I don't think it is any secret, that I love to write. So much so that I have had plenty of people over the years say that I am wasting my effort with all of this TL:DR nonsense because, ain't nobody got the time for that. However, I wonder a couple years later, what those people think now, have I wasted my time?
One of the arguments for not putting in effort into posting on Hive has been that they can earn more working a menial job flipping burgers. Yet the seem people who say this seem to systematically ignore the fact that they aren't flipping burgers, don't want to flip burgers and if they were, probably would spend the little they got on trash anyway. Not only that, they also fail to mention that in order to flip burgers for a menial wage, one has to be at work when told and do what is told. Menial and low-paid, doesn't mean it is fun.
I have fun writing.
Like, a massive fucking amount of fun.
I enjoy it and as such, instead of being told when and where to be or what to do - I can write 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if I choose and there have been times I have actually almost done that. These days, I limit how much I post by cramming a lot into a single piece to satisfy my desire to write, but not creating four or five posts a day, because people see that as spammy.
Sometimes I wonder about what is spam though, as while I get the idea that people hold where they feel that one person shouldn't post or earn that much, they also think that a post should be rewarded on the content itself. I am pretty sure that when I was posting more often back about three years ago, the majority of my content was still better than 95% of the content on the platform and most pieces got decent engagement on them.
The question is, is it spammy if a person can produce a lot of content, or is it spammy because of the rewards involved? I know that there are plenty of people who post because they get rewarded and why not? The rewards are there after all. However, I also know there are many people who post to get rewarded, without caring whether what they are posting is engaged with or useful in any way. A lot of the people don't care about their content at all, as long as they get a payout of some kind after 7 days.
But, I think these are the burger-flip-creators, the people who don't care what they do or offer, as long as there is some kind of paycheck attached and for the most part, at least in terms of creating content, they might not exactly be the most skilled amongst us. However, this is what more than 95% of the content on the internet is, as most of it is generated by people who aren't actually looking to earn and then when they find Hive, they bring more of the same here, and are able to earnsomething on it. Something is better than nothing, but something doesn't necessarily inspire great content.
However, paying people more, doesn't inspire great content either, it just over-rewards crap. But, rewarding good content does inspire more good content. This is not a chicken or the egg problem, the skill, talent and ability has to be demonstrated before the pay day. No one signs a contract with a football player or a singer and then checks to see if they can kick a ball or hold a note.
But, everyone expects that they are going to get "discovered" soon after joining, so they only really need to put effort in for the first few months. It is like getting past the trial period in a job by working hard, and then slacking off after - except, most don't even make it through the trial period. But, most people aren't content creators are they? How many people really are here?
Most are only creating digital content because they get paid to do so and if they didn't they would be far less enthusiastic about it. As I was saying to someone on a post last night, I think that now that I am going, I don't think I could stop writing even if Hive didn't exist. It is part of my process, part of the way I parse the world, part of me and my content is part of me too.
Getting paid is a huge bonus for me, especially since it has given the opportunity to invest and have a chance to improve what has been a financial life of struggle for so long. I am super lucky to have the opportunity and I am for damn sure not going to throw it away by shitposting for reward because for some period of time, the autovoters won't notice. Fuck that! I have those autovoters for a reason and it isn't because I have bruises on my knees.
I will again if I have to, but I don't want to ever flip burgers for a few hundred dollars a week, even if it will take me a quarter of the time to get it. I would far rather spend five hours a day and seven days a week writing for Hive instead. Not only because of the freedom of time I can use, but because what I am doing is valuable - at least to me. It is also potentially valuable to those who read it too, if they are willing to make it so. value is not in the eye of the beholder, it is in their action.
But, the great thing about Hive is that while it is a content distribution blockchain, it doesn't care what that content is. As we are currently seeing, Splinterlands creates the vast majority of transactions on Hive, and that is content too. People are making money from Hive in various ways because of transactions that have absolutely nothing to do with blogging. The problem for many there though is, *it takes at least 10 dollars to buy a spellbook to start - user pays to play. This isn't a problem, unless you aren't willing to spend or don't have ten dollars you can spare.
But, you can get a Hive account for free in various ways and try your hand at content creation, but for most, it isn't likely to make them rich - because most just don't have what it takes. But, that doesn't mean a person can't do well from Hive, as long as they are willing to learn all they can, they might be able to find many other ways.
Eventually though, everyone no matter if rewarded or not as a blogger, has to come to terms that the votes are going to dry up and the taps turned off, as tastes change and of course, the rules of the blockchain could shift in a hardfork. For example, what would happen if the rate of inflation was halved tomorrow? what would happen if HIVE become an infrastructure token and a secondary token was issued instead? What would happen if the price went to 10 dollars and never came down again? Any of these things can happen, but people assume that whatever the conditions are now, will be the conditions tomorrow.
Don't take any of this for granted.
As you can see, there is no real point to this article, but there are many points embedded into it that you might latch onto. Some will focus on the ideas of what is spam, or what is over-rewarded, while others will look at the governance or what they might think are the evils of autovoting or the memories of working a crappy job. But, most people who manage to get through this 1400-odd words should be able to find something within that they could extract and build upon and maybe even, make some decent content from. Not everyone though - as most people don't care about any of this, as long as they get some votes.
Flip that burger over. It's burning.
You had one job.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
