Will it Grow?
It is entirely possible that over the almost nine years I have been on the blockchain, I have become jaded and untrusting of a lot of what happens here. I have seen so many different types of scams, so many initiatives that turned bad, invested and lost so much on projects that just died, or turned into something else entirely. As a result of experience, when I see something that looks even remotely scammy, my defences go up and I assume the worst.
If I meet people in real life, I assume best intentions.
Not randoms in crypto.
However, I asked for clarity on the SpendHBD initiative in an article yesterday, and @starkerz replied to many of the comments on the post and mentioned that he and @theycallmedan were putting together a video explaining the project. My biggest concern with any of these things is, is it good for Hive, or is it just another well-intentioned attempt to do something that gets leeched and costs Hive?
You can watch the video here:
https://peakd.com/hive-106130/@thedistriator/bjzefupi
The video is an hour long and I suggest most people watch the whole thing, as there are some other aspects in the first half or so that many likely don't know much about. The second half explains more of the mechanics of the project, which is where I was looking for answers, as I wasn't content with many of the explanations of "Hive is not just blogging anymore" on my own post, as if that was my concern. Despite evidence to the contrary perhaps, I have a pretty good idea of what Hive is - but I didn't know how SpendHBD worked.
Now I do.
So, while I am not impressed by the content in the community and the loosely applied term for "review", the project itself has merit and since it is self-funded, my concerns about the cost to Hive in terms of leeching are moot. They seem to have addressed some of the abuse earlier in the timeline, and are addressing some of the loopholes and the like anyway going forward and it might be a decent step toward making HBD more useful - something that has long been talked about. With it relatively stable through the HBDStabilizer mechanisms, maybe it is the right time for these kinds of experiments.
I don't know about scalability.
Still, scalability is a good problem to have when it comes to usage, as long as there is there is some thought as to what might need to happen in that scenario. How flexible and quickly can the stabilizer do its job, and under what kind of HBD demand? But, that is a future problem, as the HBD demand is still low at the moment.
As I said yesterday, the content makes me want to DV it, but after watching the video and learning more, I will hold off for now and let the project develop further instead. And who knows, maybe I will support it directly in the future. It is an interesting experiment at the very least, and there is potential for it to spawn a range of different initiatives and application development.
For instance, the tap-to-pay function would be great to be a loyalty card for using HBD in local shops, with the more spent using HBD, the greater the kickback percentage. My supermarket does that and it keeps me loyal for the most part, even though the maximum return is 5% a month. But it adds up when doing all the grocery shopping, filling the car, and whatever else at one of the shops in the Co-operative.
A cooperative is a business or organization owned and run jointly by its members, who share in its profits and decision-making.
I wrote a few articles about "Steem" working as a cooperative back in the day, though I will have to find them later, as I can't find them now it seems. Maybe at the local level, groups of businesses could create a co-op and work together to create loyalty to the group by using HBD.
And as I suggested on the video post, @worldmappin could create a filtered view where people can find their local retailers that accept HBD and check reviews. Maybe, those same businesses could advertise through @worldmappin and Hive to attract more customers too.
What I do hope though, is that while Hive might not be blogging only, this content is still visible to everyone on Hive and it really isn't attractive, and adds no value to a potential viewer. As such, I think it would be useful to at least change the format or provide a template that adds a little more detail and possible value for an audience. Alternatively, I guess all the posts could be hidden away in transactions that the project checks, rather than having them as individual and visible posts on chain.
Anyway...
Since I voiced my lack of understanding about how it worked and displeasure yesterday, I think it only right to follow it up with my current stance after getting more clarity from the founders. So, while I am still unsure about the future success, I am satisfied with the explanations and views so far that Hive isn't being taken advantage of negatively, and there is the potential for positive growth. I am all for adding utility for HBD that puts buying pressure on it to pressure the price of Hive itself, as that benefits everyone on Hive.
I will keep an eye on this project in the future and hope to see it evolve into a roaring success.
Just remember though...
At my age, I am very jaded.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Be part of the Hive discussion.
- Comment on the topics of the article, and add your perspectives and experiences.
- Read and discuss with others who comment and build your personal network
- Engage well with me and others and put in effort
And you may be rewarded.
You seem quite committed to the Hive cause for one so jaded Taraz...
Hive has made me jaded. Even with an abusive parent, there is still love from the child.
I had a great talk with @meno about it, and am slowly, but steadily working on using that approach of money transfer to implement in my community. There is a huge potential in the idea, especially as a local currency. Many ideas are floating in my head, but I have to start slow.
And yes, I had the same questions - will this idea leech on HIVE? Meno explained to me why not, as well as he could given that I'm not a crypto-wizard, either. I'm getting into it for a year now, so there's still much to learn. Hence, thank you for sharing that video, I will watch that very closely and include it into my on-boarding-methods.
