Its much cheaper to just complain

ecoinstant in Synergy Builders • last month (edited)

As we are at the HiveHub Hotel Guatemala, I have been contemplating a lot about HIVE, about building things, about life in general, about tourism, about sustainable development, etc etc etc. There is a lot of interesting things to think about in this life, and I have gotten myself into a position to see more, experience more and learn more - especially about "Hive" (by which I mean the community of people, not the token) in the last six months.

It strikes me as interesting that, notwithstanding the chance I might manage to build a successful business with cashflows, "building on HIVE" has been a net negative to my portfolio and wallet, my energy and stress levels, even my confidence in "where all of this leads".

Last cycle, I sold the top, some Hive but also a lot of layer 2 "things" including Splinterlands - and it strikes me that this time around maybe I should have just done the same. While "building during a bear market" makes some sense, it was probably a pretty dumb decision financially. It would be much more profitable to hodl my tokens, build nothing and complain that no one is doing anything about the things we all see wrong. I probably would get more votes on my posts by complaining, but maybe have less friends - I'm not sure, its just a guess.

Of course I cannot fix all the problems we have on Hive in six months, but we have built a number of tools, fixed issues, pushed repositories, forked dead projects, and generally been filling holes in the Hive ecosystem - some of which have appeared since we forked from STEEM.

Here are some of the free ones; its a good thing that "I need these tools" because I think there are about 3 people on HIVE that have logged in to even see the premium tools we have built. Now PeakD team is asking for a quarter million dollars to build - among other things I'm sure - a YFE/Breakaway Community/MyCommunity (each and every one open source already) clone; I have decided to unvote everything with their name on it.

My KE is now over 6, and I am heading to 12 - I don't think I will make the high score, we found a few accounts OVER 9000!!; but it will be a high score for me. I spent my bags building on HIVE and now - watch this magic - it matters le$$ to me if HIVE ever goes up in price.

It would have been a better decision financially to sit on my hands and complain - probably continuing to post content about my farm - but now the only way out is through - through to a profitable business model.

I've really enjoyed the last 6 months

I have learned a lot, worked with a lot of good people, met some new friends, travelled a bit and generally decimated (literally) my wallet in exchange for some life experience and maybe, maybe some brand recognition. It has been fun, as money isn't everything in this life. I said from the beginning - I don't actually need money, because I grow bananas. And its true. Big numbers on the internet do not motivate me much - I want to change the world. And part of changing it, is understanding it. And I feel like I understand a lot more now, as a sociologist.

Now I am in Guatemala, watching Buttcoins and Starkerz put their money where their mouth is - and all I can think is: "boy it sure seems smarter to not be that guy".

I love HIVE*

If there were something better, I'd be using it: but HIVE is what we got, and honestly is really fun tech. Its a pretty great database for the most part, and I'll definitely keep putting stuff in the blocks. I want to live in a world with permissionless parallel economies, communities and communication. That's why I don't just live on the margin and grow bananas. That's why I spend money and build open source technological tools with my friends. It takes time and effort to do that, and so we put time and effort in.

But I think the people on Hive - for the most part - are not my customers, though I must admit we have picked up a number of supporters, maybe they are just friends. But mostly the people on Hive are just a bunch of people doing the smart thing I couldn't bring myself to do - waiting, hodling and complaining.

Freedom and Friendship

#hive #development #archon #tribes #pimp #neoxian #leofinance #proofofbrain #cent #vyb

last month in Synergy Builders by ecoinstant

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holoz0r last month

I read your post before going to bed. I wanted to make a reply about not getting disenfranchised. But then I realised that I too have felt that way about Hive in the past.

Sometimes, I still feel that way - like when I pour a lot of effort into a post and get no replies or engagement at all.

I could complain about it, but then I realise, no one would be keen to read that complaining.

So I go back to thinking about what brings me to HIVE.

Its me. I do my writing for me. If other people want to engage with it, cool. If they don't, that's okay, they're just missing out on what I think is some pretty awesome stuff.

I left this reply so I could see what your other followers said in the comments. I'm glad they're here too.

What I think I'm trying to say is this - it's okay to be selfish - its okay to do something for yourself, but it is totally not okay to sacrifice your own values for the benefit of others.

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14 votes

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snook last month

well said!

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1 vote

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shanibeer last month (edited)

Ah, sorry you're feeling downhearted. I guess many of the things you are trying to do take a long time to gain traction, and you produce a lot of them very quickly.

I have tried one or two things - I was specially interested in downloading my posts, but at the time I tried, it didn't quite work for me. The post downloader seemed to get to almost the very end, maybe even on a second and third try, the penultimate post, and then crash. I never got my posts.

It could be my set up, it could be user error, and is quite likely to be either and both of those. Which brings me to the next thing I struggle with: I have limited time to explore these tools, either trying to get the ones that attract me to work for me, or understand the use and application of the others and try them out.

I accept it's me, not you.

A minor thing, and again, it's me not you, but I find the design and colour palette of the tools very old-fashioned, very nineties, and when I first saw them, that put me off a lot.

