As the year slowly comes to an end, I think the time is right for an introspective, detailed and honest look, over these last 12 months.
With the goal, to learn from the past for a more prosperous future in 2019 and beyond - both for myself and for Steem.
Personal Growth
When I personally look back at the last few years, then 2018 stands out for me as the year where one word had the complete spotlight: BUIDL
I've never been so focused on work ever before. While 2017 was the time for me to find myself work-wise, learning how to code again and finding the right platform to focus my efforts on - 2018 was the year where I put my foot on the gas pedal.
Multiple times over the year I got burned out, but I do think that's simply part of the deal.
Projects in 2018
Just so you have an idea, what I've build over the last year - here is a quick overview (in chronological order):
- Smartsteem.com - The biggest promotion marketplace on Steem
- Account creation module for @utopian-io
- Steem Chat Wallet - A desktop light-wallet/messenger for Steem
- Witness Essentials - A toolbox of scripts for Witnesses
- therealwolf.me - Witness website
- Witness Schedule
- Steem Anchor - Tethered assets on Stellar DEX (Supportive Work)
- Steem Tank
- Steem Apps - The front page for apps on Steem
As time moved on, my work became more and more sophisticated, with a higher focus on providing as much value as possible for Steem.
I've also put my eye on the social side, by being part of many radio-shows on Steem and by writing quite a few articles/blog-posts. (such as this one)
Last but not least, I also became a witness for Steem - where I currently reside at spot 25 as backup-witness. This is an important task for me, and I'm very grateful for the trust my voters have put in me.
All in all, 2018 was a huge year in terms of personal growth and improvement of my skillset.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
As my focus was completely on Steem the last year, many learning experiences have come through this medium - Steem.
I still remember it as if it were yesterday when @ned launched the first video and promise of SMTs (in 2017; over 14 months ago) and how people were excited about the idea. Even the price got a huge pump from the news.
But I also remember how Bernie aka ngc was always the one, in 2018 and before, being sceptical and vocal of promises Steemit Inc. did.
While I'm not agreeing with everything Bernie did, I do have to say that the last year opened my eyes about one important fact:
The truth is not always the popular opinion
It's not that I didn't know this before, but we as humans are drawn to the comforting believes. And believing that, essentially, the company behind the product, Steem, wouldn't be able to keep their promises - is not something that comes naturally to mind.
But it's a fact. SMTs have been delayed by at least 1 year (from the initial launch date) in addition with multiple other things Steem has failed to achieve in 2018.
Again, I don't agree with everything @berniesanders did, but it's a fact that he spoke the truth, nobody wanted to hear (me included).
Wall of Gratitude
So this next section is dedicated for all those Steemians, that have brought value to Steem, either by talking about the untalkable topics or by doing/building something valuable for Steem & its community.
All of these names are in no particular order. And if you're not named here, then please take my apology, it's not meant as an insult - simply too many names.
@berniesanders - For being the voice of truth on many occasions
@whatsup - For talking about important topics in your blog (for example @dstors)
@exyle - For being one of the most honest & transparent Steemians I've ever met
@meno, @llfarms, @crimsonclad, @coruscate & @pennsif - For being a bright light of hope many of us have needed on Steem
@artbunny - For being my own rock and supporting my crazy endeavours
@nathanmars - For doing everything in your power to empower the community
@theycallmedan & @imacryptorick - For investing and believing in Steem
@yabapmatt & @aggroed - For developing the most amazing game on Steem
@timcliff, @lukestokes, @gtg & @ausbitbank - For being great and reliable witnesses
@roelandp - For your outstanding work on SteemFest (I loved the whole event!)
@jarvie & @asgarth - For developing amazing apps on Steem
@blocktrades - For being the rock Steem can hold onto (you and your company being involved with Steem is critical)
@smooth - For continuously being a voice of experience on Steem
@penguinpablo - For keeping us up to date with the statistics day in and day out
@fyrstikken - For your honest and unique blogs and involvement on Steem
@ats-david & @sircork - For your honest criticism on Steem
@themarkymark - For your energy in the fight against abuse on Steem
@taskmaster4450 - For blogging about important Steem-topics every day
@holger80 - For creating beem & other tools
@stoodkev - For your work with steem-plus
@upheaver - For your work on Steem Anchor and the many other projects you've developed on Steem
@neander-squirrel - For your amazing work on GINA (you deserve all the laurels!)
