Why are we here and What are we doing?
First of all, I must tell you that I do not have the first damn clue! That begs the question: Why am I writing this post. Well I do not know. I just felt like it. That being said I have been asked that question a number of times, here in the platform by multiple people. So I think it is perhaps my obligation to explore it a bit.
Lot of us know, when the famous explorer and mountaineer George Mallory was asked "Why did you want to climb Mount Everest (now Sagarmatha)?" his famous simple response was "Because it is there" . However, to me, although it is a nostalgic comment, and I personally used it a lot, but it is nothing but a deflection. Today, I am not thinking about a deflection.
Hive, it a way, is like an Utopia. Sort of like this picture above (my take, no post-processing). Someone told me that its Paradise. Actually it is! No I am serious quite literally... that picture is from Reflection Lake, at Paradise, WA, in the northwest United States. It is a real place, you can google it. Someone else said.... Bambi is REAL! Well, of course Bambi is real. I believe it. When I see the movie with my kids I still believe it. What I am getting at, what is real and what is Utopia, is up to your belief. If is often better to believe the story is real, that improves the experience significantly.
Why am I posting in BDC
There is a reason. Recently I helped promote quality of writing among a largely misunderstood (but highly talented) community members for about 5 weeks. The improvements were dramatic. Often times, in regional communities, people are fearful about lack of fluency in English. I tried to explain that language is not a barrier, it is a conduit. So the first step often is to write. Write anything meaningful that might be interesting to someone else in any language of your choice. I think many have crossed that barrier. So the next step is writing in English. And it is just about practice. So I thought I rather post this random rambling here. Hoping it might inspire a few.
So back at it
There are many schools of thought about Hive. Whether it can succeed or not. What form it will succeed. What the future will be like.... so on and so forth.... I am not here to talk about any of those. This is more a personal thought... and not entirely logical. It does not have to be. In my mind, I see a lot of people who are longing to talk to another human. There are numerous platforms out there that capitalize on this longing. This is just another. But the difference is there is no one to capitalize.... at least not directly (one-on-one). Meaning your longing for company is not directly monetizing a central authority. It is a bit reverse.
You are monetizing your social interaction
We are helping you to do that. If you think about it, that is quite unique. At the same time, quite powerful.
But with great power, comes great responsibility
It is a cliche, unfortunately. But it is quite true. So here's an idea. Why don't we use hive as a quest for ourselves. Whatever that is. It does not have to be unique. It does not have to be big or small. I recently re-read Paulo Coelho's Alchemist for the 3rd time perhaps. Borrowing the concept from there, I am thinking, why can't Hive be our Personal Legend, and our journey is to follow it as a quest. We make bridges to no where, we connect minds and thoughts across the borders both geographically and socially.
I recently shot this picture of a bridge to no where. Those low clouds won't even let me see what is off to the horizon. But I felt the need to build the bridge, across culture, age, economic and social barriers. Because it is important to build the bridges. It help move opinions and even wealth, both monitory and emotional. Its the movement of goods and services that helps us grow the economy, the GDP. So that's why I am here. I am here to build bridges.
The rest is Maktub.
I know we're trying to get people to come out of the mentality of here for the money or posting for money and such. But there's no denying that when content monetizing is an option, that incentive will always be there. The vast majority of people will not be able come out of the posting for money and why no upvotes mentality.
I recentyly read a post from Tarazkp, where he discussed about not considering the earning from HIVE to be something to live on.
It is just something that is there. Sort of like reward for personal development. What this does is, the incentive to earn is still there, but the focus is on personal development. If we can get more people to look at it this way, that is when I think we'll see some real growth, both in terms of personnel and for the blockchain.
I think there is nothing wrong with the money incentive. I know a few individuals who are actually living off of hive earning. It’s not easy, at the current prices, especially in the developed world, but it’s possible.
