It's all about the society, and the society is shaped by you.
Bees don't wait for a big fish to come and collect honey for them; they work tirelessly to keep the hive alive.
What can I do? I only have 100 HP in my balance. If the whales came and did everything, that would be great, but they're bad—they don't vote for me or even for good posts.
Have you ever seen comments like these? Or maybe you've written them yourself, huh? Come on, confess 😁 I've seen such comments—posts about how the ecosystem's resources are being misused, "Oh, I would have done better." Dude, but the truth is, you’ve done absolutely nothing to justify criticizing others. You’re not in a position to understand who’s doing what and what should be done or where resources should go. I’m sure that if you were in the shoes of the major players, you’d be doing exactly what you’re criticizing now. So why aren’t you in their place?
People with small balances have no idea what challenges the big players face, what risks they deal with. The vast majority prefer not to think about it—it’s easier that way. When you have 100, 1,000, or 5,000 HP in your balance, it’s one thing. You think accordingly, proportional to your place in the social hierarchy. But that’s a mistake.
Let’s think about what goes through the minds of those who, for example, have 100k HP. At the current rate, that’s about 30k USD (roughly averaged). In theory, are they at risk if the ecosystem collapses? — Yes. Do they think about this? — Yes, probably more often than others. Could they cash out and buy, say, a house in most countries or a new, comfortable car? — Yes. Do they try to strengthen and protect the ecosystem more than those with small balances? — Again, yes.
When the price of HIVE drops by 10%, do those with a balance equivalent to 100 USD get upset? — Probably yes, because they potentially lost 10 USD. But what if someone has 10,000,000 USD in their balance and just lost 1,000,000 USD? Have you thought about that? How would you react in that situation? Panic? 🤣
It’s easier to take on the victim role and blame others—that’s what weak communities do. Let’s build a strong one! When you take charge of your own destiny and make the world around you better, everything changes. But you always start with yourself, not by criticizing the actions of others. START WITH YOURSELF, and the world will become a better place—the world you live in.
About monopoly
Monopoly in any sphere is always bad, this is understood by everyone. But monopoly forms only thanks to society. If there is a choice between gaining personal benefit while strengthening the monopoly, or taking temporary losses but creating conditions for balance, what do you choose? In the overwhelming majority of cases, most people choose personal benefit.
An example from my society. About 20-30 years ago, in the cities of my country, there were almost no large grocery supermarkets; there were many small shops and markets. There was healthy competition, with its own nuances, but there was real choice, not an illusion of choice. Gradually, large grocery supermarkets started opening. Thanks to improved logistics and large-scale purchases, supermarkets began to undercut prices, and small shops struggled to compete with the prices of larger players.
Who did ordinary people (with small balances) support? — Right, their own pockets and voted for the big players. What did this lead to? — Right, to the destruction of a huge amount of small businesses, by whom? Supermarkets or ordinary people? What happened in the end? — Again, right, large chain supermarkets, feeling their monopoly, started setting prices on products however they wanted. Is there a choice to go and make a purchase at a reasonable price from a small grocery store? — No, my friend, by your choice, you destroyed them all.
This is a very simple example where people don't think about how their choice will affect them, that temporary benefit can lead to bigger problems in the future, but reality is what it is.
Do you want another very specific example of monopoly from my society? It was absolute absurdity. There is this buckwheat cereal, or buckwheat, which has always been very cheap, affordable for anyone, and it grows in my country, so we produce it ourselves in the fields. About 10 years ago, this cereal completely disappeared from the shelves of large supermarkets; it was simply gone, and the reason given was that there were no supplies from producers (but where did they put it from the fields? 🤣). What did people do? — Correct, they bought up the remaining stock, thus fueling the hype. After 2 or 3 months, buckwheat reappeared on the shelves, but with 2 changes: 1 — the price increased by 5 times, 2 — it was all spoiled and rotting because they simply locked it away in warehouses, thus creating an artificial shortage. That’s the story.
But the solution was simple — everyone should have refrained from eating this cereal for a while, not buy it at all, so that the monopolists would come to their senses and return prices to a reasonable level. In this case, society would have left the monopolists no choice: either they throw away the finished product and suffer losses, or they set reasonable prices and get reasonable profits. Society failed the test again.
Now, about balances and mathematics, I love math — it always has one opinion, and it's hard to argue with it
10,000 х 10 = 100,000
10,000 х 20 = 200,000
5,000 х 10 = 50,000
5,000 х 20 = 100,000
1,000 х 100 = 100,000
Simple examples, right? And they are easily solved. From the small numbers in the second column (delegations), depending on the number in the first column (people), substantial sums are generated in the end (voting power in HP).
The first column represents people: 1,000 people, 5,000 people, 10,000 people, each contributing 10, 20, or 100 HP and delegating it. In the end, the delegate has a voting power ranging from 0.65 USD to 2.61 USD (approximately). Is such a vote valuable on your post or comment? — It's obvious. If it works out, great, but if not, who do you thank?
Where to delegate to improve the ecosystem and strengthen its balance?
This is for you to decide, and your decision matters. This is not me or anyone else saying it, it's mathematics speaking. Do you want to argue with it? — If yes, I wish you good luck.
During my surfing on Hive, I've personally come across interesting initiatives. Many have faded away, some are still running and doing well. Why do useful initiatives fade away, what do you think? — I think it's because they didn't get support from the community.
How does it happen? A person gets an idea to improve the socioecosystem, starts thinking of a plan, takes certain actions, making the first steps, showing initiative. Then it all depends on the support—either it's there and development follows, or it's not and the initiative fades away.
Such initiatives don't come up often; they require taking on a certain amount of responsibility and making efforts, at the cost of one's time and resources. These are opportunities, like rough diamonds, which need to be polished, worked on, and eventually they will shine, meaning they will work at full strength, bringing benefits to all.
The author's opinion — a useful initiative that will strengthen the ecosystem
Recently, I came across an article about a new project supporting comments, and I made my first repost on my personal blog. It’s a great, constructive idea aimed at supporting activity in post comments — 
The article about the project was published in the largest community, receiving several dozen likes and only a few delegations. This means users liked the article (idea), they voted for it (hearts), but apart from the project founder and a few accounts, no one sent delegations.
I urge everyone to show that the Hive community is a strong sociosystem capable of making strategic decisions to improve the overall space, not just looking for personal short-term benefits, which could ultimately lead to negative consequences. (I gave examples above in the article, I hope it wasn't in vain).
What such delegation gives:
- You become more conscious.
- You build a system of balances; by giving, you will receive.
- You contribute to reducing monopolies.
- With a high probability, the project will have a loyal attitude toward you personally (we're all human), which could lead to positive likes on your comments.
- You will bring benefit to others.
- You will realize that your small balance can make a difference.
Many positive things and not a single negative one.
Conclusions
With small balances, delegating 5-10% HP will have no negative effect on you at all; you won't lose anything in practice, it's practically insignificant. If the project fails, simply cancel the delegation. However, such initiatives have the potential to bring a lot of benefit to everyone.