Hive has many use cases, and one of them - and certainly the most popular - is content creation in the form of blogs and content consumption as an audience. There are many blogging frontends where any user can interact with the blockchain and its users.
I would say that the pillars where the blogging side of the blockchain stands are simple: Immutability, censorship resistance, decentralization and free speech. At least in paper.
I am not on Hive since the beginning, I actually got here very early but I wasn't part of the Ecosystem since its Genesis. I could still be considered Gen1 as @tarazkp likes to call it, and I am part of the OG crew as @acidyo refers to those who stuck with Hive through the highs and lows for many years now, but I think that those who began their Hive journey in early 2017 are OG & Gen1 only get the honor of being called like that because the truly OG and Gen1 members are mostly gone, I think I couldn't mention more than 50 users that are actively here, contributing to the ecosystem since the beginning.
I mention this because being here active, reading, creating content, contributing to the community and being directly involved in several projects over the span of four and a half years, allowed me to be updated about most of the relevant discussions, problems, general arguments and whatnot. The Gossip of the Blockchain.
Many people left Hive because of disagreements and the retaliation that came them. Some stood their ground, some others crumbled against the pressure - that mainly came in the form of downvotes. Most, if not all the Hive users are well aware of those four pillars I mentioned above, and the Hive community uses them as a flagship when people ask how is Hive different from other social networks such as FB, IG and the like and yet, there are few people that actually put those pillars on strain and puts them to the test.
There's nothing wrong on being Politically correct and avoid useless arguments that will lead nowhere, but some times and for some specific topics, we are obligated to make the most out of these features the blogging side of Hive offers. These topics are different for each of us and yet, I believe that there should be some of them where we should all take a stand, no matter where we stand, do you know what I mean? And the most important part, we should feel like we are able to do so.
This post is not meant to divide Hivers and to polarize opinions, don't get me wrong. This post is to talk about the arguing side of disagreements.
We are all here and not on Facebook for a reason, and no matter what reason that is, I think we can all agree that we want Hive to Thrive and when it comes to the blogging side of things, one of the best ways to take care of Hive is to have real arguments like adults, where one side can listen to the other's arguments without taking their views as personal attacks, and where the other side can and will take the first's POV and consider it before counter-arguing.
I know, I am asking for a lot there, most people are not like that. But we are not most people, are we?
Think about it.
We are all blogging and consuming content on an obscure, digital money-generating, anti-establishment fighting, pseudo-anarchy supporting, deep-web-money-laundering related, taxation-is-theft promulgating, Latvian-Origami making, inflation-kills-economies believing, conspiracy-theories accepting, self-definition living, off-grid-mentality acquired, North Korean crotchet weaving, revolutionary-mindset thinking, ecosystem.
We are all somewhat disruptive. As I said, we are all on Hive and Facebook for a reason. We share some of the same worldviews and mindsets. We don't have to agree on every one of them with every person here, but I believe that we are more prepared, both mentally and emotionally, to listen to an argument for what it is, to accept another person's opinion and respect it for what it represents, and to never attack or feel attacked.
I mentioned that in the past, some of these arguments lead to some sort of censorship in the form of downvotes, and while theoretically downvotes are not censorship or free speech impeding, they sure can feel that way for some people - not for me, but that's stuff for another post (You don't have to turn this into a anyone can do with their stake what they want, I know that, this is not the point of the post).
A few days ago a post of mine led to an argument about vaccines, and while that was not the topic of the post (at all), I was proud to see members of the community behave like adults (maybe young adults) and have a disagreement without taking it personal and I thought well, maybe all the toxic users left. But that's not true, there are still many toxic users, it is the community that doesn't allow their toxic behavior to thrive and make a dent on our little society we have created.
And that is what's important. We, as a decentralized blogging community, at least on this side of the blockchain, have the power to govern ourselves and the mindset of the people is certainly more powerful than the actions of a few. While we could steer this community to the sewer, I believe that we are choosing correctly and the ship is going towards benefiting and positive shores.
I think I am rambling now, but I hope my point got across, and I expect that at least a couple of people read this and try to spark a conversation about this.
Regarding free speech and opinionated arguments, I think Hive is where it is supposed to be, and that is definitely thanks to the efforts of the community as a whole.
Way to go Hive, way to go.