Every now and then we need to remind ourselves of how front-ends for Hive work so we aren't surprised by their behavior.
Cover image made using HTML and CSS, with light edits made using MS Paint.
We compose our posts, hit the Publish button, and wait for the engagement to take place. Only it doesn't happen. The feed doesn't show our post. Blockchain shows the post, raw Markdown and all; but the front-end isn't displaying it.
What kind of funny-business is this? Did the front-end eat the post? Who knows?
Hive is Censorship-Resistant, Right?
One of the claims to fame for Hive is how censorship-resistant it is thanks to its use of blockchain. It's safe to say that this is true.
However, we need to remember that it's one thing for a post to be recorded to blockchain and another thing for a post to be displayed. Blockchain doesn't care how the "data" that is the post is displayed; that task is handled by the front-end.
But will the front-end display the post?
3 Kinds of Hive Front-Ends
Front-ends are interfaces to the blockchain which stores the data. Front-ends can be programmed to display posts in whatever way seems to make sense to the developers and/or the communities who benefit from the developers' efforts. From the perspective of a blogger, there are 3 kinds of Hive front-ends:
- Blockchain Explorers
- General Purpose or Hive-Level front-ends
- Tribal front-ends
Below are brief descriptions for these three front-end types.
1️⃣ Blockchain Explorers
We tend to think of blockchain explorers as dApps which let us view activity affecting our accounts or details about the blocks added to the chain.
The posts we publish are actually one type of data recorded to blockchain.
The data we think of as our post consists of not only the text but also whatever Markdown codes and HTML elements we include. Multimedia content such as video and images can be stored off-chain, but links to multimedia content can be included in our posts.
Because of the nature of blockchain explorers, these front-ends are read-only. We don't use them as publishing tools, so all we can do is view raw data.
2️⃣ General Purpose or Hive-Level Front-Ends
These front-ends let us access every post recorded to blockchain. The Big 3 are Ecency, PeakD, and Hive.Blog. Posts published using Hive-Level Front-Ends are available to anyone. Just type the post, include topic tags, and hit the Publish button. As long as you use these front-ends, nothing else needs to be done to view the post or to see it displayed.
For a while, there was just one level where posts were made: the level at which posts earned the HIVE token.
At some point, a second layer of tokens came into being. PALcoin (PAL) was the first tribal token to be created for Hive Engine. PAL is the token for the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Community.
3️⃣ Tribal Front-Ends
Beginning with PAL, Hive took on another layer (what we know as "Layer 2"). This makes the HIVE layer Layer 1, although that term is rarely used.
Any activity performed at Layer 2 also generates Layer 1 HIVE earnings. Layer 2 token activity is handled by Hive Engine.
Just as tribes can be formed with their own Layer 2 tokens, tribes also have their own front-ends. When posts are published this way, the author earns not only the appropriate Layer 2 token but the underlying Layer 1 HIVE token as well. The tribal front-end automatically inserts its default token tag into the tag list.
Any post written for Layer 2 will also be available at Layer 1. This is why Ecency, PeakD, and Hive.Blog will display these posts in the various feeds and search results. Usually, this is also why a LeoFinance post will be displayed by LeoFinance, a PAL post by the PAL front-end, etc.
Blogging Flexibility Requires Responsibility
When it comes to Layer 2 content, the rule of thumb is to use the native front-end for publishing posts. However, it is possible to publish a post to Tribe A using a front-end from Tribe B.
So a post for PAL can be published using the LeoFinance front-end, and a post for Proof of Brain can be published using Ecency. For these scenarios to work, extra effort is needed-- but just a bit.
The Role of Tags in Publishing
For people used to the Web 2.0 way of doing things, tags are tags and that's it. All tags are used for topic filtering, and all tags are used for search purposes. If you've used a blogging platform such as WordPress, then you've seen tags used in this way.
On Hive, tags come in 2 types: topic and token. Topic tags are like those in Web 2.0 platforms, and they work as expected. Token tags determine which tribes or communities will allow the post to be displayed using their front-ends.
A Common Example
Many posts meant for LeoFinance were actually published using front-ends for Proof of Brain, City of Neoxian, even Splintertalk. Each front-end includes its native token tag by default. However, to get LeoFinance to recognize the post, one of these token tags needs to be manually inserted: leofinance or 'leo or hive-167922. Even if the post qualifies for display in LeoFinance feeds, failure to include the appropriate LEO tag guarantees zero exposure.
If I use LeoFinance to publish a post which should also appear in Proof of Brain, I need to include a tag for either proofofbrain or pob or hive-150329.
While we can publish our posts using whatever front-end we want, we need to make sure we make sure the proper token tags are included for display within that tribe or community.
When a Tribe Still Doesn't Display a Post Published with Its Own Front-End
Posting Content Not Appropriate for a Tribe or Community
It's not enough to include the proper token tags to guarantee that our posts are visible as intended. There are also tribal rules and policies. These are coded into the front-ends. Should any offending content escape the coding, the content is subject to sanction via downvotes.