I'm happy that they were able to explain it well enough to you, too, and that you keep being the person I perceive you to be and make a post about that change of perspective of yours. Thank you for being like that!
I had asked many people about it ad no one had much of a clear idea. I figured the best way for me to get clarity, was to get clarity for others too. Hopefully it works.
It will, most likely. Maybe not. Not everyone thinks, learns and understands the same. But it's always a great start to share those ways!
I personally think this is an overall very healthy discussion to be had. It helped me understand what's going on and what's valuable, and your post yesterday actually also made me watch that video by @starkerz and @theycallmedan
Good to hear. What I like on hive is that civil discussion can still be had. They know me well enough to know I have best intentions with this conversation and lots of people will hopefully benefit from it too.
But I also think it's precisely this quality of staying critical, even if a thing was created by someone well-known. In the end, it helps everyone understand everything a little bit better
The problem, with hive is people do not have been uses the hbd for buy a lot.
I hope when alt season will come, and the prices of hive growing more, than 0.21 ctvs in this moment, Is a bad business spend your hbd in a cup of coffee today, it cost me $60 per cup of coffee spend today if I will spend when hive cost $3.00 per hive, for this reason people do not spend hbd, today.
But for experiment I paid for a cup of coffee using V4V lightning network.
But hurt my bag paid around 20 hives per cup it is crazy.
The thing with HBD though is that it is statis at 1 USD (approximately) so spending it now doesn't matter. If buying Hive from the market with fiat you were going to spend anyway and then buying HBD, it doesn't matter the price of Hive. However, if spending Hive to buy HBD to use, or going into fiat - then yeah, future price of Hive matters.
I'll have to watch the video at some point. It sounds like it's one of those cases where it is just better to move along and ignore the stuff for now.
It is worth the watch I think. I like the idea, still unsure about the execution at this point. Still, has to start somewhere.
Really like about 80% of what ur saying here. We also recognize that the blogs can be improved and have been working towards this spending our own money to make adjustments.
The definition of quality content must change however, as all of these blogs involve a net buy of hive and hbd before they are made, which none of the ‘blogs’ on hive do. So they add value before they are rewarded and they are rewarded less than they buy as well, so they are definitely more valueable Than a typical blog on hive. Soon there will be be a small instant discount and a way to make more effort with ur post and get a bigger reward from a curator, but that takes time and needs to be paid for.
The other thing that really must change here is ur liberal use of the word downvote. It leaves an extremely bitter taste in the mouths of not only me, but many many people who buy use HBD for spending, including certain whales who are involved in this project and as far as we can see are helping to grow the hbd economy without asking for money from hive and with our own personal funds on both the development side and the cost of paying the rewards while u say things like “refrain from downvoting for now”. Please take a step back and reword your language.
I like what u are saying about reward programs and on distriator the more often u spend the more your cashback is. Check out #hivehubguate community as they have installed the cards for all of their guests at the hive hub and so users don’t even need hive accounts, but they get cash back for spending in the hive hub
Sure, but none of this information need be visible as content, as it could be put behind a custom JSON and verified by your team. Even the photos needn't be put on the chain as content. This was, the content created by SpendHBD users could be incentivised as actual content instead. Real reviews, real business advertisements etc.
As for downvotes, that is the term used on Hive. upvote, downvote - there is a logic to it. Whatever the term used though, it is about potential reward removal. It doesn't matter much who or why something is getting rewarded because stake is going to vote as it does, based on what it sees and knows and believes. As this is still considered content on Hive and is being rewarded, it is open to "reward removal" by those with stake.
I will check out that hub, because I think when it comes to spending crypto of any kind, the hurdle is always ease of use. There are far too many clicks involved when compared with fiat and while it is getting better with things like tether - tether is tether...
I wonder how HBD will be known and spent in the real economy while the HIVE platform is still not well-known, even has been stable instead growing.
Yeah, that is something that I am interested in too, as apparently most of these people don't really know what Hive is.
Dear @tarazkp !
I'm having trouble translating your argument, but I understand you invested heavily in Hive!
I assumed you invested in Hive, but were dissatisfied because you weren't seeing any returns!
I'm ashamed to say I don't know how to trade HBD on Hive right now!😅
By the way, I'm having the most fun chatting with @tarazkp on Hive right now!😄
I hope your happy!
It is clear that you have taken the time to really think this through. I like how you first admitted your doubts and then went ahead to check things out for yourself instead of just dismissing the project. I really like that about you as it actually bring a balance. It is always good to make inquiry first or be sure before taking a step or decision.
I also agree with you that adding more real use cases for HBD is a good step forward. If it can work as a payment option in everyday life, like loyalty programs or local shops, then it makes Hive more practical. I think keeping an open mind, like you said, and watching how the project grows is the best approach.
I am not sure if you use SpendHBD, but would you consider buying HBD with some of your salary to spend in local stores in your area, and getting a 10-20% discount?
