Hive is a blog platform built on a blockchain to prevent censorship and reward engagement with a cryptocurrency token system. Anyone can join, post anything they want, and curate posts however they want. One typically curates posts by upvoting, reblogging, and commenting, but downvotes are an option, too. How can you earn upvotes and feedback but avoid downvotes?
As an active manual curator myself, I advise against downvoting a post just because of disagreement with the content or dislike for the author. Disagreement should ideally foster discussion and debate in the comment section. If that doesn't work, you can mute people you find obnoxious. Instead, reserve your downvotes for people trying to game the system for profit through dishonesty or low-effort content, and avoid being one of these bums yourself.
Please note that my second example includes some retro pinup pictures. Someone out there will inevitably get their knickers in a twist if I don't offer some warning. Mildly NSFW (Not Safe For Work)? We have more scandalous book covers at the library though.
"The trip to Italy was SO FANTASTIC! Got a great landscape shot, and a tour of the Pantheon, too!"
Except, no. The images above are from here and here. These at least are freely usable under the Pixabay license. I have seen some people just repost pictures from someone else's commercial photography website and claim they were their own work, though.
I'm not a fan of IP laws, but I am a fan of honesty. If it isn't your content, decency demands you give credit where credit is due. Besides, reverse image search is a thing, and you will be discovered as a plagiarist eventually. Just don't.
"Check out these hot pics I found online! I'm totally allowed to share them! Those hyperlinks credit the source!"
Only slightly less dishonest is the "I'm trying to monetize a basic ctrl-c/ctrl-v post" demonstrated above. I linked to the image source page where the creator is credited and license information is listed, but really, a quick image search alone is not exactly a creative endeavor on my part or yours.
There's a lot of this hidden in the NSFW posts behind the opt-in-to-view toggle button. "But I'm a licensed affiliate marketer," they say, as they copy/paste their way to double-dip crypto rewards and porn referral kickbacks. If you're doing this, stop. If you're using the proper tags and giving credit, decline payout if it isn't your content. Don't try to monetize it.
This is less about avoiding downvotes and more about earning upvotes. Quality content tends to attract an audience, so while I cannot guarantee success, here is one tip I can offer. Don't do this:
"An evening photo of storm clouds."
That actually is a photo I snapped with my phone. It is grainy, the street light glare at the bottom is, well, a glaring problem. The brief description says nothing about why I took the photo or why you should care. Remember, you are creating content to entertain and inform other people, so put some effort into it.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not condemning people who have potato-level tech like my phone or are learning the skills as they go. Just remember to add value if you want people to find value. For example, that photo is from Monday evening as a storm front blew in. We had high winds, power outages across the region, and a sudden drop in temperatures. The following Tuesday had graupel as our season continues the shift from autumn to winter. A proper post on the subject might include more pictures and information about that.
Most successful bloggers post at least 2 or 3 times per week, and many post almost daily. If you belong to several communities with daily challenges, you might even post 2-3 times per day, but very few find real success with that kind of output. The worst spammers are usually the copy/paste crowd because so little effort is required.
How often should you post? I don't know. Find a pace that works for you, but focusing on quality necessarily takes some time, and thus naturally slows your rate of content creation. You'll find your best stride that way.
This should be simple. Behave yourself. Be civil. Don't make threats, don't resort to personal attacks, and so on. Name-calling generally makes you look juvenile at best. We all occasionally resort to intemperate language and snap judgements, but work toward becoming a better person anyway.
If you're not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through PeakD. If you use my referral link, I'll even delegate some Hive Power to help you get started.
