Years ago in the blogging world we used to struggle with "if it was ok" to make money from our blogging.
I cringe now at the opportunities I passed up because of that.
Partly it was fear of the almighty Google, of course. Turns out the deal they implied - be well-behaved according to our rules and we will reward you with traffic - had an expiry date, if it existed at all. Even the people they invited to an event to show off how much they help publishers were devastated by their latest changes. Businesses closed.
A lot though was because the early internet was driven by a concept that information should be free. In some cases, everything should be free.
Which is daft because bank managers and tax offices don't accept goodwill as payment.
Perhaps this idea came around because a lot of early internet users were in academia and science?
There definitely was a huge influx of users each september.
With things like hive, perhaps there is a way that people can be financially rewarded without people actually being financially transactional, but from my experience I don't think we will get there.
I have said it before and I will say it again, the rewards are just not here.
Being on Hive for the money will only work out for less than 1%. Correct my math if you disagree, but I see nobody here who earns more than minimum wage just by posting and curating. You might think you found someone only to find they have wealthy patrons in the form of delegation or whale friends.
I include myself, even though I make barely anything. My hive income mostly comes from half a dozen people who vote me up repeatedly and I am super grateful!
Why does it not function the way we thought it would? What actually stops the "wealth" distribution here? It's not the technology. Do we need algorithms like on social media? I hope not.
The incentives are all messed up. If you don't appeal to nerdy male lust instincts, how do you get visibility here enough that people don't give up right away? We can't all write about the ups and downs of crypto, plus that is so indulgent to talk about the thing by using the thing. It's like writing about LinkedIn on LinkedIn. Wait, a lot of people DO that ;)
The other day someone said on Bluesky that the reason why kids now think socialism is good is because of every time a boomer says "we can't have that [nice thing] that would be socialism", you know like people not being ruined by medical bills, affordable housing, less expensive tuition?
Makes me wonder what really is stopping us having nice things.