Utopian.io is the only place where you can contribute to open-source projects and get rewarded for your work.
With over a hundred contributions pouring in daily, Utopian has seen explosive growth with more and more open-source projects benefiting from added code contributions, bug finds, suggestions, tutorials, and more.
However, we haven't really had a chance to meet 
Hive account@elear, the man behind the creation of Utopian.io who continues to drive the effort behind Utopian. In this article, let's find out who Hive account@elear is, and let's learn more about the effort it took to create this remarkable service.
We at 
Hive account@newsteem asked Hive account@elear many interview questions to figure out who he is and how he helped shape Utopian.
Let's begin by learning where he's from:
Hive account@mooncryption: Where are you from?
Hive account@elear: I am from Rieti, a very small town in the center of Italy, placed in the middle of the mountains. It is a nice place to visit and it is not far from Rome, just 1 hour and a half.
With his exemplary coding skills and work on Utopian, it's obvious Hive account@elear also has had lots of programming experience.
Hive account@mooncryption: What did you do before working on Utopian?
Hive account@elear: I have been working as a developer and entrepreneur for over 10 years, being mainly involved in the Javascript ecosystem.
Work on Utopian
Now, let's learn more about Utopian.io, and the work it took to create it.
Hive account@mooncryption: How did you come up with the idea of Utopian.io?
Hive account@elear: The idea of Utopian.io comes from a long time ago. I have been thinking about this project for various years, but I was not able to find a feasible way to reward Open Source contributors. I tested the Utopian idea and got very positive feedback. I was able to build a community of 7000 people interested in the project in just few days, but I had to stop it, until I found Steem.
Steem provides the perfect use case for Hive account@elear's idea, by rewarding content creators with cryptocurrency. It's no wonder Hive account@elear chose this blockchain and this community to build Utopian on!
Hive account@mooncryption: What does the name utopian mean to you? Why did you choose it for your project?
Hive account@elear: If you type "Utopian meaning" on Google this is what will come up: modeled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect; idealistic.
The vision of Utopian is to free the world of the corporate model, allowing everyone to contribute to projects from which the community benefits immediately. Utopian wants to make the term "project owner" obsolete, by creating a platform for Open Source projects to grow in the community, thanks to the community and for the community. It's a Utopia, isn't it? The only Utopia made reality.
Utopian definitely provides a perfect utopia for developers, creators, users, and people of all kinds of backgrounds to interact with each other. But what exactly does it require to be able to run such a project?
Hive account@mooncryption: What does it take to run successful projects like Utopian.io?
Hive account@elear: It is a full-time job and a huge learning process. Utopian started just 5 weeks ago and I had to face many issues already. Bugs, people misusing the platform, moderators fighting, complaints, but also many nice messages, people willing to learn more about Utopian, influencers willing to promote the platform, new collaborators and much more. Sometimes I feel like I am never stopping, even when I am supposed to sleep.
It definitely takes a lot of work to be able to keep up with this, and Utopian obviously wouldn't have been possible without the tireless work of Hive account@elear and many other contributors!
The Future of Utopian
Now, let's brainstorm the steps it will take to improve Utopian in the future.
Hive account@mooncryption: What do you think are the future steps necessary to get Utopian mass usage/approval?
Hive account@elear: On top of everything, accounts creation. The process of creating accounts in Steemit needs to be improved. I don't see users landing in Utopian, going through Steemit for the registration, waiting over a week to be verified and then come back to Utopian. This is a huge issue and I am already trying to find a solution with Ned.
The second big step is usability and content discovery. Utopian was born as a proof of concept that eventually became very popular in the Steem ecosystem. I think Utopian is enough to be considered a MVP now, since the concept has been widely proven, but I aim to bring the platform to other levels. I am working with 
Hive account@nelsonm on a complete restyle of the platform that should be out in the next few months.
It's clear that very big things are coming for Utopian in the future. Specifically, SMTs (smart media tokens) show quite a good use case here. Let's find out if Hive account@elear plans to integrate them in the future:
Hive account@mooncryption: Ned and the Steemit team recently annouced Smart Media Tokens (SMTs). Are there any plans to create a "Utopian SMT" to reward open-source contributors?
Hive account@elear: Absolutely. We are waiting for the SMTs to be available and integrate them in the Utopian platform. Utopian aims also to implement other coins as a way for the project maintainers to create and load bounties. This is planned for the next release.
Tips for Steemians
Lastly, we ended the interview by asking if Hive account@elear had any tips for those new to blockchain or minnows on Steem:
Hive account@mooncryption: Do you have any tips for those new to the blockchain space or minnows on STEEM?
Hive account@elear: I am a complete newbie myself. I started looking deeper in the blockchain 3 months ago and I joined Steemit less than 2 months ago. I have a lot to learn but Utopian is helping. I can say Steemit is the perfect platform to create things. I realised that I was actually earning Steem while adverting Utopian. This is incredible. I was able to push my project with zero or little investments and have an immediate return. This is not how it is supposed to be when starting a project. Usually you lose money.
As long as you have a nice project in mind and you are able to communicate it properly, the only thing you have to do is to post about it on Steemit or Utopian (if your project is Open Source), grow your network and you are gonna be successful.
I felt the Steemit community is wonderful when I met the guys in person at the SteemFest. Everyone is so happy to support and to motivate you on working on your projects, whatever the project is about. Make some noise, be found and you will have a LOT of people willing to help you succeed. This is the magic of Steemit.
Steem is the most amazing platform, whether you're a developer like Hive account@elear, a writer, an artist, or whoever you may be.
Utopian.io helps reward your work on open-source projects with STEEM, both incentivizing contributions and helping those who contribute a lot get paid for their work.
Hive account@elear's work on Utopian has helped over a thousand contributions reach developers and users, and has assisted a countless number of open-source projects.
Thank you Hive account@elear for creating such a wonderful platform, and for taking the time to conduct this interview!
Thanks for reading,
— Hive account@mooncryption
image sources: 1, 2, 3
Thanks for reading "The Inquiring Times" by @newsteem
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors
