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Hello Hivers,
For English version, please roll down.
上週迎來我在Hive鏈上的十年紀念日。一如以往，
十年，是一段很長的日子，對人的一生來說。對鏈，對加密貨幣來說，更是幾乎接近於永恆般的存在。而這最後一個比喻，看起來是一種行業內的調侃，其實，也帶著一絲悲傷。尤其是，當人生的十年，碰上鏈的十年。也許現在跟最開始的時刻都一樣，Hive仍然穩定、持續地在三秒的節奏下出塊，但，社區裡的人與事，都已換過幾輪，就連說故事的人，都變成了故事本身。
就我有印象以來，每次的週年紀念，沒記錯的話，我都會寫篇文章來表達慶祝或感謝（比較尷尬的是，雖然我知道文章都在鏈上好好的保留著，但似乎沒有好的工具可以讓我很快速檢索找到他們？如果有的話，歡迎告知）。但這一次，十周年，或者有時稱為十歲生日，這次我想以一個老而忠誠的社區成員身分，好好地，坦率地，不再感謝誰（儘管我真的心存感恩），回顧這十年的風雨陰晴，把我心裡最真實的疑惑，與各種平常不太說的情緒，真實地放到這裡來。我希望，用這種方式，來紀念，我這過去十年的鏈上光陰，致敬讓這一切存在的所有人與因緣。
說在前頭的幾點是：我會用中英文來寫，英文會用AI輔助翻譯後修飾。然後，我能夠說的都是我的經驗，因此自然沒辦法對於偏技術面的事情，或是見證人相關的事情，有太多著墨，那並不是我過去在這裡的範疇。再來，儘管我在Hive的大社區裡，也看著很多整體社區的事情，但在次社區上，我的Hive經驗應該至少有8成以上發生在CN區，所以我的回顧自然也會更多在這裡面。最後一點是，我就不再使用S開頭的名稱，儘管那是我們曾經的名字。
這將會是一篇很長的文章，但跟我曾經在這裡投注的心力比起來，仍然無可比擬。喔對了，文章形式上，我也將會回歸最簡單的風格，也不會有太多圖，不使用表情符號，讓我們能短暫地回到那個單純的年代，文字本身就是全部。
鏈的開始，應該是2016年的3月左右吧，創辦人Dan跟Ned，據說是在Old Dan (
消息迅速傳遍全球。當時，我大概開始聽說且認真研究比特幣幾周的時間，正在驚訝於這些區塊鏈的東西這麼神奇的時候看到這些新聞，對於平常就喜歡寫東西的我來說，馬上興致勃勃，註冊帳號，上來一探究竟，自然，當時全球瘋狂湧入，熱鬧非凡，看到許多有趣的東西，且真的看到可以寫作拿獎勵，只是，似乎都輪不到自己？對，文章真的很多，但接近零的獎勵幾乎是常態。但你又看到還是很多人拿到許多獎勵，例如最早的時候，寫怎麼打好喝的水果奶昔似乎很受歡迎... 於是我後來也學著，我記得我寫了一篇榴槤香蕉奶昔的，終於讓我突破0.00，大概拿到幾塊美金之類的吧？在網路上打篇文章，甚至沒有自己拍的照片，然後有看到了點你讚，最後那些讚可以換成金錢？那種神奇的感覺，至今難忘。
當時的我，也許偶然可以得到一點讚，但基本上很困難，本來已經漸漸想放棄，此時，CN區在我加入後兩周創立，連帶把我們說同一種語言的人們給聚集起來，這也從此改變了我在Hive上的生存狀態至今，也讓我認識了這鏈上這社區裡更多美好的人們。這十年之間，有太多太多的事，說也說不完，但有些我在後面會接著說。
十年的時間，放在人生每一個階段，都是一段長到無法短說的時光。
從2016到2026，我的這十年人生，也是風風雨雨，你甚至可以說，跟Hive也有非常緊密的關係。首先，我的兒子TT，也是我這十年文章中的重要主角，在這十年間從小嬰兒變成青少年，有許多跟他的記憶，都被我放在鏈上。然後，個人的工作職場，在這之間並不算十分順利，也曾很天真地幻想Hive可以幫我解脫其間，讓我不必再為生活去勉強工作，或就是來幫Hive工作等，但這個幻想現在看來仍然還是幻想，雖然曾經在某些時刻，看起來有一點點契機的感覺，但那都過去許久了。Hive的寫作也讓我很開心，外出旅行或去吃飯，總是更熱衷於用影像紀錄生活，最後可能都會形成一篇文章，雖然Hive總是有作者多於讀者的毛病，但自己看開心也是很重要的。
