Newbies Initiative Task 1: Experiences and Challenges

Hello Hivers! This is my first task in the February Newbies' Initiative contained in this post and we are expected to write on our experiences and challenges on the hive blockchain community. Here goes...

Your Experience And Thoughts On Hive
May 2020 was when I discovered that I could be paid for creating quality content and I have not looked back ever since. By the end of 2020, I sought a place where I could further grow and was introduced to the Hive blockchain community. Why do I use the word "community"? I'll explain more in a few.

Since joining Hive, I must say my experience has been an exciting and interesting one. A friend asked how it was going, I responded that I felt like a child surrounded by sweets or candies, struggling to decide which one to pick first.

I searched for communities on poetry and creative writing and subscribed. I saw contests everywhere, I was impressed. I was introduced to The Terminal community and came upon @melbourneswest's hp delegation competition. I sent in my entry and won 250 hp delegation for two weeks! This gave me the needed boost and morale to explore other communities with growth as my goal.

Thereafter I got to know about Smile community through @kenechukwu97's initiative task, I joined the discord and have been receiving lots of smiles ever since.

The hive network is truly a community because I see it filled with vast skills that I could use to build myself. I see meaningful relationships being built and everyone is always ready to help support others.

I know I have found a place to interact and learn more, to grow intellectually, to build my wallet and to enhance my crypto experience.

Confusing Issues About Hive And Challenges You May Have Experienced

Navigating The Hive Community - This was one area I really struggled with at the beginning. I was faced with various Dapps and did not know whether to use peakd or hive.blog or the ecency app. Eventually, I settled for all three! LOL! This is because I see some posts on hive.blog but can't read them unless I use the hive.blog page. I know most newbies struggle in this area too.

Use of tags and posting in the right community - I remember preparing a post on inspiring children to act on their dreams. I became confused as to the right community and tags. I rushed into the Terminal to ask but did not get a response on time. The whole day was almost gone, so I posted it in the freewrite community! I later got suggestions for Ladies of Hive and The Lifestyle Lounge. Though I still struggle in these areas, but I believe I am getting the hang of it.

Exposure for my posts and how the reward system works - Initially, I did not engage much but have improved in this area when I was told that for almost every activity, there is a reward for it. So now I upvote, comment and reblog quality posts. This, I believe will get me the needed exposure for my contents.

What Way Can This Initiative Be Of Help To Solve These Issues

• To resolve the challenges that I faced at the beginning of my journey here, I would suggest that series of 'starter' posts could be written and a room opened in the discord channel for this purpose. These posts would be there and all newbies, upon joining the discord and initiative, would be directed to read through the posts. It would be like a library housing the frequently asked questions (FAQ) by newbies such that every other user can always return to this library to get answers to their questions.

• To give the newbies more exposure, I hope it would not be asking too much if I suggest that a curation post be prepared, highlighting some quality posts of newbies for the week. I believe this will draw more attention to the newbies such that after the initiative, they can stand on their own.

My growth on the hive community has been a steady one for which I am thankful to everyone who has supported me. I know I still have a long way to go and it's going to be an exciting journey!

I commend @starstrings01, @tripode and the entire team of the Smile community for this amazing Initiative. It's a brilliant one. Thank you for your support and encouragement.