Hey, you made it! Thanks for the mentions.

This will probably sound like a cliche - but in lots of ways, Steemit is just like life. All going well, if you put in the time and effort, you will earn some money. But there isn't any inbuilt fairness - some people get bigger payouts than others think reasonable, and some people work their arses off and get next to nothing.

There are still a number of teething problems, even a year down the track, but each hard fork is refining aspects. The biggest problem at the moment is probably the large influx of new users who want to earn money instantly without laying the groundwork, and who are annoying longer term members with their meaningless comments and begs for followers.

But the strength of it really is the community. You get to meet some really interesting and wonderful people you wouldn't otherwise, and it's those relationships that ultimately make Steemit somewhere you want to hang out. So commenting in an interactive way on others posts is an essential aspect.

The other essential, I think, is a mindset. I view Steemit as a more fun place to hang out than, say, Facebook. And any money earned is a speculative, long term investment. In recent weeks, my holdings went up to $12k, down to $6k, back up to $9k. Wherever it ends up, it's an investment for the future that I didn't have a year ago.