Something to be said about coincidence. Or does that even exist? I'm not so sure it does. It does however, have merit here. Within 24 hours of that comment, two witnesses were put into operation.
Many of you already know @enginewitty and have recently seen that his witness is back up and running. This would not have happened without that comment on @sircork's post. Was it meant to bee?
The rebirth of @sircork on Hive has breathed new life into @enginewitty. In fact, he has teamed up with @sircork to initiate a new witness, from this account, The Pollen Nation.
You may be looking confused right now and scratching your heads, wondering why such a name was chosen, so we will both tag team on this post to fill you in with the hows and whys. Just bee prepared for a few giggles along the way! π
Witty's Take
After throwing around probably a hundred different names and trying to find one that fit, we settled on @pollenation. One reason for the humor, is you can't take life too seriously all the time. It'll eat you up with stress!
I also liked the way Cork was approaching it, by having it (the new witness we agreed to put forth) surrounded with some kind of little avian bug that the name Hive exudes.
It also had to say something else, and something that we both decided and feel strongly about. That something we both feel most important, is the community aspect of it all.
To me, the pollen here is HIVE currency, and the nation, is you, the entire Hive population of people all over the ecosystem. The two sound and look the same, but they are not doppelgangers. HIVE (when in all caps), is the base currency that is produced by the blockchain. Hive is the blockchain. The Hive Pollen Nation (aka @pollenation), is all of you, who make the Hive chain your home and Hive your favorite kind of currency, your shared reward for helping to make it a good place to spend your time.
The Pollen Nation resonated. I mean, we're all working to make this place amazing, right? Even the people that just scrounge for a few HIVE a week with their originality, to pay for groceries or their electric bill, are making this place great.
And that, needs to be known!
Those kinds of people may not be devs and contributing to the codebase for Hive, but without them? What is this place? Really? You can have all the coolest tools and operations in the world, but without anyone to use and appreciate them, they are pointless.
I will be pointing things out. Those kinds of things anyway. I would like to employ this witness as a content discovery tool and start propping up the little bees that do their part as they try to help make this place great.
Table Manners
What I bring to the table of this witness is longevity, loyalty and leadership. Sure, I shut my witness down for awhile, but I've still been here the entire time, working alongside all of you in some form or fashion to further Hive as a whole. My loyalty is unwavering to the community that shares the love around and if my leadership is in question? Feel free to delve into @thealliance that will have its 7th birthday the end of August or ask around about one of the few tokens that didn't crash during the bear market. I've organized half a dozen meetups, attended twice as many and am often sought for advice in both community standards and financial direction.
That is another thing I will bring to dinner, is that I know how to spread honey on some toast. And, I love to share! I could also drone on more about me, me, me, but it isn't just about me. This witness is about you!
SirCork's Take
"HI AGAIN HIVE FRENZ!" - sircork shouts with enthusiasm and excitement!
I am so thrilled to be back here. And saying so is incredibly sincere. Sometimes, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. And sometimes you don't know what you needed till you find something familiar in an old box in the attic and it triggers memories and resonates within your soul, lighting new fires of interest in old, comforting things.
When I left here two years ago, I actually can be quoted by some as telling them I was through, over it, done with this place and its platform politics, factions, bad actors, high pressure demands to perform a certain way or be shunned and an outcast. Building and running 24/7 streaming networks for the community, running a witness in the top 50, making tools and posting and commenting and curating around the clock, and supporting hundreds of new minnow users in the background with thousands of DM messages and co-founding and running the @YouAreHOPE charity with @malos10, which was always being scrutinized and tested by various kinds of naysayers, scammers and the unbelieving. It wore me completely out over the many years I sustained all those endeavors.
I walked away.
I had to, to save my health and sanity and to escape discomfort.
BUT
It tore a hole in my heart to do that, left a pit in my gut and for two years I was adrift without a community to call home, online or off, several home moves transpired, ultimately leading me to choose to purchase land and begin to build a new life and home in Costa Rica. (I am formerly from the USA) and that very act, brought to possibility BECAUSE of former steem/hive friends @rhondak and @michel506 who had already moved to CR and been my hosts there in prior visits, let me know the property next door to them was for sale, so I bought it, and off I went.
