I'm coming close to 6 years on this chain, it has somehow felt like a lot longer as so much has happened. I've seen a lot of things, many things I've seen before but also many new things that related to Hive and how this chain operates.
One thing that always surprised and baffles me is how some people react to being found for abusing/farming content in a lazy manner. Is it the downvotes? Is it the fact that they cherished their account so much only to see it lose its reputation? If it's the latter I feel they'd get to their senses and try better while asking forgiveness from the community and the general consensus. Of course the line can sometimes be pretty gray but most of the time it's always been quite straightforward and most of he community, or at least everyone being active about the matter have been in agreement that whatever was happening with a certain account cannot longer continue that way. Everyone except the account found abusing of course. Some times a few buddies who either also have met the same fate or have ulterior motives to defend the culprit.
It's just fascinating in a way, while I have read a lot of posts about it from some great authors on Hive I kinda feel someone should write a book about it as well. How downvotes affect people on Hive is on a whole other dimension compared to reddit and other platforms that have/had them. Something that baffles me the most is that they continue to stick around and spend time here thinking they're doing themselves or anyone else any favors, imagine if that were to happen in real life and how absurd it would be.
Say you get found out at work that you've been doing nothing on your working hours the past few months or even doing things the wrong way. Would your employer forgive you for it, you think? Pat you on the back and ask you to try better and to stop stealing from him and drive his business to the ground? Of course not the best comparison, it's kind of hard to compare hive and the reward pool to something since it's so unique but think about it. Then the boss decides to cut your paycheck and "fire" you in a way, and what do you do? You go working for someone else in a similar branch that maybe pays you a few cents per day and you come back to your previous job place to tell everyone still working there who pretty much agreed that you should be fired how great it is at the new place cause no one is around to tell you not to misbehave or steal pennies from the job and that they should join you.
It's quite absurd.
I've always valued my reputation on Hive. I feel like a lot of people forget what this technology is in a way, not just the immutabe part, i.e. you do one mistake and it's engraved on the chain forever, say for instance you fool around on some alt accounts or create sockpuppets for other advantages. One mistake and that's it, you're done. Of course it depends on what the mistake is, how much unfair rewards or advantages you may have gotten away with and other things that all come to light when you're found out by someone eventually. The community is a lot more forgiving to newcomers who think they may outsmart everyone by attempting to trick their way into more rewards or faster ROI than others or the way POB is supposed to work and limit the ROI everyone shares through curation. If you've been here a very long time, though, and your reputation number is quite high then the community may not be as forgiving, but even then if you confess, take some time off or do other things that don't involved you just constantly earning and taking value from the network the way you have been unfairly before, eventually the community can forgive you.
I've seen that happen many time, second chances, hell even third chances. Some may even just start fresh accounts in shame and do better there, who knows (if they're anon).
What completely baffles me is when they turn around and start attacking literally anyone and everyone that points out what they are doing is wrong. I seriously don't understand what the endgame is in their mind. Have they just given up then and there and their motive is to waste everyone a ton of time with their endless discussions, lies and drama? They attack the network that has up until then rewarded them more than any other website would ever have 99% of the time. It's everyone and everything else that's wrong, not them.
I just don't really understand it.
I'm not sure why I'm writing this post out of the blue but maybe it's something someone needs to hear who hasn't thought about it before and may at some point get in some trouble with the community. Just try and look at things from a different perspective and maybe listen to other trusted community members who are together telling you that what you are doing is wrong and using their downvote mana to counter said activity.
Hive has a long life ahead of it, I know things are turbulent in the markets and many who are on Hive may have no idea about the tech as it's so easy to get into it without having to know anything about it (which is good), but it is very hard to bring this chain down and for people to let go of it, the more time, energy, development, money and effort that goes and continues going into it in one way or another, the tougher it becomes. There are no entities that can shut it down fully, they can try to ban it, illegalize it, fud it, etc, but Hive will carry on, the witness list may shuffle a bit but there will always be a few places in the world whether in secret or not where there will be computers running the code and making sure others can still access it and do what they're doing today. The only way it can die is if most people lose interest, most developers leave and no one is there to continue evolving it or bringing it to new people to help them get it places.
That's why reputation matters, unless you're dying and don't care anymore or you've gotten rich by some random meme coin or you were shorting luna from the top, you should care about your reputation. With a good reputation you can always count on the community, the same way I have. I've had 5 digit loans from people I've never even met, who don't know my name or where I live all through my reputation here.
Tell me another place that is possible without and collateral.
With your reputation you can ensure that you can continue be rewarded if you ever need to make some extra money. Of course that's a bit relative not just cause of the markets but also cause of your current or past activity and supporters, but it's there, whether you're new or old, the possibility and opportunities are there waiting for you as your slate is blank and you don't have a bad reputation. With your reputation you can meet new people, open up new opportunities and get involved with others online in different things more freely and with trust without needing to give something away beforehand like your identity or location.
Some people say the way users can remain anon and do what they do on Hive is one of it's downsides but I truly believe that anonymity is a must have option for platforms like these. Not everyone is anon just to eventually do something bad or lose their reputation, I've seen countless of non-anons do way worse than what I've seen anons do. Some people just want to remain anon for other benefits.
Anyway, I'm kind of getting off point here of the post so maybe a good time to end it.
Apologies also from the lack of posting, my vacation after some health treatments I did which seems like forever is shortly coming to a close so can't wait to get back to post about some things on my mind, what I'll start continuing to work on regarding POSH and OCD and maybe also start sharing some pictures of my travels, vacation and my beautiful girlfriend who I finally got to meet after a very, very long, long distance relationship thanks to covid restrictions.
Thanks for reading this rant whoever did and hope some of you may remember it down the line if necessary but hopefully the community consensus won't have to turn against you, and if it's just one or two people harrassing you I'm sure others will step in to help, even if it costs them a little ROI here and there.