Separately, I'm with you on the peakd thing. I tend not to vote for any proposals by third parties (peakd, actifit, ecency) which should have a business plan and proper investment if they are a viable business idea. Sometimes it's a little hard to assess and I'll give the benefit of the doubt, but some of these actors have been around for years and I'm not sure why they are continuing to put proposals and be funded. We never hear a business case.

We have our fair share of complainers and occasionally they provide some entertainment, but we also have a lot of people who are just doing the best they can with what they have available to them.

Happy to have a conversation.

Edit: most recently tried the curated feed tool sponsored by friendlymoose and donated a small contribution to costs. I found some new posts which was good, but I struggled to see how I could use it on a larger scale. Maybe I was missing the point(s). Thinking about it, though, maybe I should write a post when I try something, good or bad.

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14 votes

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ecoinstant last month

I feel it both ways, and it often comes down to how I'm feeling in the final moments as I try to decide "what to write today".

HIVE memories is a tricky one, I need to build our version - this version (that doesn't quite work, I agree - its not you!) was outsourced to a friend to build the current "quick and dirty" version, you might notice its not actually linked on the site. We could do it, its not any harder than any of the other things we have done, but its really true that while we can do anything, we can't do everything at the same time.

I can't complain about the friend either - he built exactly what I asked for, a front-end only version totally dependent on "the nodes". If I had asked him to build anything more complicated, something with a backend for example - I don't think he would have done it for free (or for the price of a favor). Part of this is also me learning how things work, how dependable are front-end only apps (many things in our ecosystem are front-end only, which is why they only mostly work, sometimes).

I tried to bring it around in the end - I am having fun, I am learning a lot, I am figuring out which community members are interesting, reasonable, valuable (to me) - and this includes you! But each post must have a theme, and I guess todays theme is whinging 😅

Its ironic but I vote less proposals now than before I did my test run dhf proposal. Of course I always knew that "you didn't support me" is some sort of ammunition "later", but here we are later and I am still not sure how to be effective at firing a gun like this.

All I can do is keep being me, a human who generally is very motivated, but some days can only seem to get motivated to write a post like this one 😐

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5 votes

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shanibeer last month

That's okay, with you all the way. There's merit in whinging and getting things off your chest. Glad to see you learning and having fun as well.

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8 votes

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ecoinstant last month (edited)

You should write a post if you try something - good or bad! Its always helpful to me, all feedback - even knowing someone tried the tool is helpful!

We will begin transitioning to a full SaaS model now. Its unlikely any significant portion of our customer base is already on HIVE. But also, now everyone knows it.

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2 votes

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tydynrain last month

I very appreciate you deeply, my friend, and I wish that I could support your endeavors more than I do, because I see you guys doing incredible work for the Hive community. There are a few things here that bring me down, but I just keep my eye on the Goal, and I do my best to assist, help, and support individuals and communities with whom I interact, along the way. You, and what you're building, will always have my support. 😁 🙏 💚 ✨ 🤙

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12 votes

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ecoinstant last month

You are a breath of fresh air - almost always!

"It is what it is", is pretty much how life works - I think there are some special circumstances with open source. I don't think there is anything that one particular individual can do to change "what is", it just "is".

Everyone is busy - and especially after many years of bear market - basically everyone left also has their own project they are working on. I don't expect myself to keep up with what everyone else is doing, or be responsible for them being motivated - as such I cannot expect any "one" to be responsible for my own motivation.

I must ensure that what I am doing, and the way I am doing is motivation enough to keep doing it! I think everything will start becoming more obvious soon.

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2 votes

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tydynrain last month

Thank you, brother, and I'm grateful for that.

Indeed, and that's why I've learned to adapt and flow the best I'm able with what appears in my Hive path.

That certainly does appear to be the case. I know it is with me. Yeah, how few people are here still blows my mind honestly. While the of course not an obligation on my part, I truly do my best to give as much support as I'm able to the people and projects that I can that are giving their all and supporting others and the Blockchain as a whole.

Ditto that, and I change, modify, tweak, and refine how I do things all the time, exactly so that I do have long-term motivation to doing what I do here every day. That sounds great to me, and I look forward to it! 😁 🙏 💚 ✨ 🤙

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8 votes

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djbravo last month

Nothing can be fixed in a day. It takes a lot of time, hard work, and slowly things start to improve. I have worked on this platform for three years of Bear Market and now bull market is getting late this time.

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6 votes

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ecoinstant last month

Tell me about it! Its time to hurry up 😅

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holoz0r last month

This sounds like waiting, hodling and complaining to me :P

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meno last month

Oh brother... I'm sure you've spoken to Matt about this too. Truth is, its easy to get bitter, it's harder to ignore the noise and keep walking. But, we all have to vent, and you and I have been lucky enough to find a page that takes all of our keystrokes and doesn't punch back.

For what it's worth. I value the crap out of people like you...

Much love man

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8 votes

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ecoinstant last month

I appreciate you too brother! And you, of course are right.

But I still think the "misaligned incentives" that I discuss here - are actually real. As are the effects of such a misaligned incentive system. So far my best solution is to build a profitable business model. Will "people like it" when I start charging for the tools?