Hi All,

It has been almost a month since we started adding comments on minnows' posts under #introduceyourself tag with relevant links and suggestions. We have have had some setbacks in the last month and we have tried to address them. But we were surprised to find a lot of messages that mentioned that the comment was really helpful for them as it guided them in the right direction. We have got a lot of feedback in form of comments on our two posts https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemladder/a-thumb-rule-for-steemit-minnows-50-100-200-25 and https://steemit.com/steem/@steemladder/there-are-no-dumb-questions-ask-anything-you-want-to-know-about-steem-blockchain

Based on the feedback we have received we will be updating our approach and will be coming out with posts that will be most helpful to the minnows to begin with. Over the span of next three months we will be creating posts that will be helpful for people at all levels. However we will start with addressing the needs of the newbies first, minnows next, followed by dolphins and so on.

The Good parts

We are overwhelmed with the response that we got and we have curated a list of testimonials that we found particularly motivating. This is what keeps us going. If you agree with the sentiment of these comments do let us know. It will help us stay motivated.

@nosound777

@liany

@ablaze

@dandelionspea

@trinumedia

Challenges

1. We had created a steemgig post to design the logo for steemladder https://steemit.com/steemgit/@steemladder/steemladder-logo-call-for-designers. The post was down-voted and we didn't have enough entries. So we have not selected the logo yet. We will keep using the steem blockchain logo for now. We are not using the new Steemit logo as people might confuse our handle to be official steemit account. We will come out with another steemgig for Steem logo this month. If you are a designer do watch out for our next steemgig posts.
2. As per our last update we have started upvoting all the #introduceyourself posts on which we are commenting, as well as our own comments. Since we do not have enough Steempower and we are trying to upvote all the #introductyouself posts, from time to time our upvotes might be valued very less. Over this month we will be powering up so that our upvotes are valued atleast 1 cent for those who introduce themselves.

Changes

1. To make sure that the #introdcueyourself tag is not abused now we have added an additional check to see if the user has already made previous posts using this tag. We upvote and comment on the post only if the user has not abused the flag. We are using steemsql for running this query and it costs us around 10 SBD for the licence.
2. We have made some progress on the utilities bot. But since it is not stable yet we are not making it public. We will be making a post announcing the alpha version of the utilities bot shortly so that our followers can test it out.

How you can support us

1 . You must have realised by now that we are half bot, half human. Our goal is to Automate everything that can be done objectively and create a community of great people for tasks that need subjective inputs. While the automation part is already doing its job we will be making it better as we go. Now coming to the second part where we need subjective inputs : Most of you who have followed this handle must have followed it as it might have helped you initially when you started out. You can pay it forward by answering the questions posted by steemfreshers on Thumb Rule post and AMA post. Special shoutout to @nikv who keeps visiting Thumb Rule post to answer the fresh questions by steem freshers. Good work always gets appreciated. If you don't believe me check out the following conversation.

Shoutout to @swissclive our generous tipper.

If you spend time answering the questions of the steem-freshers on these posts and you feel your efforts are not being recognised do tag us. We will make sure we make a separate post for all the users who are adding value and we will send some steempower delegation your way ;)

2 . If you are somebody who has spent a lot of time understanding Steem blockchain and you have a strong hold on Steem Bluepaper and whitepaper please reach out to @gokulnk on https://steemit.chat/direct/gokulnk You can author/co-author some posts which will help the Steem community in general and steemfreshers in particular. You will be given due credits for the posts that you write and a part of the rewards from the posts you write will be shared with you.

3 . We have some ideas which are best conveyed using illustrations and learning videos. If you are from a creative background and you can work along with us ping us on steemchat so that we can take it forward.

4 . Over the next month we will be creating a couple of posts asking for feedback. Getting preliminary feedback before starting work on anything will save us a lot of time and make sure that we will have maximum impact and reach. So please share your feedback on Feedback posts.

That is it for today. If you have any feedback for us do let us know in comments.