Money is part of the game, but let's take this music as musicians to the next level, don't be recycling beats over and over and over again.
- Xzibit -
Is there anyone anywhere on the planet that does not understand what recycling is and the benefits it has to the plant and every living creature upon it? I'd say not. With so much education and positive action around recycling, commitments from people like you and I all the way up to the very top level of governments, the message is slowly sinking in. Moving into the future hopefully the planet can begin to heal and we'll have a sustainable platform on which to thrive...But this post isn't about recycling of that nature.
I'm not here to talk about the platform every living organism relies upon for life; Earth. I'm here to talk about this platform. Hive.
Hive is monetised as you know; people are rewarded by their peers for posting content upon the blockchain with each user determining what they feel the reward should be.
That reward, the upvote, comes from the reward pool. People vote on others, a pledge as such, as the rewards are not owned by the recipient until the moment of payout that occurs seven days after the post is initially inserted to the blockchain. Up until that moment of payout the rewards pledged to any user can be removed in the form of downvoting; the user doesn't have the reward until the seven day payout, they have, nothing.
People downvote for many reasons including reprisal downvoting which is senseless; it speaks poorly of the character of those who do it. Mostly downvoting is done to address bad acting though, things like: Plagiarism, spam commenting or posting, copy/paste posting, identity theft, scams, image theft, recycling one's previous content and so on.
I came across a user who has been posting daily, maybe 40-50 words, telling readers about a post he previously posted. The user includes an image snapshot of the previous post. There's one below.
Latest post 22 hours ago (24 March 2022)
The old post he posted about (again) written Mar 24 2021
So, he's recycling a previous post, saying a few words about it and looking for upvotes from the community.
That's recycling and I chose to downvote the post, and every other like it going back to 6 days. Others have also downvoted it. I left a message saying it's recycling hence my downvote, just for clarity, however I get the impression this person knows exactly what it is and what they are doing. I'm sure there'll be some whinging and maybe I'll get a reprisal downvote, but...this user exits all the rewards and has almost no stake in Hive so I'm not too concerned...I have a lot of stake.
Over the (almost) five years I've been on the blockchain I've seen a few get caught out for recycling their own posts at some later date; they always rant and rave about it too, as if what they were doing was righteous. I guess the lure of doubling up their rewards, being rewarded for something they have already been rewarded for, seems more important than their integrity. Also, they must see themselves as much more important, worthy or deserving of those rewards than those on the blockchain who work hard devising new content for every post in a responsible and community-oriented manner...like you.
Recycling for the planet is a good thing to be doing, although I tend to believe it may be too late for the planet, and human kind already. But yes, recycling for the good of the planet it a worthy activity.
Recycling your own content on hive hoping to get financially rewarded for it a second time is a bad thing to be doing and, whilst people may get away with it for a little while, eventually they get caught out and, like the user above, will be marked...and may never earn again. It's a deep hole to dig oneself out of.
When users on hive engage in this sort of behaviour it hurts us all. It looks bad to those looking from outside in, devalues the efforts of those working hard at doing the right thing, demoralises other users and generally works against the blockchain and community.
This low-effort garbage is bad for us all and, in my opinion, people who do it, and people who support those who do it are also garbage. I make no apology for saying so.
Most people are afraid of downvoting even if they see someone abusing the community and taking from them - I had someone tell me so today. She has never downvoted and her reason is she's afraid of reprisal downvotes. I think that's a skewed way of thinking. If everyone did it for the right reason, consistently, before long there would be no bad actors left. You know? They would disappear to Blurt or some other place that tolerates their bullshit.
If the downvote is placed for the right reason, a reason that exists for the betterment of the community at large, the community will see that and, should a reprisal downvote eventuate, the community will respond to heal it. I know this to be true and I've seen it in action.
I'm not calling out for people to randomly downvote others, or even downvote those who truly deserve it but maybe, just maybe, you care enough to identify someone doing the wrong thing and let someone (me for instance) know about it so that they can act on it on your behalf.
This is our blockchain and it needs to be cared for, nurtured and supported by all of us.
There's always going to be those who do the wrong thing hoping to get away with it and sometimes they do, but if we're all working to be the best we can be, and stay vigilant for those bad actors, I believe we can make this place, which I happen to love, a truly great place to be.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
That's my new me-emoji above, showing off my vampire fangs
