Something's been itching with me regarding Hive. I can't put my finger on it, but it also won't go away. In cases like this, I typically (a) subconsciously stew, (b) let it ferment in my head, (c) see if anything brews up, (d) try to write about it in attempt to organize it and then maybe conclude if there's actually anything there. To that tend, a couple of month's ago, I started a draft titled "What's wrong with Hive?" Here's the entire draft that I wrote:
Hive runs, and runs well, that's the good news and we should be happy about it. But, Hive is stuck. Here are some things that I think are wrong with it.
- The name...there are just too many Hives.
- Emission rate is constant downward pressure on price/value of HIVE and HBD
- Minimal decentralization, combined with incentives of witnesses to avoid making Hive more decentralized. They have a good thing going, why change it?
The "too many Hives" point is not particularly important, I wrote about it. Collecting Hives has become a mini-hobby for me. It's up to 18 at the moment.
I didn't get far in my "what's wrong" draft. So, I let it brew some more...
Today, this DHF proposal titled "Who Is Printing Hive, Who Is Getting Paid, and How Much?" scratches points 2 and 3 of my draft and got me to thinking, again.
The gist of the post/DHF proposal is that there is a stated hard-coded Hive emission schedule and then there is another, higher emission rate. This higher emission rate (and consequent higher inflation rate) is due to bonus DHF funding.
If you're asking, "What is DHF?", that's okay. Here's a quick history lesson:
The DHF is the Decentralized Hive Fund. It's HIVE funds that can be used to reward people for doing good things for Hive. It's a bit of a long story, but the funds for the DHF came from the "Ninja Mine" when the Steem blockchain first started (they were mined prior to anyone else publicly having a chance to mine). Then, when Hive forked from Steem, all those Ninja coins were used to set up the DHF.Need a primer on Hive history, where Hive came from, watch the vid or read the transcript.
This DHF proposal brings up some thoughts:
1. Right off the bat, I have to question why it's asking for nearly $8,000 from the DHF to help cut back on exactly what it's suggesting is a problem. There is a domain name, but you can rig up a free one and name's don't cost that much.
2. The main thrust of this post/proposal is that hard-coded and stated emission system is not what it seems. In fact, I've struggled with getting straight answers on what exactly the emission schedule and inflation rate is/are. I wrote about it after the hard fork recently, but still am confused.
Then, to add to my confusion, this comment by 
I will say, I've become more frugal in my supporting of DHF proposals. My line-of-thinking has evolved. It started as something like this:
- That's a neat idea...I'll support it!
- I've interacted with this person on chain...I'll support it!
- I've used a Hive tool they built...I'll support it!
Then began to meld into:
- That's nice, but...I don't really know.
Case in point was the rally car proposal. My thinking:
- Cool car!
- It'll bring attention.
- But, that's a fair amount of Hive money.
- But, nothing is worse for a blockchain than just being there. It works, but no one pays any attention, no one speaks of it, no one uses it, but by golly it works.
I supported the rally car proposal the first time (I'm pretty sure I did). I think it was up a second time, but I did not.
Currently, my thinking on DHF proposals centers on more "infrastructure" types of things: (a) Keychain which I think is critical to Hive (unfortunately a second option, Peak Vault, seems to be being sunsetted. Interestingly, Peak Vault came from a DHF funded project, which I supported.). (b) HBD stabilizer, in my view, HBD really gives Hive usefulness in real life. Having it stick as closely to one dollar is important. (c) The vsc.network proposal, now Magi. I think this is the biggest thing, with the most potential, being fleshed out on Hive right now.
That's it for me currently, trying to stay frugal.
3. There is the premise in the post, even if only implied, that some people are "benefiting" from the system. If you want to go stronger, some people are "pilfering" from the system. This doesn't bother me too much. I believe in a "let the market decide" approach. If someone is doing something that benefits Hive, let's reward them. If not, then let's not.
Case in point, I'll mention 
So, I see the https://hiveinflation.com website as being a tool, as information. There was a note made that the info is already out there...no need to show it on this interface. And, I'm a little unnerved about pharesim's comment suggesting the stats seem a little wonky or the presentation skews things. But, generally speaking, receiving more information is normally a good thing as opposed to simply not receiving the information.
In the end, each person much weigh their own values on this and all Hive DHF proposals. With Hive inflation in mind, I plan to stay frugal.
I go by 
