I believe it to be in the best interest of everyone to take a step back and look at the whole picture for a minute. The conversation should start from one basic notion and then move from there.
We all want Hive to succeed
If there's anyone approaching the conversation table assuming bad intentions, then whatever solution was there to find, will be missing from the discussion.
Yes, this includes the all mighty @blocktrades of course, and I can guarantee you this is the case using simple logic. After all we are not talking land, we are not discussing the future of small farm in the physical world that even if it's mismanaged can be brought back to life. Our digital footprint is a lot more fragile than that and everyone, including Blocktrades knows this.
That being said, a conversation does need to happen, and it should happen as soon as possible. Speculation may not be the main ingredient for resentment, but I'm sure most of us can think of how the recipe gets spiked when it forms part of the menu.
Decentralization is a Spectrum
I can't remember when I learnt this concept but it truly cleared up my head. We tend to think or I should say that I prefer thinking in binary. Something either is or it isn't, but in reality most things are somewhere in between.
This rule applies very much to decentralization. If we now make the assertion that Blocktrade's actions prove once and for all that this blockchain belongs to one man, and thus is centralized, then you are failing to understand the concept.
On an ideal scenario, if this project of ours is to succeed, the progress to decentralization would chug along a righteous path. More people joining, more people powering up, more people participating of our democratic model. But, as things stand now, we are still attempting to workout the kinks.
Things just are
I can't say I don't empathize with those who right now feel that Blocktrades has ruined a perfectly pleasant Sunday, but I think we ought to tackle this whole thing with stoicism.
Maybe there's a conversation that needed to happen long ago and for many reasons had been postponed. Maybe there's a distrust brewing amongst our ranks, and possibly this is the very thing we need to eradicate first.
But, even with all this, I remain in good spirits. Because instead of allowing myself to drown in the ideas of all the things that now will not happen, and succumb to FOMO and anxiety, I choose to step back and admire all the times this little blockchain has been battle tested and survived.
I'm confident before the week is over, there will be conversations on discord among the project leaders on Hive. I'm also confident Blocktrades will sit in the virtual round table, as he's done so many times before, and through mature discussions find the best way forward.
Now it's not the time
To fight, to point fingers, to blame others and speculate. Any of those things will only bitter our hearts and minds, and do absolutely nothing for us. It won't help us find solutions, it won't help us find alliances and certainly won't help us find peace of mind.
MenO
I've had big accounts messaging me about proposal voting, but I make my own decisions. Yes, Blocktrades is big and will earn well from curation, but he's not posting much. Others can keep earning from that and build their HP to increase their influence.
Voting for witnesses and proposals does matter and we should take it seriously.
I've met Blocktrades and his other half. They are nice people and I think they really care about Hive. I would trust them to do the right things, but opinions on those will vary.
Met him too back in Poland, and I agree with you there 100%.
The thing is, even if he was a bad guy (he's not), he still would not make holes in his own canoe. That would make no sense.
Exactly! He has the most to lose if Hive dies. He runs the development teams and so is investing a lot.
BT earns from other mechanisms far more than social media. I'm not advocating for anything else, BTW. His expertise is far more valuable in the role he fills. However, his interests are served by maintaining limited distribution of stake, and while I am not accusing him of deliberately preventing wider distribution, the math is probative that preventing wider distribution secures governance to an oligarchy, and that is the present case on Hive today.
IMHO, funding from the DHF can only be availed to proposals that will adhere to contractual obligations and use GAAP to prevent fraud. Any lesser standards have proven to first, be utterly ineffective, and second, to draw allegations of fraud and kickbacks, that BT cannot avoid being tainted by as his support is critical to successful DHF proposals. I have observed he is prudent regarding susceptibility to regulatory hazards, and I expect he will be no less prudent regarding the hazards of unaccountable expenditures.
It would be insuperable to do otherwise and neglect his fiduciary responsibilities.
Your comment is upvoted by @topcomment
Info - Support - Discord
An initial conversation happened yesterday on the Hive Discord Server, it was thoughtful and informative.
Hosted by @ecoinstant you'll hear my voice a time or two. The move by Blocktrades definitely makes it more important to develop wide support and consensus, to get something past the new DHF bar. This is probably a good thing in aggregate for HIVE.
Posted using Political Hive
Thank you for sharing my friend. I will give this a good listen as soon as the rain stops. It's raining so hard right now, I can barely hear myself think.
I am really weather dependent for recording as well! imagine how hot we will be in june july and august !!
we just entered the "don't forget to put on the rubber boots" time of the year. It's raining cats and dogs every single day.
GAAP. Wherever the least crack in accountability can be found, thieves will break in. Good people are incapable of grasping the mental processes psychopaths run on, and often are naive and gullible, believing others to have the same principles and motivations they do.
Psychopaths don't.
For this reason, contracts and not handshakes are necessary to business, and GAAP, not trust, are the foundation of accountability. $M's are vanishing into a black hole of unaccountable disbursements, and direct allegations of theft by fraud have been made. It is past time that the fundamental requirements of functional business be required for funding from the DHF.
When Steem was born ~36 whales (besides the Founders) had mined up massive stakes that completely controlled governance by controlling the witnesses through stake weighted voting. Today Hive is controlled by ~36 whales... An oligarchy is no less centralization than is an Autarch. An oligarchy that prevents distribution of stake by DV's is utterly preventing decentralization from proceeding as is necessary for Hive to thrive. Excess users are driven from the platform because the oligarchy can maintain their majority control of stake at our currrent 3-5k users, and more causes distribution, while less evaporates token value.
That's why Hive is where it is.
Thanks!
Point taken, but would the 36 whales not benefit from finding a way to grow the valuation of the token, and don't they know the only way is through mass adoption?
I have argued that long and hard,earlier in my presence here, particularly. The reality is that maintenance of governance is a bird in the hand, a guarantee of ROI. Cash is king. Prudence actually argues against taking risks when you can profit from your capital without adding risks, and that's the situation that DV's enable the well staked to maintain.
To enable distribution that is how the token can gain popularity and therefore rise in price, the whales have to part with their majority possession of the stake on the platform. To gamble on the moon they have to discard their control of governance, and that's simply imprudent.