A day into the life of your average curator
This is our responsibility, our journey and our platform, good actions build it and bad actions destroy it...@ehiboss
Everyday we wake, just like clock work, we follow a set of almost well defined daily routines, some say it's a hustle for our daily bread, but we see it as a way of life, as an unwritten agreement which we must honor to the last.
I dare extract a line from the brotherhood of the night's watch...
We are the shield that guards the realm of men
A curator is a friend, a watch dog, someone who empowers others. As easy as it seems, it is not easy. Putting in hours upon hours of hard work is not all there is, there is also a constant decision making we shuffle with. We have to decide if a post is good enough, we have to decide when to be lenient and strict, limited voting power makes us the "kingmakers" who serve the kings.
We bear the brunt of disgruntled authors who feel they have been skipped unfairly, theoretically everyone should be catered for, but in actuality, not everyone can be catered for.
To buttress my point, try voting anyone and check if your voting power is still where it is, if it isn't then you know why not everyone can be blessed daily.
Truth be told, some may never receive the kingmaker's gift, might be due to bad timing, poor writing, or just plain bad luck (village people), but the truth is it happens.
I know it can be frustrating when you are that unlucky one or a part of the unlucky few, but remember there is always a way out.
A curator feels bad not being able to reward everyone according to their riches in steem power, but sadly, shit happens. Speaking of rewards, don't look at how much you think a curator is earning, it is nothing compared to the stress and effort being put in to curating and sustaining a community.
It is recommended that an average individual gets about six hours sleep, an average curator sleeps just three hours (I know I sleep less sometimes), other times some skip a whole day of sleep (like me).
You see the smile, do you know the pains behind the smile? That is love, even when we are insulted, we still work harder than before, apologize, explain gently and act like it never happened.
Social life, sorry what does that mean? I once told a fellow curator that my idea of a perfect date with my girlfriend is hanging out in my room and surfing steemit. Although I am trying to break this habit, imagine what others are passing through?
I know of one who is single till date, wanna know why? It is because he spends so much time working, love was skipped from his list of available words.
When a curator takes a day off, he has to live with the guilt of causing poverty through not voting, so we hardly take days odd unless we: have a low voting power, are sick, have other cogent reasons.
The truth is unless you wear the shoes, you can't know where it pinches. But these shoes can't fit everyone. People will have a reason to complain, if it's not about not voting them daily, it'll be about voting one more than the other.
I for one have not voted my posts in almost two months if not more, imagine what others are also sacrificing.
To an average curator, more work equals Christmas because even if we can change one person's life story, we'll undergo the stress. Our inboxes are filled with messages of sorts, from links to appreciation and even to threats and insults, but like I said, we see brighter future.
Instead of accusing or plotting to remove us from the picture, why not admonish us or better still correct with love. We'll keep doing what we're doing because we love everyone.
And now, the watch has ended
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Thanks to @camzy/ @samstickkz and @elyaque for the animated art and badge
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Seriouly that much effort?
A wise man once told me that there is a lot hidden behind a smile or a fine sunday clothe. In this case, I think its, there is a lot hidden behind a fat wallet. Lol.
More grease to your elbow
Haha, got some good humor in there! Thank you for your work at curating and keeping the #steemit wealth circulating in the blockchain community. Wouldn't we all love to know if our posts were upvote worthy! Ha! Well thanks for keeping it real and doing the good work for the betterment of #steemit and us #steemians.
Its really hardwork being a curator, selecting the best out of many, rewarding people for the value they add to the platform ,,,,, i say kudos..
Yeah! I agree with you, the sacrifice and all that. The "watch", the "kingmakers who serve the kings".
I wont really put anyone to blame, pure badluck you say (village) I've been in that position before.
Once I messaged someone who could really give me a nice upvote with my link, patiently waited, after two days with no sign, I gave him a call, with sound reassurance he said he'd do it right away.
Now it's six days and counting still nothing, but what more.
I can't blame him cause I've been with him, the calls, hardly eat, lack of sleep, no time for self and like you said maybe removed the word love from his definition...
The curators keep up the good work
With all sincerity, @ehiboss, you and your fellow curators have been doing a wonderful job. Whenever you correct someone on the genesisproject, I noticed you always do it in love. We have not in person though, yet I have learnt some real good things from you. Thanks for having such a large heart. You will surely be remembered for this someday.
Being a curator is like when you are a student preparing for your degree examination. You have to stay awake all night and get ready for the upcoming paper else, you know the rest.
Kudos to our curators. You guys are doing a great job, despite the limited resources.
We all deserve the best but not everybody can get the best because there is little or no resources to equally empower the needy. But those who make greatness their must, gets the best.
Answering this question solves the problem: WHAT IS YOUR MUST?
Oh hey @ehiboss! Before reading your post, i didnt know that an average curator sleeps only 3 hours per day. And u sleep even less, sometimes not at all. Im so surprised! Salute to you haha.
I personally like sleeping very very much, feel like dying if i sleep just 6 hours everyday, so usually 8 hours sleep is minimum ( i know it may sounds like wasting time to u lol).
U have been putting lots of effort into steemit and your hard work is paid off well!
On a side note, not necessarily have to sacrifice your love life just because u have no time for it. Wish u can find your other half who share the same passion with u on steemit and have a perfect date real soon!
It's really not easy, Una dey try. More grease to your elbow
I think you have managed to touch me in a certain way, I am of the people sometimes frustrated by not being touched by a curator. I have very good post or so I consider it, I love photography and I sometimes underestimate the work of you to post without meaning and with very bad photographs.
The point is that you are right you do not know what is behind the other computer, I do not know who you are or how many hours you dedicate to the page, but I only tell you that I believe you and support you, if there is something that I, as a low-level steemian, can bring you do not hesitate to ask for it.
Hopefully everyone will take the time to explain the reasons for the way you just did it.
Thank you!
This post is quite timely, thank you @ehiboss for trying your best to do justice to issue of curation, curators and possible reasons why a particular work doesn't get curated.
This write-up highlights the different challenges faced by curators as humans and the positive impact they make on authors and their works. I would say that curators are as important to authors as oxygen is to life.
Without curators, many talents wouldn't be discovered on Steemit and without them a lot of us might remain undervalued.
The part of a perfect date with your girlfriend hanging out in your room surfing steemit got me laughing. Thank you so much for this wonderful post, which serves equally as an encouragement to me. I hope to be discovered soon.
I never knew how much work Curators do to keep the community alive, the hardwork, the amount of quality time invested and other resources, you just exposed me to this. Well done, I'm proud of you all