Enjoyed pretty much this post, and I 100% agree with that, I trust more many hive members (who struggled to build their own reputation) rather than people in real life.

I always say to newcomers (specially people irl when talking about hive) that this isn't a 'blog to earn', is more about a 'real social network' where connections come first, and monetary reward (if any), always later.

Ps. Hivefest?