Decentralized Hive is a major player in Web3. As visionary & far-sighted as Hive is, could its tragic flaw be its name?
Cover image is based on a thread posted by @dickturpin at Leothreads.
Title graphic made by 
Cover image was made using HTML, CSS, and SVG. Light edits were made using MS Paint.
As 
hive appears in 8 domain names, only 2 of which are associated with decentralized Hive blockchain.
Some people visiting these sites know which is which. However, many people visit these sites thinking they are visiting Our Hive when in fact they are not. If "Hive" for them doesn't deliver what Hive promises, it will be due to mistaken identity.
We can say what we want about Dogecoin, but no one will confuse the numerous Doge-like sites for the original community which keeps Dogecoin alive and well. Apes don't have this problem, either.
In the Web2 world, no one will confuse the many imitators of Big Tech apps with the genuine apps.
In the world of free and open source software, no one will confuse the array of "Office" suites with MS Office.
This problem doesn't even exist with soft drinks, as few (if any) people will confuse New Coke with (Classic) Coke.
For some reason, this is a problem for what we know as Hive.
Did I Contribute to This Mess? (I don't think so, but who knows?)
Recently at LeoThreads I came across mentioning something called Hive Social. The threads sounded like gripes or complaints, and that confused me since I thought they were about Our Hive. After some clarification, it turns out there's a site that goes by that name but is not Our Hive.
This whole thing puzzled me because I've been referring to Our Hive as "Hive Social" for at least 12 months. I decided to use this term to differentiate the blogging side from Hive Gaming and from Hive Trading. None of these names are official, but I thought they were clear enough to readers.
Even if the distinction was clear to my fellow Hivers, maybe it wasn't so clear to people using search engines to find Our Hive (some of whom never reached us).
I'm not saying I'm to blame for this predicament, but maybe my use of that term "Hive Social" didn't help. I don't know, and I can't say.
So Where Do We Go from Here?
Every now and then I've seen posts or comments about the origin of the name Hive for Our Hive. It's still a head-scratcher, but until recently it wasn't a concern; we just accepted it.
This isn't just a digital problem. It's also a marketing problem which can impact real-world projects such as the Hive Water Project taking place in Ghana being chronicled by, among other Hivers, 
Thanks to this project, people in Ghana know about Our Hive. Thanks to the large teams of Hivers from Nigeria and Venezuela, I'm sure that people in those nations will know to go to Our Hive when they decide to take the plunge into cryptospace.
Elsewhere? I'm not so sure. I'm even including the United States in this group.
There may have been periodic discussions before (mostly serious, maybe a few lighthearted). If this naming issue is costing Our Hive in both
onboarding and retention, then it's a serious problem. This problem causes a cascade from onboarding to retention down to the value of Hive (HIVE) and even into Layer 2 projects and their respective values.
At some point, Our Hive is going to consider a name change.
Precedent Exists for a Name Change
When the breakaway from Steem blockchain took place in 2020, the new blockchain needed a name. In the end, it came to be known as Hive. This we know already.
Elsewhere in cryptospace, other name changes have taken place. Perhaps the most relevant name change to us took place with Polygon. The token is called MATIC because its native network had been called the Matic network. Fast forward to June 2021 (when I discovered LeoFinance), the network had been renamed to Polygon.
This example is important to us because it shows that the token remained with the name MATIC. Matic or Polygon, MATIC is MATIC.
What Should Be the New Name for the Hive Network?
While I think we should follow the example set by Polygon (MATIC), it is possible to maintain a connection to the name "Hive".
For names which maintain the connection to with Hive, these are my own suggestions:
Our Hive(since this is our concern);Red HiveorHive Red(tie to logo);
Other Hivers will have their own suggestions. Feel free to include them in the Comments.
Another group follows the Polygon (MATIC) example and uses a name unrelated to the token name. I have no suggestions for this group of names. Suggestions of this type can be included in the Comments as well.
Just My Two Sats
Confusion regarding the name "Hive" is nothing new, but in recent days it's become more of a concern.
If concerns grow and the name issue is not addressed, there can be a negative impact on Hive, from onboarding and retention, to the value of HIVE, and even down to the many tokens of Layer 2.
Before a formal proposal can be made, we should have some suggestions for a new name ready. Whether the new name is to keep "Hive" in it or follow the example set by Polygon (MATIC), feel free to include suggestions in the Comments.
| Links in image | URLs |
|---|---|
| Hive Business Center | /created/hive-123507 |
| Hivelist Classifieds | /created/hive-150840 |
| Hive Hustlers | https://www.hivehustlers.com/ |
| #LeoThreads | https://leofinance.io/threads |
| Hive Projects | https://hiveprojects.io |
| Dust Sweeper |  |
| Dust Bunny |  |
| Links in image | URLs |
|---|---|
| "...to make up for..." | https://leofinance.io/hive-167922/@magnacarta/who-is-magnacarta-and-why-is-he-sending-me-pizza |
| LeoFinance | https://leofinance.io/@magnacarta |
| Proof of Brain | https://proofofbrain.blog/@magnacarta |
| ♦ D.Buzz-only ♦ D.Buzz: ♦ at-magnacarta.buzz | https://blog.d.buzz/#/@magnacarta.buzz |
| Festivus | https://festivusweb.com/index.php |