Something Different: Entry 10
Hello Everyone!
The crypto wanker cabal and its avarice is what is killing Hive!
It is a cold and windy morning and instead of doing my Hive engagement routine I am doing some writing instead. My entry for yesterday was 'laughable' at best but I just could not resist the urge to make such an entry any longer.
For those that have a sense of humor I hope that it gave you a chuckle and for those whom lack a sense of humor... an old saying comes to mind: Fuck 'em if they cannot take a joke. Which is one heck of a way to say that folks who take themselves 'too seriously' should be written off as immaterial in determining what is funny.
I was recently reading some crypto wanker's stuff on Hive (there are plenty of them to read from so go figure) and it was utterly astounding how one small inconvenience after another (that could be summed up as: first world problems) had made such a profound impact upon them. Talk about being disingenuous and failing to see just how good they actually have it... whilst simultaneously rubbing everyone's nose in it was frigging astounding.
When even someone's entitlement is entitled... there just is not much else to do than have a good laugh at their expense... and have even more laughs as they throw money at the problem (or problems) in an effort to fix things. Honestly, it is kind of sickening to watch... and although I tend to be compassionate towards even the most dense of individuals... I also know an ingrate with an overinflated sense of self-worth when I see one.
In other words I know my limits with said 'compassion' and have no difficulty letting it wane into outright contempt for their condescending antics... whether they intend to be condescending or not. Some folks by their very nature can be pointed to as prime examples of the 'mindset' that is steering the planet towards chaos... and yeah they should by all means be called out on it... instead of coddled, pampered and told that their efforts/contributions are worthwhile.
I have long thought that the 'rot' at the heart of the Hive community could be summed up in a single word: Avarice. Which is some rather gross stuff in and of itself... but it also gets in the way of real innovation, freedom of expression, treating others with dignity... and a number of other things that are not worth the time it would take to spell out here.
Speaking of the time it takes to spell things out... I have been considering my 'time invested' in doing my Hive engagement routine each morning... and ugh it assuredly is skewing the balance of 'effort versus return on said effort' even further. Sure, it is great that I can (and am) spending three to four hours each morning on reading other folks stuff... and on occasion adding in my own commentary... but overall it nearly doubles the time I am investing in Hive each day.
As I noted before I have to be honest with myself and ask 'is it worth the time invested' and so far (aside from some meaningful interactions) I still land on the same opinion that it is not worth the time. It also tends to use up 'all the words that I have in me for the day' long before I can do any actual writing... but that assuredly has more to do with me limiting how much I am willing to commit myself to it all than anything else.
No complaints there on the engagement (or my time invested in engaging) but when I add it to the time that I spend on the writing, editing, proofreading and posting it makes it wholly not worth it. The truly gut-wrenching part is seeing some of the 'written material' on Hive that obviously lacks even the most basic editing or proofreading being applied to it (by those with both the time and the skills to do such) being paid some ridiculous sum... for what is obviously a lack of effort on the author's part.
Apparently the 'bar' for good/valuable content is set by how much stake the author (or content creator) has... and not on the merits of the content itself. As long as this is the case I think that most folks who are even halfway serious about content creation... will find Hive an unsatisfactory place to share their work. Sure it is a great place to 'learn the ropes' and perhaps 'hone some skills' but overall 'trending trash' is still trash no matter how much it trends.
Per usual I ask myself what can actually be done about the various problems at hand... and although I am generally good at focusing on solutions over problems... I do not see any solutions given the death grip that the 'crypto wanker cabal' has on this platform. Hence, why for the first time ever (over the last few weeks) I have been contemplating leaving the platform altogether.
I mean the obvious question would be why would I choose to do that... but the (perhaps) not-so-obvious question is why would I not do that. To be clear that is not some attention seeking questioning... nor an effort to get folks to ask me to stay... or any other immature horseshit that folks on here love to project onto others in an effort to discredit them... but a real question... meant for real people.
Some very good points raised here! I haven't been on Hive very long, or rather, I've been involved in Hive for three years but about half of that time I had lost my keys or was focusing on just surviving and working a day job ... anyway, during the last few months I have made efforts to be an engaged member and creator of content worthy of people's time, attention % votes. So far it has been a great experience interacting with others, reading other people's writing, honing my own writing, and of course earning some crypto along the way.
