Travelman in Northern Thailand: Don't be a Durian on Steemit

 

Durians stink, don't be a Durian. Allow me to explain...

This will be short and to the point because I'd rather spend my time having fun on my extended vacation. Yesterday I was flying all day; up at 4:00 in the morning (didn't really sleep), shuttle to airport in new country, finding gate, boarding pass, trying to sleep on plane, connection in Bangkok, have to go through immigration and security all over again, etc... I wasn't in the best of moods.

I made the mistake of exposing myself to news from the U.S. through the interwebs. 

I was incensed by the increasingly abhorrent behavior of the president of my country. I stay away from politics on here (I posted something political once before and afterward decided I like keeping my steemit experience in the pleasant zone). But I was so upset and wanted to express my displeasure in at least some small and directly to the point way. I posted #unfit. I didn't think the post warranted any further words, that's all I wanted to say. In the body I posted the same #unfit. That is what I wanted to say and nothing more. I didn't even want a lot of people to see it so I made all five tags "unfit." I didn't want it mucking up any feeds other than my friends and family and measly 200 "followers." There wasn't even a picture so it'd be easy to miss, even if you're on my page. I reasonably figured it would be swallowed up in the raging river of the general feed within seconds, never to bother anyone...

It took less than two seconds for someone to downvote it. It was my first downvote ever and I had to spend a bit of time figuring out what the hell happened. I contacted the user who downvoted me (I don't know if he is a witness but his last post was a witness application and his profile declares himself as a witness). I left a reply on that last posting "Why do you feel it is appropriate to downvote my post?" After three hours and another plane ride, he had not responded yet was active on the site (saw it on steemd.com), so I replied to my own reply, "I'll ask again. I find your behaviour inappropiate, please tell me your reasoning as to why you saw fit to throw a downvote at my post two seconds after it was posted?" It's now the next day and he hasn't answered for his actions, and I see through steemd.com that he's been very active here. Mine was the only downvote I could find.

It's funny, it's not like I was looking for the post to make money, or get a lot of comments. I just felt so frustrated that I wanted to express my feelings to people that I know read my posts, and figured they'd miss it anyway. I don't even want a lot of people to see this post. I just want to express my displeasure with the incident to friends on here (so I tried to tag it poorly.) It became important when I felt censored by a random user, who apparently has an air of self-importance. It really pisses me off. I feel violated, like someone stole something from me. It was very un-steemit like. 

Steemit is not the kind of place to shut down views. From what I've read, downvotes are for things like spam or anything else that doesn't add to steemit. It's a serious thing to downvote something. And it's not about your opinion. I'd downvote every post with an insignificant,  single picture with nothing else included, as well as every re-posting of a YouTube video if that were the case. I felt my one word post held much more meaning than those, especially since I usually stay clear of politics here. 

If you don't like a post, politely leave a comment as to why, or let it get swalllowed up in the daily steemit cycle, or put up your own post. The whole thing made me angrier than it should have (considering my environment yesterday) and I'm glad I waited until today to respond when I'm more level headed. Notice I'm not mentioning the user's name. I'd rather put it behind me and not start some kind of intense "dialogue" that's really nothing more than a twitter war. I like feeling good on steemit, I like not having to see people argue in comments like on FB. It was a mistake for me to even post that one word because that's not the steemit experience I'm looking for.

There's a fruit in Southeasta Asia called a durian. Some people think it's special, they think it's a delicacy. Most people think these people are weird. The durian smells like, I quote numerous people- "Smelly feet" "Rotten socks" "Day old puke in a toilet" "poop." It's so bad that hotels have a posted no durians sign with a fine attached because it stinks the joint up for days.

This guy who downvoted me thinks he's special, but he's stunk the place up for days. He's a durian. Don't be a durian on steemit.

Now to bring the mood up, and bury any mention of politics forever on my page, here's a picture of a dog stopping to smell the flowers at sunrise in Thailand...