Many of us have the same feeling after years on the blockchain, seeing projects rise and fall or get exploited. Caution is natural and necessary especially when it comes to financial initiatives like SpendHBD.
What I like about your approach is that you gave yourself the chance to listen and understand the mechanism instead of sticking with the first impression only.
This is a sensible suggestion. It would be helpful. It would be beneficial for people to know that there are similar businesses nearby. This way, they can shop there.
Also, when replying to the author's post, worldmappin could indicate which business uses HBD near that settlement. For example, market X, 20 km north.
Already working on it. - Just like we promised in our proposal :)
One very positive thing I'll say about #SpendHBD is that in the areas where it's taken off (particularly Nigeria and Venezuela), it has led to some really good people coming onboard to Hive.
It's true that many of the users have only seen it as a way to buy things and get cashback, but that's just the Pareto rule at work. Even those users are helping to get word about Hive out there, but the ten or twenty percent who start actively engaging with the Hive community are wonderful to see.
What I have noticed is that it's taken a few really motivated people to build the networks needed, and that the real success points are where the shops which sign up see it as more than just another payment method and get involved in onboarding and (probably more important) training and retaining Hivers. Those shops become a kind of Hive focal point, and need all the positivity and support we can give them.
Hive has a massive problem that it discourages commercial use (I saw Hivewatchers slam a business account the other day for using a manufacturers stock images - with permission - because they didn't understand that for pre-ordered products they are the only images available). But if we can turn that around and encourage commercial users, it's a massive pot of investment/ad spend which could be tapped into to help push the price of HIVE up.
Compared with the thousands of HBD pulled from the DHF by other proposals claiming to market Hive, I think #SpendHBD is seriously good value for money in terms of HBD cost per user onboarded. I'm happy to pay the price of a few lower quality posts in exchange - and actually find it interesting to see what people around the world buy and how much they pay compared to here in the UK.
So for all these reasons, I'm a huge fan of #SpendHBD, and will happily upvote posts related to it.
There are lots of things that need to be cleaned up on Hive for sure. SpendHBD has some merit to it and hopefully it is a success, but at the same time, I think that some of the people involved don't seem to realise that HBD is backed by Hive. All that stake that people have bought and earned over the year makes it possible. That stake also looks to protect itself, which is why things like downvotes are necessary. I am not sure when you joined, but before the economic improvement hardfork, Hive was a cesspool of bidbots and scam. Under those conditions, SpendHBD doesn't work.
I will have to watch that video when I have time, one hour of video content that you have to pay attention to is not super easy to fit in my day :)
When it comes to USA unfortunately it looks like there is only one coffee shop in Missouri that participates in this program. If they were able to get a major grocery business to adopt this it would have been interesting...
Well, isn't Missouri a place everyone wants to visit?
I most say that you are one of the reasons why hive is growing, Weldon sir you are indeed doing great. Keep up the good work, and I wish you all the best. Thanks for sharing.
Ha, yeah, I've learnt not to get too excited about anything here - in fact I ignore most of it these days as it's a waste of my energy and I'd rather stick to engagement protocols as it's what I'm good at. Unless I see something prove itself, I'm not going to waste energy supporting it. The amount of things I've seen fizzle is beyond belief. I'd also have to trust the people behind it - so many scammers, or people that genuinely get excited and seem legit and then just poof! disappear - not necessarily with the cash, but with their dedication to the platform. Yep, jaded here too.
At least the people behind this one are trustworthy. It doesn't guarantee success, but it is better than randoms that disappear.
Thanks for that summary @tarazkp. One of our next steps is implementing a filter for the map so you can filter by hashtags but also communities. That will make it easier to find things and onboard more communities to the map - giving them a place to meet 👍😎🤙 - You can read about it in our proposal as well :)
That is really cool :)
Yeah. We have a lot of new plans. Stay tuned. @masterswatch will reveal some of them at the Hive Summit in Aachen over the next two days.
Yeah. We have a lot of new plans. Stay tuned. @masterswatch will reveal some of them at the Hive Summit in Aachen over the next two days.
Stay tuned at https://m.youtube.com/@HiveSummit :D
Hey! I love this article and enjoy the writing I’m able to do in Hive as well and though I’m still new to this, I’m digging the tap to pay and the money back.
Evolution happens in missteps and fear only holds us back from potential. Realized potential is achievable with leaps of faith. For me, being a part of this community is a practice in trust and faith in every member.
Being human means you’ll fumble and it means you’ll succeed, but that not believing because of fear to me is how we stay stuck, it’s how we don’t move,
I’m an all in type of person who is not afraid to start again and it’s taught me that a life well lived is one experienced whole heartedly.
As always, there is no wrong way to be human, but lasting change happens with faith, a general acceptance of reality, even if just an idea.
I have faith the world needs evolution and I’m all in.