So yesterday, there was an announcement on the @steemitblog that Steemit is now "out of Beta."

All other things aside, I am going to choose to see that as a positive development. It also took Google years to drop the small "Beta" notation from their logo; similarly, it was years before Gmail was no longer in Beta.

Pink geranium

I worked in the IT industry a long time ago, and there were mostly two kinds of players on the field... those who dropped the "Beta" the moment they had a release that was "better than" causing a complete system crash every other day... and those who took their model and business plan seriously enough to not drop the label until Hell had pretty much frozen over and everyone on the planet started whining that they were "a joke" because they were always in Beta.

Interestingly enough, the majority of the latter tended to survive, in the long run. They were just not "explosive" and "exciting."

'Nuff said...

The latter also tended to thoroughly piss off developers, speculators, investors and other impetuous personalities for whom "building long-term stability" was akin to torture.

Just a quick reminder about that: Simply because you're frantically moving around at high speed doing things doesn't mean you're actually being productive.

Sunset through the trees....

Steemit.... and Steem, Ver. 23.67.4

There is SO much ambiguity surrounding the interchangeable use of those two terms.

Steemit... Steem... Steemit... Steem....GRRRRRR!!!

There is a Steem Token, and a Steem Blockchain.

There is also a Steemit company and a Steemit front end/condenser... which accesses the Steem blockchain.

I happen to have signed up here and created a STEEMIT account in January 2017. I often use my STEEMIT account to create content that is then recorded on the STEEM blockchain.

Now, there are a bunch of people here who insist that we're all "on Steem," and that's what we should be saying to everyone.

See this?

What does that say, at upper left? That's what I am looking at, when I am looking at posts, and while I am writing many posts. Doesn't say Steem, as far as I can see!

Do I have a point here?

YES! I have a point!

In our world we often have different scenarios. In the world of language and usage — and I should know this because I'm a freakin' book editor! — we often end up with "technically correct" and "common usage."

Common Usage for this platform was established when SteemIT, Inc. opened this ecosystem to the public and people made SteemIT accounts, and went forth in the world and said they were blogging on SteemIT, and to this day, many people are still creating content on SteemIT.

Many other people are creating content on SteemPeak, or on Busy, or on DLike, or on Appics, or on Esteem... or maybe you are playing with DrugWars or SteemMonsters... and if you are doing so, I encourage you, I suggest you tell the world that you're blogging, photographing, gaming or whatever on one of those platforms!

Because that's where you ARE.

Close-up of a honeysuckle flower

Here's one for you:

Guess what happens if you go to Steem.com and click on the option to become a "social" user? It forwards you to the SteemIT.com front end.

I just don't understand why a handful of developers and blockchainiacs are so damn obsessed with getting everyone to say that they are "ON Steem." Developers tend to be a pretty logical bunch... and this is just NOT logical.

The average end user — and keep in mind that the vast majority of people here are "end users" — does not not give a rat's rear end whether there is "differentiation" between Steemit, the platform, and Steemit, the company.

Most of it is moot, anyway... as there are more and more specialized Dapps serving as front ends onto the Steem blockchain.

But consider this: If you're a Dtube creator talking about what you do with a friend, and want to recommend it to a friend... are you going to tell them you're "on Dtube" or "on Steem?" Which do you think would make more sense too them? The point here is that we recommend stuff to people based on what will get them to the right entry point.

Daisy

But Enough Soapboxing!

We are out of Beta.

And now there's suddenly all manners of activity, including ideas to tweak the rewards system.

Having been here and having just kept on posting through it all, I guess that's what I will continue to do... until/if I see no reason top stop.

Thanks for reading!

What do YOU think? Is Steemit being "out a Beta" an event of any significance? Will things here become any different? Do you think the slight uptick in the price of Steem is related? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190516 16:54 PST
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