Although I am prepping myself to get balls deep into POB what I'm not about to do is trade my Hive stake in exchange for POB tokens just to gain instant status. Don't get me wrong, I have 100% faith that the POB community will flourish and if current bigoted attitudes continue to lead the way on Hive I've no doubt the POB token value will gain even more ground over its predecessor. With all that in mind, it may seem contradictory for me not to exchange some of my Hive stake for POB and in all honesty this could turn out to be a costly decision. Nonetheless, I have made my decision and it's a decision I am happy with, which is what matters the most. You see, over the past 4-years of traveling onboard the Steem/Hive/Leo/POB bandwagon I've allowed others to make important decisions for me. For example, when Steem got fucked by Justin Sun and out of that illegitimate relationship came Baby-Hive, I dutifully rolled up my sleeves and joined in the ruckus. Hey, it was great fun, I can't deny that, and the feeling of unity was absolutely overwhelming. I mean come on, it isn't often enough that "The Little Man" gets one over on the corporate machine and an opportunity of kicking a multi-millionaire in the balls is something never to be missed. But, as I said, I was overwhelmed by the moment and my clarity of thought left the building, only to be replaced by a tribal mentality. So, like many others, I marched off to the crypto-bank with my big brave balls swinging between my legs and proudly exchanged my entire Steem stake for Hive...Not the shrewdest financial move I ever made, but, then again, it serves me right for not listening to the voice that was screaming away inside the cavernous chamber I call my head.
Like my #beersaturday buddy, 
So again I find myself at the sharp end of another learning curve, promising myself never to get burned again. At least with CUB I can earn back some of my losses through the fantastic APR rates, and just the experience alone of learning how to invest in farms and liquidity pools will pay dividends in the end, so all is not lost on that front. Basically, what I've taken away from all this is that if it isn't your own battle, or your heart isn't truly in it, you should think twice about getting involved. Learning that is worth more than any financial gain, and that's for damn sure!
"You either win or you learn"...
And finally, it appears I am starting to learn from my mistakes. Because like I said at the beginning of this post, "I am not going to exchange my Hive stake for POB". I made that mistake after the Steem/Hive fork and if I've learned nothing else I've at least learned that you never know which token will make it big, REGARDLESS OF HOW LOUD AND SEDUCTIVE THE CHEERLEADERS ARE. However, this certainly doesn't mean I'm not committed to POB, in fact, it's quite opposite.
Over the past few months, I've seen a resurgence of the darker side that lurks within this blockchain community, and by that I am referring to flag-wars. I've never liked the idea of flagging a post, even when it's done by someone like me who carries little weight behind the action, but I like it even less when I see powerful profiles abusing this feature in a vindictive and spiteful way. I get the idea behind flagging and when it's used to prevent spam or reward abuse then there is a real case to be made for it. Sadly and somewhat inevitably, flagging was always going to be used to bully and silence certain accounts and this is something I just can't abide by. In my opinion, if you don't like the content of someone's post you have two choices, you either scroll on by or you voice your opinion within the comment section of that post and have it out like two grown adults. I can only speak for myself but I imagine many hold a similar perspective, which is that I came to Steem to get away from controlled social media platforms and I supported the Hive fork away from Steem because I was informed that Justin Sun desired to apply similar controls upon our decentralized community. So it seems bizarre that certain individuals have begun to try and control what appears on the trending page.
OK, rant over, I've said my piece on this matter and I'll leave it there. What will be will be and for the most part I think Hive is still a fantastic place to be. However, a lot of people came here because they value freedom of expression and if they feel that is being taken away those people will react accordingly...
For myself, POB is a breath of fresh air and a place to escape from the negative elements I've begun getting hung up on. So, it is in the spirit of a fresh start that I will begin my journey on POB. Partly, I'm starting afresh for the reasons I stated earlier, but the main reason for wanting to build my POB stake from scratch is because I want to feel that excitement again, the same way I felt it when I first began on Steem. I want to have that fire in my belly, that eagerness to build my stack so I can earn my seat at the table. From now on I will be posting as much as possible using the POB front end and I'll certainly do my best to become an active member of the community. I have a lot of hope for POB and I look forward to seeing the frontend develop into something much more unique than what it is currently. With all that has gone before it, POB has some solid foundations to build upon and hopefully, the community will use its experience to ensure that the integrity of POB is never forsaken.
I remember something that someone once said during a call to action where Hive members were encouraged to do their best to get Hive into the mainstream. While the majority of people were getting excited(Me included) and thinking of ways to promote Hive, a calm and collected voice simply said "Be careful what you wish for"...
There is nothing wrong with success but when it comes at the cost of what you stand for you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it. I'd much rather be a fish in a small but clean pond, than a whale in a swamp.
