I posted last week about issues with lack of engagement on Hive. That post got 88 comments and 260 votes, which is a much better ratio than usual. Mind you, a lot of the comment were mine replying to people.
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Wise word Captain!
Looking at trending today I see posts with $30 or more in rewards with anything from zero to 41 comments. Of course you only tend to get on trending if you get a vote from at least one of the whales and many of them never comment, so getting on trending is no indication of real engagement. On the 'hot' page the top three posts have zero comments.
I was under the impression that Hive was supposed to be a social platform, but do the majority only care about the money? I can appreciate that for many people around the world any extra income is very valuable. I see posts by people saying they do not have power all the time or they are struggling with a broken computer they cannot afford to repair or replace. As someone in the UK with reliable power and access to multiple computers I feel very lucky. I do not rely on Hive rewards and am happy to just keep on powering up so I can do more good.
Hive has real issues with retaining users. Many will give up when their posts get no responses in the form of votes or comments. Of course they need to engage themselves. Just posting will not gain you many followers. You need to be commenting. Looking at the Hive Engagement League posts by 
Even if you are established here you ought to be engaging in ways that benefit Hive as a whole. Just using automatic votes to maximise your curation rewards does not necessarily reward the most deserving content. We know that certain people (including me) are guaranteed many votes on any post they put out. Personally I feel a little guilty about this, but I have no say in how those people vote. I really do not mind if they switch their votes to smaller accounts. You can follow what 
I would encourage more manual voting. Giving a few big votes to some small accounts each day can really boost their confidence, especially if you can leave a comment saying what you enjoyed. Maybe some people are reluctant to do this for fear of making others dependent on them, but we really have to do something to improve matters.
Small accounts cannot do too much with their votes, but they can comment. I suggest you find people who share your interests so you can have worthwhile discussions. Use up your ten full votes each day on posts rather than comments as rewards are 'burnt' if they do not reach at least a couple of cents.
I am assuming this image is okay to use as it is nearly 100 years old.
We can complain all we want about how Hive is failing, but if you are not doing anything about it then it is inevitable. We all stand to gain if it does grow. Okay, so some whales may be controlling things, but their influence decreases as the number of accounts with HP grows. Get the rewards to those who deserve them. Sucking up to whales is not likely to get you that much anyway.
The future of Hive is in our hands. Get typing!
Hive five!