Why is that relevant here on a witness post? All this introspection, reflection, philosophy and story telling?
Because it brought me to a realization. I was finally aware of that gaping hole in my heart and I knew where the hospital for such a wound could be found. Here. On Hive, with the Hive nation and I knew I had to come back. It was time. Time to bring a healed SirCork back to do what I could to revitalize myself and forge a new path on the most amazing blockchain, amongst the most amazing people I have ever met.
So then the comment thread witty mentioned above happened. I was quipping a one liner, he DM'd and said simply "Are you serious?" and I had to think for about 2 and a half seconds to realize I had never been more serious in my life. The quip, was funny, because it was basically true. I needed to be here, I needed to resume my service to the chain. To the chain's people. And I needed to do it immediately, if not sooner.
So what's MY vision, MY take, as the section title says?
I want to bring back the excitement of 2017. My first year here. The community was much larger, the people much more engaged in groups and in total, and when I got back here in present day, much of that was still thriving! Yay! But... there is also a more subdued, cynical undertone in the hive buzz. I wanted to somehow shake all of you at once and say WAKE UP! It's a new day! WHERE IZ EXCITE?
I am finding it, but at first glance, I was having to flip over more rocks to do so then I expected to have to flip. Then as the week progressed, posts started coming, from OG users who have been here for seven, or eight years, but had wandered away. Turns out though, all who wander are indeed not lost. And so many are suddenly finding their ways back. To Hive. To OUR VOICES. OUR PLATFORM. OUR HOME. OUR FAMILY.
And it feels fantastic. So I want to use my role as part of this witness team to continue to foster that feeling, for myself and for everyone. Return to former glory as it were, for this chain, once a top 50 crypto, now falling behind. We have to FIX THAT.
And we can, with upcoming projects like Wittys game @nism, and the charitable outreach of @YouAreHOPE, and with the creation of new tools to help users navigate this complex place, and new apps to help foster engagement, retention and new interest to entice some new hive nation arrivals.
We have big plans, and big hearts, and big enthusiasm rekindled within us, Witty and I, and we go back to very beginnings together, we live geographically very near each other, about 45 minutes apart, (when I am in the USA) and so we can meet in real life, we have met in real life, many times. Despite my absence, we stayed in touch on other media and we know and trust each other online and off. We have both spoken about this new witness in post comments without conferring and seem to always be in sync with our thoughts and emotions about all of the things.
We're going to contribute more than we ever have before, and if you have followed us both since 2017, the beginnings, you know we've already both brought all sorts of things to life here before. We do what we say we will do, and we both feel our integrity and credibility depend on that, but we also both feel our growth over the years has only improved both of our abilities to do better and better for the bees of Hive and the Pollen Nation every single day.
As the lyrics say, "Saturday night, we'll be in the spot, don't believe us, just watch!"
Naturally, I'm physically older now, and perhaps a modicum more mature. I will pace myself differently this time, pledge to get more sleep and be more attentive in whole to each new and existing endeavor the witness and myself participate in around here. All part of the process of constant, incremental improvement. In me, in the chain, and for you all.
We hope we can earn your interest, trust and support for our new co-witness @PolleNation and we promise to do our level headed best to serve the people of Hive with honey and sweet, sweet futures.
So fire up your optimism, your sense of community, your engagement and your excitement and lets all work together to breathe new life into this amazing platform. That is our goal. Will you buzz along with us on this journey? Please and thank you!
The Yays Have It!
We love it when great things come together. I hope you are as excited as we are! What is the Alliance's motto? Something about a marathon and taking all the steps with you. That's what we're here to do. Link arms with Hive and with YOU! - the @PolleNation and stay the course.
Along the way, we will likely implement a few fun and bee-coming things, as we both have our strengths, and will use them appropriately and mutually. We have chosen a few other communities that we feel embody the vision we have and are open to suggestions to more possibilities and opportunities to be of service and add value to the ecosystem in our path forward.
This is new.
This is us.
This is you.
Hive projects we will be supporting:
 |  |  |  |  |
|---|
If anyone feels they know of a community or project that could be on that list above that should garner our support, please let us know in the comments below or join our Discord server - The Pollen Nation - and strike up a conversation with us!
