Hivers!
Another trip around the sun for our beloved community. A few months ago we wrote a post that we are in our 8th year as a member of this community, but as most of you know, it was not called HIVE when we joined. We’ve blogged about this extensively, but the story behind this community’s glorious triumph over the attempted Hostile takeover is something that we have romanticized fully. In a world where large industry and governments seem to coopt every idea and hyperfocus on control and profits, the HIVE banner remains a bastion of the commitment to Decentralization and carries the torch for the original vision behind a decentralized future.
Hive has overcome many of its early limitations. I still remember when it was fashionable to “buy” votes via upvote bots, in fact most of the interactions on the chain were done by vote farming early on. It was a big, chaotic mess. With the Blog at its core, there was a very steep learning curve to get on chain. It was difficult to try and convince laymen to join the community. I kept hearing the feedback, “it’s too complicated and not very pleasant to look at.” But what is most magical about HIVE is the diverse group of developers who make up the vibrant dApp community.
PEAKD has long been my favorite dAPP for blogging, though I must admit that inLEO has seriously stepped up their game the past year. I am currently trying to split my posts between both interfaces. What I really like about @peakd is the curation and the UI “Look and Feel”. It is organized and easy to find info on topics and keep up with the other HIVERS I am following. @leofinance is stepping up with some new features that are taking pages right out of Web2’s book. The “Shorts” and “Threads” functions, though in their infancy, should do well to bring more new users onchain. I also appreciate that LEO is integrating other blockchains like DASH for payouts, which will help expand the community. This is a truly important step to take if we are to continue growing and have any chance of competing with a larger, industrialized chain!
It has to be mentioned that this past year has seen a really cool development: The @vibes Music contest. Obviously, as a full-time musician, I LOVE seeing more music on HIVE. At the start of the contest, we were participating each week, but unfortunately it became quite difficult to keep posting entries week after week given the insanity of our tour schedule this past year. We are hoping to make a few new entries throughout the year as the contest continues to grow and bring new talented artists to the HIVE ecosystem. This is something really LOVE. There needs to be more of this and right now all I can say is that I’m very proud of @Verbal-D and @LordButterfly for carrying this torch!
So once again – Happy Birthday to all of us Hivers. Here is to another great year together with many new developments. Market is going to remain a bit choppy over the next year, but the truth is, while I love seeing the price of $HIVE fly to the moon, the true value of this blockchain is the community that supports it. That is worth far more to me than the value of HIVE (BUT STILL WANT TO SEE 10HBD HIVE at some point!).
HIVE ON!
TTN