<h1>Year 2 begins! Welcoming a new user, Spam - grrr!, and an update to future plans</h1>

### Good day everyone!

#### What i'd love to see today is a welcome message on the blog i re-steemed below.  Do you think you could spare a moment to help out?
#### 
After months of browsing Steemit and gentle encouragement from myself, my girlfriend has finally got herself set up with an account on Steemit! Welcome @osm0sis!  

Helping out with her first post was a good reminder of what it was like joining the platform with thoughts like 'but who will want to read my stuff?', and 'how do i find users with interests in common?', and 'what the hell is a Bot/SP/Delegation/Power-up?!'.

There's plenty to learn for sure and I see again how daunting this, and the first post, can be.  Well, it's done now, so time to relax and start blogging! Almost.....

<h2>A warm welcome to ~~Spamit~~ Steemit</h2>
As you can see, a new users first blog receives a wealth of Spam type comments, almost immediately after the post is submitted.  This is hardly encouraging and doesn't set off the new user experience the right way in my opinion!

What ever happened to the polite welcome messages in which a commentor had actually read the blog and picked out a subject area in which they were 'looking forward to reading more on', or 'happy to see a fellow teacher/traveller/photographer' join the community?

#### Anyway, it would be really nice to see some genuine welcome messages, so i can up-vote them and push them to the top of the blog - sending the duff comments downwards!
#### 
### Thank you!
####
<h2>What's in the pipeline for me?</h2>

Well, after my [SteemitBirthday](https://steemit.com/happybirthday/@abh12345/happy-birthday-to-me-a-year-on-steemit-buying-steem-as-a-gift-to-myself-and-you) post and purchase of more Steem Power, i'm looking forward to my second year here a lot.  I (we) have plans in early development, which would involve a big jump overseas and volunteer work, which i think would be great to Blog about as time progresses.

Also, i'm likely to be writing more posts about my switch to being Vegan, probably some more arm-hair raising music, Share predictions, more blogs about our lovely community, and plenty of votes and comments on your blogs too!

#### Thank you all very much for your support this past year, and I hope I am doing a decent job in returning the favor to you (please let me know if not!)
#### 
I'd like to end this blog with a picture of us both, taken in Valencia outside the rather Space-age looking City of Arts and Sciences complex.  All together now, 'awwwwwwwwww!'

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</center>

#### 
**Have a great week!**

**Asher**

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