So, this has been on my mind for a long time.

Like many of you I have been through several Hard Forks (with Steem) and what struck me is that each time the decisions had already been made and it was the job of the witnesses to persuade the proles like me that everything was going to be much greener on the other side of the fence.

Whether it was the adoption of RCs or changing of the curation curve, or the percentage authors and curators get, we were always told the changes were necessary for Steem (as was) to grow. We were promised a pathway to the moon. Each time these changes have not been the thing that has promoted lift off. The promised influx of investors has come to nothing (well, Steem did get one big investor but it didn't turn out too well).

With the advent of Hive things could be different. There is no longer a central body pushing us in a certain direction.

But what now?

It seems to me that decisions on the future of Hive are still being made in darkened rooms by “the inner circle”.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I am grateful for what people did (and do) to create (and maintain) Hive. We (The People) needed an escape route from an oppressor and that needed to be done by the revolutionaries in secret.

But history is littered with stories of revolutionaries (usually with the best of motives) leading the people in a successful revolt against an oppressive regime, only to become an oppressive regime themselves.

Revolutionaries have clear ideas about the utopia they seek. The People do not always share that vision.

The People are running from something, they do not necessarily want to run towards a new system that will benefit another small number of people.

I feel Hive is at that point now.

Where are we going? Who are the leaders?

Please don’t say, “it is decentralised, there are no leaders”.

That is bullshit and we all know it. There are still people with more power than others and some of them use it for good, and some of them not. Decisions are made behind the scenes.

I know that, you know that.

We are not stupid please don’t treat us as if we were.

I have been disappointed at how people with power have treated newcomers to the platform, some of the behaviour of the rich (in Hive) and powerful runs against against the narrative that Hive is aiming for “mass adoption”.

It makes me feel that there are many who don’t want to see Hive truly grow because that threatens their power. I have seen how some have wielded downvotes in order to attack other curators (not because they disagree with what is being upvoted but because they don’t like the people doing the curating - or they feel their own short-term interests are threatened - they don’t want them here on Hive) and therefore impacting on small users.

So, what is the vision for Hive?

I have heard talk of the Reward Pool being removed, the plebs no longer given access to Hive but being rewarded by tokens, SMTs (yet another idea that will “save” Hive).

Is this a view shared by most Top 20 witnesses?

If not, what are the other visions?

I don’t know what each witness thinks on the Hive issues of the day (unless they post something which often feels to as if there is a predecided agenda.)

If you click on the link on the witness vote page to find out what Witnesses are about (and why you should vote for them) don't expect to find up to date information.

In the Top 20 Witnesses there are a few who updated around the time of Hive creation, there are a few who have no information at all (the link takes you to their profile, or their dapp) there are more than a few when you click it takes to a 4 year old post (also 2 years ago, around the HF 20 seems popular).

Hive account@arcange is the ONLY Witness in the Top 20 has a link to a post published in the last two months (July 1st 2020)

So how are we expected to know whether you will have OUR best interests at heart when the next HF is proposed?

Hive is a mirror of the Real World and to deny it is foolish.

Like democracies, the world over, the more money - Hive - you have the more influence and votes you have or can buy.

I don't even know if the votes of users like me even matter. Are the top 20 the top 20 because of ordinary users or because the powerful keep them there?

Whose agenda do they serve?

We don’t have elections as such. So we don’t know what the vision is because no one really cares enough to persuade you to vote for them (especially if they are in the top 20).

I would like Witnesses to set out their vision. I would also like to know who works with who, who agrees on what and where we are going. And I would like this to happen on Hive not in a discord server.

I would like people to stop pretending there are no leaders, no “inner circle”.

Is being a user on a decentralised platform really any better than being on a centralised one?

Or is it just another lie, spun to keep the peasants from revolting?

On this decentralised we love open-sourced dapps.

But what about our Witnesses? Shouldn't they be Open-Sourced too?

Shouldn't we know what makes them work? What drives them? Who they agree with and who they don't? And why.

I have removed my votes from most of the top 20 witnesses. I have votes to spare.

Persuade me: why should I vote for you?