Join the Pollen Nation!
Sweet as honey π
Vote @PolleNation as your witness.
We appreciate your support!
A new co-witness has birthed!
==> @pollenation <==
(@enginewitty / @sircork)
It's always enjoyable seeing new things BEEing done on HIVE, especially when sponsored, supported and approved by @enginewitty and @thealliance
I'll be adding you as witness soon!
Thanks doll, got mine back up now too with his help if you haven't seen. Your love and support is always appreciated π
Great to hear! Thanks for letting me know! π
I love your enthusiasm in that comment! That's what its all about! BEEing HAPPY! :)
Thank you for your support!
Pleasure is mine!
Always happy to help our Alliance family β€
This all sounds amazing Cork and Witty. I'm really excited not just for you both, but for the chain. It'll be nice to breathe new/old air in here once again. Loving what you're doing with @YouAreHOPE @thealliance @nism and I'm certain other things that will bring the community together along the way!
And for those not acquainted with @sircork, I can vouch in his sincerity. We've kept in touch, and this is the most excited I've seen him in years. I think sometimes stepping away from a thing, gaining new experiences, new insight, and this "modicum of maturity" does make a difference we can all relate to I'm sure.
And @enginewitty is amazing as well. I am not as close to the guy, but have always known him to be upstanding and wonderful.
Great to have you back my friends, and looking forward to getting to know you better Witty.
Mission accomplishing. Glad to see you back and excited! Spread the buzz!
bzz bzz
I'm your flesh golem and voice of the Lord of Darkness, you already know me. π But good to see you back. Hope everything is finally settled and manageable.
I mean, I know you, and know who you are....we just lost touch a little. But always in the heart my friend.
Helping is my second name, haha. I love the sweet honey and the pollen taste!
nice to see you pollinating here too π
Iβm reading you just now, I had a vacation trip. π Always happy to spread love here and there. π
πππ
Awesome, gonna make you a Bumblebee π
Reading this right now. π Itβs time to buzzing!π
I joined the discord today. Witty is my southern brother. Iβll support whatever he feels is right.
We appreciate your support. Thank you for that! I'm southern too, born Virginia, raised in Va and Tennessee, lived in 6 southern states, and now very far south in Costa Rica these days. Maybe I can be a southern cousin. :)
Sounds good to me. Iβve always wanted to visit Costa Rica. Iβve never met you in person, but Iβll consider you a distant cousin for nowβ¦.π€£π€£π€£
I'll just be the 3rd cousin once removed.
once removed...
and now returned!
Once removed, twice reborn
Yee yee !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 10.000 PIMP, @silverd510.
You earned 10.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 3/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
I am also southern, South Jersey is where I was born. π lol
Seriously though, I have lived in Roanoke Virginia, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Lenoir North Carolina, Bristol and Cookeville Tennessee.
Iβm from north Jersey. Still leave hereβ¦β¦
I had a sort of unrelated question for down the road regarding organic curation, once you're ready to chat about it.
@sircork has been talking about the pay-to-play posts making it to the top without any engagement or particularly intrinsic value. Not saying we gotta nix those. Pay-to-play investors should be rewarded. However, what if comments and engagement were another way to crawl a post to the top so it was more likely to be viewed, and therefore, voted upon? I'm not talking about engagement points or credibility, but actually inching a post up the line in views and putting it out to more users the more engagement it gets?
For every X commenting that occurs, it increases in viewability Y.
A) would this be too easy to game?
B) Is this already happening cuz I don't think it is
C) the comments would need to be valued as well depending on how long and in depth, and unique in user
Thanks for the mention Wes. LUV is down at the moment, at least the bot is, but there is hope to get it going again. Never give up, right?
What happened?
Not sure. The python script is good, I think. Getting a sock.connect(sa) error that I can't figure out. Might try a different vps and see what happens.
Speaking of games, if I'm not mistaken, there is some game theory that proves it is better to cooperate than to instigate. But if someone instigates, it is better to retaliate than to cooperate, to assert one's position. This applies to all forms of interaction, whether it be between countries, people, companies, cars on the road (ooh wait, that probably isn't a great idea), and maybe even this blockchain.
Point being, game theory suggests we can all gain from cooperation. No one single form of winner here...