我也在這裡看到許多人的人生變化。有人結婚了，有人生孩子了，有人病了，遭遇戰爭了，家人過世了，甚至，社區成員自己過世了... 全球芸芸眾生，悲歡離合，陰晴圓缺，每三秒快照，紀錄在這鏈上，在見證人的磁碟裡。其實，老實說，臉書也一樣乘載更多更多這樣的人生紀錄，不因為中心化而不是。但區塊鏈的Hive，給了我們一種永恆存在的安心感，由所有人共同擁有的安定感，像是為集體記憶這種理論上的概念，提供了一個真實的實踐方案，這應該就是Hive最高的價值，由人來共同運作的去中心化機制，乘載人們最珍貴的人生百態。
除了發個人生活、想法的文章之外，我也曾經在這裡做過好多的事情。現在來盤點一下，主要是那些不是只有我，而是跟其他人一起合作的事情：
除了鏈上一起做事之外，鏈下線下的見面 Meetups，那可也是本社區的一大精華啊，畢竟見面這件事，在人與人的互動上，還是有極高的價值啊！更何況，Hive上的人第一次見面，通常的感受都是：第一次見面，像是已經認識很久的朋友見面！有做過的人都知道。
但說完曾經的開心與熱情，還是要回過頭來說說，為什麼，好多人現在都不在了。見面的文章，甚至照片，都還能找到，人呢？帳戶已多年無動靜，聯繫管道也斷了，對照出當年開心的認識。
回想這一路，Hive上的朋友們，其實就是一波一波，隨著幣價，一波換過一波。如果我簡單回顧下，CN區剛開始時有一波，後來Ned大力加持HP時又一波，新手村有一群人等等... 好多我覺得素質很不錯的人，願意付出，很有能力，很可惜，最終沒能留下來...
我們當然也可以說這就像是人生一樣，總是有高低起伏，但我覺得更多的，是Hive自身的問題。當我這麼說的時候，並沒有在把手指指向什麼，因為，Hive就是我們所有人共同呈現的結果。
那我為什麼還在呢？
這個問題，是很值得說的。我有沒有想要離開呢？離開的想法倒沒有，但我也曾經安靜了半年，因為生活裡的其他事情。而且，我是比較幸運的特殊例子，受到更多的照顧，讓我比較不會覺得回到當初那種怎麼寫都沒有點讚的狀態，但我完全可理解那些剛來的人的感受。
也就是說，我也是可以理解離開的人的心情。Come for the money, stay for the community 這句話，其實很不容易，至少對大部分人很不容易。你在生活中的親朋好友，他們的穩定存在，仔細想想，都有他們的合理基礎；而在區塊鏈上，在Hive上面，我們的合理基礎其實主要來自於寫作與獎勵這件事情，當價格持續滑落，獎勵帳面數字看來變得微不足道，那麼維持互動與投入，會越來越難成為合理的動機。就像上面所說的，這裡畢竟不是臉書。臉書是建築於現實中的人際關係，但Hive則完全是一個建立在經濟關係上的全球性社交網絡，當經濟性消退，這個網絡就會失去活性，這是難以迴避的事實。
那麼，我的 stay 得到了 money 嗎？老實說，當然是有的，但是，因為我對這裡的信仰跟忠誠吧，我其實沒有變現太多。用 PeakD 上面有統計的 KE 值來說，我目前是 0.79（真實數字其實還更低），這數字的意思是，我在這裡所有曾經得到過的獎勵，只有我現在HP的八成，所以看起來我還倒貼了這平台。當然這不是真的，因為還有HBD轉換或是幣價等等因素，我其實是真實地有受到Hive的經濟支援的，但信仰太深與太過天真，造成我沒有在高點多出脫，反而是那些天天賣幣的人，現在可以笑我傻。
來吧！讓我們來談談這裡的問題吧！
我沒有辦法從什麼技術的層面來談這裡的問題。儘管技術是這裡很重要的關鍵內涵，但我始終覺得經濟模式才是一切的根本，當然，這也只是我個人長時間觀察的體悟。
