There is a tug of war in the background of HIVE as people argue over how to deal with differing behaviors on our blockchain. On one side, we seem to have profit-seekers trying to earn tokens just to sell off as fast as they can for fiat or Bitcoin. On the other side, dyed-in-the-wool HODLers look down their nose at anyone who dare take a profit. At least, that's how it might look at a glance.
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I know a lot of our users are from countries with failed currencies and collapsing economies, and thus may rely on selling liquid HIVE or even directly using HIVE-Backed Dollars (HBD) for exchange. This is about survival, not crypto-bro day-trading. I doubt anyone has a problem with this. I hope to see a world where people have financial freedom to use crypto along with fiat without governmental intervention all across the globe.
There are a lot of plagiarists and spammers siphoning tokens for profit with low-effort posts, and trails of "curators" trying to profit from these grifters. In the last year or so, AI-generated posts masquerade as content, too, because plagiarizing robots still isn't authorship. This is a cancer for the blockchain. Ruthlessly downvote such trash when you see it, and help prune this disease out of our community.
Less black-and-white is the issue of delegation to curation projects and following curation trails. On one hand, this is a valid way to put your Hive Power to work when you can't be online and engaged. On the other hand, this means allowing someone else to decide how your votes are used, which can include supporting plagiarist spam or even inadvertently downvoting content unawares. Further, the rewards many curation guilds offer are sometimes exploited by stakeholders as a way to gain and sell off more HIVE without actually doing anything. Passive income isn't inherently bad, but leeching off the people trying to keep HIVE going is worth questioning.
Curate manually. Find posts you like, read them, comment, and upvote as evidence you directly support the creator. Human interaction is the foundation for successful blogs. You write because you want to share ideas with the world, right? Be the world experiencing what others created, and let them know with substantive, relevant comments that create conversational opportunities.
Delegate and trail with caution. I delegate some of my Hive Power to a few different projects, and I increased my support over this past summer when life got a bit too topsy-turvy for me to manually curate as much as I would like, but I am reclaiming my delegated HP bit-by-bit as autumn approaches and my activity increases. I also save my earned liquid HIVE in order to better participate in HIVE Power Up Day at the beginning of each month. I don't flip it for altcoins.
Remember, the true value of HIVE isn't its current market price, it's your ability to own the blockchain we use. If you stake your tokens, you can carry more weight with each vote you make and have a say in how HIVE grows. This is a special project. Facebook, Twitter/X, and all the rest of web2.0 corporate social media want you as a profit generation engine. You're a product, not a customer. Ad revenue is their main goal, your content is data-mined, and dissent can be censored at a whim. Here on HIVE, you own your content and as much of the chain as you stake in HIVE Power, even if your reputation goes negative.
Are you here just to make a quick buck and move on? You're reprehensible. Are you here because you believe in the project, and want a free internet where ideas can be shared without government or corporate control? You're part of the solution, whether you stake or sell. This project has survived over eight years of booms and busts, attempted coups, "experiments" by whales, and so much more. Come along for the ride!
