Community Celebration: STEMsocial Community
Alright I hear this thing is pretty popular from @guiltyparties, so I'm giving it a go.
I have to say, my favourite community is pretty obvious: STEMsocial. As one of the two... managers? leaders? I wouldn't have it any other way. But I'm not just saying it for some self-serving promotion, I truly thing this place is a fantastic home for so many like-minded individuals around the world. So, where did it begin, for me?
Amazing video by @gtg... (music by me)
My history in STEMsocial
I'll keep it short. Many years ago now, I was invited I believe by @suesa into SteemSTEM, what later became STEMsocial. I offered to be a humble curator and seemingly did the job well enough that I was promoted to the management team which, at the time consisted of 5 people including @lemouth
5 people for a small community was apparently too cumbersome, as decisions started getting complex and hard to agree on due to differing political ideologies and time constraints among other things, and the others went their separate ways leaving the founder, @lemouth and I steering the wheel.
An appreciation of longevity
It's important for me to confess (though everybody knows) that @lemouth has been the primary driver of this ship, as he is exceptionally skilled in blockchain development, python, html and all that foreign language stuff I only ever have casual knowledge in. He also has an uncomfortable ability to balance innumerable tasks alongside his real life and real career, magically fitting it all into a 24 hour day (though most of us suspect his time at CERN awarded him certain space-time privileges that might explain this ability).
Through Crypto and blockchain's history in general, as well as Steem & Hive's evolution/devolution, STEMsocial has been a consistent existence, whether in high-activity mode where we had a dozen mentors and honor members, curators and sub-communities in 7 or 8 languages, or in cruise-control mode where we only see 1 or 2 posts a day. We never left this chain, and we never shut down.
This can largely be thanks to one of our star curators, @gentleshaid who has never ceased to keep curation up to date through rain and shine, with others such as @iamphysical and @carloserp-2000 holding the fort in Spanish. To be honest there are too many people to give credit for - and that's what makes STEMsocial such a stellar place!
Who is STEMsocial for?
Although we have never been involved in any scandal, and as far as I know we are one of the most respected and rigorous curation groups on this platform, there have in the past been accusations that we are a 'circle-jerk' or an 'elitist' group. Neither of these are even remotely true, and I can prove it:
I'm not a qualified scientist. I teach high school music. I am deeply, deeply curious about the world around me, it is my second passion in life, and that's really the only qualification anybody needs. I guess being a leader of a sort, I am the embodiment of that fact.
We also inspire the artists in the world to do things like this by @porkjelly! And Many more entering the latest LMAC challenge seen here
The claims of elitism and such (tbh I haven't heard any such thing for a few years now) came from the unfortunate fact that we are very rigorous with our curation process. For a time we were by far the most strict when it came to enforcement of copyright violations, plagiarism and so forth. These days I think Hive has matured that most places follow this route too where necessary which is wonderful to see.
This meant that conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers and the like couldn't get our support simply because they couldn't properly back up their claims according to our standards, something that really pissed them off!
But for those who are like me and truly care about the natural world in all its forms: physics, chemistry, biology, history, mathematics, engineering - nobody on this earth is unwelcome, writer or just a socialite wanting to chill out in our Discord!
This means that typically, our authors ARE generally scientists of great stature; physicists, psychologists, botanists, medics, engineers, mathematicians and beyond. But nobody is above or below anybody else; it's the most chill, inclusive place on the internet, as far as I'm concerned.
Anyway I think that's all I have to say. @gentleshaid also wrote a great post giving you some insight to how we work, some cool links, some cool hints on how to do things, and some cool folk to follow in the community!
Or, more realistically, he might be pulling a The Prestige on us.
haha, I guess anything is possible
Anything and everything at the same time. That's the power of being in a quantum state... ;)
Thanks for this very nice/accurate/honest introduction to STEMsocial. I was very glad to see it, especially because if it clear that I would not have time to write anything before the deadline. Moreover, I would not have been able to say what you said in any better way.
Whilst I won't answering anything very elaborated (too much light being shed on my shoulders, which makes me quite uncomfortable), I want to highlight that you have brought a kind of balance in the place and in the manner with which this project is managed. This is something very necessary, and that helps us keeping the fort under all circumstances.
Cheers!
If it makes you feel better I can edit and say you had nothing to do with anything at all ;)
But thanks for giving me some purpose in life ^_^
That's fine, don't worry! Isn't the purpose in life thingie not exaggerated a bit? ;)
Thanks for your contribution to the STEMsocial community. Feel free to join us on discord to get to know the rest of us!
Please consider delegating to the @stemsocial account (85% of the curation rewards are returned).
You may also include @stemsocial as a beneficiary of the rewards of this post to get a stronger support.
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Hi @mobbs, I missed this when it came out. Balancing too many things, I'm afraid.
It's really good for people to know something about the leaders of a community, and the culture. You spell it out plainly here.
You probably noticed, I love STEMsocial. As you say is true with you, I am not a scientist, but I do love to write and am addicted to research. STEMsocial reminds me of that saying, "Inquiring minds want to know".
I'm grateful to you, @lemouth and the team (especially @gentleshaid) for keeping this premier science community humming. This is one of the brightest lights on the Hiveplatform.
(Left a small tip instead of a vote...once again, sorry I missed the blog).
We do what we can, time after time. Let's see where this will lead us (I am quite positive about it). In addition, as I said in my comment below, it is important to have people from varied horizons in a project. That helps in maintaining it sane!
The objective of stemsocial would not have been a thing if we limit participation to those in the stem fields only. The enthusiasm and inquisitive minds of the non stem folks like you make the community thick and meaningful. Otherwise, we would be better off blogging on research gate
Haha no worries! You aren't obligated to keep up lol. But yeah I mean the whole point is to make content accessible to all, so people like you and me are an inevitable byproduct of that goal =)
Thanks for the tip! don't think i've ever had one before ^__^