我見識過高達 4 塊美金的幣價，也見識過長期在 1 塊美金上下的幣價，不過大部分時間其實都低於一塊，現在我們更跌到了比 0.1 還要低的地方，這裡已經是歷史低點的上方一點點而已。我當然也看過太多太多數不盡的 0.00 收入的文章，我也在很少數瘋狂的時刻，見證過一篇幾萬塊美金的瘋狂，我自己頂多經歷過一篇幾百塊美金，但這也已經是夠不可思議的高了。我時候回頭看看，會覺得自己當年怎麼那麼傻，會覺得這一切是有可能繼續的。
這裡最早開始的時候，跟現在對外面的訴求可能沒有差異太大。基本上，就是說寫作，或分享，可以獲得獎勵的概念，用這樣的概念來行銷，吸引更多用戶。我們必須要說，這樣的概念其實非常有吸引力，因為這樣的進入門檻很低，誰都可以寫作，創造內容，尤其是在這樣的年代，而可獲得的回饋，向上想像的空間卻很高。等到你真正進來參與，然後開始面對挫折，最後慢慢修正你的想像，最終得不到你想要的東西而離開，這是在這裡持續上演、長期以來可能沒有改善太多的典型情況。這也是諷刺的地方，我們是寫作分享的平臺，但是這裡的作者卻往往比讀者還要多。
這強大的咒語，為什麼失效？
其實不用太多的知識，也知道這樣的模式是難以持續的。為什麼呢？因為我們鼓勵大家進來分享個人的內容，我們似乎也是以優質的內容為推崇的方向。這一切看起來都很合理，但問題是，優質的內容之後的故事就斷掉了：就算我們很理想地讓鯨魚們的點讚，或什麼樣的機制，能夠讓優質的內容浮出水面，獲得合理的獎勵，但，後面接下去呢？
優質的內容如果很理想地獲得了獎勵，按照我們所宣傳的理念，作者去賣出Hive來獲取實質獎勵，就是個天經地義、不該被反對的行為。如果故事停在這裡，那麼作為一個整體，有什麼人想要投資在一個持續獎勵優質內容的平臺呢？顯然，故事的下半段必須要出現才是完整的：篩選出優質內容之後，這件事能夠怎麼促成持幣者願意繼續持有Hive？這個概念的簡單理解，有點類似報紙產出優質的內容，於是報紙的影響力增加，於是在報紙上做廣告具有吸引力，於是這間報業公司的股份也會更值錢。我們不一定要利用古老的廣告概念，但我們鐵定要為持有 Hive 的動機找出更有力的連結，否則，我們的幣價就只能隨著Crypto大環境而浮沉，隨著投機性而得到救贖或落入深淵。Splinterlands遊戲的出現，原本是另一個可能的有利連結，這一條連結就跟寫作幾乎八竿子打不著，但是如果有利於社區，又有什麼不可以？可惜的是，這條路線似乎隨著區塊鏈遊戲的消沉，也漸漸看不到什麼契機。
我不是什麼很厲害的專家學者，上面的分析，如果你待夠久，大概也都可以瞭解。上面聽起來十分的悲觀，似乎我們的前景看不到什麼出路。不過我總感覺，其實只是我們還沒找到那條路。我的意思是，這整個大方向看起來真的很厲害，我總覺得，一個可以把人聚集起來的網路，總是有機會去發揮更大的經濟影響力。這也是我看到世界上一些地區有比較強的 Hive 社群時，總是感到很高興，希望他們能夠走出自己的路，一條能夠持續自我發展的路，而不是永遠看向大鯨魚手中的HP去生存。不過我不知道，似乎還沒有真正蓬勃發展起來？
誰能夠真正解開 Hive 的封印？
再講一個很坦率的事實：在 Hive 上面，說的永遠比做的更多更好。
不用擴大解釋我所說的這件事。我的意思是說，Hive 上面有太多超越我想像的事情被做出來，有很感動人心的，有讓人充滿神聖感的，當然也有說了一堆、做了很少的。這其實是很自然的，因為我們都距離遙遠。你真正做了什麼事，或者你打算要做什麼事，既然是在 Hive 上面，當然就是想要獲得支持跟資源，而這些都要靠你說的功力。
也會有很多人在這裡抒發他對於 Hive 的期待，應該怎麼樣怎麼樣、什麼東西做得還不夠好等等。就像我現在在這裡說一堆天馬行空的想法，卻從來不動手開始"做事情"，除了說之外。老實說，這也沒有什麼。這本來就是一個言論的天地，講你的想法沒有問題。