@tarazkp is someone I know for a while. I consider him a spokesman for hive and given a lot of his personal time to this platform. Taraz is also perhaps the most bullish person I have seen regarding the success of hive. He has many formulas at what price people can live off blogging earning only. I think it has been done for a short period of time. My other friend @abh12345 mentioned several success cases to me during 2017-18. Even Asher himself enjoyed living mostly of hive earning on one amazing summer in the islands he remembers. So it’s possible. But few can do it and rather few have talents to do it.
That's the highlight, for the moment. I'm no expert on speculating prices and all (you've seen my predictions on your trade analysis posts go literally in reverse LOL) but I think we're still a long way from achieving a living off blogging earnings for a bigger number of users. That will require wider adoption, more consumers, more eyes on the platform.
And that will require patience!
Speaking of people living off blogging earnings, did you know an user called Surfermarly? She apparently paid a large chunk of building her house from her steem earnings, back when steem prices were very, very high. Late 2017 or early 2018 if I remember correctly!
Damn! Even you know about that story! Lol!
Maybe it doesn't seem that way, but I have been around for a very, very long time dada ;) I was away for over 2 years while I battled major depression, which is why I'm not that much of a known face around hehe!
I think you mentioned that. That story I only know second hand.... and all the other things that are associated with it. Both good and bad ;)
Certainly one of the prominent success story of DPOS blockchain
I'm glad you are seeing progress in your efforts.
Thank you for taking the initiative in being a leader in your community.
Thank you. But I am not a leader of any community, I am just trying to help some of the leaders :)
Consigliere (not the mob kind) then.
LOL.
By the way that bridge is on the way to Mt. St. Helens. Lots of volcanic rocks there ;)
Did you pick up some?
Nah!!
I already had a lot... all thrown away over the years. Picture is enough
Nice.
I totally agree with what you say. We are not here for ourselves, but always have a strong desire to be useful for others. More or less maybe so my understanding. Thank you for the enlightening motivation of your writing. Continue to do everything good.
I see so much wisdom in your words. “Building Bridges” 🌉 could be our marketing motto. May I use your words on Twitter?
Feel free. I don’t have any monopoly on those words :)
Yea sure
Thoughtful post @azircon. I liked this ...
... as any helpful boost we can provide others, large or small, makes a difference that I don't believe can be quantitatively measured. It is just the right thing to do.
I have recently become acquainted with another person who is working hard with this same community - @simplifylife. You may know him. We "met" recently in The Man Cave community. It keeps me going personally to see progress being made, in spite of the challenges ...
Until next time, I hope all is well with you and yours in our crazy, "new normal" world!
In fact, Azircon is leading us the way in our Community! The community he is referring to here, is the same community I was talking to you guys about in the Mancave. He is a big part of it, and a very important reason why we've managed to improve content coming from the community! 😁
Rob, good to hear from you. Haven’t seen you around for a while. Yeah I know the good doctor. He is an young and talented dude who we all like. I have heard about mancave, don’t know too much about it but seems like a fine initiative.
Thank you @azircon. Back at you!
Yes, he seems to be. I've really enjoyed the limited engagement I have had with him thus far. For starters, as I have mentioned to him, a look at my profile will indicate I love his account title! How many times have I wished I'd taken a little more time in coming up with my account name ...
The good doctor even enlightened me with a link explaining his effort behind promoting writing content in his native language. Great stuff. "May his tribe increase!"
You are, of course, welcome to drop in to the Man Cave at any time. I'm sure many would enjoy seeing that you have some interest in it. For me, my whole experience with these Hive Engine token-based communities started just recently. When I had some discretionary funds from powering down on Steem, after HF23 ... (Prior to that? Nothing to think about ...) I've written a couple of posts about decisions made since ...
And, here I am. Still! 😉
We can be patrons of the arts with no middleman in Bangladesh of all places! We can deploy digital capital to anyone anywhere!
Yeah. Sub-continent as a whole has amazing talent Josh. The trouble often is to channel it in the right direction and get them not to focus on the short term gains as opposed to long term solution.
Something you can promote from Texas of all places!