@elear - For your engagement and work on utopian
@sndbox - For being the most creative blog
@cryptoctopus - For your work on TokenBB
@anthonyadavisii & @patrice - For your work against abuse on Steem
@fulltimegeek - For your community engagement (your fulltime bots have done good for many people)
@clayop - For your work within the KR community
@jedigeiss & @theaustrianguy - For your work within the DACH community
@anomadsoul, @tarazkp & @kevinwong - For blogging with honesty and transparency about important Steem topics
@abh12345, @paulag, @crokkon & @miniature-tiger - For your amazing talent on analysing data on Steem
@crypto.talk & @goodkarma - For building one of the most important apps (both partiko and esteem are amazing)
@heimindanger - For your work on dtube
@starkerz & @anarcotech - For your engagement and work with oracle-d
@someguy123 - For your work on privex & steem in a box
And besides many, many more Steemians - of course, also all the different apps, dapps, interfaces & projects on Steem!
Different Opinions = Value
We've got many, many talented people here on Steem, way more than I've just listed. (Again, apology if you haven't found your name here)
And while it feels good to only interact with same minded people - the real value lies in this vast amount of different opinions.
So even though there will always be some kind of distress or even arguments between each other - that's normal. And as long as we keep on coming back to the point of wanting the best for Steem, then these discussions can be fruitful.
Not every one of us have to be friends, but as I've learned after meeting @abh12345, @tarazkp & @anomadsoul on SteemFest3 - disagreements can be resolved.
All of these 3 are very intelligent human beings and before SteemFest3, they all were a bit on the fence against me (due to my history with Smartsteem.com), but once we met each other face-to-face, at least from my point of view, I can say that we are not so different in our ideologies and goals for Steem.
2019 - The future
So by looking back into 2018, I believe we're able to work on making 2019 as great as possible - whatever this might mean for each of us.
Nobody should be forced to believe in Steem or sticking with it. There are many problems associated with it, but as a developer, I can say one thing:
It is easy to ditch an old project and start a new one - and some of the problems are going to be resolved, but new ones will be created and there is no guarantee for the final product to be better.
But sometimes, it's worth to fix the already existing project, instead.
Especially, when we already have so many talented and motivated people wanting to do their part.
So in my opinion, it's just a matter of finding the right people of leadership in the community, who can focus all of the work on one goal and redirect the rewards, Steem generates, to the right people.
We know that Steemit Inc. isn't going to do that (their focus is on rocksdb & SMTs), so if we want to bundle the strength of our community and make Steem a success, it's our task to take the reins!
And the truth is .. I know that we have the power to do exactly that.
I wish all of you a very smooth ride into the New Year, 2019!
May 2019 be the year, you've always dreamed about!
Much love,
@therealwolf
Do you believe that my work is valuable for Steem? Then please vote for me as witness.
That was a great year. Good luck @therealwolf
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I hope STEEM can stay on the first page of CoinMarketCap in 2019.
That is sad 😞
Although I disagree with your stance on bidbots I am so happy to have you on the team pushing Steem forward, Wishing you the best for 2019.
Nothing is simple while dealing with bidbots.
Thank you, @ammonite - wishing you the best as well!
And I think we're actually not so much different on the stance against bid-bots. If there would be a way to fix the system which makes bid-bots & promotion-services unnecessary, I'd do it.
And there are actually a few ideas proposed (downvote-pool, higher curation-reward, reduce the strength of bid-bots on trending, etc.). But until there is a solution implemented (I'm a web developer, not c++ developer which means I'm not able to implement it), until then I'll keep Smartsteem.com running. Because then at least, funds generated are going in the right direction (SteemApps.com & co.)
All the best.
Any of these will be disaster for steem economy.
We can build economy around promotion services not fight with them.
Bring enough traffic and people from the outside will compete for them, paying to all steem holders from their ads budgets.
