Who Owns Hive?
While trying to contribute to Hive I had quite the epiphany this morning.
To a lot of people this is trivial, but I never realized how fundamental the following is.
The code is hosted at https://gitlab.syncad.com/
Syncad is @blocktrades' product.
I always was aware of that and already complained about it, because Github is the gold standard for any blockchain, ever since Bitcoin:
https://github.com/bitcoin
Back then, @gtg answered in his usual manner, but getting a reply once in a blue moon is already a big deal...
It's because on gitlab we got EGTR and roflmao and on github you'd have to pay for the feature.
I didn't have the slightest idea what these things meant, and I still don't so I made the words up, because I am too lazy to actually search his reply. It's on chain (somewhere).
That didn't make much sense to me, because no matter how expensive the feature may be, they had funds for all sorts of things, which are objectively much less important. I didn't want to walk into the trap of discussing github features I don't know about, though. I felt like the comment was designed to expose me and divert attention from what I was actually asking. I left it at that.
Hosting the code on github is so standardized, that if you check out your favorite coin on coingecko (It's what I am using, but the following probably works for all other important cryptocurrency data aggregators), you can navigate to the 'Developer' tab:
It might take a moment after you click, because that queries github directly...
Once it all loads, you get a flood of information about the whole repo:
I'd say: Coingecko and the others expect you to provide the github link for listing.
When you check out 'our' Hive, you will notice that it's here:
https://github.com/openhive-network/hive
As a sidenode: Had they developed the fork on github to begin with, they might have noticed, that the name 'Hive' was taken hundreds of times over. There, Hive is called 'openhive-network', I guess because 'openhive' was also already taken.
github.com/openhive-network/hive, at least as far as I understand, is just mirroring syncad.gitlab.com/hive.
inb4: 'Well, acshually it's not really a mirror image, but a ...'
https://gitlab.syncad.com/hive
If you follow me, you might know, that I am trying to contribute to Hive now.
To open a PR I made an account with syncad.gitlab.
I have since only browsed there, trying to figure out what I have to do.
Then it hit me:
A new @dan is the owner. It's @blocktrades.
He is in full control, about this software called 'Hive'.
He decides, who decides, what PRs to accept and which to reject.
Again: To a lot of people this is trivial and super obvious.
To me it wasn't, really - at least not to that extent.
Not a conspiracy
This is not an elaborate conspiracy I have discovered here.
I am not claiming that nobody was aware of that.
I feel like hosting on syncad.com serves as a layer that obfuscates these mentioned facts, though.
I am not claiming that it is intentional, but to me it seems a little bit too convenient.
I was just annoyed that the url syncad.gitlab.com was a bit clunky compared to github.com
Like, why would you go that extra step? Why do you force contributors to register on this private server? Some people are trying to make a name for themselves on github, by contributing to different repos. It's like a social network for some.
Why is Hive going this extra route?
It could easily be because it really was more convenient at the time of the fork, just regarding workflow and stuff. But why is it still living there and not on Github?
This was before Microsoft went all weird about Github. That could be a really good argument, today, and I would believe it, but it wasn't at the time.
Someone has to own the repo and I am glad @blocktrades did it.
There is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary: I appreciate it.
Still, seeing it this morning, triggered me to write this post.
TL;DR:
@blocktrades owns Hive. (at least the repo)
That is not bad.
I just think that this crucial information could be conveyed in a more transparent manner.
I wrote this post to make others aware, who weren't on to it, yet, just like myself.
not posting into #hive-devs community - never have I gotten so few eyes on a post of mine. instead of making the content more accessible, it hides it.
'communities' were just poorly designed and add no value. (but maybe that's good content for another rage-post)