有一種關於社區發展的未來的說法是，這是所有大家的責任，所以我們也看到很多人認同，或者自己就去做，去跟周邊的社區推廣Hive這樣的行為。我沒有完全否定這個想法，我可以理解它的理想性跟合理性。
我在這裡只是想點出一個真正的現實，那就是：Hive的發展路徑，其實是來自於關鍵的少數人在決定。你可以有很多的想法，你也可以做很多的批評，但是到最後，這就是這個鏈的真實現況。請注意，當我在說現況的時候，並沒有代表我是失望的。這就跟很多人對這裡的理解錯誤一樣，在這裡點讚的影響跟你的 HP 成正比，不是跟點讚的數量正比。這就是POS的特性，這天生就是這樣的。沒有Stake，沒有Power，但說話沒問題，沒辦法審查言論這也是大致上正確的，但就這樣而已。
去中心化，這一個在現在看起來，已經有一點談太多的概念，它就只是區塊鏈社群的特性，也因此具備一定的優點甚至缺點。反過來說，中心化這件事情也被賦予了過低的價值。要談中心化與去中心化，必須要看你在談哪一個層次的事情。
我認為在發展與治理方面，我們的中心化還不夠。比特幣網絡是很去中心化的，但是這個鏈已經很久太大的變化。以太坊的治理，過去跟 Vitalik 與基金會很有關係，雖然他們近期也在慢慢改變。更不用講現在世界上成功的一流公司，它們根本就是個完全中心化的概念。如果，我們要做跨世代的先鋒，我們要創造此前不曾存在過的運作模式，在人類的過往歷史裡面，幾乎沒有以群眾的方式，能做出這樣的事情，即使是有群眾，初期也有非常有力量的領導者在帶領。
Hive早期當然是有帶領的人，這也是我們存在最早的理由。Hive幾年前從上一個鏈脫胎換骨過來，也是精彩的一個戰役，那一次，我們看到社區精神的展現，非常令人懷念。但那是生存被逼到邊緣的突發事件。現在我們面臨的是如何轉變邁向更能有自我發展動力的未來，這非常需要企業家精神、洞察力、商業敏感度，以及對於我們社區的深入洞察。這不是三五隻巨鯨在群組裡面，你一言我語能夠創造出來的東西。
我非常相信，鯨魚們都希望 Hive 能夠獲得成功，因為他們是真正的利益相關人，並不是那些小魚小蝦們，嘴巴上講著希望這裡成功，但是一拿到獎勵，就會把幣都賣光光的那種盼望。我既不在這樣的圈圈裡面，我也沒有在現實中創立過什麼很厲害的公司，可別忘了，我只是來寫一篇回顧十年的文章。但如果你看到這裡的話，而你甚至是一隻鯨魚的話，我希望還是能給你一些什麼刺激，讓你們幾個在大戶群組裡面可以多想一想。
我們可不可以仿照現代企業的運作？股東會跟董事會也是一種 POS DPOS，但董事會會聘任 CEO 來帶領這間公司，CEO 在這段時間內就會有資源獲得授權，來做一些他認為該做的事，不用每做什麼動作就要跟董事會請示。我們現在的提案系統最近收到了很多的批評，我很開心有這樣的討論聲音，因為確實需要全面地來檢討。提案系統就像是把 CEO 要做的事都拆掉，一件一件事獲得授權，但是又沒有一個 balance and check 的機制來檢視它的成果，再加上提案與提案之間的 synergy 也沒有辦法好好地被運用。歷史上應該沒有一間公司這樣可以獲得成功的。
當然，我這個只是一個突發奇想，供大家刺激思考。畢竟 CEO 是一個在現代企業體系中的概念，要如何轉化運用在區塊鏈上，是需要有很多進一步的考慮。但是重點在於：你可以授權一個人來獲得更大的權力，但是這個權力是掌握在董事會和股東的手裡，這樣可以兼顧股權與效率，而不是像我們現在這樣股權安全無虞，但是效率卻難以提升而陷入發展困境。
我想像中的這個 CEO，他絕對不會說出例如以下這些觀點：Hive的價值來自於能夠抗審查（去說給投資人聽吧！）、努力讓優質內容浮現是我們最大的目標（請移駕去媒體公司）、每個Hiver都有為社區努力的責任（Make Hive Great Again？）...
