Most of my steem was earned by being a low-paid laborer and converting my suffering into steem at prices higher than the prevailing rate. I can't say I'm too sympathetic to the fear of not being able to live off of steem earnings, but I can say that if you release yourself from that sort of thought, you can say whatever you want here. 

I don't really know shit about anything in life, but some things I believe are: trying to get everybody to like you is a losing battle, you're better off catering to your base(even if it's a minority of mutants), money can't prevent you from eventually dying(so making yourself unhappy to get is probably isn't worth it), and success taken to extremes can prevent you from having a ripping good time. 

I don't even know who you are or why you wrote this post, but I upvoted it and commented because one of your supporters(acidyo) resteemed this into my feed. That you can find support and an audience due to you speaking your mind should account for something, shouldn't it? 

Also, take a look at berniesanders. That guy comes off as a total flailing asshole, but I'll still support his cause when I don't think he's going over the line because I respect him putting himself out there. Although, in his case I'm not sure there was ever a choice whether to get involved or not. Some people just have to be themselves.  

And by the way, I fucking hate bots.  I don't use bots or self-vote. I feel like a scum bag for loaning steempower through minnowbooster, but I at least try to pick the least spammiest borrowers I can find. I do it because of the aforementioned fiat losses. That's where my line is. Yes, hypocritical, but how much are your losses? 

Anyway, I think you need to release yourself from the attachment to expected future gains. It seems to be causing you pain. Expect nothing, and you have everything to gain.

areal good post showing the your deeper thoughts about stem and how you see the platform...

Thank you. you give me more power.

"I speak my mind and do and say what is consistent with my perspectives or, do I bite my tongue, suck it up and play the game like many others."  

I spent the first 40 years of my life doing the above quote from your post as in biting my tongue.  I don't anymore and I can sleep better at night.  The truth is,  I like you better just the way you are (even if I don't always agree).

I cannot support you with more than 100%, so I did just that to let you know I support you and will do so in the future. I like the way you write very much, you always write something to think about and although I don't fully understand all this stuff about bit-bots (I never used a bot), I understand enough to stand by your side.
So I hope you continue to do what you do and I hope that your views will receive a lot of support from the community instead of your fear that you will have to live in an obscure corner of Steemit. 
I wish you all the luck in the world.

Hi Taraz. If you wrote crap I wouldn't follow you. I like your posts and enjoy your humour. I have one author I read because I enjoy his humour also Nelson De Mille. I am fussy and fickle but do enjoy reading what you write.
You wrote about your concerns and it was needed. I have written a few comments on other posts and deleted them. They were political. One was on Winnie Mandela saying she was an angel. We all know the truth and she was the definitely no angel. Should I have left it and got flagged or started something . I am too small to do that right now but will when I have the chance when I have more clout.

It is difficult for someone with your obvious moral scruples to win in a game which is weighed in favour of bad actors. We can only hope that enough bidbot supporters will realise that their behaviour is counter-productive to the health of the platform and the bidbot frenzy will eventually abate.

I think you're  doing  great and getting some haters while speaking your mind means you are going the right way. About the future of steemit the platform will evolve and the bidbot period will end. Just have to wait out the storm.

I strongly believe that freedom of speech is essential for every community and the same applies to steemit. People should know that they can speak up without being punished for that.

I say speak your mind and post what you feel.
I believe in the long run you would regret not being true to yourself and your aspirations. 
Consider yourself lucky, at least you are established on this platform. Most my posts don't even get views.  I guess I am either not insightful enough or my followers are all expecting me to post about marijuana. It so happen four20 is my birthday.  I have knowledge of the other but there are others who have much more important information to share.
I am guilty of earning steem with contest and games and I am not going to feel bad about it because I don't.
I don't really understand the bot upvoter thing and when I have some free time I will research it.

You know that you have my support! Okay it is only a small push in the back but it is support. The more I grow the more support I can give!
I'm curious about 2 things:
- what consultancy are you offering?
- I have been following you for some time and I do wonder what damage you could have done to your account!
I appreciate that you are writing about different things and most of all that you are genuine!
Keep it going!

>Perhaps I should do every second post mentioning how great some whale is and spam my links to wherever and whoever will have them, maybe throw in liberal mentions of the large apps, draw pictures of witnesses. One good thing about Steem price being low? My vote (even with paid delegation) isn't large enough to get spammed links in my DMs by high earning accounts anymore. It is like they look at a voting list to see who they should DM. Knowing this place, that list probably exists.

