Hello to whoever may see this. I hope you are doing well. Earlier today I posted a couple things and then steemit went down right after, so, I got curious and went to PAL's discord to see if anyone knew what was up and I still don't know why that happened, but, some were saying they thought it was maybe related to blocktrades post earlier and then I discovered the post blocktrades made about not compromising with Justin which I will link below for anyone who may not have seen yet.
https://steemit.com/steem/@blocktrades/why-i-won-t-be-compromising-with-justin-sun
I made a post sort of predicting this split recently after I read ats-david's post expressing similar sentiments.
Now it looks official and I believe there will be an announcement tomorrow? Also, I was reading through the comments and it looks like blocktrades has perhaps "leaked" the name of the new chain. Blocktrades said in a comment it's going to be called "Hive" and then I read berniesanders post of support and the tag #hive was used, so... I'm pretty certain that is what is going on and the new chain is going to be called Hive.
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This post of mine may not be very welcomed by some because I have some criticism and I'm not too thrilled about the name. Which I find a bit extra ironic because I once had someone do similar with me and tell me that a name I picked wasn't a good fit. Though, to be fair I did encourage the community to change the name if they wanted to and I wasn't trying to force the name on them and I was trying to be as decentralized as possible.
First I want to express my criticism. And ask, is it too late to change the name?
I feel like we are getting started on the wrong foot when this seems like it's suppose to be largely about the "community", yet, it seems like the community in general was kept in the dark and had no say in what our name is going to be? Outside of the core group it seems who is leading us in this direction anyways because I know no one asked me, I'm not aware of any post about this and many people seem to still not know what the name is going to be and I dunno either, is this final...?
Shouldn't we do a Decentralized Poll and let the community choose it's own name in the spirit of TRUE community?
I like how the community sort of swarmed and stung off people who were trying to exploit us and I see how the name "Hive" works in that context, but, there's a decent amount of negative imagery that can surround a hive as well, especially in regard to a lack of individual freedom as bees are often seen as sort of "slaves"/"clones"/"drones" to the hive and the queen and I can see how critics will be calling us buzzing drones and clones and how bad that might look especially in the context of how many of us are suppose to be Libertarians and Anarchists.
I did Google the science of bees a lil more to familiar myself and some of the experts are saying that the queen doesn't rule the other bees like previously thought and that there's some kind of Democracy, yet, there's still a major perception of that idea among much of the world that bees are just worker bees for the queen and the term "Hivemind" is often associated with such and group thinking in negative ways..
On the Wikipedia of Hivemind it says that term may refer to this...
Groupthink, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in a group results in irrational or dysfunctional decision-making
Sheeple, a derogatory term referring to groups of people who mindlessly follow those in power
It's mentioning irrational behavior and is literally including a "sheeple" reference on the potential meanings of this word... I'm kind of surprised in an unpleasant way that this name was picked to be straight forward and I did not want to spend this much time writing a post today about such.
I'm all for individual freedom and not borg group minds. Why can't we have a name that reflects freedom better?
Oh and... I also really liked one guys suggestion that I read in the comments of the post I linked earlier of the name "Water" and the coins being like "drops of water" as it's sort of related to "steam/steem" and water is like one of the most vital and precious things we need in life.
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If I remember correctly... I'm pretty sure Dan originally came up with the name steem because he thought it would be a sort of similar kind of thing to the "steam" engine revolution and that the steem currency itself was sort of like "steam power" in how it revolutionized our world. Water goes good with that! But... Hive??? :\
Water and steam are both energy and movement and "power".
I don't wanna be seen as just stinging off attackers or being "busy bees" might as well be the "honey badger", but, something like WATER we can't live without.
I like the name water or something related to water much more than hive... Water is lifegiving, water is critical... And it's also formless in ways like Bruce Lee taught... It can take the shape of many different things. Why give our opponents a form to attack? Why not be formless instead like water? And try to become whatever we want to become instead of being limited to the rigid forms some kind of "network" so to speak, to put it in the nicest way I can think of.
Plus... I Googled a bit and it looks like there is already at least one Hive Blockchain company...
"Aiming to accelerate the development of the Blockchain sector, Genesis Mining partnered with Foire Group to go public and launch HIVE Blockchain in 2017."
Did the individuals who came up with the name "Hive" look to see if the name was already taken? They are a software company it seems and not a coin so it may not be a problem in terms of legality, but, still... It IS crypto blockchain related.
There's also a community on steem as well already called "The Hive". There could be legal issues with trying to take a name someone else already has in the same space IE You could probably name your company McDonald's if it's a company that makes water purifiers or something like that, but, if you try to be McDonald's and be a fast food place then you might have legal problems.
