Hello Hello Hivians
Yesterday up popped a comment from the wonderful 
Yes I have been on the Hive blockchain for 3 years...
i only know HIVE ... I don't have any emotional baggage concerning the legacy chain.
It has got me reflecting on my time here and what I have learnt...
So I thought I will do a 10 things I have learnt!
Note these are in total random order and by that I mean I have written them as I thought of them. If you know me, I just ramble and don#t bother with editing... so let's fluffing jump in!
Hive is like real life
In there words, the more you put into Hive then in theory the more you will get out of it. This is most certainly true in the beginning. If you just sit around and expect people to come to you, then you will be in for a big shock.
Go get out there and explore some communities. Find a few that are aligned to your interests / hobbies / nationality etc and get to know the posters and engage.
This will help you to connect and get noticed. You will pick up some votes and rewards too.
This wears off though.
Hive often is Unfair
Just like life has a babit of kicking you in the cajones so does Hive. You can spend hours crafting a wonderful post, you know the sort, you edited the pictures, you made collages, you proofread your post and used formatting.
You post it... and you wait and ...
bam...
Then it happens!
What happens?
Fluff all!
All that time and effort gets your autovotes and that is about it!
Meanwhile JohhnyOG posts a picture of his mornings dump with a few words and gets close to three digit rewards.
Yeah get used to it... That is Hive.
I like people who try to get involved, who go to different communities who join in with prompts and competitions.
So many people though just come and post in worldmappin for big votes, withdraw their money and rinse and repeat ... the curators give them the rewards.
How are they helping grow the ecosystem? They often don't even engage.
Now we have this Vibes competition as well, with even bigger rewards going to them!
Curators shaft Africans
Lots of what I write could be put into more than one category.
Hive marketing seems to love showing off the water wells in Africa, yet the curators hardly curate Nigerians for example.
Take appreciator, have you noticed they rarely upvote a nigerian post, yet it is almost automatic for filipinos and may Latam users for example?
I know there are bad actors from Nigeria, there are bad actors everywhere. But it seems Africans as a rule get a short straw on Hive.
Don't be a curator/moderator
My advice is if someone asks you to be a curator or community moderator then just say no.
Being an ordinary user is far better, you can post whatever you want whereever you want and can be curated as soon as your post is published.
Once you become a moderator or a curator for a trail that is not always the case!
Like many things in life, you will put your time and effort in to something and it will seem expected hehe.
If your own thing then go for it!
Delegating too much of your HP is selfish
Something I saw today made me add this one. When you delegate you generally do it to receive something back, either dividends or a vote. Which is all great but you reduce your HP stack.
In other words your HP is decreased and your vote is decreased. Voting is a great way to help authors on Hive.
You might think your 2 cents is not much but trust me it is appreciated when someone receives it.
The post I saw was someone mentioned they had delegated to a new token, they delegate almost all their HP and only leave enough to write and make a few daily comments.
Yeah a tad selfish I thought!
Post publishing time IS important
This post is a good example.
I am in the UK and posting times have an impact on me. As a general rule I get around $5 on a normal post. If I post too late in the day it could drop to 3 something.
So when I post early and I mean between 7am and 10am I could get to 7 but more importantly it seems to give time for any whale curators to drop a vote.
My engagement varies on the post.
So yes watch your timing. I often use to write at night and post close to UK midnight, nope that was a waste as not only were rewards small but so was the engagement!!
I am here for engagement and money, yes money I am not going to lie and pretend otherwise...
This post will go out about 9 or 10 pm and I don't expect many comments or much of a vote as it is too late in the day!
Reputation System is almost meaningless
I don't get the point of the reputation system. Only today I was on the page of someone who used to be a curator of a big community and still has a reputation of 74 even though the account is being powered down to zero.
Does that mean that 74 person is more reputable to and in the Hive ecosystem than someone who comments all over the place and posts daily comes from Africa does not get rewarded much but still believes in Hive and has a rep less than 70?
Nah it just means they have been here for a while.
What should be in its place? No idea and I am going to think about it as anything I say will never be seen or acted upon.
DHF funds for marketing / Value plan is pointless
This month is Hivefest, it is the first time I have seen hardly anything about floating around the chain. I guess I have shrunk my circle to people who are not OGs etc.
I see people going on about how great it is to spend thousands of dollars on marketing and going to events etc.
This is to bring new users ot Hive...
Yet we keep getting told Hive needs more users..
So just what does all this use of DHF funds achieve?
Surely giving Dapps money is a better way.
What do I know though ...
I am a Hive user, I was not part of the legacy chain, and therein lies a big problem. Hive is run by OGs and it is not as decentralised as so many people like to point out.
Don't asslick as most Orcas don't spread their vote
When you join Hive you will see the bigger accounts and go fawn all over them...
It is human nature.
Me has a three strike rule. If I engage meaningfully three times without reply I said fcku you and crossed them off my Christmas list.
That is why you rarely see me on an Orcas page, I can count with my finger the nuber of Orcas that I engage with and vice versa.
Means I usually see no drama which is a good thing.
What I have noticed that often Orcas with a dollar vote, just use their autovote and vote their mates 100%.
A great case in point was someone who did power up and became an orca and he received their 100% votes...
Eventually he powered down and became like the rest of us, those votes surprise surprise vanished too!
My voice is fluffing meaningless and always will be
Firstly I was not in Steem so am not an OG which means I only tend to get read by people who joined Hive apart from a few OGs (thank you to ones that do).
I have not met any Hive only people that have any power on here...
I will not invest the many thousands needed to sway things.
My voice therefore will carry on being meaningless.
Good leaders listen .... Time those in charge of Hive listened...
Don't waste your vote, use Auto-Vote
So I have actaully wrtitten 11 things!
Ah well, I am sure if I wrote this properly I could group things together and add things... but I need a coffee and I have something else to do..
Which leads me nicely to real life. Often things happen and we cannot for whatever get onto Hive.
Often that means our voting mana stays at 100%
Don't waste it, set up some people to get an auto-vote.... Not only does it help you get rewarded by you are helping other authors too.
Keep the ecosystem thriving and use your vote!
Thanks for visiting
When is your blockchain birthday? How long have you been here?
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo. Photos taken with my smartphone.
