The News

As we end the year $HIVE is more or less where it was in January, but has dropped on the charts. At least it got back into the top 300 this week.

I know everyone would like it to go up, unless they are planning to buy a lot more, but there seem to be some obstacles to that. There are not too many options for buying it. I used to use the Blocktrades exchange, but that shut down a while back. The regulations make it hard to operate that sort of business. I hear it is particularly bad in the US. Do we see any hope on that front?

I still think we can keep trying to recruit users. We need more content creators and not just those who will churn out low value 'diary' posts. I think having more creative people (musicians, artists etc) is important as they can post original works here. Then we need people to appreciate that work with votes. We need to get a buzz going around Hive as a place for creative people to earn, especially as they will struggle to earn on other platforms.

There are a couple of end of year endeavours running to get appreciation to the good Hivers. The Hive Highlight Challenge is about writing a post on what you have enjoyed. The closing date is tomorrow. The Hive Creators Awards lets you vote for Hivers in various categories. I think voting just closed, but then I have been out all day.

Friday Follows

This is a bonus #FollowFriday to end the year. These are people I have got to know here and I follow most of them. They will get a share of the post rewards.

• @sokal has just returned to Hive after a few years away. He is really into music and sent me some guitar picks for my collection.
• @deeanndmathews compiles lists of featured posts. That is something like what I do with these posts to get attention where it is deserved.
• @blocktunes are working on making Hive a better place for musicians. As that is one of my main interests I see it as having great potential here.
• @killerwot is a writer and musician who has really taken to Hive. He aims to do a post every day this year and is almost at that goal.
• @sidekickmatt has put out loads of comics on Hive this year. That is the sort of great content we need.
• @papilloncharity is a great photographer of wildlife and nature in South Africa. He has been posting consistently since the early days.
• @silviabeneforti is an artist in Italy. She and her husband @paolobeneforti have been sharing their work here for years. I met them both at Steemfest in Lisbon.

The Dog House

I have featured various things and people in this section over the year. Hive is far from perfect, but we have to defend it from the abusers who just take. There are basic rules about not impersonating or stealing work that should be obvious to all. Those who deal with such things need to be fair in how they treat offenders.

I will just say that we all deserve to be in The Dog House if we do not try to promote Hive and help new users. Every person who gives up on it could potentially have added something. In a time when a lot of other social platforms are getting worse we have an opportunity to offer an alternative, but the engagement really does matter. Go for quality rather than quantity of comments. If you do not bother to read the post then it tends to show.

The End

Did you meet your goals this year? I was hoping to reach 100k HP and went well past that, partly due to buying some. I hope to earn even more next year and will keep doing my best to support the community.

Happy new year!

The man behind:

@tenkminnows: Helping good Hivers level up @proofofbrian: A bot that checks for tag typos #BritList: A monthly list of Hivers in the UK