Recently I've been thinking a lot about how I interact on HIVE. I've been here for nearly seven years, which is just crazy, and that's not without a lot of hard work, heart ache, stress, joy, apathy, boredom, thrill, motivation and depression! And perhaps a bit of mania. Ah, how HIVE mirrors real life, right?
The conversation on HIVE of late has been about those who have invested and stayed invested by staking their HIVE, and those who are still active but have very little HIVE in their wallets, and those in between. Is it right to sell all your stake, but still be here? If we were truly invested, shouldn't we stake at all costs? How much benefit do we gain from selling, and how much reward would we get from staking everything, all the time? Should people who have taken out all their HIVE be penalized through non voting?
The thing is, on paper, HIVE is a place where you can earn some crypto through your interactions here and benefit. I've seen people in poorer countries be able to feed their families because of HIVE or even buy a phone or farm equipment which they never would have been able to do if they weren't earning on HIVE. Personally, I've had a little bit of success by selling HIVE at just the right time to swap for Bitcoin, then watched that fly up so I could pay off the little bit of mortgage I had left. It wasn't a lot, but it was something massive - as anyone who finally pays of their mortgage will know.
For others here, it's just not worth it to power down for small amounts of money. It can be a fairly insignificant amount for those with a decent real world wage or investments. It's easy for them to say we should hold on to our stake at all costs when they aren't on the poverty line. In some countries, a few HIVE can mean a loaf of bread to feed their families.
I've hovered my finger more than once over the 'power down' button, and I've powered down and then powered it back up again. Sometimes I just worry that all the HIVE I've worked hard for will devalue that much that it's useless. Because it is nice seeing a little nest egg there, even if it's at it's low at the moment (not worth cashing out for imo - and don't forget, it's been this low before and we all regretted not buying any.) I'm not rich by Australian standards, but I'm not broke either, so if I power down it will be because I think it's a good investment, or I'm so over the whole thing I want to quit.
Given I haven't quit in 7 years, I'm unlikely to do that now.
I stay because I really love the place - I like writing, and I like engaging with others. It's a global community like no other. That sounds like a line but it's the truth - that's why I keep coming back. I love running the HIVE Garden community and helping others feel supported, and feel like that it's a worthwhile place to stay. Of course, there's things I don't like about it, but I don't think it's worth talking about it here as I'd rather focus on the positive. And things have changed a LOT since Steem days. Remember the bidbots? They were fun until they weren't. Some people profited massively from that at the expensive of others.
I don't pay a lot of attention to the HIVE price as I've seen it go up and down many times before. How many times have we regretted not buying more at .17 when it goes up to .60? Hive isn't going to die. It hasn't yet. In fact, in many ways it's just got better, despite the current price..
I do think it's important to be encouraging and positive, and think about what non-Hiver see when they come on chain. I see old players with only small stakes left come in and write really good articles when they have time or headspace and they are also good for us. I love seeing them there and they definitely should be rewarded for the quality of the piece, not because of past wallet behavior. Downvoting them or ignoring them does not look good from an outsiders perspective. It's also not very encouraging when someone decides to come back and get involved and are judged for powering down or disappearing.
I do think it's a better strategy to make an effort to make people feel valued so they stick around. We gently nudge people's poor behaviour to highlight what we expect here, and boot the dickheads out (mostly).
I read somewhere - maybe on a comment on 
I can't help but think of a character in the Zac Snyder remake of 'Dawn of the Dead', the one where they are in a shopping mall. Tensions rise as resources become scarce. There's a moment when one of the characters, who's wealthy and self-serving, hides supplies for himself rather than sharing with fellow survivors. When the group finally decides to make a run for it to escape the mall, he is left behind, and is overwhelmed by zombies. The moral of the story is don't be an asshole thinking only of yourself. Short sided greed isn't in the individual interest as much as it's not in the group interest.
We see this in a wealth of disaster and survival films - selfishness in a community leads to individual downfall, and cooperation and shared effort are essential for survival.
It's why the people who've been around here for a while, investing in the system, feel a bit guilty when they power down, even though for the most part, they're making good individual choices - buying their kids school shoes, paying the electricity bill, swapping it for an alt coin they think is about to go up, and so on.
We know when we're all invested, we all do better. The shelter is built. The moat is dug. The cellar can be filled with food for all.
The positive thing about the conversations on HIVE lately is that we all seem able to acknowledge that individual actions can be justified to a point, and we don't need to entirely judge people against our own standards, but ultimately, individual efforts to invest their stake on HIVE will have more benefits for all of us in the long run.
Investment in HIVE isn't just about YOUR survival. It's about everyone's.
So yeah. Power up, y'all. I have set myself a new goal for this year - to hit 50 K HIVE. Watch this space.
With Love,
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