It's nearly impossible, yet I still try to avoid all outside influences when developing a writing style. Same with the art. I'll be browsing some digital art then suddenly my mind is all like, "Hmmm. I could do something like that." Then I'm all like NO
Hold on. Not a good idea. Look but don't touch.
I respect the aim for purity, but avoiding outside influences sounds pretty close to 'avoiding media / the creations of others' entirely, sooooo... uh... good luck? Sounds tricky as hell, but if anyone can do it... :)
Suffice to say, any similarities I saw to Mr. Thompson are purely my own (likely biased) perceptions and are intended only as a compliment you in that HST was able to keep me riveted on the edge of my seat with his writings, and so are you.
😁
It is difficult but I do manage to shut it all off and walk away. But then what right? That's only temporary relief.
I took that as a compliment. A good one. One of these days I'll learn to simply say, "Thanks!" But for now I'll continue to be terrible at small talk.
That is the question, heheh. I guess we'll see! :)
And yeah, I've experienced some challenges just saying 'thanks' myself, I'm sure we'll both get it eventually, lol. Who wants small talk anyway, right? 😁
Speaking of small talk, just wanted you to know I think you've been doing some cool things around here.
lol, well I should probably just say 'thanks', given our recent convo, heheh... but I can't tell if this is a joke or not, because:
A. I respect you and your insights and appreciate any kind words or support coming from you. (Not small talk :D) and B. My posts around here likely wouldn't be called 'small' talk by anyone. (also not small talk)
Either way, thanks for continually brightening my experience here on Hive, bro. It's appreciated. 🙏 😁
It's cool how you simply showed up out of nowhere and made a splash. Many people who've shown up over the years will say that's impossible, on their way out, as they're throwing a bit of a fit. Of course, I've always disagreed and leaned more to believing they simply didn't know how.
Did you know 'they' used to dupe people into purchasing votes in order to reach the trending page with the push of a few buttons? Their selling point was often something along the lines of, "It's impossible to get noticed here."
So we had a trending page and majority of the reward pool going to those selling votes, and the people buying them, who would only earn maybe 5% of the post face value(and sometimes even lose money). And the content was atrocious simply because the 'business model' catered to folks lacking the ability to create or act in ways that draw others to them naturally.
You mentioned you browse trending. You would have had to scroll pretty far to find something worthwhile, back then. It was also more profitable to sell votes than it was to vote for free, so those refusing to buy votes, like myself, were slowly but surely running out of potential support, since consumers were being paid to look away, in an attention economy.
So you almost made it look just as easy as buying votes, but did it naturally. So that's cool.
Thanks man. It's funny, I've seen what you're describing happy many times over the years, on many platforms. People avoiding responsibility for their failures, people labeling a platform as 'unwinnable' or 'impossible.'
I believe @antisocialist hinted at this aspect of Hive's past but I didn't fully understand. So I'm glad you explained the (apparently brutal) condition of the trending page previously. I'm glad I wasn't around for that, and I'm impressed you 'stuck through it.'
So crazy.
Anyway, I imagine 'downvotes' played a role in the solution? Or Hive devs implemented some code in a hard fork? (Man, it feels like Hive could use an entire wiki dedicated to it.) I guess you being here for 4+ years kind of makes you a 'human wiki' for Hive, and I appreciate anytime you explain the nuances. I still think about one of your earliest comments to me regarding the value in onboarding of 'consumers.'
👌