As we are at the HiveHub Hotel Guatemala, I have been contemplating a lot about HIVE, about building things, about life in general, about tourism, about sustainable development, etc etc etc. There is a lot of interesting things to think about in this life, and I have gotten myself into a position to see more, experience more and learn more - especially about "Hive" (by which I mean the community of people, not the token) in the last six months.
It strikes me as interesting that, notwithstanding the chance I might manage to build a successful business with cashflows, "building on HIVE" has been a net negative to my portfolio and wallet, my energy and stress levels, even my confidence in "where all of this leads".
Last cycle, I sold the top, some Hive but also a lot of layer 2 "things" including Splinterlands - and it strikes me that this time around maybe I should have just done the same. While "building during a bear market" makes some sense, it was probably a pretty dumb decision financially. It would be much more profitable to hodl my tokens, build nothing and complain that no one is doing anything about the things we all see wrong. I probably would get more votes on my posts by complaining, but maybe have less friends - I'm not sure, its just a guess.
Of course I cannot fix all the problems we have on Hive in six months, but we have built a number of tools, fixed issues, pushed repositories, forked dead projects, and generally been filling holes in the Hive ecosystem - some of which have appeared since we forked from STEEM.
Here are some of the free ones; its a good thing that "I need these tools" because I think there are about 3 people on HIVE that have logged in to even see the premium tools we have built. Now PeakD team is asking for a quarter million dollars to build - among other things I'm sure - a YFE/Breakaway Community/MyCommunity (each and every one open source already) clone; I have decided to unvote everything with their name on it.
My KE is now over 6, and I am heading to 12 - I don't think I will make the high score, we found a few accounts OVER 9000!!; but it will be a high score for me. I spent my bags building on HIVE and now - watch this magic - it matters le$$ to me if HIVE ever goes up in price.
It would have been a better decision financially to sit on my hands and complain - probably continuing to post content about my farm - but now the only way out is through - through to a profitable business model.
I have learned a lot, worked with a lot of good people, met some new friends, travelled a bit and generally decimated (literally) my wallet in exchange for some life experience and maybe, maybe some brand recognition. It has been fun, as money isn't everything in this life. I said from the beginning - I don't actually need money, because I grow bananas. And its true. Big numbers on the internet do not motivate me much - I want to change the world. And part of changing it, is understanding it. And I feel like I understand a lot more now, as a sociologist.
Now I am in Guatemala, watching Buttcoins and Starkerz put their money where their mouth is - and all I can think is: "boy it sure seems smarter to not be that guy".
If there were something better, I'd be using it: but HIVE is what we got, and honestly is really fun tech. Its a pretty great database for the most part, and I'll definitely keep putting stuff in the blocks. I want to live in a world with permissionless parallel economies, communities and communication. That's why I don't just live on the margin and grow bananas. That's why I spend money and build open source technological tools with my friends. It takes time and effort to do that, and so we put time and effort in.
But I think the people on Hive - for the most part - are not my customers, though I must admit we have picked up a number of supporters, maybe they are just friends. But mostly the people on Hive are just a bunch of people doing the smart thing I couldn't bring myself to do - waiting, hodling and complaining.
