The last week on Hive has been interesting, as there has been a lot of talk about powering up, powering down, extracting, voting, downvoting.... The list goes on. And while there is no consensus on what is right wrong or even in the middle, there is one thing I think we can all drink to.

Hive connects us.

Back in the day, there was a lot of talk about what content was right for Hive. But I think, that while it is important to have a very broad range of topics, there should also be a healthy dose of Hive-centric content. This is likely not a popular view for many, but the thing is, that unlike pretty much all other content here, the only thing that is really unique to Hive, is Hive content.

Of course, it doesn't help if it is only inward facing and no one outside the blockchain ever sees it, but that is another matter. On the platform, pretty much everyone, whether the largest whale or the smallest minnow looking to grow, should be interested. Those who think there is a future in investing, or those looking to earn some votes, power it all down and run,

Should be interested.

Inward-facing content shouldn't be considered a problem on Hive, because of the decentralized nature of it. If this was Facebook or similar, that would be different, as the public sphere isn't the place for a company to have their conversations about technology, business practices, or any other aspects of the corporate process. But, this isn't a centralized platform, it is Hive, and everyone has a chance to be part of the ownership model and secure stake in multiple ways.

These discussions should be had in the open, at least for those who are in the general stake level and aren't making direct decisions about underlying technology. Those conversations tend to be had in other places between the devs and largest stakeholders. But, I think that the people who actually take part in the conversations on the chain, discuss the pros and cons of staking or downvoting, supporting other applications, or considering what is appropriate to upvote, tend to be the ones who are the most engaged.

I was talking about having skin in the game the other day and there is more to it than just having some Hive Power isn't there? Can an individual be part of a community passively? I don't know, but I think that it is something to consider if that same individual is looking for particular outcomes. Passivity is inappropriate in that case then, isn't it? Because if particular outcomes are sought, then certain conditions are required, and to get to those conditions, actions and influence has to take place to build it.

Influence.

In a world of social media influencers, on Hive, Hive Power is a big part of the ability. Just like advertising can be used to promote a new product, a product on Hive can use HP to promote. But, it isn't just voting up their content into Trending. Instead, it can be used to promote the content that is being created for their product. If Splinterlands had built a culture of supporting quality Splinterlands content created by Splinterlands players, that engaged and developed the Splinterlands community, it would be reason to create. And then, if those creators actually built their Hive stake to support other player-creators, it would be a vibrant community on the chain that compounds value for all. But, for most of the Splinterlands players, Hive was a way to earn to invest more into Splinterlands for individual gain, not community.

This makes sense.

If Hive was like YouTube.

But it isn't. It isn't a corporation that lives off ad revenue, it is a community that relies on community support and individuals to invest, stay invested to some degree and actively participate. And it is because of this that those who do invest and see a potential future here, aren't that keen on those who are just looking to extract. The extractors aren't gaining from conglomerates like Google and Microsoft here, it is at the expense of individuals like me, those who have a longer view and have invested into the community.

But, how is the average person that comes into Hive able to understand that this isn't TikTok or Twitter, when all they see is the same content that they would see on other platforms? If there isn't content that they come across that discusses being part of the community itself, they are never going to see any benefits and likely, aren't going to get much gain, because the votes on their content will unlikely be enough to sustain them.

The value of Hive isn't in the votes, it is in the ownership. The votes however are one of the ways to work into that ownership. But, they are also a way to earn a little to extract and never own, even though that method will ultimately dwindle to zero.

At the end of the day, maybe none of this matters and the content itself is meaningless. It wouldn't surprise me. But, what isn't meaningless is human connection, where people interact and engage with each other in meaningful ways, trying to be part of something meaningful together. So much of the work we do in this world is actually meaningless to our survival, but we have built mechanisms where we must do this work to survive. Hive might be no different, other than this world, we own.

Well, those who have a little stake do. Or those with a lot, as the case may be.

Right, they are my pre-bed thoughts on this topic tonight, and after a long work week doing that meaningless busywork that pays the bills, I think I should actually get some sleep. If I am lucky, I will dream of a bright, vibrant community on Hive that is looking to be the best version of a digital community possible.

What would that community look like?

TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder?

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]