And that is why investors will buy in. You can not build the community fast, building a community requires loads of time, commodity, that investors do not have. But they have time. The better the community the higher the price. Lately though, i have been having doubts about Steem community, there are not that many good members, especially bigger whales, but for those that are still remaining it is worth sticking around. Nice article mate.

Great points! I agree that STEEM is a powerful blockchain! So much potential with the community! Slow and steady growth will be amazing for all of the members! Thanks for the share!

Its a lot of work to get steem. I suppose once you see it growing it makes it worthwhile. How long did it take you to get your first 1c upvote. Thought I would be there already. Embarrassing voting for you and doesn't move the value up.

I'm considering making my first fiat investment into steem when my pay hits this weekend, especially if it stays below $2....

maybe push myself up to the 500SP mark :)

Once again organic upvote and resteem organic material  
keep up the great work

I really enjoyed the opening reasons to hold STEEM. Actually laughed out loud!

I think your arguments around opposition to bid bots are evolving and becoming stronger. What are your thoughts on bid bots that use a portion of proceeds to fund projects?

Steemit is the future I believe that. Nice point you highlighted we are trying to use steem to regain our freedom from the government because politicians have enslave us so much

I agree with your thoughts. I dislike the bid bots as well. It seems dishonest somehow. The money is not the important bit at this point of steemit but making a home & building communities. The money will come when it is supposed to. - Thanks for the post

> This is the main reason I dislike the bidbots. They take away the feeling of owning what is received. They are investors looking for an ROI, not members looking to pull their weight.

Yup. Just money to make money, not working to earn it.

Getting attached to something like Steem will make you fight for it indeed ;)

It has been a pretty long day and I have missed most of your posts for a while now. I'll check what I can before grabbing my pillows. 

Community! Yes, community has become quite important to me on this platform since I took on the role of a curator for the Wafrica community. I hope that a few more people will see things at least partly the way you see them about this platform, then we'll be sure that the future won't be so scary.

its just awesome post to Time to shill some Steeeeeeem!i appreciate your writting,,,thanks for posting,,,steem can give us a way to lead life to good,,, i love steemit,,, i love this blogging,,i love steem community,

I would say that the  Steem Blockchain and Steemit are the best things ever  created on the Internet.  That’s my opinion after being on Steemit since June 2017. Creative people can finally make a decent income from posting to a blog here. I have tried for years with Adsense, Amazon and Youtube and earned maybe $5,000 in 20 years ...... i have done that in 9 months here on  Steemit.

Interesting you should write this up.  I find it ironic as you have been one of the voices I have read that has convinced me to pull out the little bit I had invested. If anything grows here for me it will be through earnings. The amount I extract weekly seems to be holding pretty close to what I have been earning with commenting so looks like when I am done I will be close to where I was at when I began extracting. Once I have my money back out my account will be allowed to grow organically.

Between reading of the premine, seeing that I was lied to in videos shilling this place made by witness/bitbotowners and all the doom and gloom I can't in good conscious call this a good investment for anything but my time. Based on my observations at the exchanges, I am guessing most of the buy/sell activity taking place belongs to whales powering down/bidbot owners selling their profits and new people who haven't learned yet what is taking place here and are excited to have a little power.

For sure, most crypto investors are not looking at Steem as the investment to take them to the moon, from my research largely due to the premine and the shady way it was implemented. So for Steem to grow, imo, it will have to be from users of the platforms. 

We already know what goes on here (that is backed by the whales to get wealthier today, screw what happens tomorrow). You yourself write extensively on this, as I said one of the convincing authors who helped shape my understanding of what I was seeing for myself. 

Dtube? Hell, it doesn't even work most of the time. I have given up on it. Between videos not buffering at all, or worse, they do then stop partway in. For the fastest blockchain, the sites sure are not (bandwidth issues on Steemit anyone?).

I see little effort from the power players to change anything, most of them exacerbating the issues. For Steem to thrive, it needs more people. But they can't get in timely, unless they are willing to pay a third party. I suspect this is due to the whales not wanting to many new people at once, as it would dilute the inflation payouts they receive. 

I only stay because of what you pointed out in your reasoning for those at Facebook staying. I have connected with many people here who I enjoy not only reading (which I could do without logging in) but enjoy exchanging ideas with. And, due to the inflation payouts it is possible to make a small small amount on the exchange. Nothing of significance, but it is awesome that one can earn anything to exchange ideas with others of like mind, who often are better versed in these ideas. 

But I just can't justify investing in the platform with my personal money as it appears to me things are so out of control the main guy behind it had to leave because of it. I mean, really, wtf is that about? So I have been convinced, by my eyes and voices like yours that this will collapse. But until then, I appreciate you and many others whose writing is thought provoking.

My weekly investment into crypto is coming into steem to power up my account. It's not huge, but it's enough to keep my account growing. This investment wouldn't be made if it wasn't for the community.

There are so many people around the world that I have connected with. Have learned their stories and would love to meet them face to face one day. Without this I wouldn't be investing my money or my time. Honestly the earnings don't directly justify the earnings I'm seeing today...but this isn't just about the money.

The Steem blockchain is insanely fast and there is more room for growth which is great, but you are 100% correct it's the community that keeps people holding steem.

There is every reason to hold. The problems we see now are just part of the system. Steem will keep moving.

Blood and sweat... Who would leave a place that has given one so much while asking for so little. From food on my table to information at my fingertips, from original music to computer geeks turning codes into money, the steem blockchain is giving someone much. 

Steemit users who started small and slowly built a network of friends and fans, over time are completely invested in it. Every day, users go out of their way, ignoring the tiredness they feel from the stress of their offline jobs, to give mentorship, tutorials, host curation shows, writing workshops and more, in order to keep the sense of community, of staying through to one assured goal of making the steem blockchain more than just a passing fad. These users are here for the long haul, for the dip, for the moon, for the Lambo, for all of it. 
*** 
I know very little about trading. In fact I know nothing at all. I have been encouraged to do airdrops and all but time and time again, I look at the steem blockchain and I feel that welcome of home and I want to focus on making my home better. 

Steem is more than just a blog with a social networking feature. It is more than a blockchain technological experiment in socialization. It is more than game theory. It is a whole new world, where people can choose to become better versions of their selves. Like virtual reality, a bored clerk can become a music star, a poet genius, a gaming guru, etc. The possibilities stay endless and mostly untouched. At Beta, the steem blockchain supported platform, steemit, is mind blowing. When it is fully operational, there will be so much to exclaim about. **Steem all day, everyday.**

Excellent write @tarazkp. Community, well said. Highly Resteemed