The Problem with HIVE

Backstory

I joined the STEEM blockchain over seven (7) years ago. Like many back in those days, I lost my keys. My original account was @sargento . I made friends and enemies alike. That is the way of social media be it Facebook™️, X™️, or HIVE.

My first two good friends I met online were @guiltyparties and @shadowspub . I still consider both very good friends, but this post may peeve them off a bit. Oh well. So much for walking on eggshells. I don't do it!

Like many, I moved to the forked version of the Steem blockchain, the HIVE blockchain. The fork took place because of the aquisition of the SteemIt.com company by the infamous Justin Sun and his subsequent effort to centralize the blockchain along with his cohorts.

Personally I never agreed with the way the witnesses/blockproducers of that time interacted with Justin Sun in the meetings (Yes, I did attend a couple of them and am not going by hearsay). Our witnesses at that time were rude and crude. The only one I remember being diplomatic was @aggroed. I may be wrong, but I believe he was the only one to keep things on a postive note. Most of the conversations I followed were very confrontational (I should know as I am a very confrontational person myself! Mean knows mean) .

Now I co-founded along with @guiltyparties and @anarcho-andrei the first iteration of the Veterans Community Discord. It has changed quite a bit as have the members and administrators over the years.

I have also, over the past seven years or so been involved and supported a number of projects. Not so much financially as I am by no means a whale Moreso through my promotion of the projects as I am a very persistent person.

The Problems

Hivewatchers

Now as I said, one of my first good friends is a fellow known as @guiltyparties. He has always looked out for me. A job in itself! I am a very emotional and quick tempered temperament, whether sober or drunk.

Guilty and also @patrice are the folks behind @hivewatchers and @spaminator (the spaminator account pretty much just curates these days) . @hivewatchers is sort of a police for HIVE blockchain blogging. They look for plagiarism, vote farming, blockchain scams, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the production of posts.

Quite frankly they do more harm then good. I wonder what AI they use in their chasing away new users? @cheetah was the worst. For 95 HBD a day they are getting paid from the Decentralized HIVE Fund, that crew needs to do more manual policing.

I have seen posts with so many disclaimers in order not to be targeted by the self-appointed Mounties of HIVE that it was half the blog post! Jesus on a falafel, what a mess! I would suggest refer and realign the brain housing group.

HIVEWATCHERS will not call out any Whales, they never have. I have read many posts by whales and they are much more notorious for plagiarism, shit posting, etc. On HIVE what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.

Decentralized, Really?

Hive uses a delegated proof of stake (DPOS) protocol for its blockchain and is governed by block producers known as witnesses. It is pretty much set up like a modern day democracy with voted governance to make the big decisions on the direction of the blockchain. That is on paper. Don't let it fool you though.

The HIVE blockchain, much like the USA, is more of an oligarchy. Voting is based upon a persons stake (HIVE Power). There is no democracy here at all. Now the majority of the whales are good folk, don't get me wrong. On the other hand, there are some greedy biscuit-eatin' SOBs.

Selling votes, downvoting anything that hurts their fragile egos. Always worried about the reward pool and who is getting too many dust votes. Getting mad at projects that use automated comments on people's posts. Tell me they don't do the exact same thing but on a grander scale!

I would name names, but why? Do your own research. Plenty of HIVE tools out there to see what I am talking about.

There is no suggestion I could give to improve this situation. HIVE has strayed so far from the vision of @danlarimer and pretty much has become a money grab by some of the powers that be.

So much for the Magna Carta as regards HIVE and the USA, but don't let me run rabbits about our next King or Queen here in the States. Thank you US Supreme Court for making the USA into a monarchy. President George Washington is probably rolling in his grave. (sarcasm is all mine)!

Well I am going out to smoke a little Indica so I can sleep. Like many of the developers, witnesses and users on his blockchain I have a combination ADHD, OCD type personality. Therefore; I need a crutch to keep me sane. Indica is better than Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) drugs. I will take it over Seroquel, Lithium and Haldol any day!

Have a great week!