Proof-of-Autovote

I know cheeky heading right! As cheeky as it is, it also is true. Proof of Brain according to white paper was supposed surface good quality content (whatever you think good quality content is) but along the way it has devolved to being a zombie.

There are many accounts that are voting automatically without regard to quality, actually without regards to anything. Autovote and maximize your curation APR! That is what proof of brain has become now, and with it, it turned Hive into a veritable wasteland.

But whatever shrubbery we have left over in this wasteland is now under threat. Threat of Agentic AI. They are here already and if we encourage it with rewarding them. They'll flood this chain and drown our genuine human connections.

It is now the time, for us to change the value proposition on this chain. We should stop following the dead Proof of Brain and move towards something better, something that would work to rejuvenate this chain with meaning. Something we feel proud about and yearn to return to each day!

Proof of Social-Value

For some, chain has already started to move to what I am going to describe. But no one has put a name to it. I am putting a name to it now, Proof of Social-Value.

Proof of Social-Value is the principle that rewards should go primarily to accounts that increase Hive’s human, social, and long-term ecosystem value more than they extract from it.

PoSV is not a claim that every social account deserves rewards. It is a claim that post/comment rewards should be judged in the context of an account’s broader contribution to Hive’s health.

PoSV Theory of Value

• Economic commitment
  Holding stake, not extracting immediately.
• Social reciprocity
  Giving meaningful replies, commenting under other people's posts, having conversations, building relationships
• Unpaid ecosystem work
  Creating free apps that benefit all Hivians, onboarding people
• Genuine human connection
  Most importantly, creating genuine human connections. As this is what makes Hive valuable, this is why we return to this place. Whether we love people or hate them, whether we agree or clash, we made connections with the people who call this chain home.

PoSV is not about rewarding performative sociability, comment spam without substance, shallow engagement, these are just another way of extraction. What matters is not fake gestures, but whether an account, overtime, makes hive more human, more connected and worth more inhabiting.

And this is what we should reward because this is the scarce and valuable part, not the text. People do not return to Hive because text exists, they return because there are familiar names, history, friendships, grudges, and a sense that real people are here.

Text is cheap, human connection is not.

I am not against AI agents, they are useful. AI agents should be free to post on Hive, but being able to post is not the same as being entitled to rewards.

And the same standard should apply to humans. People posting nothing but templated content who have barely interacted with anyone for years should not continue to receive rewards.

We should reserve the reward pool for the people who make this a valuable place.