It's been just over four months that I joined Steemit, so I spent a bit of time looking at what has happened so far, analyzed some statistics, and came across some interesting realizations. There appear to be a couple of more-or-less important milestones I've just passed, or I'm about to pass.

Upvote Slider

Four months, or 135 days to be exact, are a relatively arbitrary time-span, not signifying much by itself. But it just happens to coincide, not exactly but quite closely, with certain steps in my development as a Steemian, which actually do make some difference. One such step is the 500 SP threshold at which point we get a slider, to control the strength percentage with which we upvote posts and comments. I know many people who have set it as their goal to reach this point, and in my case it happened completely organically, after four months.

By that I mean, I have not transferred any outside funds into Steemit. I only accumulated the rewards, and at strategic moments changed my SBD into STEEM and powered up. Sure, I once transferred 100 STEEM over to Poloniex, hoping to sell it, then got stuck there for a few weeks while the transfer function was down. Once they fixed it, I took my 100 STEEM back and powered up. Of course, the price of STEEM was a major factor in this, helping me reach the 500 SP last week, when it rallied for a little while, before dropping again.

If you want to get a slider really bad, all it takes is some money. Alternatively there is a Chrome extension that can give you one prematurely, but for those who want to feel the reward of their perseverance, it doesn't take that long to grow into a minnow...

Redfish Aren't Minnows!

Many steemians who are just starting out like to refer to themselves and each other as minnows, as opposed to the whales, powerful steemians with lots of SP, whose vote is worth huge rewards. However, I just found out there are many other levels of sea creatures, with minnow not even being the smallest type.

On this list, posted by @oneshot you can see that absolute beginners are called redfish. A minnow starts at 1,000 MVESTS, turning into a dolphin at 10,000, an orca at 100,000, and a fully grown whale at a million MVESTS. Since at the moment I have 904 MVESTS, I'm still not a minnow... but getting close. I wonder how close to other thresholds I am going to reach it.

Source

Other Milestones

Looking at my Steemit Board of Honor, you can see that I am not far from my 100th post, which I think is an ideal point for celebration. Of course, some people have more in this regard, others less. When I set out, I decided to post almost every day. I made sure to emphasize the “almost”, because there will always be exceptional cases. Looking back now, I have written about 0.7 posts a day, which is a bit less than six posts a week. Especially over the last weeks I have gotten lazy, so I hope this analysis is going to give me a bit of a boost.

The rest of the data says more about how my articles have been received: An average of 25 votes per post feels all right, with an average of 4.75 SP reward for a post. This last bit used to be more... which could also be blamed on the exchange rate of STEEM. The total post reward of 446 SP seems to contradict the slider requirement of 500 SP, so I have to mention the delegated 73 SP I received when I started, and is still in my account. I suppose I might have to surrender it once the time comes. For now I'm happy about my slider.

Also the upcoming awards on my Board of Honor indicate a certain round numbered achievement: In addition to being only five posts away from a hundred articles, I am getting close to having made a thousand comments, a thousand upvotes, and received 500 SP in payouts. As for my received comments and upvotes, I'm getting close to 500 and 3000, which are not that closely related, but are impressive looking numbers, nonetheless.

Finally, another significant number I am close to reaching is that of 500 followers. Unlike the people you follow, you have far less control over people following you. How many people you follow is always up to you, and in my case I used to have a lot more. Then I discovered that less is way more in this regard, as you don't want your feed to be filled with stuff you could care less about. But in order to get people to follow you, you have to offer them something. While I know people who have gotten many more followers in a much shorter time, I'm happy and grateful for the people following me.

How Did I Do It?

For any redfish wondering about how Steemit works in practice, and whether it's worth spending any time on it in the first place, I can assure that four months and a hundred articles can get you about half a grand, pretty much from nothing. Of course, it all depends... not only the price of STEEM, but how you interact with other steemians, the way you gather followers and followees, how genuine you are (super important in getting real followers), and ultimately the kind of posts you publish. In my profile it says I'm interested in Sustainability, Urban Homesteading, Natural Building, Health, Food, Healthfood, Nature, Culture, Travel. The actual posts I have written sort of follow this outline, though not to the letter. These are some series of posts I have written:

Mexican Murals:

Under Metro Line 4
ChaliaKiller's – Murals, Chilaquiles, and Lots More
A Familiar Face
Political Expression: the Painting is on the Wall
Different Types of Wall Paintings
The Beauty of Death and the Struggle of Life
Winston Churchill and the Bike Movement

What to Eat in Mexico:

Permaculture Principles:

Permaculture: A Starting Point
A New Permaculture Principle?
Obtain a Yield and Everything Gardens
Produce No Waste
Use Small And Slow Solutions
Stacking Functions and Stacking Elements
Integrate Rather Than Segregate
Capture and Store Energy / Make the Most of Energy
Observe and Interact and Creatively Respond to Change

Book Reviews:

Other Permaculture Related Posts:

More Recipes and Food Related Posts:

A Scavenger Hunt to Thank My Followers

At this point I am swelling with the sense of accomplishment, which however, is not entirely due to my own efforts. The community, that is you my dear readers, followers, or those who would like to be, have also done a great deal to get me here. So I would like to thank you by offering a little game... a scavenger hunt! More info is bound to come out soon, for right now suffice to announce that as soon as I've got my 500th follower, the game will be on! Something to be looking forward to. Until then, let me publish some other interesting posts for you.