How to Be a Good Actor on the Hive Blockchain
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading some fantastic posts about the dos and don’ts of the Hive ecosystem. Topics like reward farming, reward sniping, Hive extraction, and "leeching arseholes" (yeah, some people don’t sugarcoat) have been hot discussions.
These posts got me thinking: how do I act within the Hive ecosystem?
Am I contributing to the community, or am I just an extractor?
What even defines being a “bad actor”?
These questions aren’t always black and white, and I want to share my honest thoughts in this post. I’ll also show you where I personally spend my Hive blogging earnings (spoiler: mostly Splinterlands).
Let’s dive in, shall we?
My Journey on Hive
My journey on hive started with Splinterlands. When I'm online within the HIVE ecosystem I spend 99% of my time within the Splinterlands community—gaming, reading posts, joining discussions, and participating in contests.
Now, while I occasionally venture into other communities like LeoFinance, Cycling, or even Fascinating Insects, I just haven’t found the time (or the spark of inspiration) to blog about those topics consistently. Splinterlands takes up all my Hive time—and honestly, I love it that way.
Good Actor vs. Bad Actor
Let’s start with the obvious: you’re often labeled a “bad actor” when you extract all your Hive earnings and don’t reinvest into the ecosystem.
But being a bad actor isn’t limited to just withdrawals—it’s also about engagement. Here are a few practices I consider part of being a good actor:
- Engage with comments: If someone takes the time to comment on your post, try to reply and build a connection. It’s not mandatory, but it’s good practice.
- Reward meaningful interactions: Upvote comments that add value to your content or discussion. But only when they’re worth it—don’t just vote for the sake of it.
For me, being on Hive isn’t just about blogging for rewards, lets be truthful it helps my motivation to continue. It’s about connecting with like-minded people, building a community and making it stronger and fun. That’s why I’ve never withdrawn any $ of my Hive earnings into fiat currency. Instead, I’ve reinvested them into things that matter to me, like Splinterlands assets.
Also this comment show how also others see it:
Please read the complete discussion to get the complete context but i agree on the point that azircon is making. In this case think of myself is thinking on how to increase my SPL deck 🤣. Also here in all honesty i shifted my mind a bit after some of these discussions, I will focus more on how to grow my hive awareness (HP)!
A Small Anecdote About My Splinterlands Journey
Small anacdore about, how I started in Splinterlands—it’s a bit of a rollercoaster. Here’s a snapshot of my fiat spending in the game:
As you can see, there’s one notable withdrawal. That was right at the beginning when I had no real crypto knowledge, other than the bits and pieces I’d read on the internet. I joined Splinterlands, saw the game, and thought, “This seems fun, let’s give it a shot!” So I put some fiat into it.
But then, just a day or two later, I had second thoughts. “What if this is a scam?” Yeah, I really thought that at first—shame on me! 🤣 So, in a bit of panic, I pulled my money out to be safe.
After that, I spent more time reading about the game, the Hive blockchain, and how it all works. A week later, I decided, “You know what? This is worth a shot!” So I made another deposit and fully started my Splinterlands journey.
Looking back, I’ve never regretted that decision—even though, the ROI isn’t exactly great at the moment. I’ll touch on that later.
Splinterlands Contests: Encouraging Commitment
I really appreciate how Splinterlands contests have started encouraging long-term commitment to the Hive ecosystem. They’ve even updated their rules to reflect this:
“To ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of the Hive ecosystem, we will evaluate the long-term commitment of participants when selecting winners. Specifically, we will review past rewards earned and currently held Hive Power (HP) as part of the selection process.”
This means participants who hold and grow their HP are more likely to win contests (or get a nice upvote), while those who extract all rewards without reinvesting might miss out.
Splinterlands Contest Posts and Curation.I think this change was inspired by @azircon's post on the topic:
The KE Ratio
In Azircon’s post, he suggests an ideal KE ratio (a measure of earnings vs. extraction) of 1-3.
And after reading this post(Understanding you KE ratio and why it is imporant) i start to beleive 2 is a good number, lets start with the target 1-3 and make the community aware of this and give it some time to adjust imho.
