A week ago I started an #AlternateHistory challenge. The topic was: What if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn't happened?
I must admit to being surprised by the low number of contest entries. However, what the contest lacked in quantity of posts it made up for in quality of posts. If it had to be one or the other I am glad quality showed up.
The contest concluded having two entries. There is only one prize for one winner. That winner is...
Image Source: clker.com
As stated in the announcement post for this challenge logic and reasoning was given the most weight when judging the entries. Nothing I read in 
The Contest Entries
The first to enter was 
An article I read on qz.com cited an earlier 2017 circular issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria that warned businesses about the risks of trading cryptocurrencies. Perhaps without the COVID-19 pandemic the CBN wouldn't have had as good of an opportunity to further restrict cryptocurrency trading when they did and the restriction that occurred recently would have been pushed further down our timeline.
The second entry post was by
The aspect of the post I most appreciated as a non-sports fan was that
As mentioned this last and final match of the tournament would have been played at Wembley Stadium in London. The streets would have been flowing with blue and red. Every pub would have been filled to the brim. It would be pure chaos and it would have been spectacular.
As stated before I am not a sports fan but in my mind I added one of my fandoms while reading that paragraph of the post. London, lots of people, chaotic historic event. Clearly that means alien intervention is happening and the 13th Doctor is going to show up. Back in 2006 the episode "Fear Her" had The Doctor at the 2012 Olympics in London. It's probably a good thing Doctor Who didn't similarly film and broadcast ahead of time an episode taking place during the final match of the EUROs in 2020.
What if more users had entered the #AlternateHistory contest?
To be honest I was expecting at least four or five entries minimum in this contest. If there had been more entries other topics would have been touched on. Maybe one in which Donald Trump won a second term and was still on Twitter. Maybe another entry about the Jussie Smollett case getting huge amounts of media attention and becoming this generation's O.J. Simpson trial.
What I would have enjoyed seeing most of all would have been a mention of Hivefest 5 being a live event in a non-pandemic timeline. In early 2020 the Hive platform forked from "the other blockchain" and due to the pandemic the meet-up conference was held virtually on AltspaceVR. Maybe due to the timing of the blockchain split a live event meet-up for Hive in a non-pandemic timeline might not have occurred until roughly around early 2021 due to the planning and promotion that would have been involved. The speaker talks would have been roughly the same. I think there would have been some "F**K YOU JUSTIN SUN" merchandise being sold at the live event conference since it would have been the first one since the blockchain split.
Eventually the pandemic will end and live event meet-ups will happen but it will never be like what a truly first Hive live meet-up would have been like.
Thank you to everyone who entered and/or helped promote this contest.