That's how I knew I was finally making it!

I have been following you for a few days now @tarazkp. I have read some of your content and it is interesting and holds my attention. 
I like the way you speak your mind and although several of my opinions are different then yours but  that's what I like. What's the use in being surrounded by people who agree with you every time.
Even I like some of the shit posts people post but at the end of the day I need to return to real content. You may have lost a few steem on this platform for being outspoken but you definitely have earned my respect in that sense.

Hey Taraz, this is my first time stumbling across your page, so I don't fully understand what you mean about "speaking up". I think you painted a pretty good picture though by pointing out the things some people use for "success" here.

I'm new here, and although ive made some very mediocre progress thus far, I also have a dream of living off Steemit. Although I agree with many of your negative points made, I think there's a shimmer of hope for the grand future here if all of us using it now start to band together and continue to use it as it should be used. I know this is a blindly vague and optimistic statement, and no, I don't have any sort of solution to offer, but I believe it is possible and that the only way to achieve it is if we all do our part to stay active here, support the right people and continue to work towards a solution.

So, again, no I don't really have much to contribute. But, I just like to share my viewpoint that it is up to all of us to make this work. I look forward to looking into your page after I stop writing this pointless comment :)

Well, I don't want to sound like I'm sucking up or whatever, but let me just say you have inspired me. Like a lot. Both your writing and your photography, your style of writing has prompted me to be somewhat more direct with my posts, which I've always seen as a good thing and I've taken up photography, mostly do to your photos. 
I know that doesn't help much, but..
As for Steemit and living off it, I'd say don't lose hope, my friend. The markets are tricky and they flow, first one way and then the other. I think there's still time to get to that point where you can live off the work you've put into this platform :)

Fuck money, fuck people, fuck society, fuck humanity!
What else can I say?

PS! This post felt... pure? Man, I don't know how to express myself anymore.

You've done well so far and you have created your own voice here - that's very important. You have a brand. Maybe you won't get to be among the highest earners on Steemit, but you can still be a good earner and write whatever you feel like. As for living off the earnings, I think that depends mostly on the crypto markets - I don't know if you'll ever get enough to buy a Lamborghini, but at some point we might get to the point where Steem will be high enough to cover everyday expenses.

I discussed a similar issue with someone a week ago and she replied that the end shall tell. You've spoken your mind and you've fought your case, we don't know who will win at the end of the day. But one fact about life is that, being the winning side doesn't always mean they were right. Like you said, no one knows what fate awaits you, we only hope the gods of Steemit will be on the side of the community, else the wolves will celebrate their triumph over the sheep. 

I have been your follower from the first week I came up to Steemit. You've made many points, some I might not agree with, but on the issue of community vs bots, I think you have been fighting on the right side.

... you feel you have lost some big upvoters because of your stance?

On the upside, _this_ big player is on your side! lol

...have you noticed this happening to you...?
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/is-there-something-disturbing-the-force-on-steemit

you have a great skill of writing. i didn't know all this. thanks for sharing it. it helped me increase my knowledge.Please keep writing blogs so that we know better.And i am following you upvoting you, because i loved your writing

Now look, you made a killing here in January. Even I earned rewards worth so much in fiat that I would never even dreamed of making so much money just by blogging about whatever the hell I felt like. The best couple of weeks were such that had that level been sustainable, I could've quit my job and become a full-time Steemian. 

Since then, everybody's earnings have gone downhill and the first ten days of April have seen near total annihilation of my earnings relative to those in January. That was driven mostly by the price of SBD and STEEM going back to under $2 from the towering hights back then and, in my case, certain manually curating whales shifting their attention to other minnows to support. (Thanks a lot for your generous support! Keep up the good work supporting the minnow population!)

You're earning much less here now but so is everybody else. But your earnings have been quite good despite everything. And you deserve every single cent. 80-90% of the photos you post are of very high quality. You are a model Steemian. You've tackled important issues while churning out content leaps and bounds above anything from anyone I've ever personally interacted with here. 

It would be stupid of anyone with high SP who cares at all about their investment to organize a campaign against you, a very constructive high-profile contributor.

Once again I've gotten caught up spending ages reading your post and all the comments! I like all the debate you spark off. It rarely seems to get nasty though and you aren't being flagged by bot owners, so I'm guessing it's not really that that's reducing your rewards. I've noticed a lot of people are getting way less rewards of late. Your average upvotes haven't really changed either. In fact your posts about the bidbot issues seem to get more upvotes if anything. Perhaps the reward pool is really declining and it's probably for multiple reasons. 