Posts which are inappropriate for the community won't get earnings even if the right token tag is included. Not including content posted within the LeoThreads portion of LeoFinance-- since that is the testing platform for the upcoming "Project Blank" microblogging platform-- LeoFinance is famous for protecting its LEO token from people misusing its various token tags. Other special interest tribes are just as territorial and protective of their own tokens.
Including "Offending" Tags
The dog ate my homework.
Replace dog with front-end, and replace homework with post, and a less-common but just as annoying situation involving token tags becomes apparent.
This scenario is a bit weird since it can happen even when the proper token tags are included. The best way for me to explain is by example.
- ActiFit (AFIT) is the move-to-earn dApp used by many Hivers. ActiFit published frequently to blockchain, and many of those published posts were also tagged for LeoFinance. Peoples' feeds quickly got out of control, so for that reason any LeoFinance post which also included an ActiFit tag would be kept invisible by the LeoFinance front-end.
Each tribe has its own list of tags which would prevent content meant for it to be kept hidden.
From my personal experience, it looks as if including certain engagement token tags can cause a front-end to choke and not display a post meant for it. Once I discovered that AFIT was one of those tags, I made sure not to include it. After this experience, I also stopped including the engagement tag tokens in my LeoFinance posts.
If a post doesn't display as intended on the desired front-end even with the proper token tag present, consider this situation. It's been known to cause much grief and head-scratching.
Censorship? Really??
For a post to be censored, it needs to be removed or deleted by a party who is not the author. One of Hive's claims to fame is being censorship-resistant. Once a post is recorded to the Hive blockchain, for all intents and purposes it cannot be removed. That post is there waiting for anyone to find it. For anyone who questions the existence or disappearance of a post, a blockchain explorer can be used to verify either case.
Given the nature of blockchain, actual removal of content is unlikely.
More likely, however, is a front-end coded in such a way as to make posts visible or invisible. If a tribe's basic posting policy is violated in some way, then the front-end will act accordingly based on the rules coded into it.
If some tribe wanted to hide posts including the tag for or the term toe cheese but an author sprinkled toe cheese 3 times in a post, then the author cannot be surprised when the post inluding the term toe cheese gets hidden from view. This isn't censorship, but rather breaking a rule. "My house, my rules" applies to Hive and its tribes as much as it does to us in our own lives.
At an abstract level, censorship would take place if all rules are followed and the post still gets kept invisible. This would be difficult to prove, especially if the post gets recorded to blockchain.
Could there be other reasons for a post to be kept hidden from view by a front-end? Maybe, although I don't know enough about how front-ends are coded to answer yea or nay. I know enough to say that if a post isn't displayed by some front-end or other, the reason is most likely technical whether we're at fault or not.
Just My Two Sats
When Hive (HIVE) and HBD were the only cryptocurrencies we could earn, it didn't really matter which front-end we used to publish our posts. Beginning with the PAL tribe and its Hive Engine token, Layer 2 of Hive came into existence, and with Layer 2 came tribal front-ends.
All posts published to Layer 2 are also visible at Layer 1 (the Hive layer, where we earn HIVE and HBD). This is why we can view Layer 2 posts using general-purpose front-ends such as Ecency, PeakD, and Hive.Blog.
At the same time, the visibility of Layer 2 posts is restricted to the front-end used to publish the post.
If we insert the proper token tag manually, the following situations are possible:
- A general-purpose to publish a post meant for a tribe which has its own front-end;
- A front-end for one tribe be used to publish a post meant for a different tribe;
- A tribal front-end be used to publish a post for a Hive-level community
BTW-- blockchain explorers can be considered read-only front-ends since they record all posts to blockchain as raw data (Markdown and all).
As crazy as it sounds, it's possible for a front-end to hide from view posts which include unwanted token tags. If the situation is weird enough to be compared with "the dog ate my homework," it's possible this is what happened.
Once content is recorded to Hive blockchain, it is resistant to censorship; it can always be viewed from a front-end. However, front-ends themselves are dApps, and they can be configured in ways which filter out unwanted posts or posts which violate rules.
| Links in image | URLs |
|---|---|
| Daily Crypto Markets Live Blog | https://leofinance.io/@leomarkettalk |
| LeoFinance | https://leofinance.io |
| TheTerminal | /created/hive-101265 |
| Hive Projects | https://hiveprojects.io |
| Dust Sweeper | @dustsweeper |
| Dust Bunny | @dustbunny |
| Links in image | URLs |
|---|---|
| "...to make up for..." | https://leofinance.io/hive-167922/@magnacarta/who-is-magnacarta-and-why-is-he-sending-me-pizza |
| LeoFinance | https://leofinance.io/@magnacarta |
| Proof of Brain | https://proofofbrain.blog/@magnacarta |
| ♦ D.Buzz-only ♦ D.Buzz: ♦ at-magnacarta.buzz | https://blog.d.buzz/#/@magnacarta.buzz |
| Festivus | https://festivusweb.com/index.php |