I still can't believe that in just four short months, I'll be celebrating six years here on Hive. My oh my, where has all the time gone. That old saying "Time flies when you're having fun" couldn't have been any truer than living it on our favorite little spot on the blockchain.

How have you made it through so far? Maybe a little like me, developing into a battle-scarred veteran long ago inured to the up and down cycles of the market, helping to steer the ship of Hive straight into the wind towards the safety of the next port.

I can still remember when things began to turn around for me and I started to gain some traction on the platform. It was the realization that writing an excellent wasn't enough.

You know that old saying about a tree falling in the woods and nobody being around to hear it? Yeah, I know. We have to get out there an actually engage in order to be "noticed." That was the missing ingredient for me back then, while as now, always critically short on time.

I usually have just enough time to write the post and then hang around for a short time before having to head out and take care of things, or collapse into bed spent, but happy about having given birth to yet another post which may help attract new people to Hive.

So now that I have a window to do so-before school, work, and real life intrude by grabbing me by the neck and shaking, I've decided to make use of this time and, as they say; Strike while the iron is hot.

I remember once reading a post from Task, where a new person asked him what in the world does a guy have to do to get noticed around here?

His response to "go out and write 500 comments, then get back to me," is something that has always stood out to me. #Value4Value you know! Will sharing 500 thoughtful comments make a difference? I'm sure it will! :)

Join Me In The #500CommentChallenge

So my plan, is to aim for exactly that in the #500CommentChallenge over the next week to ten days on both regular Hive and LeoFinance #Threads. I'm not sure if I'll count the Threads as actual comments, and likely won't, we'll see (seems like too easy of a way out, and I want to populate the posts themselves, to reward the authors for their hard work, so will mull that over).

You guys know me by now; we're not talking about junky, thoughtless comments that don't add to the conversation, but thoughtful engagement, proving one has actually read the Goddamn post before commenting.

Thoughtful engagement helps to build community, and makes a place "stickier" for both new and old members alike. Nothing makes a person feel more welcome as a newbie, than to see a nice, juicy comment just waiting to be acted upon underneath a post that they've worked so hard on.

They're like the seeds that fall from a healthy tree which grow into young saplings of their own. That's how we grow a forest full of Hive.

So we're gonna give this a try starting today and before the next family emergency rears it's ugly head, to me, the "responsible one" in said group. Here we go! :)