This post of yours has a very defeatist tone. Almost like you're saying "well there's not much moving with Hive so we early adopters need to take the L so that future users can enjoy the W (which is not at all guaranteed)."

I think Hive has potential but one thing I was thinking just the other day is that... Every DEV here is "building" something... but they're essentially all building 'a protocol of sorts' and then expecting future talent to come and make them useful.

@blocktrades = a hard fork that is too hard to finish (benefit to Hive: protocols for builders that may or may not be utilized by a bigger cohort of developers.)

@spk.network = a protocol for "decentralized free speech" which is highly buggy and losing user interest. (again, there's potential but not very mass user ready, will need years of development to be a true freedom fighter network.)

@peakd = open projects has again a bunch of things in development but at protocol level. STING I thought would become a crucial medium to keep Hive users connected but their recent posts has a very basic looking "app" and they're asking for others to come in and refine it for their users. Making it very easy for it to go the way of beechat. Meaning: not used at all.

@leo.finance = trying to perfect defi and dividends and whatever else can extract money from users but the man himself Khal has said... this is only going to pay off far down the road and ONLY IF YOU WORK HARD to improve it yourself also.

So on and so on...
So this is what I see on Hive, this is also what you covered in a previous post of "WEN" because after a while, as months, and years pass, even the most dedicated users start to see that these great things DO TAKE A LONG TIME to develop when you're NOT big tech.

And as I mentioned earlier, they're not guaranteed to even reach their intended potential.

Case in point: https://www.fundition.io/

A project which on paper and through a glossy presentation, looks to be a no-brainer on Blockchain... but... No. I can't tell if it's even fully dead or still got a heartbeat somewhere. But it's earlier rendition actually did have huge support from steemit heads and just like old @appics people thought they were witnessing the future of internet and morally superior "web3".

Butt, just like Appics, the delivery falls extremely short of what the "make-believe" glossy marketing products that they start off on promise.

I don't see HIVE breaking out to mainstream in the next 5 years. It will be a builders workshop and only here to attract bottom feeders and enthusiasts.

And then the thing this place (as steemit) began as: Rewarding Quality seems to now be a curse because almost all agree that there is no guarantee of Rewards even if you do add quality. What is expected of users is that they WORK and commit their time simply because we all need to continue believing "Hive is awesome".

That's never going to be a lure for mainstream. Or ever going to take the fight to big tech on any front.