I don't know if this is an issue or not since both are in the same space which is "crypto", a lawyer can speak on that better than me. Either way even if there's not any legal issues in regard to this case, do we still want to pick a name that numerous other entities in crypto already picked? That will be seen as unoriginal and cause confusion to some extent I think? It seems like we should set ourselves apart and be more unique?
But, that's just me and I'm not trying to be unnecessarily difficult, I just think we could pick a better name and it looks like there's numerous other crypto "Hives" out there already.
In the end... I don't expect my voice or this post to change anyone's mind and I doubt more than a couple people will even read this since my page has been so dead lately, whatever happens with the name I think the technology and the community are much more important and I'll be joining you even if the name is "Hive".
I do want to say though... We had a lot of really questionable stuff done by steemit inc and Justin, it'd be nice to start off in as a decentralized and free of a way as possible in my opinion. I believe that if you want to do this right and get started on the "right" foot and gain more support and people who wanna follow, then allow the community to decide the name in a more truly decentralized spirit.
If you want better optics and for this to look like a more genuine anarchic/libertarian/freedom loving community, then letting us choose the name should I think make more people feel like that is the case and that they actually have a say and that their voice matters in this community as opposed to the possibility of the "seats of power" just changing a bit.
Also, think of the potential publicity. We've been in the eyes of the media a bit recently with people watching what's going to happen... We could further show the world the power of decentralization by letting the users come up with the name. It could be kinda historical in ways and really exciting. And if you don't trust the community to come up with the name, then what is all of this anyways? How much freedom is really here? I think we should be able to choose which direction we go as a community and the name is a significant part of that direction, even if it ends up being a weird bad name at least the community picked it and it was our choice, I think that principle is important and valuable.
Honestly it just feels weird that this was all decided sort of in private chats and groups and the community at large was never consulted or asked their opinion on what our new name should be. Doesn't anyone else find that at least a little bit ironic in a place which touts so much freedom and so many Libertarians and Anarchists?
Okay... Umm... I think that's about it for me for now. I need to get on to other things.
In closing... And... I'm being a bit playful/facetious here as I realize you can spin a hive or water in both negative and positive ways. But, with that being said... I like the idea of water more than a hive in this particular case. So...
We gonna be like bees and collect honey for the queen/farmers?
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Or flow like an ocean, free and open to splash and roam and create a "currency" which raises all of our boats in perpetuity? ._.
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Instead of stinging like bees, we could slam like a wave! A tsunami even!
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Water is also a representation of "love" to some, including myself. I think water/love is some good symbolism.
Also... What about the whale/dolphin/minnow etc? How does that fit into a hive? I'm not sure, but... It does fit well with water!
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Or... Could it be something else maybe? Could we possibly get a chance to vote on this? I doubt it, but... Who knows...? I would personally feel better about this if we all had a say in the name.
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Etymology of Hive for the curious.
"hive (n.)
Old English hyf "beehive," from Proto-Germanic *hufiz (source also of Old Norse hufr "hull of a ship"), from PIE *keup- "round container, bowl" (source also of Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit, cave," Greek kypellon "cup," Latin cupa "tub, cask, vat;" see cup (n.)). Figurative sense of "swarming, busy place" is from 1630s.
hive (v.)
of bees, etc., "to form (themselves) into a hive," c. 1400, from hive (n.). Transitive sense, "to put (bees) in a hive," is from mid-15c. Related: Hived; hiving."
Modern quick Google definition.
noun
noun: hive; plural noun: hives
verb
verb: hive; 3rd person present: hives; past tense: hived; past participle: hived; gerund or present participle: hiving
place (bees) in a hive.
(of bees) enter a hive.
Phrases
hive something off — (especially in business) separate something from a larger group or organization, especially from public to private ownership.
"the weekly magazine hived off by the BBC"
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********Update
I found my way into the Hive discord and asked for more information and they all seem to be pretty supportive of the new name and I was told that the name is essentially baked into the code already. Maybe in the future we could rebrand, however, I think that would hurt the coin and I don't think I'll personally be campaigning for that myself. Maybe, I don't know for sure... Yet, I dunno. This is not a great feeling that it appears this was done in secret without the broader community having any input. I thought we were trying to get away from that kind of stuff...
I just got a comment back from blocktrades and he/she said something to the extent of a group voted for the name and that in the future he/she will explain how it can be a good name. But, that doesn't change or address all the points I've made and it appears as if the new chain will be birthed out of secrecy and a somewhat decently centralized name the broader community had zero input on.
I asked blocktrades some more questions, and if I get any answer I will report on the answers in a future post most likely if I feel they are worth sharing.
