After more than seven years on this blockchain, I can say with absolute certainty that I know nothing about HIVE. Just when I think I have it figured out, something comes along and makes me question everything that I thought I knew.
I work with a guy who likes to say:
"he doesn't know what he doesn't know"
More often than not it is in reference to one of our superiors, but I feel like it fits really well with myself in relation to HIVE.
I wrote a post a few years ago called something like "A Tale of Two Posts". In that particular piece, I took two posts I had written the week before and I did a short comparison of them to each other. One was a post that I took a lot of time writing and had a whole bunch of really great photos to show off in it. The other post I still took a bit of time to write, but not quite as much as the other one. It had some nice photos, but in my opinion they didn't hold a candle to the other post.
I was a bit shocked at the end of the week to find that one of the posts had earned a mess of upvotes and the other post had earned virtually nothing. They had both gotten lots of comments and things like that, but the divide between the payouts was pretty apparent.
I really never figured out why that was the case, and I probably never will, but it was a stark reminder of just how mercurial the eyes of HIVE can be.
I find myself in a similar situation now. If you look at my account, you will likely question why I would be complaining about rewards. I'm not. That's really not what this post is about. It is interesting how the tides of HIVE seem to shift here and there every now and then.
I can remember a time when a food post like the ones I have been putting in my grilling and smoking community would have gotten a ton of love. Hence the photos I am sharing in this post.
Lately however, it seems that food posts in general have fallen a bit out of favor. Part of me wonders if I am just not getting the right eyes on those posts. Part of me feels like it's all a bit of chance and a matter of the right person stumbling upon it at the right time.
Then another part of me thinks, maybe I just shouldn't care about the rewards I get and just do it because I love it. While I don't disagree with that point of view, I also am not going to lie and say I'm not here for the money. While I do love the community I also hope that one day HIVE can be a nice supplemental income for me. It might take two decades, but it would be cool to see that dream achieved.
Like I said, maybe I am expecting too much. I know that HIVE is a relatively small footprint when it comes to the Internet at large. I'm not saying I expect my grilling and smoking community to have a million members like the ones on Facebook do, it's just frustrating to see the work you pour your heart into get very little recognition.
I know, I'm preaching to the choir here. I think the main difference is always going to be how you react to it. Will I get bitter? Will I stop posting grilling and smoking stuff? The answer to both of those questions is no. While I am not unfamiliar with being bitter, this isn't one of those occasions.
For me, it's more of a point of reflection. Hence the reason I posted in the #reflections community. What could I have done differently? Is there a different set of tags I should be using for food posts? Why doesn't anyone besides me post in my community?
Which brings up another good point. I think many people pigeonhole themselves into specific communities because they know the rewards are going to be better there. Even I am guilty of this. I started posting my grilling posts in the 
How sad is that?
I'm not ashamed to admit it, it's kind of pathetic isn't it?
How do you get that traction though? Barring a community incubation bid from a group like 
Like I said, I don't know what I don't know...
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or 
