Continuing to blog on all the fascinating aspects of my experience on our Steem Hive blockchain, here is my 2nd annual update.
Since posting my introduction on 14 May 2018, these updates represent my "log" of sorts, giving my readers a window into my "journey" through a new "virtual world" based on the creation of our Steem Hive blockchain.
Most any business enterprise has a month end accounting process, for determining "after the fact" how the enterprise is doing.
So ... "What are you doing 'in there' @roleerob and how is it going?"
Let's find out ...
Status or "Executive Summary"
To begin, here is a brief overview to answer the "how is it going" question we should probably be "checking in" with ourselves and answering, from time to time.
Statistics
There is an old saying, "numbers don't lie." Yes, well, there is also an old joke about the executive asking the accountant, "what do the numbers say about how we're doing?" to which the accountant replied, "what do you want them to say?" ... 😉
Required to issue a monthly report for most of my career, with numbers to quantify progress, here are a few:
To date on my Steem Hive "journey," these numbers are the most important. The first three quantify our influence on adding value to the Steem Hive blockchain. And the second two, the actual work we are putting in to add value ourselves. Given all of our rich diversity, I trust we all have one focused objective in common - adding value to the Steem Hive blockchain.
We want the value to go up!
How is that working for us? With the Hive blockchain only in existence a matter of a few weeks (launched on March 20th), it is really too early to really say.
One thing is for sure. As with the rest of the "crypto" market, the pricing of Hive tokens has been very volatile. In its short "life span" of ~ 10 weeks, we have already experienced a low of ~ $0.08 to a high of ~ $0.98 USD - a 12X swing!
Is that what they call "market volatility?" 😲
Engagement "Formula"
Throughout my 2nd year and still a steady work-in-progress, is the attempt to maintain the following "rhythm" in the investment of my time:
- Engaging "down" with all of the many great Hivers steadily adding value and working hard, who have a smaller stake and doing what I can to encourage them.
- Engaging "up" and adding value, as much as I can manage, to the posts of those who may chose to ... uhhh ... increase my "influence" ... 😉 ... to help those in #1 ...
- Adding value by writing my own posts, so #1 and #2 have some idea of why they would want to hopefully "engage" with me ...
I don't have my stopwatch out or anything. I just try to be mindful of switching from one to the other. Part of the "flow," as I have written about elsewhere, is naturally regulated by your decline in voting power.
Year Two Awards and Accomplishments
In this section, I highlight anything which stood out to me in the way of an award or accomplishment. As much as anything, it's for my reference, when I look back over time and ask myself,
"Are you really accomplishing anything meaningful 'in there' @roleerob?"
For this "annual edition," I have highlighted what stands out to me for Year Two of my "journey" on the Steem Hive blockchain ...
"Mileposts" in my 2nd Year
Heavily dependent on SteemWorld, for most of my "journey," it was sadly a "collateral damage" casualty of the "war" between the Steem and Hive blockchains. Thankfully, the HiveBuzz website still helps with some details:
from the team of Witness @arcange
By going back to my Year One Annual Highlights post and comparing that data, with what is listed above, I am happy to be able to quantify progress made.
Adding value to others:
- By commenting on the posts of others, I created 4,133 - 2,364 = 1,769 of them! Having written 42 posts over this last year, this means I wrote
42Xmore comments than posts. That is a level of engagement that might make @misterengagement proud ... - By upvoting 42,000 times over two years! Note: I have no way of knowing how many were in the last 12 months. Nor do I know how many were on comments vs. posts.
Some ROI:
- Earned 2,736 - 1,000 = 1,736 HP on authoring posts.
- Earned 989 - 104 = 885 HP on curation.
- At current HIVE pricing (shown above), this equates to
~ $647USD. While I do not want to know what this would work out to on an hourly rate, we'll just say it is certainly "better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!" 😉
Publishing my "Back to Eden" and "COVID-19" Series
As a content creator, I have found a surprising amount of satisfaction in writing. The "conventional wisdom" is to "find your niche" and just write about that. Ever the "contrarian," I just write about whatever inspires me, at any given time.
