This post is absolute self-indulgence. You've been warned! Regrettably, my self-promotion skills are non-existent, so allow me to let it all out after a year!
I joined Steem exactly 11 months ago. It's been a great experience, with its fair share of ups and downs. At the end of it, it has been pretty much as I expected a nascent project to develop, and I'm glad I stuck with Steem throughout those 11 months. I've reached 50,000 SP (to be clear, I have other accounts, and this is not the first time this one has reached 50K, but I'll celebrate it anyway :) ). Other milestones are 1500 followers, 3000 posts (well, almost) and 15,000 votes. That's probably closer to 20,000 counting all the posts I've submitted to Curie!
I'll use this post to remember some of my own favourite posts. Warned you about self-indulgence, didn't I? ;)
I was a regular blogger between the months of July and September. I spent most of July in obscurity, but was fortunate enough to have been discovered by a few whales after a few weeks. Many of my posts through August were successful, regularly landing up on the Trending page.
Around this time, the curation landscape was a complete mess. A couple of dozen authors were reaping most of the rewards, driven by whale bots. Other bots were simply there to frontrun the whale bots. Human curators got in on the action too. Yes, it's hard to imagine today, but that's how it was back then! When the opportunity to curate new authors with whale support showed up via Curie, it was a no-brainer. For the next six months, I put blogging on hold to concentrate purely on curation.
When the prices started tumbling and many authors ragequit, I started writing again. The blogging difficulty plummeted, and it was once again very easy to get back on the Trending page. Since then, I have continued to write regularly, though I'm well aware I'd never get on the Trending page again. The blogging difficulty will only increase as Steem continues growing and seasoned bloggers/vloggers join the platform. I hope curators start curating responsibly for these new bloggers with millions of subscribers, over their current friends/following base.
With all of that, here are some of my favourite posts -
A Gentle Ordeal - A fun short story about one of the most extraordinary pieces of history I've ever come across.
What makes a camera great? trilogy - An in-depth yet accessible guide to the various parameters that make a camera great.
Black Holes - Notice how I write in trilogies? I haven't linked the first two parts because I don't think they were particularly good. This one was, and generated a lot of discussion!
Stanley Kubrick - Defining Cinema trilogy - OK, this is the last trilogy. I promise! Linking the third part as that's the only one with links to the first two. This is an article I had been wanting to write for nearly a decade but finally got around to it. I thoroughly enjoyed putting this together.
The 2016 Formula One season - 2016 was a grueling, dramatic season. Not the most exciting to be sure, but certainly a lot to write about. Not make Formula 1 fans on Steemit, but I'll always remember this one.
Explaining the Fermi Paradox - I remember, at the time, this was a hot topic. People were talking about aliens and the like for some reason! Usually, I don't get involved in fads, but this time, I couldn't resist!
Revisiting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Before blogging on Steemit, I used to write the occasional review at a gaming website. I did write a review for this game before, but was restricted by all kinds of limitations, most notably - no spoilers. Earlier this year, I re-played this fabulous game, and this time I could rant at will. And rant, I did!
Our world is getting better all the time, We are living through an extinction event and The Sudden Decline of War - OK, I lied, yet another trilogy :) I love statistics, particularly peer-reviewed "big history" statistics. These posts were the most fun (and also the most effort) I've put into writing on Steem.
Silence in Time - A short sci-fi fiction series with original illustrations. This has gotta be my favourite post! Brilliant illustrations by @pixielolz is what made it special.
Notice how most of these posts are over 6 months old? Well, that's nostalgia for you :) Many of my most successful posts were actually Steem-related, but I don't care for those.
Looking to the future, I'll continue curation and blogging, and hang around in a dozen sub-communities I care about.