Trip to USA : Down to Business

Left to right: Hive account@jonknight, Hive account@instructor2121, Hive account@anarcho-andrei, Hive account@rhondak and Hive account@sircork

The purpose of the trip and the culmination of all the effort put into this endeavor arrived the next morning at 9 am local time to accommodate a live stream of the meeting to as many Hive account@thewritersblock members as was possible. We gathered around the lounge of the cabin, armed with an arsenal of digital devices, as Hive account@instructor2121 laid out what he and his team had to offer, and let me tell you, the more we heard the more we got excited.

Left to right@ Hive account@ladymaharet, Hive account@trishlarimer, Hive account@anarcho-andrei, Hive account@jonknight, Hive account@instructor2121's legs and Hive account@sircork

Hive account@sircork had traveled over to Gatlinburg in more of a social capacity, as well as to meet the remainder of the Hive account@noblewitness team, namely me as he had already met Rhonda and Andrei before. It soon became apparent however that he has an uncanny ability - usually using metaphors and stories of 'that one time at band camp' - to render technical ideas understandable to the layman and to see angles that may not have occurred to us.

Hive account@rhondak, Hive account@jonknight, Hive account@anarcho-andrei, Hive account@instructor2121 and Hive account@sircork

There will be an official announcement on the future direction of Hive account@thewritersblock in the coming week, but suffice it to say that Hive account@instructor2121 and his team will be building a new front end for Steem, for Hive account@thewritersblock and to our specifications with features not available on Steemit. The major difference is that the front page will only show quality posts - no trending tab here to buy a top spot for. The major benefit is to attract readers put off with the mess and the daily drama on Steemit, people who want to easily find good writing. Have you tried to search for fiction on Steemit? Good luck.

Andrei, showing us how long he wants to grow his beard (?)

But wait, there's more. As invested as we are in the written word, this new frontend will also feature top content from other creatives such as artists and musicians, a place to showcase to very best of the best. As I said earlier, more information will be released in the near future, but we at Hive account@thewritersblock are very excited for what is to come.

As the morning's business wrapped up, I finally got to meet Hive account@enginewitty. He is a super cool and very funny guy. He brought along a friend called Abi - Hive account@abigale, a Steem member who hopes to return to posting on the platform soon.

Famished from our early morning rise, most of us made our way to the Golden Corral for something to eat.

Hive account@catherine813, Hive account@jayna, me, Hive account@sircork with murderous intent, Hive account@abigale, Hive account@enginewitty, Hive account@rhondak and her husband Hive account@sk43 taking the photo

A buffet-style restaurant, there was much strange food on offer. I picked the least alien and had my fill. Over lunch we delved more into our direction as a community.