That said, I do enjoy some posts more than others. In my second year, here are the two series of posts I enjoyed writing the most:
 |
"Back to Eden Gardening This series of posts covers one of the most inspirational ideas I have ever known. As a result and as explained in some detail in these posts, it is likely to be a part of the lives of my beloved and I until our last breath. |
 |
COVID-19: Liberty vs. Safety and Security
Far and away the most consequential event of my lifetime, these posts cover my perspective on what the threat of the coronavirus pandemic truly represents. |
While I always write "from the heart," no matter what "rewards" I earn, it was nice for several of these posts to be the highest payout posts I have ever written.
Those are the highlights of my main contributions to adding value to the Steem Hive blockchain over this last year.
What about the contributions of others? I cover that next ...
Second Annual Edition Highlights
Beginning with my very first progress update post, in this section I was inspired to try to capture "the good, the bad, and the ugly" every month. Specifically focused on my interactions with others on this "social network."
So ... What do we have for my second year?
👍 👍 Two Thumbs Up 👍 👍
While I have always focused on specific accounts in this section historically, I will not do that due to all that is still taking place in the "back and forth" between the Steem and Hive blockchains. In the midst of which, there is considerable "collateral damage" that has been suffered.
Which has left me in the very sad place of having people with whom I have formed very good associations over the last 2 years either split between the two blockchains or have left altogether. Still far from happy over all of this myself, I do not feel up to trying to "get the balance" right in recognizing individuals, as I have done before now.
Maybe sometime in Year 3 ...
Instead, I will simply make reference to the 4 top communities to me, over this past year. Specifically, the following communities had the greatest impact on my 2nd year:
| Community Links | Brief Description |
|---|---|
The Pinmapple and HaveYouBeenHere teams
|
The "home" for my traveling posts. Pinning them on their global map is an awesome app for Hive. |
 The Natural Medicine Community of @riverflows & @alchemage
|
The "home" for my "Back to Eden" gardening series. This community has a lot of content related to living healthier lives! |
 The LeoFinance Community of @khaleelkazi
|
The "home" for my investing posts. Their Hive Stats website may be a much hoped for replacement for SteemWorld. |
 The PowerHouseCreatives Community of @jaynie & @zord189
|
The "home" for some of my posts on general-interest topics. This is a passionate community of wonderful Hivers! |
The communities of the Hive blockchain, particularly if the anticipated benefits of the long-promised SMTs ever get added to them, are very likely to be what provides a long-term future to it.
In my part-time status, with whatever time I have to allocate to it while continuing along on my "journey" in Year 3, I hope to explore and learn about some new ones. It is my understanding there are new ones being added almost every day!
👍 One Thumb Up 👍
It is well known that the "crypto asset" class is software. Almost all of which (are there any exceptions?) is open source code, with GitHub as the global repository for this code.
Up until March 20th, the Steem blockchain had the enviable distinction of having successfully completed 22 different hard forks, while holding the blockchain and all of the different communities and individuals together through them all.
So ... As untenable as matters had become, it is nice 👍 that the blockchain's code was open source and could, therefore, be used to create a new blockchain. In support of a "divorce" leading to each party going their separate ways ...
Sadly, this "opened the door" 👎 to a fracturing of all of the communities and the need for individuals to "choose sides," in the conflict. Thus, the Hive blockchain was "born." And, if plans hold together, the "neutral" Blurt blockchain will be "born" on or before July 4th.
Wonderful ... 😕
How many other derivatives of the Steem blockchain will there be over time? And how would one go about trying to decide which one to support?
👎 One Thumb Down 👎
A different "door was opened" with this announcement from the "Steem Consensus Witnesses" who had just completed Soft Fork 22.2, blocking Justin Sun's use of his Steem Power, in an attempt to enforce this "social contract" reached with Ned in 2017.
