Happy Saturday everyone !
Here's my weekly update; @alonicus/saturday-savers-2023-progress-report-week-6
On the topic of helping Hivers in need, I believe that's actually a really tough one with quite a bit of hidden complexity. I'll start with a couple of questions which would need to be asked;
- What do they need ? Is if money (crypto or fiat), or practical help (e.g. humanitarian aid after a disaster), or emotional help (e.g. due to some life trauma like a death in the family, illness, divorce etc.)
- What timescale is the help needed on ? An ongoing health or financial issue needs a steady response over a potentially extended timescale, while an earthquake or volcano needs a response that's primarily urgent humanitarian aid. This is complicated by the nature of Hive, which tends to be a slow compounding build-up.
- How do we verify the person and the need ? I'm sorry if this sounds cynical, it's not meant to be. But I'm aware that if people think there's a pot of free money, there's always someone who will take advantage. I believe Hive actually has a significant advantage over legacy social media platforms here, because if someone has a validated account, a good reputation score, and we can see regular posts that tell us a bit about them, it tells us they've been around for a while and are very likely a "real" person.
As for how we can help, I can think of a few ways, although some of them would need proposals and development work.
- At an individual level, we could just send HIVE or HBD. That's no different to sending cash.
- We can also delegate HP, but the issue with this is that it assumes the recipient is able to be active on Hive to make the most of it, and it generally generates relatively small amounts that compound over time.
- Just being there for someone to talk to or get advice can make a difference in some cases. I'm really torn on whether Hive should have a DM capability; on the one hand it enables personal contact without the whole world seeing it (useful if you wanted to give someone a mobile number or address), but on the other hand, it creates all kinds of potential for misuse and abuse.
- At a higher level, and we're now getting into areas which would need new development, Hive could have a centralised emergency delegation pool. It risks creating all kinds of complexity in terms of determining how it's used etc, but an outline would be something like Hivers delegate to the pool (in the same way we can delegate to Tribe tokens etc). In an emergency situation, that pool could be delegated onward. It might be a large enough delegation that the recipient could temporarily earn enough to live for a little while, or even be set up that the earnings could be used to buy humanitarian aid - which means among other things a big push to persuade merchants to accept HBD in exchange for blankets, food, tents, etc.
- Another option which would need development would be to be able to delegate HBD. The delegator would keep the HBD, but the interest would be split 50/50. Again, some effort would be needed to make it easier to convert HBD earnings into fiat, but in some parts of the world, the interest on 1000 HBD could be just enough to provide meals for someone for a month.
I'm sure there are other options; we already know Hivers are a selfless and generous bunch, it's just a case of ensuring that generosity isn't abused, and creating mechanisms to deliver enough help in ways that are useful. Also, a balance of not straying too far from our core purpose as a social media/gaming/crypto place, while also recognising what a huge PR and recruitment tool this kind of thing could be.
Aaaand... I've written another essay.....🤪