Lets hope 2019 will be a time of change for the better with the things you suggest implemented. My witness vote is incoming.
Thank you - I appreciate it very much!
I can't promise 2019 will be amazing, and I can only speak for myself, but there are a lot of things coming together right now.
I'm fine with bid-bots, and I'd be fine with finding a way of making them unnecessary as well. And I think an aligned incentive approach is best.
There needs to be a revival of the promotion function that burns steem.
We printed to much steem this year, almost in excess of the whole of 2019.
Any solution needs to take burning steem as incentive in consideration.
We did?
It should be around this for end 2019 : 324,458,952 STEEM but it is as of today : 323,192,941 STEEM.
So for next year we get a lower inflation rate but against a higher virtual supply.
But isn’t that just an artifact of the current price against the debt?
That's how I feel as well.
Thanks so much for the shoutout, that really means a lot. And thank you for being such a positive voice here and actively working to make Steem better, together. Seeing people put aside their differences to come together is pretty amazing.. and I hope 2019 bring more of that. Thanks for being you and Happy New Year!
Thank you - can only say the same thing to you. I do think 2019 will be the year where the community can make a huge difference.
Cheers @therealwolf! I think 2019 might be a year of rebuilding and restructuring on Steem!
Here's to a challenging but exciting 2019!!
I do hope/think so. I really don't want to be the person who's telling everybody that everything is going to be alright, because I don't know that. And we're witnessing right now, what this kind of behaviour has resulted in over the last years. Just believing isn't enough anymore. It's either adapt or die (for Steem).
But as long as Steemians like you, @whatsup, are not giving up - there is still hope for Steem.
We are not building a social media platform, we are building an economy. It isn't done yet and we've been hit with a bear market. We do not know how long it will last.
It is a normal and natural part of a business cycle and it creates a survival of the fittest situation. While we have lost our roadmap and our vision we are also grinding along.
I'm not saying we will go shooting up, but as long as we have witnesses moving the chain forward every three seconds we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and streamline our successes.
It is already happening. I'm not saying everything is going to be okay, but everything is going to be okay. :)
Ehh, why exclude our personal lives?
Awesome post, great to see a summing up of all that you've done the past year - I guess it was a huge learning experience. Relying less on Steemit, Inc and organizing ourselves was my biggest take from the year. Let's continue that in 2019 and we'll have a real celebratory post to write at the end of 2019 :-)
Haha, I do hope so!
Hi, congratz, you are now listed on the Steemians directory (https://www.steemiandir.com/) You can read more about this initiative here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@anonyvoter/directory-update-of-december-28-2018 If you like this project it would be great if you could resteem the post to make more people aware of it.
If you don’t want to be listed just leave me a comment and I will delete your profile from the website. Thank you very much for reading and I’m looking forward to your feedback!
Appreciate it!
Pleasure mine!
Yeah, despite how wrong you have been so often, you are okay ;)
Really though, talking with you at Steemfest did demonstrate to me that you do care about Steem and want it to do well. We might have different ideas about how to get there at times but the end goal is the same.
Haha, well - I guess that creates my charme ;) Rome hasn't built itself in a day.
I agree!
On this coming year, we are starting with more communities than before, more interfaces, more Dapps, and more regular Steemians that are turning to Dolphins or so. Basically more chances for success!
You forgot the messenger in your list.
You mean Steem Chat Wallet?
Yeah, my bad, it's on the list.
No worries - appreciate the question.
This story was recommended by Steeve to its users and upvoted by one or more of them.
Check @steeveapp to learn more about Steeve, an AI-powered Steem interface.
Hi, @steevebot ... To be honest I have the impression that most of the time you find articles which are very popular anyway (you or your 'owner' may tell me if I am wrong)! Wouldn't be the real art to find great but hidden, still unpopular stuff?
It depends on what kind of posts you interact with. If you often read / vote / comment / rate posts that are popular, there is a higher chance you will be recommended popular posts.. If less popular, than you will get less popular.
But of course, it still has pleeenty of space for improvement.