我期待他可以談或思考：如何創造這裡面的正向循環？具有全球跨度的關係網路，該怎麼被Leverage？如何跟世界正在發展的新趨勢與典範轉移產生連結，與之共同改變世界？
該是結束這篇文章的時候了。我的人生在這裡度過了精華的十年。往前看，十年之後，我就有點老了。希望再過十年，我還能在這裡，在這裡繼續寫我的二十年感言。回想 10 年前加入的那一刻，從來沒有想過事情會這樣展開，這麼久，這麼深，而成為我生命的一部分。這真的是一趟很神奇的旅程，我不希望這趟旅程有結束的一天。我的人生大概肯定有一天會結束，但是這條鏈是可以持續下去的，如果它還在的話，希望能把它交給我的下一代。
嘿嘿，怎麼樣，寫的很感人吧！哈哈，一定要的嘛！這裡都是用說的嘛！其實我一點不關心Hive，我打算趕緊都賣了，有錢賺再上來忽悠鯨魚們 ...
這麼好的生意，肯定要希望能再撐十年的。
English version.
Hello Hivers,
Last week marked my ten-year anniversary on the Hive blockchain. As always,
Ten years is a long time in anyone's life. In the world of blockchains and crypto, it's practically an eternity. And that last comparison, while it sounds like an industry joke, also carries a tinge of melancholy — especially when a decade of your life aligns with a decade of a chain's existence. Maybe things look the same now as they did at the very beginning: Hive still steadily producing blocks every three seconds, calm and reliable. But the people and stories within the community have cycled through several waves of changes. Even the storytellers have become the stories themselves.
As far as I can remember, every anniversary I've had here, I've written a post to celebrate or give thanks (the slightly awkward part is that while I know all my posts are safely preserved on the chain, I haven't found a good tool to quickly search them — if you know of one, please tell me). But this time, for the tenth anniversary — sometimes called a tenth birthday — I want to do something different. As an old and loyal community member, I want to be honest. No more thank-yous (though I'm genuinely grateful). I want to look back at the decade of sunshine and storms, share my real doubts, and surface the emotions I don't usually talk about. This is how I want to mark ten years on this chain — a tribute to everyone and everything that made it possible.
A few things up front: I'll write in both Chinese and English, with AI-assisted translation and some light editing on my end. Everything I share comes from personal experience, so don't expect deep dives into technical matters or witness-related topics — that was never my corner of this world. Also, while I've observed the broader Hive community, at least 80% of my journey and interactions have happened within the CN community, so this reflection will naturally lean in that direction. And finally, I'll no longer use the name that starts with S, even though that's what we used to be called.
This will be a long post — but nothing compared to the time and energy I've put into this place over the years. In terms of format, I'm going back to basics: no fancy layouts, minimal images, no emoji. Let's briefly return to that simpler era, where the words themselves were everything.
