Are you being suppressed on Hive?
Downvotes
The discussion on Hive has been red hot over censorship and suppression.
But is it really that? Is "zeroing down" someone's potential rewards actually a way to censor someone's posts?
The Flames
So let's discuss...
The claim is, that when a post (usually a trending one) gets downvoted to 0, it doesn't get as much visibility as it would when it isn't downvoted.
This is true. It will not reach the trending page. And gains less visibility than it otherwise would.
However, when a post doesn't get upvoted, it doesn't get that sort of visibility either. When you start posting on Hive, you don't get on the trending page, unless you are very lucky.
So isn't everyone new to Hive, who doesn't yet have followers or HP – using this same logic – being suppressed?
So should everyone be promoted to the trending page from the start?
I don't think so.
Nobody is entitled to the trending page. Nobody on Hive is entitled to that kind of visibility.
To think so, is to delude yourself.
Do you actually lose visibility?
- Ask your followers whether they can read that post with 0 rewards.
If they can read it without problems, you are not being silenced. - Ask your followers if they can share it.
If they can share your post without any problems, you are not being silenced.
The sheer fact that this so-called "censorship" is being so widely talked about all around Hive proves there is no actual censorship, or suppression therewithin.
I thank you for reading.
Yeah, i agreed with your words that censorship, and find your post on trending page could be lucky at any time but it must acheive the value of pay out.
$WINE
I'm barely upto a month in hive when I experienced my first downvote in my 3 week by a rather influential page. I think my only crime was I used their tag for a contest they were one of the sponsors and I felt really bad about that. A friend adviced that I should have gone to their page to downvote their posts too but then my happier and interesting in hive are more, so I wouldn't place much relevance to a down vote anymore as I'm so taking my friends advice.
People put in so much into writing and content creating, if you do not like it why not pass it or send or correction than a downvote
Communities can have rather strict rules sometimes, so one should always check them before posting. I have made the same mistake of not checking first.
If you post on your own blog, you can write about pretty much anything, but when you are "on someone else's yard", you may be better off following their rules.
If you create your own community, you can enforce whatever rules you like there.
I will say never do a revenge downvote, it can end bad for the smaller user just saying. Thats a bad bad advice from your friend.
Not the best advice from your friend though
So how do we get to the trend pages as newcomers and benefit from the unique world of hive?
Thanks, this is a good question!
I can't really answer how to get on the trending page, as according to my own knowledge, I have never been on it. But I can give you some pointers to succeed on Hive nevertheless.
The best strategy is to write about whatever is near your own heart, and try to make it as interesting you can. Try to imagine what kind of stories you yourself would want to read on Hive, and use that to your advantage.
Sometimes topics such as ones hobbies can be enticing enough.
The second thing you would want to do, is to post consistently. No matter whether you choose to post daily or weekly, or two times a week, it does not really matter. Choose a pace, and keep to it.
Grow your audience by interacting with them by answering their comments, and if you can, maybe even giving them small upvotes as an encouragement and thanks for their own engagement.
Don't get sad over downvotes! That will always happen. There are people who downvote from different reasons, and more often than not it doesn't feel good. But if you don't get discouraged by them, and just keep your schedule, they will eventually go away as your own audience grows.
I hope I was of some help.
Thank you for all these fine details.
True this has lead me to rethink the terminology I should be using having recently been exposed to this. There is censorship in terms of layer 2, but not on hive. I do find it to be rather suppressive though as I literally received several messages letting me know they are 0-ing out a post due to feel of backlash from the individual (or lack of future support can also be assumed) which lead me to tell many others to zero out the post as I didn't want other people negatively implicated due to supporting me.
Also when you go from 50something rep to a few downvotes completely neutralizing hours upon hours of work it can feel rather demoralizing, but luckily for me my goals are a lot bigger than numerical ones or I would have already quit this platform. Also having less reputation may make people less interested or curious to look at your post or interact with it.
So yeah I believe the word censorship maybe thrown around quite freely, but if not suppression what would you call such actions?
!PIZZA
I know. Low reputation can suffer a lot when a big downvote hits. Although it can also benefit from a similarly big upvote. But continuing upvotes do have a cumulative effect in a way, that big downvotes matter less and less the further you go.
I think being suppressed is all in the mind. If you let downvotes get to you, you may start let that mental response take control, and that's where you actually become suppressed. Not by those who downvoted you, but yourself.
The truth in my opinion is, that if you persevere against your own disappointments with them, you will eventually overcome all downvotes.
It's true that those who use their power haphazardly can have a negative effect on many. This is why I want give people an alternate view, a different tool in tackling this issue.
A few downvotes neutralized hundreds of upvotes... And I received it just for speaking out against how an individual treated me. Also a large part of votes within this ecosystem is groups typically vote within a same group for the most part.
I'm an incredibly strong minded individual, but I don't believe that is tied to suppression at least not in my personal context. If people are fearful of a backlash, and choosing not to support a post because of so then yeah I'd say it is a pretty suppressive action. It is very well the people who downvoted that causes such a response especially when it is abused and poorly used.