Make this a post and ask everybody, i'd love to see some thoughts and consensus on this from the community. I have my opinions, but Im also at work and part-timing my responses here right now. Id answer a post though!
https://peakd.com/curation/@littlescribe/pay-to-play-vs-proof-of-work-is-this-way-gone-and-done-with
Something that will be worked into the algorithm of the front end I've been working on. Framework is done for the most part, still some tweeking but ya, I totally hear that.
You think this is something we could work on? I mean, even if it were simply to trigger a repost, every time a post got say 5 unique comments over 10 unique words long, rewarding X type of comments with Y type of reposting and trending so it gets more views / more votes?
It seems a pretty difficult task with all the AI that could game it. I'd like to flush it out at least past the philosophical stage. Perhaps into some sort of a theoretical stage?
The 'trending' on the upcoming 'media' site, will have similar scraping mechanisms, more keen on unique comments made by and on authors' posts. Still a work in progress, but like where you are going and will defo keep that in mind. Great idea.
Oh I see...so you'll just build a different UI that does the thing. Rather than rely on a consensus witness vote for the blockchain, and rather than expect Hive to do it...I wonder if we could just confer with @asgarth on something like this. I'd hate to reinvent a pretty darn good wheel.
Because theoretically you would not be changing code, or how the blocks operate within a set or subset of rules. You would simply change how they APPEAR on the main page, or within an individual's feed....hmmmmm.
I believe peakd is always open to suggestion. They nodded when I mentioned having a chat feature and even thought I don't use it much, I'm glad it's there!
I'm all about the honey!
You know what? I am filled with a certain amount of oozing energy. Awesome, uhn? I know @enginewitty from the pimp(pypt) nation. And reading about you, @sircork, and the energy you give are awesomely insane. If help is needed in anyways, help is mine. Just call on it π.
Thanks! Awesome!
Sure here's an entire list of things you can do to help the missions!
That's not to much to ask, right?
Well maybe those things and a witness vote for @pollenation and use our tools, tokens, games, and apps that witty and I make, or at least read our posts about them, but those are ALL optional as long as you do 1,2,3 and 4 :)
Hehe, these are my daily activities because they make me happy.
I did that ππ. Gracias
De nada. Gracias!
π€
@sircork and @enginewitty, all of this makes me so happy I could just... well, SQUEEEEEE! Yay! This is greatness.
@michelios is Michel's Hive handle, Cork. ;-) Maybe if he would get on here and actually DO STUFF, he might not be so obscure and hard to find. LOL
Going to send some HBI over here soon and get this pretty beest on some good feet !PIMP !DOOK !hiqvote
You just got DOOKed!
@enginewitty thinks your content is the shit.
They have 1/400 DOOK left to drop today.
Learn all about this shit in the toilet paper! π©
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 5.000 PIMP, @pollenation.
You earned 5.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 2/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
@tipu curate 6
Upvoted π (Mana: 15/75) Liquid rewards.
thanks again!
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Sounds !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@summertooth just slapped you with 10.000 PIMP, @pollenation.
You earned 10.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 3/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
You know it is !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @summertooth.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
That's how we do.
Good one bros!
Moo chose grassy ass. !LOLZ !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@enginewitty just slapped you with 20.000 PIMP, @stickupcurator.
You earned 20.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 4/4 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
lolztoken.com
It gets toad.
Credit: reddit
@stickupcurator, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of enginewitty
(3/8)
Delegate Hive Tokens to Farm $LOLZ and earn 110% Rewards. Learn more.
We're pretty excited about it. Thanks for looking!
@enginewitty, the HiQ Smart Bot has recognized your request (1/3) and will start the voting trail.
In addition, @pollenation gets !PIMP from @hiq.redaktion.
For further questions, check out https://hiq-hive.com or join our Discord. And don't forget to vote HiQs fucking Witness! π»
You must be killin' it out here!
@hiq.smartbot just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @pollenation.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/1 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
It's refreshing to have your kind here π
We think it's refreshing to be here. Thanks for the kind words!
You are welcome π
On second glance, thought you had the same profile pic as us. It's not. But so close. Very good taste in profile pics!
Yeah you are right, so close! π