Excellent opinion piece man.
You've expressed the human dimension: of time spent here, very well.
That's the perplexity of Hive.
Some celebrate it as the "Fb00k (social) of blockchain"
Yet others say that social is not what this is, or will make it a success story.

Either way though, all agree it's not yet finished development. The agreement too, is that rewards must be shifted to the second layer. When that second layer arrives that is.

This operation is however established so the amount of time it has existed, both as Steemit and now Hive, mean that it's at a crucial crossroads. Either be it or die.

I always held the view that Blockchain was going to be in development phase for a while. That 2022-24 would be the coming of age of Blockchain. Maybe even later with the state of the world. Because despite what many think (that censoring will make this stand out as an alternative) people above all want stability, which this system doesn't really represent.

In analogy, it's like the American Wild West.
You have Main St from the get go.
Essential businesses and services line that Street. The coming of committed masses then expanded on that (through difficulties too) to then establish actual economies and communities that then proceeded to develop into towns and meaningful hubs of innovation and prosperity.

That second layer (what SMTs promised long ago) is much needed. Your story and experience might be a more encouraging one.

If only that fat toad @ned didn't sell out and actually fund their development as he should have.