Reflection: Hive at One — Here we Are, a Year Later!
I debated for a while, as to whether I was going to bother with an "Obligatory Hive Anniversary Post," and eventually came down on the yes side of the equation because I realized that I am actually happy to be part of this strange and brave social experiment.
I also thought it interestingly symbolic that today — March 20th — marks the spring equinox here in the northern hemisphere, and with it the "official" arrival of spring.
The symmetry of the "seed" of Hive originally having been "sown" on the first day of spring is not lost on me.
So I used the oracle known as Google to find my first post here in our new home... which hit the blockchain at 2020.03.20.23:20 (interesting number, yes?) and promptly went on to become my potentially least seen publication since sometime in early 2017... because I pretty much got it out there before very many people had arrived.
Signs of spring
Relief, in a Sense...
The sort of community move that created Hive does tend to be extremely stressful and is then followed by a period of relief where people just tend to collapse into a heap and do nothing for a few days.
I sound like I have "done it before" because I have been part of it before, in a distant past where a soon-to-be bankrupt community message board hosting service gave community leaders ten days to migrate everything — and figure out HOW to migrate — to a new home of their choosing.
It's exhausting. And then you feel relieved.
On a personal level...
For me, the move to Hive was less about a political statement than about a more selfish 20 years of experience with "new management" on "content for rewards" sites erasing or archiving years of creative investment and effort, for no reason other than they had "a new vision."
I was concerned that Justin would want to create a gaming or gambling platform, migrate the bones of Steem to Tron, and I'd get to watch 1,200 posts vanish into thin air. As I have experienced before.
NOT OK!
Always a Skeptic...
In early 2017, I was skeptical as to whether Steemit would make it, mostly due to the swarms of greedy locusts that invariably appear when there's an opportunity to earn a few cents. That has been an issue for content creators and site hosts since the first "micropayments" were issued in the late 1990's.
A year ago, I was skeptical as to whether Hive would make it, mostly due to the fact that "splinter" communities almost invariably fail because "copies" of the original don't get the necessary traction to outshine the original. The initial enthusiasm wanes after a few months and the community slowly withers away with a whimper.
Hive became one of the rare exceptions because so much of the active community was behind the project... and so we ended up creating history, rather than becoming another marker in the cyber boneyard.
And that's pretty damn cool!
Community Building Takes Time
So here we are, a year later!
My personal experience has been that the greatest "enemy" of communities is... impatience. Everybody wants everything to be ready and done, preferably yesterday!
And that just doesn't happen.
Hive is just one year old, and things are going pretty well, I'd say. People tend to forget Hive is one year old, because their accounts are from 2016-17... but Hive is only ONE year old.
In another four years, we'll be "expert" at this! I plan to still be here for that...
Till then, be patient!
Thanks for reading, and Happy Anniversary, Hive!
How about YOU? How do you think "we" are doing? Has Hive lived up to your hopes and expectations? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20210320 15:52 PST
0217/1460
Its been a wild ride from us both starting on Steemit around the same time. So many have come and gone now. To me it is sad to see some just vanish, without a word. I guess it is funny how virtual life does seem to echo real life.
Some just grow bored with it all, I suppose... others came at a time when it was "normal" to make $25 a post and grew disgruntled when that was no longer the case.
To be honest, I had my out and in phases with previous blogs and even Facebook in the past. As you said, it all just echoes life.