My own disappointments? In just simply speaking out for how I was wrongly treated the individual chose to behave like a child and had a downvote frenzy towards my post and various messages neutralizing countless hours of work.
I agree some should have different views, but there are some huge inherent problems that hive needs to tackle if it ever hopes to 5-10x it's current size. Another is considering to have votes having a lessor weight if it is within the same month so it empowers people to go outside of their comfort zone or explore other writers if it wants to build a better foundation. (I guess same should be for downvotes as well)
I had that exact same problem when I was first targeted by a whale. Nobody really knew me, they didn't want to get involved. I can understand the fear. But there will eventually come a point where the powertripping downvoter learns his power just isn't enough to keep it up.
Yes, we've all been there. But they will eventually stop. Always. It is a waste of resources for them too.
I believe that will fix it automatically. 5 to 10 times more people on Hive, means that while they have plenty of power, their power to downvote a post will be inevitably passed by the power of multiple thousand minnows (and a few dolphins) upvoting it.
Oh man I'm not sure how I skipped this reply or why I didn't see it. Well I won't mention it here but this is someone on another level I am starting to see now, but that doesn't give you the right to mistreat others. His one vote neutralized over 100 of others even jarvie and when he used peakd also as well as a few active members in community just not enough stake I suppose in comparison.
Yeah issue is those resources to them probably doesn't amount to much as it is resources lost for the receiving party. But yeah after a few days they did stop. My rep went from 50something to 0 to 30 somethning to zero with just a few votes and has been quite the grind.
Well it only fixes as witnesses and those in power choose to implement or experiment with changes in structure if not it keeps it from being a 10x platform from an investors point of view. But I believe hive itself has a lot of amazing layer 2 and projects in the works.
Well, if someone does abuse their power on Hive, I believe it will eventually come back and bite their own ass. They are not only hurting you, but they are hurting themselves by doing so.
It is however completely another thing if their reasoning is correct, and they aren't doing it out of spite. I mean there was a particular bidbot issue that was solved by whales stepping in, and while people complained (pretty much about the same things) about getting downvoted, the bidbots eventually disappeared.
Layer 2 projects may help solve some of the power abuse issues, yes. Mass adoption will likely fix the rest. But we also need to be sure the system will be able to handle a mass migration to Hive.
https://ecency.com/neoxian/@infinitytcg/my-last-post-here-in-neoxian-or-using-this-tag-ever
Reputation may not mean much to them, but I spent countless of hours making posts, comments, and interaction and through several minutes of rage he neutralized all of my effort... (3 post and dozens of downvote brought me from 50something to 0)
Well I feel as it was out of spite as after I posted that I received a barrage of downvotes.
Yeah I'm noticing there are some bidbots at play in tribal now and I plan on creating a system to solve that in the future or lower their amounts of profit to better help distribute the resources to those who need it.
I mean sure communities such has vyb are great, but that is an infrastructure issue that layer 1 and witnesses will need to have serious thoughts about. Well issue is mass adoption won't fix it as it is proof of stake atm and that instance is reason I haven't scaled in promotions for the network on various of my channels at the moment, but I'm only 2 months here so I won't suggest more and try to absorb more information about all of this first.
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@infinitytcg(2/14) tipped @gamer00 (x1)
Learn more at https://hive.pizza.
If every post is flagged to zero, it won't be long until that person reputation is also zero... Or even negative. From that point their posts will be hidden from every frontend, and even if by some kind of fluke you find their post the images won't show... And that person needs to host the images outside of hive because the Blockchain won't allow you to upload images if your reputation is negative.
So, yes, constantly flagging someone's posts is censorship, no matter how many excuses people find to claim otherwise.
Not really true. The reputation goes down only if the vote is stronger than the upvotes. If the downvote is only worth the upvotes, and just negates them, it shouldn't affect reputation. But if the downvote is double the upvotes, it will soon start affecting reputation.
If someone's reputation is below 25, they've likely done something dubious, or even actually illegal, like for instance copyright infringement, plagiarizing, harmful hoaxes, spamming, tagspamming, or handlespamming.
You are okay with spam or hoaxes getting "censored", right?
I occasionally get a random downvote. I never plagiarize...I just got a downvote on a comment yesterday. I'm not sure why...I really self vote any more and only one other vote was on my comment. I'm assuming the person who downvoted me did because of the person who upvoted me. I'm not going to let it get me down. The guy regularly dv people...I move on.
As one of the largest downvoter of hive, you get my full upvote for understanding hive. Most complaining types don’t get it. They just care for rewards and feel entitled!
Edit: sorry can't vote your post as it's past 7 days. Please discuss this some more and post a new one. Please also tag me
Sorry @azircon, I've been away for a while. Got interrupted by the holiday season, and life in general.
Thank you for the encouragement! I will defnitely let you know when my next post goes up.
Excellent. It's all about the mindset of the users coming into Hive. We shouldn't feel entitled to rewards nor views. But we must also not misuse our powers of voting.