@captaindingus
A KE of 2 means you took 50% of your earnings and Staked them... and did whatever you wanted with the other 50%...
a nice 2 should the aim for most with a KE ratio is equal to the 50%HBD/50%HP rewards payout
Essentially, it’s acceptable to withdraw between 10% and 50% of your earnings.
Understand KE Ratio and New Splinterlands Challenge RulesAt the point of writing is was not sure how the curators of splinterlands are using this info. Just before i wanted to post this one, @underlock posted something about that:
I’ve created a small tool to calculate this ratio for any Hive account.
DISCLAIMER: its work in progress, just started on it, so it might change!
Now, I’ll admit my KE ratio is currently higher than 2.
Why? Because I’ve been reinvesting of my Hive rewards into Splinterlands—buying packs, SPS, and cards. I also hold a chunk of HBD, which is earmarked for the Conclave Arcana. So, while my KE ratio might look bad at first glance, there’s more to the story.
Spending on Splinterlands
Here’s a quick look at how I spend my Hive earnings:
- Splinterlands assets: Packs, cards, SPS.
- HBD savings: Reserved for specific projects.
I’ve also created a personal graph to track my incoming fiat (red line) with my current estimated value (blue line). Honestly, the amount I’ve put into Splinterlands is starting to feel uncomfortable. Moving forward, I’ll likely withdraw some—but now that I understand the Hive ecosystem better (just a tiny bit 🤣), I’ll do it in a way that I believe is fair and respectful, without being that guy. Maybe even shift some of it more into hive.
Here you can find a way to monitor your own progress:
- Release: Github release
- How-to: How to use blog
A free limited demo is available at: https://demo.spl-stats.com/portfolio
Let’s be real: Splinterlands is expensive to play at a high level. Even with my spending, I’m still a “small player” who just scrapes into Gold or maybe Diamond league. Missing a lot of Rebellion cards doesn’t help either🤣.
Final Thoughts: Being a Good Actor
Being a good actor on Hive is about more than just how you handle rewards. It’s also about how you interact with the community and honor the spirit of the platform.
Here are some tips:
- Write your own content: Use AI as a tool (like I do, because English is not my native language and I’m dyslexic), but don’t just copy-paste generated text.
- Follow contest rules: Make sure your submissions meet the requirements. I’ve seen too many entries that completely miss the mark.
- Support others: Engage with posts, leave thoughtful comments, and upvote where deserved.
I also recommend this great post for new Hive users: Hooked on Hive: Investing Time – Tips for New Hivers. It’s a fantastic read if you’re looking for ways to get started on the right foot.
My 2025 Goals
For 2025, I’m setting a new personal goal on top of the other SPL goals: get my KE ratio between 1 and 3 again.
Here’s how I plan to do it:
- Convert more HBD rewards into Hive Power.
- Spend some fiat to boost my HP holdings.
- Set rewards of contest posts to 100% HP (hope to remember this else rule 1 will apply)
To share my progression is will try to include it in my season tracking posts with some of the data that is extracted from: Bee Balanced
For now, not to impressive yet from ~5. to 4.03 but this will be slow and steady progress.
Let’s see how this journey unfolds!
What about you? How do you see yourself in the Hive and Splinterlands communities? Let me know your thoughts—I’d love to hear them!
Bonus: Interesting Reads
Here are some great posts on the topic on Hive rewards and community engagement:
Splinterlands Contest Posts and Curation - part 1
Splinterlands Contest Posts and Curation - part 2
KE ratio as a guide
A Sad Realization About Splinterlands & Hive
Leeching Arseholes
Understanding your ke ratio and why it is important
Some of these posts use strong language, but they raise important points. Let’s keep the discussion going!
P.S i wanted to make the post a bit more on BeeBalanced, how it works and what it does... but the post got already pretty lengthy, so will do that another time 🤣.
For the python lovers its a open source project so you can lookup what it does and how exactly in this git repository: https://github.com/gamerbeaker007/BeeBalance
Have fun, and I’ll see you on the battlefield!
Do you also want to be part of this amazing play to earn game consider using my referral link.
I am in your debt forever for what you did in the last two weeks. If you are ever in Houston, dinner is on me! For those who knows me here can tell you, praise doesn’t come easy from me :)
Thanks @azircon, that means a lot. You might have noticed I like doing this fiddling with data and setting myself some programming challenges😍.