The chain launched around March 2016, founded by Dan and Ned — legend has it, in Old Dan (
The news spread fast. At the time, I'd been seriously looking into Bitcoin for only a few weeks, already amazed at how incredible blockchain technology seemed, when I came across this news. Being someone who always enjoyed writing, I was immediately excited — signed up, and came to check it out. The world was flooding in. It was lively and fascinating. People were actually earning rewards for writing. Except... not me. There were tons of posts, but near-zero rewards was basically the norm. You'd still see some people raking it in — early on, apparently a well-written smoothie recipe could do really well. So I followed the trend. I remember writing a post about a durian banana smoothie, and that finally pushed me past 0.00 — maybe a few dollars. Writing a post on the internet, without even your own photos, having people click an upvote, and having that upvote translate into real money — that feeling was unforgettable and magical.
Back then, I'd occasionally get a little traction, but it was rare, and I was starting to think about giving up. That's when the CN community launched — just two weeks after I joined — bringing together everyone who shared a language. That changed everything about my experience here and introduced me to so many wonderful people. Those ten years hold more stories than I could ever tell, but I'll get to some of them below.
A decade, at any stage of life, is too long to summarize briefly.
From 2016 to 2026, my life has had its share of storms. You could even say it's been deeply intertwined with Hive. My son TT — a recurring protagonist across ten years of posts — has grown from a baby into a teenager, and many of those memories with him live on the chain. My professional life during this period wasn't exactly smooth sailing either. I naively fantasized that Hive might free me from having to grind through work, maybe even let me work for Hive. That fantasy remains a fantasy. There were moments that seemed to hint at possibility, but those passed long ago. Writing here also made me happier in daily life — going out, eating, traveling, I became more enthusiastic about documenting everything through photos, and those moments often became posts. Yes, Hive always had more writers than readers, but finding your own joy in the process matters too.
I've also watched so many lives change within this community. People got married, had kids, fell ill, faced war, lost family members, and some community members even passed away themselves. The full spectrum of human experience — joys and sorrows, gains and losses — captured every three seconds in block snapshots, sitting on witnesses' hard drives. Honestly, Facebook holds far more of this kind of life documentation too, and being centralized doesn't make it less real. But Hive's blockchain gives us a sense of permanence, a stability of collective ownership — like taking the theoretical concept of collective memory and giving it an actual, working implementation. That might be Hive's highest value: a decentralized, human-powered mechanism that holds the richest moments of people's lives.
Beyond posting about personal life and ideas, I've done a lot of things here over the years. Let me do a quick inventory — specifically the things I did with others, not just on my own:
Beyond on-chain collaboration, offline meetups were truly one of the gems of this community. Meeting in person always carries special value in human connection. And with Hive people, the first meeting almost always feels like reuniting with an old friend. Anyone who's been there knows.
But after all the warmth and enthusiasm, I have to circle back to the hard question: why have so many people left? The meetup posts, even the photos, are still there to be seen. But the people? Accounts silent for years. Contact channels gone dark. Such a contrast to how happily we once met.
Looking back, Hive friendships have come in waves — each wave tied to the price of the coin. If I trace it loosely: one wave when the CN community launched, another when Ned delegated generous HP to several members, a group through the newcomer onboarding village... So many people who seemed genuinely capable and willing to contribute. It's a real shame they didn't stay.
We can of course say this is just like life — ebbs and flows. But I think more of it comes down to Hive's own structural issues. And when I say that, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, because Hive is the collective result of all of us.
So why am I still here?
That's worth actually answering. Have I wanted to leave? Not really — but I did go quiet for about half a year once, because of things happening in the rest of my life. I'm also a lucky and somewhat special case — I've received more support than most, so I don't face that demoralizing cycle of writing into a void. But I completely understand how newcomers feel when they do. Which means I also understand why people leave.
Come for the money, stay for the community — that's not the case for most people. Think about the stable presence of friends and family in your life — that stability has a real, grounded basis. But on the blockchain, on Hive, our foundation is essentially writing and rewards. When the price keeps falling, when the reward numbers start looking trivial, it becomes harder and harder to justify staying engaged. As I said, this isn't Facebook. Facebook is built on real-world relationships. Hive is fundamentally a global social network built on economic relationships. When the economic incentive fades, the network loses vitality — that's a hard truth.
