I finally found out how to use the Python library Beem for retrieving data from the Hive blockchain.
I wanted to do this for a long time to solve a pain point that had been bugging me, which is the difficulty in finding posts worthy of reading for consumption in a nice seating. I consider the act of sitting down to read great posts after great posts a luxury!
Especially with a nice coffee.
However, the way Hive posts are shown on the various platforms tends to be in running order. That means "good" posts are potentially interspersed with "bad" posts, such as in the "Latest" section.
Although on the Leo Finance platform there is a "Popular" section that supposedly sieves out the "better" posts, I still prefer to read the "Latest" section to look for good posts for some reasons. One reason is that I don't know how that "popular" posts are chosen. I don't want to miss out on "unpopular" good posts lurking within "Latest".
In a way, we are facing a recommender problem on Hive.
Given the wide range of topics and varied quality of the posts, finding quality posts of interest is like finding a needle in a haystack at times.
As more new people come on board, this problem is going to get way worse. New Hivers tend to contribute lower-quality posts while they find their way around in Hive. This also means that other new Hivers could perceive that most posts are of poor quality if they see many posts under the "Latest" section as mostly trivial. They could leave Hive and that curtails the growth of this ecosystem.
I personally experience this problem as well. Sieving through many posts for read-worthy posts can be stressful and unenjoyable. At the same time, I am not willing to let Leo Finance decide what are good posts for me.
I think this is a problem Hive has to deal with at some stage. YouTube has its infamous algorithm, and most of us know it exists. To some extent, it is useful. Could we see a similar thing in Hive or Leo Finance? Do we want it too, given the open and decentralized nature of this platform?
In the meantime, I am taking it upon myself to create the recommender system for my own use by harnessing the Hive blockchain data using some Python programming magic.
Well, just let me report that after creating this post:Snapshot of new posts with top earnings - 9 Oct 2022, I sat down and read all the currently high payout posts at-a-go, with a nice coffee.
It felt great! This is how reading Hive posts should be. Reading and sieving at the same time is so painful!
Granted, it is currently based on payouts, and the listing could well be the same as what Leo Finance offers in the "Popular" section. But there are more metrics that I can access to fine-tune the selection, say based on authors, topics, and keywords. These are something I would attempt in the future.
Let me know what you think about this issue. Do you enjoy the experience of reading good posts one after another too? How would you like me to create that collection of good posts to go with your coffee?
P/S: This is not financial advice, and please do your own due diligence before investing.
If you read this far... and if you are a like-minded Hiver who is on the path to learning more about Hive and crypto investing, and if you like to be tagged when I write such posts, I welcome you to leave a comment below and let me know. We can form an alliance to support each other's growth.
You might be interested in this post, @jacoalberts, @young-kedar, and @vickvan!
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