Lol! In the present world what’s the difference? ;)
Hive is a wonderland to me, just go and explore, find what you really want. Sometimes I feel that, here you have to choose the way you want to go like if you choose the right path then you are ready to go other way the wrong path, you may have the success but it won't last long.
Creating your own world, I must say this...this should be the goal.
We are honored to have you Dada, you showed to us the way to explore things and bring the best output. Not only that we got an excellence response, we got some quality writers. How much afford you have given we all know. You show us the way, its now unto them how they proceed.
For many of us, this is a good place to test things out.... bounce ideas with like minded individuals... learn new things... explore a dormant side of self that haven’t been worked on for a while. The most important thing is to have fun doing it.
Just enjoy! That's all we have to do. Also, this is an international platform; from here, we can learn many things. Nothing is easy in this world; Whatever we do or whatever we want to do, patience, dedication, and passion are very important.
Dada, banglai ekta probat ase
Yes, of course Linco. Let us hope we are successful together.
Choto mukhe boro kotha dada, but I see so much of Melchizedek in you :)
Untill we found you, the prolific many of the lot still thought of Hive as Kaaj. Most of them still do!! But, whats money worth in comparison to having the opportunity of becoming a part of something that holds true meaning? Open three or four accounts, spam thoughtless effortless contents everyday and the rewards will be somewhat present in it, in that kaaj, but at what cost?
BTW that is priceless photo of the real Bambi right there dada. If the terrain was a little desolate and barren, i could picture Santiago traversing there along with his sheep's while thinking about fatima :)
Sakib, thank you for the kind words. I am touched. If I can do a small percentage of what Melchizedek did in the story I will fulfill my goal. But I am glad you got my goal figured out, as it not easy even for me.
If we all spam, we kill this social experiment. It is as simple as that.
So to protect that sometimes I be the devil. You know the greatest trick devil ever pulled is to convince the world that he doesn’t exist. :)
The Usual Suspects remains an iconic movie ;)
Commissioner Gordon says you are the devil we dont deserve, but the devil we need :v -The Brown Knight :)
This is exactly something the old king wouldve said:)
Kings die, as king of salem did too. But his wisdom lived on forever.. Yours will too dada.. If you are Melchizedek, I want us all to be maktub :) and I the alchemist with the philosophers stone :) Touching contents of bronze and turning them into gold.
It will remain for the next 100 years or so. Soze is like batman, only a little too real.
Hmm, I know the feeling. I guess I like to write, though 3 years ago I wouldn't have thought that. It's a strange place 'here' and alien to most, but frighteningly addictive.
Those last two words. Really enjoying my experience here. As a full-time blogger (while the money is good there) we don't see such engagements.
On Hive we do. And somehow a feeling of personal connection appears. Sometimes I feel it is the collective vision to make "things work" is what holds us together.
Yeah, it’s addictive alright :)
You know, we can all have slightly different goals, but that addictive part probably common to all. ;)
I did a contest some months telling people to write about what hive means to them and it was quite interesting. Personal, I see hive as a opportunity. I have been able to actualise many of my goals with the resources I have gained on here and I believe in no distant future I will be contributing equally to the development of the blockchain, not just as a content creator but a developer.
You hit on the key ..building bridges... Since being on on steemit and now hive I have been introduced to people all over my country and the world...
Learning how others live & they learning how I live...It's an information explosion in the information age... Making our lives richer and helping to understand why others live differently from me...Cheers ... azircon
Awesome article! How's the new normal going?
Has to be the BIGGEST takeaway. I might write an article about this as English was my fourth language. I could barely speak. Then I wrote 3000+ articles.
And life changed.
Today, I write in English for a living. If it wasn't for writing and eliminating my own self-doubt, I wouldn't be here.
Hive is a great place for testing and improving. To seeing what works — and what doesn't. To actually understand one's potential.
English is not my first language either.... probably 3rd... but here we are :)
English is also not my first language. It's my second.
Oh, this isn't what others are doing? :D
I don’t know about all others but you are, most likely doing it.