Always learning 🤣
This post of yours really makes sense. It is very helpful for newbies like me in learning how to act as a Hiver. I like your thoughts on becoming a good contributor—it's about having meaningful interactions with the community and honoring the spirit of the platform. I'll keep that in mind.
I'm always grateful that even though I'm new here, there are people who engage with my posts, leave thoughtful comments, and give upvotes. Right now, I'm still a bit confused and still learning how to truly become a Hiver.
All the best with your plans!
Thanks for reading my post...
That is already a great first insight and will bring you a long way already.
Where are you confused about? I think there is no "one" Hiver, everybody got its own journey.
Thanks for noticing my comment! I'm still a bit confused about how everything works on Hive. I'm a newbie, but I'm actively learning how the platform operates.
Really great post, the posts by azircon have been interesting reads and the tools that are being created are very useful, I definitely want to be contributing more to the hive ecosystem and other games not just splinterlands but I also understand that not everyone is in the position to be investing in an expensive game, but of course there is extreme extraction going on too
Thanks, main goal for me is to increase the awareness then its is everybody own choice what you do with it.
And even with low/no $ investment you can be a good actor in the community 💪
I've been around for a long time and have seen good and bad...a lot of people would benefit from seeing your post, but the bad actors are rarely inclined to read anything in preference for whatever nutbaggery they're into.
Well said though.
Yeah bad actors will probably not read this. I hope some unaware persons that will shift there mind or learn some thing about these discussion.
Thanks for dropping by
I love this. Such a quick and concise way to share what matters. I hope it reaches as many people as possible!
Thanks for reading my post, i also hope it inspires others 💪
Nice post. I think I am happy with that on main:
Even this account where I mostly write poetry, has 0.73.
That are some nice score's keep on going, also a nice stash of SPS 😍
A splendid post and I think the kind that people reading who are unintentionally what could be described as a bad actor (Essentially with one of those high KE factors) might realise that a little changes in habits doesn't just do their should good but the whole ecosystem.
If everybody extracted everything there would be little rewards for anyone
Thanks @meesterboom,
Agree, habits can be adjusted. Main goal is to increase awareness and for the unintentionally "bad actor" to shift their habits.
When i entered hive, even till a few weeks ago, I was not fully aware how its perceived from the hive community.
It is easily missed. When people think earn rewards their first thought if not often to lock it up. That only comes from awareness that most often comes later on.
I love the tools you have built btw, awesome!
This is a beautiful and motivating post and your goals for growth on Hive are great goals.
Thank you so much for creating your helpful tool that will be useful not only to the curators of Splinteralnds but also to many hivers
!hiqvote
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 20/50) Liquid rewards.
Thanks @libertycrypto27
yes your right as kind begets kind honesty begets honestyin short you reap what you saw
Thanks! I had to translate your sentence to check if I understood what you meant 🤣
TIL a new English word!
You have a great collection in Splinterlands, that in my opinion should be good, they should have a choice if the HIVE POWER is small, they should evaluate the assets in Splinterlands. I don't know if they already do that or if I'm just talking garbage.
I think the spl curators have the information about the spl assets you own. So they can take it into account.
Having SPL assets and no HP should be fine. Only if you start blogging / commenting take part into the spl blogging contest etc, you should be aware on how you act and not just extract all that earnings imho.
True
Thanks again for your contribution to the ecosystem with Bee Balanced app @beaker007 ! I'm inspired to use streamlit to deploy spltools too now. Maybe that will be the next update for it.
Nice, would love to see it 😍.
Currently further improving my spl api module, you might want to have a look at that with better fault handling on http calls.
Also any review comments on my program are welcome still learning python every day 👩💻
Nice. Thanks for the tip. Just copied your Retry config 🙏
👍Just checking from the TopHolders branch, its not in main yet!
https://github.com/gamerbeaker007/BeeBalance/blob/TopHolders/src/api/logRetry.py https://github.com/gamerbeaker007/BeeBalance/blob/TopHolders/src/api/spl.py
Thanks for sharing! - @azircon
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