Whilst many of us say we're in this for the community, we wouldn't stay if it wasn't for the rewards, unless the platform worked in some other magical way, but then it'd just be Facebook. However, it's a little balance of both, I believe.

Whilst people are critical - have been critical - of the Abundance Tribe autovotes, recipients were chosen because they were good authors who added to the platform in some way. Now of course people might disagree with that, but HIVE was always meant to provide a home for everyone, no matter whether you like their content. I've seen Abundance Tribe remove autovotes when people were taking advantage of it and, say, posting soley memes, and certainly withdraw support when people acted in consistantly violent ways. Everyone I knew took the responsibility of producing good content for that vote seriously - they took time over their work and made sure it was worthy. And for some people, in some places this vote made an incredible difference to their lives - they were able to pay the rent, buy themselves a phone when previously they couldn't. The Natural Medicine editorials are a case in point. They were upvoted well because of all the hard work behind the scenes commenting, curating, retaining people, making them feel valued AND they weren't cut and paste editorials. It was a devastating blow when we were downvoted for a stage because it wasn't just a financial blow, it was an emotional blow for all the hours of work and good intention that went into it. So yeah, there's always a tension between financial and emotional reward here. Some whales don't take into consideration how much the rewards influence people's real lives or let their personal bias about particular content influence their voting patterns.

I always felt incredibly honoured to be supported by you and AT, Kenny. I've always found you incredibly thoughtful, intelligent and measured, and willing to interact with others in a respectful way. The content AT has supported is needed just as much as crypto is - of course, I'm biased as I believe we probably need posts about freedom, truth, love and the like even more in this current climate (when have we not?). I'm under no delusion this is for everyone, but it doesn't behoove those who profess to support HIVE to supress the voices that make up it's whole. You are valued. I've never seen you act with anything but integrity and a post that speaks out against what happens here is just as important - if not more so, ;p - than a post about cheesecake.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Love this Heinlein quote! It struck me that one of the things I've loved about this platform - and why, perhaps, I'm still here - is that HIVE helped me increase my skill set! Reflecting on the years here, I think of what it's provided me outside the financial realm - I've learnt many things about permaculture, for example, crypto (of course), co-operation and leadership, writing and poetry, and so on and so forth. The fact that's it's given me some financial gain as well just helps with that as well - it paid for my course on how to grow mushrooms, for example, and helped pay off part of my mortgage. It also helped open my mind in many ways to all kinds of things. TSU is part of why I stayed here and probably become more skilled up than I would have in the communities I'm in in real life (sadly - lol, I must find a new tribe!).

I really didn't want to comment here as I've had my fair share of drama but I felt it was important to say thanks for all the positive influence you've had on people here, including myself, and the things you've enabled to happen, like the support of alternative health on HIVE.