Steemit really is an interesting social experiment and a reflection of reality in so many ways. I often wonder if Ned refuses to intervene purely to watch how this experiment pans out. Could we ever be truly self governing?

### ¿Who've had dare to pronounce here the word *"outspoken"* in my presence?

> I wonder how much questioning the bidbots have hurt that chance?

**¡Nah!** bidbots are unable to think. Unable to read, see, listen, taste, rationalize, etc. Same as their creators & owners. They both can't hurt to no one with only their hound atrophied sense of smell sniffing dohlah$ only and with no time available to anything else.

> So, do I speak my mind and do and say what is consistent with my perspectives or, do I bite my tongue, suck it up and play the game like many others.

**Há!!** ¿You tell me or you ask me? **¡Just look at me!** I doubled you the time in seniority within the platform. And look where I'm still going. *(Of course, keeping the distances of your specific prolificity, perseverance and daily hard work)*

And then, I know you know I am probably an annoying **stone in the shoe** for a few *up there* as to have given me or give me any support. You know there are very few like me *(or you)* around here so vocal & outspoken to explain & expose things so clearly and straight to the point. Yeah! certainly me, perhaps in a more unceremonious, raucous and jarring style to spit my mind out. **¡But it's just that the truth speaks hoarsely!**

I have already spoken & written publicly before about bidbots, their owners, whales, big marine mammals, high stake SP holders, Steem Devs and every **bug with nail** up there at the top of the food pyramid. And as you know, every time I do it and I've done it. I do it with my mouth full of logic, sanity, reasoning, frankness, honesty, sincerity, **respect** and very sharp and attentive observation without having ever been able to receive a comment against.... well.. and sadly not in favor either. ***Since almost nobody dares to comment in my posts.. LoL*** Tsk Tsk }:)

*I guess you've lost the last ones I wrote just because they has been written in spanish. Like for example [this one.](https://steemit.com/spanish/@por500bolos/dios-me-libre-del-agua-mansa-que-de-la-brava-me-cuido-yo-hivemind) Which I decided to write in my native tongue just to inform my countrymen about the current issue of the bidbots. Since there are very few posts that exist in our language about this subject within the platform.*

And while I admit that post could've been too long and tedious to translate it into a language that you can understand and consume it all. Despite your busy schedule and multiple new interests that have kept you away from visiting my blog lately more often. **In this opportunity you won't escape unharmed.** Because [my last and most recent post](https://steemit.com/discussion/@por500bolos/the-unnecessary-excess-of-steem-blockchain-s-transactions-publishing-our-posts-yeah-just-a-matter-of-symmetry) has been written in a well resounding *"outspoken"* english about a subject I bet you'd like to raise your voice too!! So, over there I'll patiently wait for you to comment and so you pay me back the courtesy. };)

> Perhaps my fate is to live in some obscure corner of Steem writing volumes no one will ever read

Hahahaha, just tell me more about obscure corners on steemit where no one will ever comes to read!! Come here buddy. Come here close to me. That I make you a little space beside me in my weak lit corner. I don't know which of the two will be **Pinky** and the other **The Brain.** But if as you've already said somewhere above. If we both continue doing what we think is right, there is no way we can lose the gratifying track. And we'll end up dominating the world. :)

***¡Note For Both! doing what WE think is right!!***

And well bro, since I couldn't find a pointed pink hat, a long pink cloak and a pink scarf for you in your size yet. So, **¡TAKE THIS!** let's start slowly with these accessories first.

<center>http://www.mundokitty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/accesorios-hello-kitty-h-m-invierno.jpg</center>

Oh! well. Those, unless you can't wait, you feel rushy and wanna try this one below right away to see if it suits you well in the spot.

<center>http://www.tutusweetshop.com/images/thumbnails/personalized-leopard-print-hello-kitty-birthday-outfit.jpg</center>

<center><sup> Uhmm.. yeah! also. And unless that you want to be **Pinky** instead of **The Brain.** }:)</sup></center>

after I read your writing I am amazed at what you say here makes me inspired, maybe we need hard work and high spirits to achieve one success, I am still new in the world of steemit and I am still very layman to write, I support you and I like what you share here, thanks mr @tarazkp has shared the story, I hope you are always healthy.