I've written posts and had numerous exchanges on this event, like almost everyone else. So, I will not attempt to recreate any of it here. And, of course, we have all lived through what followed the fateful decision to execute it.
Awesome illustration. "Let's hope we won't burn." Indeed ... 😔
We will never know what might have happened, had the "high road" been taken, instead of this one ...
👎 👎 Two Thumbs Down 👎 👎
What did happen is still "playing out." Would anyone care to argue with me, dear reader, that early on Justin Sun was underestimated? He has repeatedly demonstrated both the willingness and "resourcefulness" to match his adversaries, blow by blow.
And on and on we go ... In this post, I wrote the following:
"We all have a free will to do as we may wish, in whatever way may seem best to us. None of us, however, have the power to determine the consequences of our free will choices, however valiantly and resolutely we may strive to pretend we do."
The "non-combatants" among us are just "collateral damage" in the waves of consequences washing over us in the ongoing conflict. We'll see what happens, once Bittrex makes what will likely be a legally binding decision. An objective, third-party, unbiased decision externally reached ...
In any case, we are left with the veneer stripped away that there is anything like a "decentralized" blockchain. In the case of Steem, there is now one massive stakeholder, who determines all that happens. In the case of Hive, there are a very few large stakeholders who determine its fate. Some have referred to this as an oligarchy. Whatever we may wish to call it, it is not decentralized ...
When the final "story has been written," I will personally be very interested to know what is said about what I believe to be the origins of the problem - the infamous "ninja-mined stake." And what accountability is assigned to the "Steem Consensus Witnesses" for not dealing with it, while it was under the control of Ned, who certainly can be perceived as a "friendlier" party with which to negotiate than Justin Sun.
For what little it is worth, I have written about my positions on the above in more detail. As succinctly as I can state it, I do not favor either side in what has taken place since the "Valentine's Day Surprise."
The damage caused by the "achilles heel" - the infamous "ninja-mined" stake - of the Steem blockchain is not over. Now in the hands of Bittrex is an enormous amount of Steem, the fate of which almost certainly is headed toward resolution in a courtroom somewhere.
To what end? Well, certainly the attorneys for both sides, as always, will make out okay. The rest of us? Maybe by the end of Year 3, we'll have an answer ...
So ... With that, Year Two is "in the bank" ... "Onward and upward" into Year Three!
Closing
Thank you for reading my Two Year Highlights post, dear reader. Only days ago, I wrote this in my "Two Year Anniversary" post:
"There are still people with whom I have developed relationships I value that keep me going. Some of whom have chosen to focus their primary or exclusive efforts on the Steem blockchain. And who I still wish to support."
"So ..."
"For now, I have remained powered up and active on both. If forced to choose, that will not be difficult. I will focus my efforts exclusively on the Hive blockchain. It is where I already invest most of my time."
After writing that, did I even have 5 minutes before having to make a decision? 🤷♂ Yes, I am exaggerating. Slightly ... I had a little over 5 days, before Steem's HF 23 move. Leading to my decision to powerdown for the first time since investing in Steem in August 2017.
Fully, 100%, down and out ... A very sad day for me ...
Life goes on. Next, since any exchange to which I have access or with which I want to do business currently closed to STEEM, then I am going to turn my attention to learning how to utilize Steem Engine and Hive Engine.
I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.
Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Hive Communities and add increasing value to our Hive blockchain! 👍 😊
Respectfully,
@roleerob
🐝 🍯 🐝
P.S. My 💥 Two Years on the Hive Blockchain! 💥 anniversary post is a "companion" to this one. It contains a classified index, with thumbnail images and links, to every post I have written along the way on my 2-year "journey."
P.P.S. With this post written and my full powerdown on the Steem blockchain underway, dear reader, I will "retire" reference to Steem Hive with this post.
Posted using PeakD and “immutably enshrined” in the Hive blockchain on Tuesday, 2 June 2020!
PeakD: An awesome interface for our Hive blockchain.
Check it out!
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