I love this comment, and it touches on something that has fascinated me since I found Steem. Do you value artistic integrity or do you value the payouts? Can it be both? To what degree? Where do you draw the line? I like to do photography and other art. I'm also interested in bleeding-edge technology that disrupts fundamental ways that humans relate to each other. So when I signed up for Steem it was partly as an experiment, to see what happens when the profit motive and artistic integrity combine in a transparent way. What wins out? I saw one guy getting hundreds of dollars worth of crypto every time he posted a shitty photograph, and the comments section below his posts were filled with people kissing OP's ass telling him what an artistic genius he was. It drove me nuts that people would go out of their way to kiss his ass in the hopes that he would throw them some crumbs from his fat crypto wallet.

That said, is that not how the real world works? If you dine in a pricey restaurant and are rude to the waiter, chances are the waiter will still be nice to you instead of telling you to fuck off because he wants your tip money. In one situation, your behavior could get you an ass kicking. In the restaurant, you get an ass-kissing because there is $50 worth of tip money on the line.

Anyways, I got on Steem, and a $20 post payout means nothing to me. So I figured I could shake things up. I could interrupt the parade of fake niceties, because my integrity was worth more than any post payout I could hope to get.

But I soon found that I was paying a lot of attention to how big of a wallet that my post commenters were sitting on. Even though the post payouts were whatever, I wanted more. Just because why??? Maybe it's a competitive instinct. I don't know.

I will say that from your post, you're well aware of the games being played on this platform, and you've decided you're going to play them by your own rules. I respect that and appreciate your post for addressing something that's been on my mind. I am not on Steem platform a ton...just started using it again after many months off, but your comment is the most real shit that I've seen on here.

I'll follow you and upvote your good stuff, FWIW. You're setting a good example that not many on this platform are following (yet).