I had a great conversation with one of our platform's whales and without mentioning names, this whale said something that actually made me smile a bit. "People who are here just to take already left.. that's a good thing" and the apparent negative comment, was actually a silver lining I had not thought about enough.

You see, when STEEM is up, when the price is mooning as the kids call it these days, it's easy to be excited, to want to post, to want to participate in contests. For the most part the people that show up when the price is high, are the same people that will leave as soon as the price is too low. I mean, how many times have I heard the phrase "It's not worth it for me!" since I joined this platform? I lost count long ago, and I'm not exaggerating. But the implications of such a phrase are not too pleasant to say the least, they've always had a tinge of entitlement that made me uncomfortable. At this point in time however, who out of those "where is my upvote, I'm amazing" do we have left? In truth this bear market has weeded most of them out, and as mean as it may seem to say so, that might be a very bullish thing for the ecosystem. Think about it for one second, Who do we want having influence here? Those who are only here to take, when the times are good? Or those who have a commitment to build regardless of the dollar valuation? I think the answer is pretty obvious, don't you? So in this past week we may have shaken off the last of the takers, the ones who I'm sure will be back, and I'm sure will complain about how nobody supports them, and how awesome they are. It's just that right now, they are not here to change the dynamic they hate so much, right now, in the very moment when they actually could. We humans can be quite silly, right? https://steemitimages.com/DQmW2fijoxrybX3Kg83HCgZZmZwF8SujXWvr3tn8YCUPCsw/meno%20logo.png