I definitely am. There is far more to this journey than gathering tokens.
So far none of our time is paid fairly, if at all. So that is definitely a sign. Borrowing from Alchemist, I say, a good omen.
I am yet to read anything by Coelho - but I should probably put something on the list. Is the Alchemist a good place to start?
Yes, Alchemist is the best place to start. It’s short, light and deep all at the same time. Fits your positive thought process too. A must read....
I'd like to know what is in your top 3 if this book doesn't make it there!
Well... this is the first time I'm commenting on any of your posts.
Actually, I'm here to thank you formally.
For everything that you're doing for our community.
I don't know when you joined BDC but when I saw you interacting with our peoples, I thought maybe you're a just a big person, a whale who shouldn't be that much friendly.
Then when I listened to you talking in Bangla, I was amazed.
And then I've seen you became our DADA (really it feels great addressing someone as DADA).
Well, I'm not praising you here but praising your works.
I've seen that peoples who were confused about what to write because of the language, now publishing nice content in their native language which is definitely the best development.
I didn't know that you were guiding em.
I think I missed a lot of things for being busy or lazy whatever you say.
But after having that discussion with you and brother Zaku in BDC... I think it's time for me to show off my talents (talking about content writing as I don't have big talents).
Now that I'm full-free after losing my job, I think I can interact with you guys for my personal development.
And I know there are lots of people in BDC who is waiting to help me/us without self-benefit.
Thanks for everything and also for the gift.
You are welcome. Just put some honest stuff forward, and things will be better.
I ended up reading your words via @tarazkp's recent post... and a lot of what you write here resonates.
In reading the comments here, English is also not my first language... which oddly seems to be a common thread among many of those whose words I really enjoy reading.
I often reflect on the fact that it seems that many of those who have steadily contributed to — and engaged with — the community for a long time rarely are "here for the money" as their primary objective.
I ended up here for more or less nostalgic reasons; I had a pretty successful and widely read blog called "Inner Reflections" from about 1999 to 2005, and I really loved the format of what we called social blogging back then. In January 2017, the venue that was then "early Steemit" seemed like an invitation to pick that up again... and 3 1/2 years later I feel like I am finally hitting my stride again, with something that's a mixture of personal anecdotes, essays, commentary on the human condition, and the like.
Anyway, Inner Reflections (which sadly vanished due to various CENTRALIZED mergers and acquisitions) was subtitled "Anecdotes from the Journey to Myself."
The journey continues. In large part, I am still here because of this ongoing assertion that "the blockchain keeps going." So it won't go the way of Inner Reflections. Maybe our grandkids will appreciate that. Yes, self-indulgent, I know...
Thank you for the visit. I am not a prolific writer, but not because of the ability, but because of time in my midlife. However, I try to compensate that by other ways. If there is any leadership in hive that exist, I believe they need more community involvement. I have nothing against people earning money. Just I except them to earn it decently, with effort, by putting in some hard work. Just like we do out in the real world. That's all.
My journey on hive is being guided by bdcommunity from the beginning. That contest helped me a lot to know about the writings of others and your judgments and guidance for writing also helped me to find my lacking. Really i am too much grateful to you and bdcommunity.
I was surprised to see there is a relatively big Bangladeshi community on such a niche platform like hive — specially when there are no communities based on neighboring countries. Which was very much likely.
Then I surmised, there has to be a person or a group of persons behind bdcommunity who probably took the initiative and helped it to shape along the way. Now I know who's (at least one of them) that.
My thanks to you @azircon, and good luck with your personal journey.
So you read it again :)
The post is written in a way that reminds me of the high-level thinking throughout the book.
Heading over to the follow-up post now...
Oh yeah! I read it again. Asking you to read it made me read it. It is such a good and positive book to read. Every time I read it it feels different
I am long overdue a reassessment of myself - I felt the book made me look at things differently in the past.
Looks like a very interesting read though I've got a headache so I can't focus on it at the moment, so I have bookmared it and mentioned it in my blog tonight. 😀