After reading Azircon's post this morning Democracy Dies In Silence which was interesting and informative on a number of levels what stood out for myself was the real number of active HIVE accounts. The figure of 4779 accounts is a being real number and is lower than I expected or presumed considering HIVE has 2 564 431 registered accounts. Being real is how we should think as many of us have an alt account and that does not really count as another user.
When you consider such a low figure of 4779 accounts you start to realise how important it is for accounts to hold on to their stake and curate themselves. When I say themselves I mean not delegate a high percentage out thinking you are helping because this is not helping you grow.
To give you an example my vote is worth in the region of 7 HIVE per 100% vote so I would make 50% so 3.5 HIVE x 10 votes daily totaling 245 HIVE per week. Why would I delegate that amount out as I am also supporting others I follow and find when curating with 245 HIVE weekly. The comments on my posts receive a 5% upvote as a thank you for taking the time and reading the article whether they have upvoted the post or not.
The HIVE eco system needs accounts that hold some value curating which in time helps all accounts whoa are active grow. I noticed one account yesterday who has been here for many years delegating out 99% of their stake and offer no value to the accounts they follow. That is fine if you want to stagnate your growth because that is exactly what will happen.
This is like an island account that expects everyone to come to them and never goes and visits other accounts. In the past these accounts were known for self voting and eventually died a slow death as they never received support. HIVE is a community and you cannot grow on your own and yes you do rely on others for support.
The question is then why is it suddenly a thing to delegate out so much of your real HIVE value. Delegating out because you are promised a vote in return is the same as self voting and in many ways is no different from an island account.
If you are new on HIVE do not fall into the trap of thinking delegating is a short cut to growth and my advice is to grow your HIVE stake first before even considering to delegate. I get the idea you want to support a project, but you are of more value to the project once you have started to grow and have some value behind you account. This may seem obvious too many of us, but obviously many do not understand how HIVE works. I really wished these delegation projects would advise those delegating and have a type of percentage limit in place.
Knowing there are less than 5000 active HIVE accounts meaning there is a human tapping the keys on a key board surely it should tell you this represents an opportunity to grow. I cannot spell this out any simpler than that really and if you don't get it then there is no hope. Thee are no short cuts here unless you invest money and buy more HIVE otherwise you stay active and grow organically.
HIVE requires no investment as I am proof having grown from 0 and yes it takes time and effort, but anything in life that has any value attached takes some type of commitment or it would hold no value.