become successful. I bet if the whales repeated their same "tried and true" method that gave them their early success on today's Steemit, they would not be nearly as successful (or dare I say, not successful at all).
- By advertising so much on Steemit that you can be "successful", you're implying that this platform is primarily meant to be a vehicle for people to "earn a living". This idea is absolutely misleading and unfair to everyone who came to the platform thinking it could be a full-time job able to support a family. PLEASE STOP.
Sure, it's possible that a VERY SMALL PORTION of individuals could earn a large amount of money on Steemit, but that just simply isn't the case for 99% of the user base.
The Platform Naturally Discourages this behavior based on the fact that the only way to be successful on here is to build influence. The only way to build influence is to build Steem Power. The only way to build Steem Power is to NOT Power Down. And the Only way to Earn Money is to Power Down. Can you see how contrarian the idea of using Steemit for Income is now?
So I come back to my initial question...
Is Steemit All About Money?
I would like to think that it isn't only about money. Yes, there is money involved. And yes, it is a motivating factor of many users on the platform. However, the purpose was to build somewhat of a Utopian community where people are able to support each other regardless of economical background or social status.
Supporting each other does not have to ONLY come from monetary means. Education is also a huge method for support. Which is why Interesting and Original Content is so important to have on Steemit. We can support each other in MANY ways. How about we try to focus on methods to support each other, other than money, and let that part work itself out on its own? Trust in the Platform.
What do you think?
Image Sources (regardless of requirements to provide attribution)
Img 1, Img 2, Img 3, Img 4, Img 5
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