A bunch of us were chatting on whaleshares discord chat about Myspace (remember that site?) and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Myspace before I switched to Facebook.
Myspace was clunky and had an ugly design compared to social sites now. I wondered why I would ever be an active user there.
Then I remembered Tom asking to be my first Myspace friend.
I mean if that pic doesn't scream "uh-he-so-geeky-he-program-long-time", I don't know what does.
Take a look at that t-shirt. It is not a t-shirt at all. It is an undershirt. The dude sacrificed his savings to get his startup (back-in-the-day) running. He only has undershirts to wear! Yet he is still humble enough to greet me. What a pal.
Not only has the dude sold me on wearing undershirts more often, there is a mysterious connection to his lifestyle in the pic. He is sitting in front of this whiteboard that has something written on it.
"Beach"
"South Pascedena"
"LAX"
Why is he writing these locations on the white board? Shouldn't he be writing code for Myspace's next feature? Wait. Those locations must mean he is homeless! Awwww. I feel bad for this guy.
He spent his life savings writing the code for Myspace. He spent so much he has no wardrobe. Now he had to sell his house to keep the business afloat. I now have a desire to make sure this Tom guy is doing ok and check in with him, even though I don't know anything about him.
There needs to be a "Myspace Tom" of Steemit or some relatable face(s) to say hello and follow new minnows.
Someone who will automatically follow new users, smile at them forever, and connect with them and even dress down for newbies.
Part of me is against this concept. It wouldn't be very genuine to have a bot greet people. The experience on Steemit isn't among bots, but the magic here happens when people connect. It wod make sense that a nee user should find their own way and make their own network on Steemit.
But if we are honest, people typically don't migrate to other places when times are good. Users move to new platforms when they are disappointed with old ones or have been exploited and burned out.
What would be better than having some person or bot give a warm consistent welcome to provide a bridge into this new and wonderful space?