Content alone is not Enough
While I believe that everyone would more or less be free to do whatever they want on hive as long as it's not blatant abuse, it does feels that content alone should not enough to get upvotes. I could give so many examples of accounts that have been on hive for 5+ years, post content almost regularly and get good curation which just all get cashed out, delagated, or put in HBD Savings putting their vote at near zero value. While not everything on Hive needs to be about the earnings, it still kind of stings and feels like something that should not be tolerated.
Fair Minimum Hive Power Requirements
So I came up with some numbers I think are fair and achievable as Mimimum HP Holdings (or lease) needed for someone to potentially get my vote. This mostly depends on how many years active they have been on Hive as an easy metric to follow.
| Join Year | increase | Minimum Hive Power |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | New | 0 HP |
| 2024 | +100 | 100 HP |
| 2023 | +200 | 300 HP |
| 2022 | +300 | 600 HP |
| 2021 | +400 | 1000 HP |
| 2020 | +500 | 1500 HP |
| 2019 | +600 | 2100 HP |
| 2018 | +700 | 2800 HP |
| 2017 | +800 | 3600 HP |
| 2016 | +900 | 4500 HP |
| 2015 | +1000 | 5500 HP |
The way I see it, if you are below these numbers based on the join date (with the exception in case there was a long break) you are most likely a net negative for the Hive Ecosystem and don't really deserve to be upvoted.
At the same time it gives everyone a chance to build something from the ground up fairly easily while there is room to take out some earnings. Also if the day comes you want to quit you are free to take it all out but you can't really start back resuming your blog without either getting a minimum of HP back by either buying it or leasing it.
The Reality Is More Complicated
I realize this oversimplifies it as some don't nearly get that much as the years add up while others get way more which make the requirements too low. It's also nice to see Splinterlands already put some requirements for the creators to be good for Hive in order to get their upvotes and it feels like we are on the right track. Upvotes and curation either manual or auto, along with downvotes and certain types of content also tend to be a controversial topic many seem to have a different opinion on which can make the platform toxic at times.
Hive Price & Sell Pressure
One of the downsides of Hive is that it's an inflationary reward token that tend to put pressure on the price as at least part of the earnings are dumped by users while more an more new people who are willing to buy Hive need to come in.
To be honest, I think it's actually quite impressive the Hive is holding up well above 0.1$ looking at how some of the other social media crypto platforms went all the way down to almost zero. I still very much Love Hive for what it is and will continue to blog regardless what the price is doing.