The introduction of general smart contract functionality is absolutely the missing link for Hive to go to the next level. Smart contracts do much more than just enable 'De-Fi', they also enable the creation of decentralised systems on Hive that can do anything that a computer can be used to do - but in a decentralised way and with economics thrown in. On top of that, Hive has the added benefit of the social/community eco-system built in. There is a real chance that Hive could expand to become the giant system of apps and people that so many blockchains and groups salivate at the prospect of creating.
Denetralisation of the token supply AND CAPACITY TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE is very important in the growth of Hive. I personally will never use or develop Ethereum for one reason, which is enough to put me off. Setting aside the stupid gas prices and other issues, the fact is that Vitalik has made such dangerously short sighted and psychopathic statements regarding his vision for humans in general, that I now view him an enemy of humanity. His central position in Ethereum means that I have blacklisted the entire system. Real decentralisation should prevent this from ever being a problem, since if one key figure goes rogue, others should be able to easily replace them. I don't see or feel that happening on Ethereum. So far, with some minor exceptions, Hive has not fallen into that trap - however, we desperately need to focus on decentralising the codebase and development more.
Decentralising development requires a major focus on technical writers working closely with core developers to create QUALITY documentation for the systems. We have never had that - the current documentation is incomplete, outdated and reads like it was written by a drunkard in placess... Seriously, it's terrible in important places.. It even has important sections that refer to Steem over and over. The recent application by Arcange to hire a marketing company to address this was not pitched with sufficient evidence of the agency's ability for me to support it.
So decentralisation of Hive requires the creation of the demand for Hive's use by creating general smart contract functionality, but it also requires consistent decentralisation of the token supply and also enhancing greatly the ability for developers to create on Hive.
I keep hearing people saying that rewarding blogging with Hive tokens 'doesn't work'. They are wrong on that and have misunderstood Hive's potential. Proof of Brain rewards pools are a work of genius but they are not being used optimally. Where else can someone who knows little about crypto share their wisdom and insights to then be able to receive valuable crypto from an interested community? Pretty much nowhere. Proof of Brain is a genius way to lure in users and to decentralise the token supply. Corporations try to use member cards and coupons to bring in customers but Hive literally gives money.. constantly! The problem is not proof of brain, the problem is the complete failure to capture the potential that exists through proper marketing and understanding of human psychology.
Every barrier to entry hurts Hive. We have many barriers to entry, but near the top of the list is the failure to communicate properly and failure to manage USER EXPERIENCE. We need a uniform set of tools and guidelines for app creators to deliver quality user experience. This is an area that developers usually do not understand well and we currently provide them virtually no help whatsoever. User Experience isn't just 'putting buttons in the right places' (UI Design), it's also about putting yourself in the place of the user and understanding their needs and goals. Then doing every single thing possible to improve their experience and make them happier.
The true decentralisation of Hive is great but also does hold us back in these areas. I urge everyone to consider that the development of general smart contract functionality should be used early on to devise systems that reward smart people for co-creating improvements to Hive and the User Experience. The DHF is a good idea, but it relies on a simplistic mechanism for funding that lacks granularity, oversight and analytics. General smart contract functionality could improve this by orders of magnitude. Imagine 'Utopian' on Steem, where users were rewarded for development and work on Github, but integrated with custom smart contracts on Hive. Imagine DAO based user support on Hive, where people get rewarded for providing user support. Imagine the use of @dan's new project @fractally, being used to resolve and optimise the rewards for work done.
Essentially, I am describing HDAC/HiveDac (Hive Decentralised Autonomous Community).
Think big. Question everything. Remove limitations. Build Ethically. Heal. Balance. Evolve.
You wrote an entire blog post in this comment. It would make a good article.
I agree with you about the removal of barriers. There is no doubt that Hive has its issue; this is not perfect. You are right though, it is the best game in town. We need to keep building upon the foundation in place. It is solid albeit nor granite. More is required.
As for technical writing, that is true. I have no talent in that area so cant help out. Certainly trying to attract those people is vital. Of course, we still need more developers.
Thinking big is proper. Hiive is looked at a small little nothing system by many. This is incorrect. We have a lot going here, with a great deal of talent. Do we require more in every area? Certainly. But the ones who are here are not slouches.
Time to take everything up a level, however we have to go about that.
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Hehe, maybe I will extract it and edit to post it as a blog when I get time.
One of the issues with getting good technical people to do high quality work is that they are in demand and get well paid - so either they have to be well paid by Hive or they have to be otherwise motivated to participate. It shouldn't be a problem to pay people well to do the work from the DAO but we need to have a way of reliably demonstrating the track record of those involved.
I am capable of doing the technical writing but I don't have time to do it and am unlikely to have time in the foreseeable future. Also, in honesty, the prospect of doing that work is quite daunting because of the difficulty of de-cyphering the code and trying to combine information from so many sources to make sense of what needs to be written and the purpose behind the code/functions. Another way around this problem is to formalise the process of code creation so that documentation is created in advance of code being written and ensuring that nothing can be finalised and put into public use without sufficient documentation to support the technicalities of it.
While this might sound like 'unncessary overheads' to some developers, the reality is that we can't expand Hive very well without something like this being done. Hive is an interface between technology and society, so we must have a focus on the society part at all times.