The Interview Showcase #41 - Exclusive Talk with Italian Witness/long time blogger

Greeting Friends,

It's The Interview Showcase!!!. with your host ubongudofot...This is the 41st Edition of “The interview Showcase...." and my 11th show for 2023!

A lifestyle program that comes with many educational values. A weekly interview of top users/users in the blog concerning some trending topics on the Steemit platform. And tips that can help other Steemians to progress positively and help boost the Steem’s growth.

It will help you to get to know more about Steemians around the globe and even Steemit itself.

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I take time to look at some of the most important topics in the blockchain and have a chat/call with top Steemians who have a greater idea about those topics.

They also share some tips that are able to help other users to understand the blockchain and make use of it in the correct way. Sometimes they seek some valuable suggestions here which can help them solve some of their challenges.

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For this week, I decided to make a call to one popular user on the blog and also in Italy. He was a one-time Italy Country Representative - Steem Greeter.

He is actually one of the oldest steemian in this blog, he has introduced so many initiatives which is still in existence today. He is the founder and Admin of the @italygame Witness and Italy Community Admin. It will interest you to know that he introduced "The Steemit Awards" program, did you know that before now? I bet you didn't...😊, You can read it here. His name is @girolamomarotta..!!!

I bet Most of you are about to see him in person for the first time today😁

: Hello Mr. Girolamo, it's my pleasure to welcome you to My Interview Showcase today, How will you describe yourself in one sentence?

🔶Girolamomarotta: Hello to you and all friends of the Steem community! I’m an enthusiastic, curious person who loves embarking on new adventures, building projects, collaborating with stimulating and dynamic people..

:And how will you describe your experience on the steemitblog?

🔶Girolamomarotta: An experience born almost by chance, now about 6 years ago. I started to find out about cryptocurrencies and browsing the web I found this platform. The idea that one could "earn" by writing posts on a social network built on blockchain seemed brilliant to me. Then I realized that it was actually much more and from there my long road here on Steemit began.

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:You are a developer who controlled @italygame witness in the Steemitblog , what does it involve to be a witness on the steemit platform?

🔶Girolamomarotta: Definitely a great responsibility, because we witnesses are somehow the guardians of the platform. In my first experience in the old Italian community @steempostitalia I learned a lot from @bhuz who was our reference witness, one of the founders of the blockchain. There is a very important ethical aspect at the base and @italygame tries every day to carry forward these values of integrity, respect and fairness.

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:I noticed very few users from Italy in the blog, was it like this when you joined some years back?

🔶Girolamomarotta:Absolutely no. In the group between 2017 and 2019 we had over 500 Italian users and we had a very organized structure. We trained them, followed them and made them grow. Then after the "schism" of 2020, that community essentially dissolved, some users went over to the “dark side”, many others left permanently and very few remained here. So we decided to start from scratch and it wasn't easy. Today the Italy community has about 6000 members, it is much more international than the previous one, unfortunately there are not many Italians, but in our Country the crypto trend has deflated a bit in recent times. I am sure, however, that in the future they will increase.

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:How does your working day look like ?

🔶Girolamomarotta: I divide my day between my work as a freelancer, the role of admin of the Italy community and my family. Mine is a hybrid job, there are days when I'm out and about all the time, others when I can instead dedicate myself to office work. However, I try to always be present and never miss anything, but I have to thank my collaborators who do a fantastic job, especially @mikitaly.

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:What do you like to do most in your leisure time?

🔶Girolamomarotta: I like making Neapolitan pizzas, I live in southern Italy and here pizza is a religion. In recent times I have specialized, it’s a great passion, there are also posts that I have published in the past in which I show some of them. Then I love singing and in fact I was thinking of creating an account here too to publish some songs that I recorded. I'm a sports enthusiast, especially football, I follow the European leagues a lot, especially Serie A and I'm an AS Roma supporter. I also like to play Fantasy Football, a game I've been playing since I was a kid.

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:What’s your biggest Pet Peeve?

🔶Girolamomarotta: I hate dishonest and malicious people, the upstarts and profiteers. I am a very trusting person, ready to help and bend over backwards for everyone. But if I notice that someone is hurting me or people close to me, I turn into a tornado.

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:What advice do you have for both New steemains and those who are struggling to grow on the steemit platform?

🔶Girolamomarotta:My advice is to try to bring innovation, to stimulate the platform, not to be afraid to experiment with new ideas. And above all not to stop at the first difficulties, because it’s not easy to emerge here, but if you do the right things you will be gratified and taken into consideration.

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:.You were once a Country Representative for Italy, what will you say was the challange Italian users were facing when you dropped as a Country Representative?

🔶Girolamomarotta:That was just a title that I accepted with great pleasure, but it didn't change anything for me or for the users of the Italian community. The support and help work was already done before and has continued to be done since. I can proudly say that we have always counted exclusively on our own strength, without ever asking or expecting anything from anyone, moving forward in a silent way and creating a harmonious and healthy environment. In any case, I thank the Steemit Team with whom there is and has always been an excellent relationship of mutual esteem and respect.

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:Personally, as a witness, what do you look for in contents before upvoting?

🔶Girolamomarotta: Quality is important, creativity, the ability to personalize the posts, to create trends. But I also like to help those who try hard to improve and slowly succeed. Then we all have our favorite users, our friendships and alliances. It must be remembered that this is a place where resources flow and therefore, in compliance with the rules, it is also normal that links are created above all between users with certain potential and experience.

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:Apart from steemit, do you have any other life interests? Like hobbies?

🔶Girolamomarotta: Well, in addition to what has already been said before, I can add that I really like movies and TV series. I really like reading, even if in the past I did it more, today smartphones have distanced us a bit from that kind of habit. I also clearly like technology and innovations. And I like to learn about communication techniques and marketing strategies, which I consider fundamental in every area.

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:What’s your kind of music? Perhaps you can mention a song you like and the singer?

🔶Girolamomarotta:I like rock and progressive music. If I have to name a singer, I'll say Freddie Mercury, the greatest of all for me. About the song, Another Day by Dream Theater.