Thanks so much for the insights and discussion, Dan! 😊
Decentralized and censorship-resistant social media platforms have been on my mind for years. From my limited experience here, Hive's implementation is the closest we've had to this ideal thus far, and the lack of an owner helps it continue to carry on. I've heard an argument that the "whales" here can control things through the weight of their votes, which can be a flaw. However, I've seen a wide variance of opinions and thoughts expressed here so far, which gives me hope.
The technology prevents content from being blocked out completely, as you discussed. There may be issues with visibility, however. I don't think there's a perfect solution but Hive has provided a wonderful start.
Interest in decentralization from the general public is a tricky thing... most people living in first world countries don't see it as a significant issue until it affects them directly. I don't see that aspect alone as being the biggest draw for the majority of individuals, although it is significant for some (such as myself). For those living in regions with more censorship it is likely to matter more.
Many posts are being overlooked/ignored. Good thing that there is a post promotion feature. But it is often hard to get real readers. Even with that.
If your upvote value is low, then it is easy to know who really cares about your content and/or about your personality/life. People will come for these things.
But if your upvote is highly valuable, then many people will come to your posts. Not necessarily for your content. Nor for your personality/life. Simply for your attention. Many people try to get the attention of the whales by regularly commenting under their posts. Many people hope to get upvotes from the whales. This is why they are trying to get their attention. So they write comments. Even if they do not care about the content or about the personality/life of the author. This why it is harder to know the real audience in this case.
You make excellent points here - and I can tell it's coming from the perspective of someone who's been here for a while. 😊
That does seem unbalanced in a sense. However, I can appreciate that Hive's mechanisms allow everyone the opportunity to have a large impact with enough time and effort. The tools and knowledge are out there!