A few days ago I was tagged in the comments section of someone’s rant post about Steemit and how you will never make it here if you have not done so already etc. etc. (in fact there were so many complaints about the platform, I failed to understand why she was bothering to even express it to all of us, and ON the platform that she so very clearly has such a distaste for in the first place) - but alas there she was - claiming to "not want the earnings", yet simultaneously moaning about the lack of such... "expecting" genuine engagement, yet at the same time refusing to open her mind to anything other than her own sphere of negative opinion - and this after being on Steemit for just on two months... (my mind boggles...)

Anyway, I was tagged as an example of someone who has worked their way up the platform through sheer consistency and persistence and when I went to go and see what the context of the post was all about and left my feedback, I was met with as much venom as the post itself oozed… if not more.

I said what I wanted to say, but when I realised that I was essentially talking to a brick wall of bitterness, I walked away – I have better things to do with my time than to get wrapped up in a conversation with a “poor me, the world hates me and nothing goes right for me, EVER!” Individual - as nine times out of ten, it is fruitless.

Life is WAY too short to get consumed in such negativity

Then, today, I came across a “support minnows” post by @yoo1900 which had been resteemed by @snowpea. Apart from the fact that I think that is a fantastic initiative, it got me reflecting on yesterday’s “rant” incident…

Now, as much as the “derogatory, expectant, self-righteous, entitled and pessimistic attitude of this woman towards me, Steemit, people and life in general irritated me to no end, it did get me thinking… I know how discouraged one can get when you first walk into this space – I was there! (not very long ago either) Like I mentioned to her, I have not invested ANY money into this platform – well nothing worth mentioning anyway and from the time I was even remotely established, I made a decision that I wanted to assist those around me to grow – which as many of you will know, is why I founded the @steemitbloggers discord server in 2017.

We have gone from having our doors open and seeing sometimes 50+ people walk through our discord doors a day towards the end of 2017, but controlling the levels of spam and plagiarism became almost impossible. So at the beginning of this year, I closed our doors and concentrated on weeding all of that out and building a close knit community of quality bloggers which is what my intention was all along. We have now VERY successfully achieved that and I have every intention of keeping it that way. I have received copious amounts of “hate mail” over the months from people that have been kicked from our community for “whatever” reason, and I know that many “scowl” at me, but to be quite frank – I don’t care! They didn’t follow the very simple rules, so were kicked - Simple as that. My objective was ALWAYS for quality over quantity, which is what we have now, and new members are allowed into our AMAZEBALLS family by invitation only.

Why am I telling you all of this?

......

Well, the incident yesterday and seeing that post today, made me think about how not just me, but my community and I can collectively support quality content that is repeatedly going unnoticed… and so this is what I am going to start doing…

I am going to start an ONGOING series, (starting with this one) - featuring 3 QUALITY posts from the Steemit feed published by authors with a ranking of 50 and below which I think deserve some attention. I will upvote these posts
(vote value at my discretion) and then I will share them with my @steemitbloggers community for additional support.

I am not going to insist on their support, but my family knows good quality content when they see it, and are such a fantabulous group of people I have no doubt that 90% of them would jump on board - BUT - I would like the selections to appeal to them… if they do, then I will leave the rest up to them as individuals as to whether they show some upvote and comment support on any or all of the posts showcased.

Steemit needs a lot more of this kind of positive action, to afford newcomers a little “light” at the end of the minnow tunnel so to speak… (and to potentially diminish those horridly negative rants we so often see). As a community the #steemitbloggers are fantastically supportive of one another, and I think this is a fantastic way for us to not only HIGHLIGHT specific individuals that are drowning in the ocean, but also to give back to the Steemit community as a whole.

Before I get to today’s three selections, I would like to make mention of two important things… If you would like to me to take a look at your content, then please do so by one of the two following methods:

A - Use the tag #steemitbloggerssupport
OR
B - Pop your post link into the comments of one of these regular posts

Yes, I have given nothing short of blood, sweat and tears here on Steemit since I joined in June last year, BUT (and it’s a BIG but) - I have also had countless people support me along the way… and it is never a bad time to find a way to give back even MORE to such an awesome platform! – and I KNOW that my AMAZING #steemitbloggers family will share my sentiment on this.

So, now that I am done rambling – let’s get to it shall we ;)

Welcome to the first in the ongoing

#SteemitBloggersPayitForward Series

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"Our World as a Spider's"

By: @mepatriot

Have you ever stopped to consider the amazing enormity of what spiders accomplish when spinning their webs? Have you ever wondered what that experience would be like for the onlooker, it the spiders were the same size as we humans? Well, here is your first chance to imagine with your mind's eye what that might be like, TO SCALE.

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My experiences in doing digital art and what I have learned so far.

By: @sirwayneweezy

I have been doing this for weeks now and I'm trying to get myself the hang of it although I only use my aunt's ipad and a pen that is covered in a tinfoil since I'm still saving money for a wacom tablet, It was rough and it still is, I wasn't comfortable with it, I'm having a hard time adjusting since I can't hang my palms on the screen or else I would mess up my drawings and yeah for the most part I was struggling to find the right applications and the brush settings in doing my first digital art I took me approximately five hours or more and my neck hurts a lot it was really hard for me but I try to adapt week after week and try to lay my most comfortable position and learn also keeping myself motivated.

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Macrophotography flowers

By: @lifestylebyjob

Macrophotography is not easy.
My hands shake 😁, the flowers move in the wind.

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I am a firm believer that every little bit helps which is one of the primary things that has driven me forward on Steemit and in life as a whole... so I genuinely hope that this minor offering, makes a difference to the whole...

And THIS is how I deal with negative rant-ers on Steemit ;)

Onward and upward to each and every one of us here
who retains a positive attitude no matter what...

and last but not least...
a BIG thank you to @intothewild
for not only acknowledging my efforts here on Steemit,
but for highlighting the fact that perseverance truly does pay off!

If more people directed a HALF of the energy they expend on WHINGING
towards being positive, productive and constructive -
they might actually get somewhere...
no matter WHAT their ultimate objective may be...

……

Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx

FOUNDER OF THE #STEEMITBLOGGERS

Follow our AMAZING community of QUALITY bloggers @steemitbloggers

……

If you are a PASSIONATE foodie then why not take part
in my ongoing cooking challenge...

This challenge is open to EVERYONE
(Boys and girls, Young and old)
whether you consider yourself a professional,
novice or complete disaster in the kitchen!
You can scout for one of my latest announcements
by searching the "new" feed for the below tag
#whatscookingchallenge

……

Do you write positive, motivational or inspiring content?
Want it given a little more attention?
Then why not support...

@theluvbug is all about spreading the STEEMIT LOVE
with upvotes and resteems of
INSPIRING, MOTIVATIONAL & POSITIVE Steemit content.
Use #theluvbug to get my attention :)
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