Did my staying get me the money? Honestly, yes — somewhat. But because of my deep belief in and loyalty to this place, I haven't cashed out much. My KE value on PeakD is around 0.79 (the real number is actually a bit lower), which means all the rewards I've ever earned here amount to only 80% of my current HP — so on the surface, it looks like I've actually subsidized this platform. Of course that's not literally true, because HBD conversions and price fluctuations mean I have genuinely benefited economically from Hive. But too much faith and a bit of naivety meant I never sold much at the highs — and the people who cashed out every day are probably laughing at me now.
Alright then. Let's talk about the real problems.
I can't approach Hive's problems from a technical angle. Although the technical layer is critically important, I've always felt the economic model is the true root of everything — that's just my personal observation from a long time watching.
I've seen the price hit $4. I've seen it hover around $1 for extended periods. But most of the time it's been below a dollar, and right now we're below $0.10 — just a hair above the all-time low. I've seen countless posts earn $0.00. I've also witnessed rare, euphoric moments with posts earning tens of thousands of dollars. My own personal best was a few hundred dollars, which already felt surreal. Looking back, I wonder how I could have been so naive as to think that level of madness could continue.
From the very beginning, the pitch to the outside world hasn't changed much: write or share content, earn rewards. Low barrier to entry — anyone can write — and the upside seems limitless. Then you actually join, face the disappointment, gradually adjust your expectations, and eventually leave without getting what you came for. This has been the recurring story, and it probably hasn't improved much over the years. The irony is that we're a writing and sharing platform where writers consistently outnumber readers.
Why has this powerful spell stopped working?
You don't need to be an expert to see that this model is hard to sustain. We encourage people to share personal content; we celebrate quality content. That all sounds reasonable. But the story breaks down after that point: even if we ideally surface great content through whale votes or other mechanisms and reward it fairly — what happens next?
If a writer earns rewards and sells their Hive to realize that value, that's completely in line with what we've preached — no one should object. But if the story ends there, who would want to invest in a platform that just keeps paying out for good content? Clearly, the second half of the story needs to exist: once you've surfaced quality content, how does that create a reason for token holders to keep holding? The analogy is something like a newspaper producing great journalism, growing its influence, attracting advertisers, and making its shares more valuable. We don't have to use that exact old-media model — but we absolutely need to build a stronger, more compelling reason to hold Hive, or our price will just float up and down with the broader crypto market, saved or sunk by speculation alone. Splinterlands was once a promising alternative connection — completely unrelated to writing, but potentially good for the ecosystem. Sadly, that path seems to have faded with the decline of blockchain gaming.
I'm no expert. If you've been here long enough, you've probably thought through all of this yourself. And it sounds pretty bleak — like there's no way out. But I keep feeling that we just haven't found the right path yet. I genuinely believe a network with this kind of human density can generate real economic impact. That's why I always feel a spark of hope when I see a regional Hive community that seems particularly strong somewhere in the world. I hope they can forge their own sustainable path — one that doesn't permanently depend on staring up at the whale's HP stack for survival. Whether anyone has actually gotten there yet... I'm not sure.
Who can truly break Hive's seal?
Here's another candid truth: on Hive, what gets said always outpaces what gets done.
I don't mean that harshly. Hive has produced genuinely remarkable things — some deeply moving, some almost sacred in their ambition. But of course there's also plenty of grand talk with minimal follow-through. That's natural when everyone is so far apart. Whatever you're actually doing — or planning to do — if you're doing it on Hive, you need support and resources, and that means making your case in words.
Many people come here to share their vision for Hive's future: what should be done differently, what's falling short. Just like me right now, throwing out ideas without actually building anything. And honestly? That's fine. This is a place for expression. There's nothing wrong with saying what you think.
One common narrative about community development is that it's everyone's collective responsibility — and you do see many people act on that, going out to promote Hive in their local communities. I'm not dismissing that impulse. It makes idealistic sense.
But here's the real structural reality I want to name: Hive's direction is actually determined by a critical few. You can have a thousand ideas and lodge a thousand critiques, but at the end of the day, that's how this chain actually works. And I'm not saying that with disappointment — just clarity. Just like how on-chain voting power scales with HP rather than vote count. That's the nature of Proof of Stake. No stake, no power. You can still speak freely, censorship is largely off the table — but that's about where it ends.
