I'm sorry I'm just seeing this post now @snook.

How Did I Find Steemit? I was part of James Altucher's "Choose Yourself" group on Facebook in 2016 and another member, Stellabelle, kept talking about this platform called Steemit that was beta testing. I hadn't even heard of Bitcoin and that point and wasn't familiar at all with any aspect of cryptocurrency.

I signed up for an account in June of 2016 but the password didn't work so I forgot about it for a few weeks. One Saturday morning a nagging thought entered my mind that I should email Steemit support and try to get my password reset. I did that and the rest is history.

I've been here on Steemit, without a break, since July 5th of 2016. During that first year the platform I published my novel in installments and lots of my poetry. I've presented at two SteemFests (1 &2) and have been able to leave my day job and write full time as a direct result of this platform. Steemit changed my life and I became a huge proponent of it. I began recruiting anyone and everyone I could.

I've made it through so many ups and downs...the hack, Steem's drop to $.08, the flagging wars, and the plethora of bad decisions and unrealized goals of Steemit Inc. I've continued making content through it all because of one thing...the relationships I've made here. The community here is like none I've ever encountered, anywhere. I've met Steemians all around the world, face-to-face, in my travels and the common denominator is they've always been good, honest, and intelligent people. This feels like a second family now.

I've watched so many talented people I started with in 2016 get discouraged and leave the platform. I can't say that I blame them because I feel as though Steemit has always survived despite of the decisions of those in charge, solely because our community is so committed and so strong.

Why Am I Still Here? I'm still here because to leave would feel like turning my back on family. I still have high hopes for Steemit. I think communities could turn things around but what I really hope for are better decisions from Steemit Inc. We really have something special here and all of the ingredients for a highly successful mainstream social media platform. The community realizes this. What we need is a leader with the vision and the drive to make the rest of the world realize it.