I Made the Decision
I decided the second I read the "whitepaper" for Proof of Brain that I was going to be all over it. Stupidly, I did not realize that the post marked the beginning of POB. So, I had to get some POB in my Hive-Engine wallet to jump-start me into action.
I am glad I did. Not only is this tribe full of very cool people, great contests, really good curators, and great content, it is also very rewarding. I guess it helps that the token value has tripled (? don't quote me on that) in the last 2 weeks. The population of this little city has also tripled. Why would it not? People go where the resources and the work are.
As a Canadian, and an Albertan, I have seen my share of migrant workers who end up in "Oil Country" to make some money to send "back home" to their family. This little tribe is starting to feel like the land of opportunity for the "weak and huddled masses" of the hive blockchain.
There are a lot of people on Hive and LEO that are greatly rewarded and haven't thought much about changing their routine. Why would you when you touch your mouse and your keyboard and it turns into gold? Those folks are set up and need not look for greener pastures. They are not forced to hop onto a boat and brave a new life in a strange new land.
For a lot of us, the reality is that when we post on Hive or Leo, nothing turns to gold. I have been trying pretty hard (whenever I decided to give posting another try) to make an honest effort at "quality content." It can be discouraging to put together what you think is a nice piece of writing only to have it disappear unnoticed and unrewarded. I was not on the map, but I was missing the most important piece of the puzzle.
This Time
Things will be different this time, right?! There seems to be a solid tribe forming here, and a lot of people that are into building it from the ground up. This is where I missed the boat (to the land of opportunity) the first time, and second time (with LEO). If you don't build the town with your own blood, sweat and tears, you are not on the map. You need to then toil to get on the map.
The highly rewarded on Hive, and LEO, built the thing from the ground up. They were posting when Hive was at $0.13. They fought Justin Sun off and forked Steem. They believed in LEO when it was some weird concept. I mean, don't we talk about crypto all day on Hive already? That is what I thought... I missed the boat. People saw it, got it and went for it. They now have a huge stake in LEO and got in on the ground floor. They built the platform. They are the reason for its success.
All of those pioneers built the town together and built up their stake together. Of course they get large upvotes, they amassed a large stake alongside their neighbours before the town exploded into a full blown city, and you can only pay attention to so many accounts, why wouldn't it be your tightest knit tribe-mates? That is why, when they post something decent, they get rewarded. They fought for it.
Proof of Brain
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
(I didn't write this, it is from the statue of Liberty)
This is what I see as the new frontier. The land of opportunity. For those of us that have been here and somehow still haven't found their niche or our people. I have been here since 2017. I have found some success on steem, was pretty jaded by the time Hive was formed and was mostly just playing splinterlands. I just realized a few months ago what a gem LEO has turned out to be, but feel like I sort of missed the boat. I did not lay any brick over there. I post, and get a bit of engagement and a small reward for my time; nothing to complain about really. It's nothing to write home about either!
My 16 days on POB feel different. I feel like I am laying the foundation and building with the community from the ground up. I am trying to set the bar very high for the content that I create. I don't want this place to turn into a shit-post city. I see a lot of the large stakeholders doing a very good job with curation and the trending page is always looking like a million bucks. Let's keep it that way!!!
Freedom isn't free!
If you want to earn the POB, you gotta put some work in. The trending page is proof that the well rewarded are doing very nice work. The bar is set very high and for this and I commend the largest stakeholders who get to decide what gets on trending (you know who you are). This is the KEY to a successful tribe. There will always be people willing to do nice work. Are the stakeholders who decide what trends willing to do the work to grow the platform right?
So far, so good!
In the land of opportunity, once you get off the boat, that is just the beginning. There are no hand outs. You came here to build a better life for yourself. And guess what? Building a new life takes a lot of hard work!!! The beacon is standing, calling out to all of the people who have toiled to no avail and want a shot at a life well rewarded. Once you are off the boat, you gotta get your hands dirty.
Conclusion
Proof of Brain is the land of opportunity on the Hive blockchain. The rewards are great if you are willing to do the work. The curators are doing a great job keeping the platform looking like a wonderful place to drop roots and grow, and the community is ready to put the work in to build this tribe into a juggernaught.
We cannot forget why there are successful people on LEO, Hive and other tribes. They did the work and put the value into the tribe. We are those people on POB. We are the ones that are adding the value and making it the new land of opportunity. Let's keep up the good work and keep on growing this thing.
[Images}(pixabay.com)