I have been seeing quite a few posts, three, which indicate that something is up.
Is there some kind of writing contest about getting votes I am not aware of? This is very likely since I am mostly not aware of much. Until I am.
It works the same with most things really.
Photo by Rene Asmussen: Men with Swords
But why?
Some will say people deserve votes for providing value, and that is a criteria used in essence by the majority. It is only a part of the equation. As are many of the positive reasons, they are all just part of an equation which underly the reason someone might trigger a vote.
It actually gets quite tedious because if you are new or old, you know why, you know all of this. It is not like you just crawled out from the gutter.
We are all Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc veterans. The rules on Hive are no different but the consequences are.
As much as you are subject to the majority's opinion and norms on the other platforms you have a higher risk of being subject to the Single opinion of any one person on Hive.
This will take the obvious form as it does in society, husband beats wife, wife kills children. It is very simple.
Not to say the inverse is not also true, humans are pretty much parasitic so the "weak" or "disadvantaged" in whatever faculty you choose will seemingly the majority of the time "take".
A lot of quoted words there, maybe I will try define them:
Weak: Lower value accounts
Disadvantaged: Not popular or whatever really, their crutch.
Take: Exit with the majority but more importantly find ways to remain seemingly disadvantaged. ie. vote-farms etc.
If people need money that is what Hive is for, make your paper Boo. It is when people become subversive to the system, which is in it's own way built ontop of our personal moral and ethical guidelines. That is when a problem comes in.
I am sure many fall in a grey zone of auto-voting and popularity rewarding etc, I am a prime example of just that.
However, I think many also hold on to some guise of fairness and if that fails then they head right down South and join a cult.
Not fair
Obviously, money is at the root of it. No casual person here joined because they just like posting to random sites, especially longform.
With money being at the root, then add on personal opinions and a loosely based set of guidelines which may or may not be followed by the jungle but more importantly, as it is in the real world, it may not be agreed on by large accounts.
You are and will remain able to earn at the behest of anyone that can remove as much as you can make or close to it.
In rare cases, which is odd to say because Hive kind of diverges a bit there, since Twitter etc are vote for vote, it takes the jungle and or a well-timed report but mostly the jungle to remove someone.
Now on Hive you can't be removed but you don't care about that, what matters is the removal of earnings. That only takes a single person's opinion.
I wonder how that compares to people who hardly earn at all. What is the average removal value of funds vs the number of people who earn below 50 cents... Dunno.
For that to even matter there would need to be something that could make a secondary pool for removed funds and instead of allowing those funds to go back into the main reward pool for everyone, distribute only to the lowest earners.
It sounds good if you give it a quick read but again that would be an utterly broken system, as much as Hive is broken now, it is simple in that it mirrors the real world.
So it will never be fair, and you should not expect that. You should not expect it because it is not a fact.
Deal with it
As a newbie or even old guard or just: "long enough to not give a peanut turd", I think the best thing to do is to just let it be.
Go read some posts about flagging and voting then realise that there is nothing you can do but do what you intend to do, ie produce content to get votes.
Comment to be seen, and all the helpful tips you will employ on literally any social media platform.
You cannot do anything about being downvoted, you cannot petition it, and you do not have a say. Sure share about it and if you did the fundamentals right and got very lucky, then the jungle can help or a whale can bless you with more than what was taken.
Beyond that, there is nothing but to decide to continue. I read in the one post about going cross-platform, and that is any one of our best bets. If a person is not happy with what they are given then they should find a means that will provide.
Hive is not that guarantee, there are none. Sure, that makes user retention abysmal and really there is very little reason for anyone to start on the platform beyond maybe getting Ecency points and a dollar here and there.
Any other surefire ways to get votes besides heavy community activity or contests? I am only familiar with Ecency. So add more examples if you know.
All that to say
It may or may not go your way. Keep building but don't define yourself by it. This is not Youtube, it could have that scale but it does not.
Hive is more like your community Facebook group and they happen to give tips on there and there is this one prick who gives the largest and they will use that as a blessing or a curse, so shut your mouth or run it but know you don't deserve anything.
...It is broken, but for those who are here and do what they can, it is our broken.
Just like home, there will be a point where someone needs to get cut, so be watchful and rather attend the funeral than be the main event.