Posted using Steeve, an AI-powered Steem interface
best wishes with your future
2019 is going to be a great year for Steem and an even better year for Smoke... https://smoke.io
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It is great to see persistence and effort throughout the challenging period. I could only wish to be as talented as you and some of the witnesses I have experienced seeing working for the benefit of the ecosystem. I look forward to 2019 to support the great things possible as we grow closer as a community.
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Thank you - persistence is what matters most, in combination of knowing where to go as well, of course.
Oh! You have been busy!
Love you list of gratitude to different folks here on STEEM - it's kind of like a mini introduction.
I know I'll be checking some of them out that I don't know!
Thanks for being a voice of strength and putting out the call for the community to come together to keep STEEM growing! This makes for a brighter looking future!
All the best to you in the new year!
there's always things to learn from and be grateful for in the past year and always look forward and be excited for the coming year. it's good karma to appreciate people who have helped you in your journey. here's to a better 2019 for you!
Thanks for mentioning! It's my honor to meet you!
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Great efforts to make Steem not only survive but also thrive. I'd provide any support or help that I can.
oh, i love your statement "May 2019 be the year, you've always dreamed about!" and may it be yours as well!
I think someone should create a Steem version of Patreon @therealwolf and then our community can pay for additional staff based on the performance of active members of the community.
Thank you for the mention @therealwolf.
I can draw motivation from seeing others like you doing such good works to push Steem forward.
Thank you and enjoy 2019.
Editor of the The State of Steem SoS Daily News.
Promoter of The State of Steem SoS Weekly Forums.
Editor of the weekly listing of steem radio shows, podcasts & social broadcasts.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
This post has been included in today's SOS Daily News - a digest of all you need to know about the State of Steem.
Promoter of The SOS Forums : Weekly Discussion Forums on the State of Steem.
Editor of the weekly listing of steem radio shows, podcasts & social broadcasts.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
I am all in for steem this coming 2019.
We, the community support each other.
Good speed to every Steemians!
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Really interesting review of your year 2018. I think my review wouldn't be so extensive...
But there is still the year 2019 for me and I have planned a lot here. :-)
What still remains for me is to wish everyone and especially you a really happy year 2019.
All the best
Bob
I know nothing of steem or its operations nor whether it will ever bring income, but we have to have faith, if there are enough people out there working for its betterment, I am happy to get in at the bottom floor and see what happens, I have no cryptocurrency, am a disabled veteran, but know that there are lots of people out there working for it to "work" having trouble understanding how it all makes income, maybe as a blockchain of our minds and thought processes to figure out the eternal answer in life choices, the power of positivity, light will always serve for our perseverance in the eternal quest for humanity's fate.
Congratulations @therealwolf!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following categories:
you work a lot, plan health and family happiness in your plans
BUIDL!
Happy new york !! :) congratulations.
I love your posts and updates. they give me hope for the future here..
what a team! carry on this 2019 and beyond!
Then there is hope, perseverance and to continue writing. I love when people who had disagreements manage to understand each other despite the differences. Happy Holidays. @therealwolf
great review and I didnt know you made all that stuff this year, nice work.
Thank you so much for the shout out of appreciation. Watching devs like you create all this stuff that everyone uses on steem often makes me feel like I cant match in value. So getting a shout out and acknowledgement for the work I do is awesome, thanks.
Best wishes for 2019 @therealwolf, you have invested a serious amount of time, energy and skills into this platform and I know you are committed to investing more. Right back at ya, we are in this together, and we do have the power, and the skills and the ability to make steem a world class platform.
Hi @therealwolf,
you mentioned a few days ago, that you wish a AR game for the steem-plattform. This inspired me to some gamerules. I have written a blog about it. What do you think about it?
https://steemit.com/steem/@achimmertens/green-paper-for-the-ar-game-statue-on-the-steem-platform
Happy newyear
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Happy new year
Posted using Partiko Android
when you hold a hand and pointing to someone and you say bad thing about him/her you pointing at your self with the same hand with four bad things (finger pointing a person four fingers pointing at you with the same hand 👇 ) for example one bad thing about your self from my view you think you are better than everyone to judge people like that