Some things are hard to "wrap my brain around." It took me a few years to wrap my head around Bitcoin and I'm still wrapping. I suppose I conceptualize stuff with analogies. I think I'm not alone here.
Hive and the frontends on Hive are one thing that has taken some time for me to understand. I think I've finally stumbled upon an analogy that seems to work for me.
Steampunk glasses or goggles.
You know those steampunk glasses with the lens that flop down? Picture those. If you don't know what that means, picture glasses with many, many, many different lenses. The lens are not fixed in place but are attached on hinges. They can be flopped down to look through, or flipped up to not look through.
Imagine that each lens on those goggles is a Hive frontend. By "frontend", I mean things like hive.blog, peakd.com, ecency.com, d.buzz, leofinance.io, proofofbrain.io,dlux.io and many others.
You can look at the Hive blockchain through any of these frontend lenses.
Lens #1
Lens #1 has no filters at all. The other lenses (frontends) are popped up in the "open" position.
Lens #1 is a clear lens. It shows everything, including things you really don't want to see. The saying, "Some things can't be unseen," is true.
On Hive, lens #1 is like https://hiveblocks.com Hiveblocks is a blockchain explorer...it shows the raw data. This data is often ugly and bland. It's not particularly user-friendly. It's not particularly pretty. Maybe you've looked at your own hair under a microscope before. It's not a pretty sight. There are snags and dust and pollen and mites in it. You may consider your hair to be pretty and clean, but, you similarly don't want to research hot dogs either.
Anyway, hiveblocks.com shows the raw text data of the Hive blockchain. You can see YOUR blockchain history at https://hiveblocks.com/@YOURUSERNAME
Even things that are "banned" from Hive, really aren't. They can be seen here. "Banned" from Hive only means that other frontends weed out certain things. Since lens #1 is clear and shows it all, nothing is weeded out and everything is still there.
Lens #2
Flop down the next lens on your steampunk glasses. Let's suppose this is the peakd.com lens. Things are much prettier, more organized, and peakd has built in many tools. You can see your own Lens #2 at https://peakd.com/@YOURUSERNAME.
Notice that the same information that hiveblocks.com showed is also seen on peakd, just viewed differently. Suppose you're on a bright, sunny, white beach. It's hard to see anything with the blinding light. But this lens is like a pair of dark sunglasses. You are still looking at, and seeing, the same beach scene, but things are filtered, look a bit different, and you can likely see what you want better.
Lens #3
Flop down lens 3. Maybe go to https://d.buzz/#/@YOURUSERNAME and see how things look there. Again, you're looking at the same Hive blockchain data that hiveblocks.com revealed, just viewed differently.
Imagine Lens #3 is a pair of yellow/orange shooting glasses. You're looking at the same scene, but things definitely appear differently.
Lens #4
If you want to get really weird and surreal, go to dlux.io and login with Hive keychain. Then click "Profile". Again, all your Hive posts will be there because dlux looks at the same blockchain data that hiveblocks.com shows. But, dlux LOOKS very different.
In fact, dlux.io is very different. It's a VR (virtual reality) space. You can see it in 2D on a phone or computer, but it's designed for a VR headset to be viewed in 3D.
If you click one of your normal Hive posts in dlux, you can see the post without a whole lot of formatting. If you click "Launch App" you'll get nowhere. It's trying to load a non-VR post into the VR-specialized dlux.io dapp. You CAN see VR Hive posts in dlux, like this one I made: https://www.dlux.io/vr/@crrdlx.
This lens is like a welder's mask. You're still on the sunny, bright breach, but with this lens, almost everything is filtered out.
So, to sum
Hive can be confusing with all of its frontends. Just remember, they all look at the data on the Hive blockchain. https://hiveblocks.com/@YOURUSERNAME is a great place to see the raw data. The other frontends like peakd or proofofbrain simply filter that same data and allow you to look at it with a different perspective. The info is the same, the views are different.
Not on Hive? The top benefits of the Hive blockchain: (1) no ONE person/group runs it, (2) YOU own your content, and (3) YOU earn the rewards your that content generates. Learn more or consider using my referral link to get your free account here.
:)