Succes has nothing to do with numbers, but an individuals willingness to listen to its deeper self and act upon its acknowledgement(JMO).

If you look up in a dictionary, what the definition of sucess is: "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose", "the attainment of popularity or profit" or " a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity.

But I think we need to look at this in a more philosophical level. If we rewrite "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose" to "success is the right response to a challence" or in the case of steemit itself its invirontment. In other words Steemit is the right response to the invironment of the world we live in now and thereby a success. This can also be drawn into a personal level. You Mark and family probably had other ideas on how to socialize on the internet, than using facebook, twitter etc, but your intuitive reaction "pussed" you to steemit, which seen from this perspective, was the right response. The thing that you also share "real life challences" and are TRUE freedom figthers just shows your sucess within itself. I think you came here with a "desired aim" to do a difference, which you obviously have achieved. I will finish with this, your 170 days on steemit has definetily been a SUCCESS.