As of now I am earning more per hour than in my day job but, there is a limit to how much I can earn here and it took many months, or years, to get to this point. I find myself feeling nervous about the future of Hive, and exploring how I can write and share on other platforms but so far, I haven't found a better alternative. I feel a little odd to even admit that earning is such a big factor in my sharing here. I seek attention, and would share no matter what, and do share on other platforms (for free, or for my own enjoyment) but definitely do so much less often as it isn't really worth the effort for a couple dozen "likes".
I know that Hive has its problems and that those problems are even more significant for long term members who have built these communities but ... are there alternative platforms for sharing and earning crypto currency that can compete with Hive?
In my perspective you are doing awesome on here.
Yeah, being a long term participant on this blockchain... is 'nuanced' to say the least!
Ha! I was just compiling a list of Hive alternatives this morning but need to research them all (in depth) before I feel comfortable sharing them. If you want to do your own research a good search phrase that worked well for me was: web3 social media options
I have yet to give up on Hive but I am closer than I have ever been.
Your candor is always appreciated!
I will take a look as well, a few years ago I did a deep dive but found that other platforms have so many issues and just don't work as well as they promise. I will persevere and keep looking with that search term. Thanks!
Yep! No problem. To be clear none of the options that I found looked as 'good' as Hive per say... but they also seem to have less 'community headache' involved so its a bit of a trade-off. I also could not find any that are geared towards long-form content. Most of them though... had some really nice user interfaces but without actually using those interfaces I dunno.
I clicked around web3 for a bit and found a couple of options, will have to try them out and see. But first I need to wash dishes, make food, and live the humble homesteading life. Will report back later if I find anything worth considering!
Good to hear and yeah I gotta get to doing some chores as well. Lets try to compare notes later.
@calendulacraft Just touching base on the Web3 topic again.
This is not financial advice nor an endorsement of any of these sites or services but simply some of the options that I found. Please note that several of them seem to still be in the beta testing phase.
The only one that I can semi-vouch for (because I recognize a few of the developers) is Koinos. Again that is not an endorsement because I have not tried it.
Where possible I have included the front-end site and the back-end that they use.
=======================================
Front-end
https://mirror.xyz/
Back-end
https://www.arweave.org/
=======================================
Front-end
https://chingari.io/
Back-end
https://gari.network/
=======================================
Front-end
https://hey.xyz/
Back-end
https://www.lens.xyz/
=======================================
Front-end
https://diamondapp.com/
=======================================
Front-end
https://www.minds.com/
=======================================
Front-end
https://koinos.io/
EDIT: LOL it almost feels like I am doing Hive offboarding instead of the Hive onboarding I am accustomed to!
Thanks for this!
Yesterday I was clicking around Mirror which seems interesting and I already have an account on Minds, I think I started it around 21' when I first joined Hive. Minds layout seems to be designed after Instagram's and has a lot of the same features but, I found it had a lot of issues. Well, years have passed so I will give Minds a try as well as Mirror and get back to you on my experiences and opinion as to their worth-while-ness.
And as far as offboarding ... I am interested in diversifying but, I won't be leaving Hive!
I found the back-end that Mirror uses rather interesting. I have yet to dive into trying any of them but thanks for the info on the two you have tried in the past.
Honestly, most of them seem very similar to each other and seem focused on ERC-20 tokens (Ethereum) which I have never been a fan of. At least there are options out there... and I bet there are more since those are just the 'top' (most advertised) ones that were easy to find.
The off-boarding comment was assuredly humor and I was under no impression that you were leaving Hive. Heck, I am not even sure that I am leaving yet. I hear you on the diversification but alas I am such an 'all or nothing' person that I tend to focus my attention on something wholly... or not at all.
In a previous comment you mentioned how you would 'share anyway' and to be clear I would as well but I definitely would match my effort to the return if I were sharing on a Web2 platform. A few likes are useless to me these days. It is assuredly knowing the 'value' of my time and efforts over just wanting to 'make money' when it comes to that sentiment.
To be clear there is no shame in coming to Hive to earn... I mean that is the main pitch used to onboard folks to this platform. That said though the earnings are incredibly disproportionate and tend to be a reflection of how much stake folks have instead of their time/effort invested... or even the quality of the content itself.
The 'avarice' that I speak of in the original post here is intended as a 'slur' (which is the only way I have ever heard it used) and it is also directly aimed at the 'upper echelons' of this platform and not for those simply coming here to post and earn.
There is certainly some trash out there and spending the time engaging on content is important but shouldn’t be the primary thing of our day. I know that it’s challenging sometimes to put in the effort but that’s what it is to be human - we have to do the work and not expect someone else to do it for us.