Decentralization — a concept that's been talked about so much it's starting to lose its edge — is simply a characteristic of blockchain communities, with genuine pros and genuine cons. Centralization, meanwhile, has been unfairly devalued. Whether decentralization or centralization is better depends entirely on what layer you're talking about.
In terms of development and governance, I think we're actually not centralized enough. Bitcoin is highly decentralized, but it's barely changed in years. Ethereum's governance has long been shaped by Vitalik and the Foundation, though they've been gradually stepping back. And the most successful companies in the world today are entirely centralized structures. If we want to be pioneers across generations — to create something that has never existed before — human history offers almost no examples of a crowd collectively building something like that without a powerful leader steering the early stage.
Hive did have leadership in its early days — that's why we exist at all. The fork that created Hive from the previous chain a few years ago was a remarkable moment, a real display of community spirit that I still look back on with admiration. But that was a survival event triggered by external crisis. What we face now is the challenge of transformation — building self-sustaining momentum. That requires entrepreneurial spirit, sharp vision, business instincts, and deep community understanding. It's not something that emerges from a group chat where a few big whales trade opinions back and forth.
I genuinely believe the whales want Hive to succeed — they have real skin in the game, unlike the small fish who talk about wanting Hive to thrive but sell every token the moment rewards hit their wallet. I'm not in that inner circle, and I've never built anything impressive in the real world — don't forget, I'm just here writing a ten-year retrospective. But if you've read this far, and you happen to be a whale, I hope something here gives you a nudge to think a little differently in those group chats.
Could we borrow from modern corporate governance? A shareholder meeting and a board of directors is itself a form of POS/DPOS — but boards hire a CEO to actually lead the company. The CEO is granted resources and authority to execute on their judgment without seeking board approval for every single move. Our current proposal system has been drawing a lot of criticism lately, and I'm genuinely glad that conversation is happening — it needs a thorough rethink. The proposal system essentially chops what a CEO would do into individual line items, each requiring separate authorization, but with no balance-and-check mechanism to actually evaluate outcomes, and no way to leverage synergies between proposals. There is no company in history that has succeeded by operating this way.
Of course, this is just a thought experiment to spark discussion. Translating the "CEO" concept into a blockchain context would require a lot more thinking. But the core point is: you can delegate significant power to one person while keeping that power ultimately accountable to shareholders and a board — balancing equity and efficiency. Right now we have equity safety but structural inefficiency, and that's where we're stuck.
The kind of leader I'm imagining would not be saying things like: "Hive's value comes from censorship resistance" (go pitch that to your investors); "surfacing quality content is our ultimate mission" (sounds like a media company to me); "every Hiver has a responsibility to grow the community" (Make Hive Great Again?).
What I'd want to hear them thinking about: How do we create a positive flywheel inside this ecosystem? How do we leverage a globally distributed relationship network? How do we connect with the paradigm shifts happening in the world right now — and help shape them?
Time to wrap this up.
I've spent the best decade of my adult life here. Looking forward, ten years from now I'll be getting properly old. I hope that in another decade, I'll still be here writing my twenty-year reflection. When I first joined ten years ago, I never imagined things would unfold like this — this long, this deep, woven into the fabric of my life. It's been a genuinely strange and wonderful journey, and I don't want it to end. My life will end someday, but this chain can keep going — and if it does, I hope to hand it down to the next generation.
...
Okay okay, that was pretty touching, right? Ha! Of course it was — this is Hive, it's all about the words! Truth is, I couldn't care less about Hive. I'm about to dump everything and come back only when there's money to be made, sweet-talking the whales...
A business this good, hellya, I definitely want it to last another ten years!
@deanliu，平常喜歡分享美食、旅遊、育兒、區塊鏈圈想法見聞，人生許多事以及腦袋裡無窮盡的想法 ~~~ 歡迎大家follow我，隨時留話聊聊交流！~~~😘
Hive CN區 是區塊鏈社群平台Hive上面的中文社區，這裡的人們很和善，這裡的大神很給力，歡迎來這裡玩耍社交，看看未來世界的模樣，希望在不遠的未來一起財富自由喔~~~😉