The Brit List: October 2023

Introduction

I started compiling these lists in December 2020 to continue something Hive account@pennsif used to do as I think it helps bring the community together. Since then I have found lots more people to include. @HiveSQL has been really useful for this. I use Python with beem (by Hive account@holger80) in a script to generate what you see here. Some of the post is manual as I like to include some commentary and I will keep tweaking it. I am open to suggestions for improvements. I aim to do a fresh list on the first Saturday of each month.

Logo by @barge

I also rely on the community to let me know of more people to include who may not have obvious account metadata. You can find me in the Hive account@teamuksupport Discord to discuss it or drop me a comment.

Those based in the UK can use the #teamuk tag for an extra vote. If you see people using it on non-relevant posts then drop them a friendly comment to point out that is not encouraged.

The list will include anyone living in the UK as well as Brits who have moved abroad. Inclusion on this list does not mean I recommend people, but I will remove accounts if they are known to be abusing Hive or are falsely reporting their location. If you have lost control of your account through phishing or other means then let me know so that I can update your entry.

The code to produce this post is on Github. People are welcome to use it for their own regional version.

Previous editions

What it means

The numbers above are for those who had posted or commented in the previous month. In the lists below I break each region into three lists:

Active as above.
Just voting. I will guess that a lot of these use automatic votes, e.g. HiveVote. Previously there were some that appear to have been compromised as they vote for known abusers. Those are now excluded until I hear that they have recovered control.
Inactive in the last month, but most have done something since Hive started. We can hope to bring them back.

I want to count people rather than accounts as some have several. I can include those in brackets if you want. Let me know if you want me to update your listing. You can be as specific as you like about your location. Otherwise I will use what is on your profile.

Commentary

The good news this month is that I optimised my script so that I can generate this post in minutes rather than hours. I changed it to use Hive account@hivesql instead of a Beem function that was less efficient. There may be a quick way to do it with Beem, but this will do for now.

The not so good news is that we have the least people active since almost the start of me doing this. That is despite lots of new people joining Hive and me finding others who had been around for a while.

The north of England gained a few, but not much difference elsewhere. Nobody posted in Northern Ireland in the last month.

This is obviously a bad trend. There are various reasons people give for giving up on Hive including:

Hard to use. Well, once you get past how to use Hive account@keychain it is not too bad. The front ends help you with post formatting.
Low $HIVE price. It is not so great now, but way above the 6c we saw a few years back on the old chain. The crypto markets are generally in a slump due to government regulation and with some people saying that the crypto 'fad' is over. However, you can be earning here every day in various ways. If the price should go up then you stand to profit from it.
Lack of users and content. Those two may be related as you need good content to bring in users and those producing the content want an audience. I have heard from one comic artist that they make more on Hive than on other platforms where you may need a big following to make anything. Anyone can earn something here. If you can bring some of your fans across then both sides benefit.
Issues converting fiat <-> crypto. There do seem to be less available options now and some do not offer $HIVE conversion, but with those available you can get it indirectly. I have a Wirex card that lets me buy crypto.
The 'downvote wars'. I do know people who have quit over this and so it is a factor. I just think the problem may be over-stated. Downvotes are a tiny proportion of votes on Hive, but if a few big accounts take against you then all your rewards will be gone. Those who do fight abuse need to do it sensitively. If someone has been here a while then they should be given a chance to redeem themselves. You can be sure they will put people off coming if they feel hard done by.

What other reasons do you think cause people to leave?

Meetups

Hive account@shanibeer is getting Hive discussed at a conference in Leicester next month.

Please alert me to any meetups, no matter how small. If two people arrange to meet in a pub then that counts. If you publicise that then others may show up. You can see that we have people across the UK.