I look forward to this day every year, because it is on this day that my life changed profoundly, even though I didn't know it at the time. It was on the 29th of January 2017 that I joined Steem Hive, and posted my first ever article online. Though, to be fair, it wasn't much of an article. Still, it kind of set a tone for the future, and perhaps how I would come to see the Hive community.
A diverse collection of people - Good, Bad, and Ugly.
(I won't name names)
But, I think that *the good the, bad and the ugly is a good way to look at the community also, because it is a cross-section of global society, and in any community, there are going to be a range of variables and actions driven by incentives. And, as this is a platform where tradeable currency can be earned, a lot are incentivised by the earning. This sets up the conditions for the maximisation of income, and the minimisation of effort. Like a business.
Everyone wants to earn here.
I do. I want to earn. I want to one day be able to say that my writing has paid for my house, or put my daughter through university, or helped me improve my local community in some way. Yes, I want to earn, but Hive has limited resources and, the structure is that it is the users who decide who earns and who doesn't. This means, that if I want to make this the kind of place that a lot of people can get support, I also have to lend support to others. And the main way to support others on a platform that has value distributed by stake, is building stake and distributing votes to others. However, if they are just using Hive as an automatic teller and withdrawing the majority of what they earn, I don't want to support them.
Yeah, I get it, everyone wants to earn and many people are struggling financially, but at some point, people have to recognise that if they want to improve their situation, they also have to invest into others also. Investing doesn't mean just distributing value to them, or handing them money, it can be a bit like a parent investing into a child, so that they will be able to stand on their own two feet and face life.
Over the years though, there is a lot of entitlement here, where people believe that they should get rewarded based on their personal situation, or the effort they put in, even if it doesn't really offer much. They also seem to think that no matter how they behave, they are entitled to only have positive responses and experiences, even if they treat others negatively.
But all in all, after eight years on Hive, 6,808 posts and 69,233 comments, I can say that the majority of my time here has been good, even though I have been involved in some pretty dark times on the blockchain. While wishing is pointless, if everyone just did a bit better each day, this place would be amazing and would be a highly attractive and rewarding place to be - not just in Hive, but life experience. I think that many people don't get the "experience" part of it though - they are just interested in maximising the value they can extract.
Will it ever get there?
I hope so.
But there are no guarantees in this life, or the non-existent next. What I do believe is that it wouldn't take much in the world for Hive to be chanced upon, get some publicity with the right eyes and follower base, and actually become what it is meant to be - awesome. Considering how small the community is, a lot is getting developed here and it is being done in an environment that anyone can participate in, anyone can add to. The world needs more places like Hive where the users are the owners, because when the users are just users, the platform quickly becomes abusive.
Hive as a platform is agnostic to the userbase, so it is the userbase that makes it what it is, that shapes it, that gives it its culture. And of course, there are many subcultures in any large group, for a community to thrive, the good has to outweigh the bad significantly. Not just edge it out, but overpower it, make the bad insignificant. That isn't the case here yet, but maybe one day.
And I think that is why it is so important for people to powerup their stake and try to maximise the good they do with it. Sure, what is good and bad is subjective, but not that subjective. When people powerup, they become percentage owners of the platform and will benefit or lose based on the outcome of the community and as such, will take it more seriously - learn about it more broadly.
Care more.
Anyway - I have been here for eight years and while that affects no one and no one cares about it, I care about it because it means something to me to be a part owner of the platform, and a member of the community. We can all be very different, but when we interact on Hive at the blockchain level, we are all connected, and all affected by each other.
Want some cake?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Just...this. I've seen it a bit and never know what to do with it. The times I've attempted to point it out it always just kind of washed over because without fail it was always perfectly fine and justified and fair when they were doing it but nobody else should ever be allowed to for any reason.
And this is e verywhere not just here.
Happy hiversary :)
I think many are like this now in multiple domains. I reckon it has something to do with people being more self-centred, meaning that they only think about others, when they are affected negatively, but don't think about how they affect others.
That works too. I always figured it was some kind of cognitive dissonance, because I think most people would consider themselves "good" people, but affecting someone else negatively is "bad", but as they are very definitely good people there's no way they could be doing something bad therefore whatever it was they did can't be that bad or was justified or whatever therefore they didn't do something bad.
Wow, that is pretty impressive! Congrats on your Hive birthday. I think I am about a year behind tot and it's a year I wish I wouldn't have missed.
Sometimes I wonder if it would have been the same content journey for me if joining mid-2016 instead of six months later. The earnings would have been different for sure!
Yeah no doubt! I remember joining and seeing people post photos of their dog and making hundreds of dollars. I thought, "I have a dog, I can totally do this!" What a wakeup call I got!
If care about it. And I like your first post. It's hard to imagine there was ever a time when one of your posts earned a bit fat zero.
One of my first posts was a haiku that went something like
In the beginning
I shared my most treasured stuff
and no one noticed
The first few months there were lots of doughnuts :)
I like the Haiku. I find it interesting that a lot of people put their "heart and soul" into the start, and then end up with drivel. How I see it is, heart and soul should always be touched upon at least. People think "doing it for myself" is about the content - I think it is about the process.
Your writing changed a lot from that first post. I am quite proud that I have been here for seven years. But that still seems like a rookie numbers compared to 8 years.
7 is just a touch behind. I realized very early on that there was a "gap in the market" for longer form articles that were personal. A lot of the stuff here still today is just repeating what can be found anywhere. I didn't want that for myself.
You're right when they say for Hive. He deserves more, deserves to have more users. When we look at the past years, we can see that there are very good posts and quality writers. I hope they return or have new writers like them.
Happy birthday to Hive.
Good posts and quality writers, but many lacked the will to do more than what they wanted. If someone is only willing to do part of the job, they can't fill the role.
Eight years is a good time! Congratulations for your perseverance! I will also be 8 years here in August, but I'm far from having your discipline, and it's not because I don't enjoy it but because real life takes up too much of my time. But I always escape from the routine to share on Hive because I really can't get away from the Blockchain, it has something that always brings me back.
Celebrate your successes and Happy Hive anniversary to you! 🎉
I think what keeps it consistent for me is that Hive is a place for me to reflect on real life, it helps me process my experiences and hopefully, helps people reflect on their own :)
The same way I think and I always mention it in my regular posts. We should stake HIVE to the some extend rather than unstaking what we earn from even one post.
It doesn't have to be staking everything - just a decent percentage that keeps growing. I think the 50/50 is a good guide and then there is some room to sell some in the peaks and buy back lower to keep growing.
You and @denmarkguy both posted about your Blockchain birthdays. Do you follow one another? I think you would both appreciate the other's posts.
We do and we go way back. It wasn't until maybe a couple years after that we realized we started the same day! :D
You had me at cake!
I know at some stage if we have the right mass, both ok terms of quantity and mindset, we can all make it together. Currently we don't have the right balance and that's what's stopping us
The way to a woman's heart is through the frosting? ;D
There is a tipping point for sure. Sometimes I feel like we are getting there - sometimes like we have taken a step back.
8 years?! u got me beat.. 💪😎🤙
i feel the same as u.. and i can honestly say the hive has bought my PC now..
A PC - well that is not a bad result at all! Hopefully if you add some decent content and powerup, perhaps your curation returns will buy you your next ;)
yes! next up is a VR setup maybe! :)
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Happy 8th hive anniversary
Been here for eight good years is not a joke I guess many who started the journey the same year with you might have quit on the way while some were stopped by death infact I thought of many things as I read this post well I must say thank God for your life happy hive birthday keep moving forward ever backward never