Hello @jaki01,

By 'here' I meant the U.S. I have Bluesky, Substack, Medium, and other platforms where I can express controversial opinions freely. I try never to be obnoxious :)

I have no illusions about Hive. I know I can be downvoted out of existence. Also, of course the rewards are not equal. But I grew up in a society where rewards were never equal, never commensurate with value and effort. I got used to that a long time ago. Even as a child I could see the way the world was organized. The trick is to assess the value of a place to me. In this instance, I meet a lot of interesting people on Hive. I have contacts (such as you) that enrich my life, expand my understanding. I look past that other stuff and extract from Hive the value it has for me. Plus, I get to write (I love to write) and read material casually in other languages.

Rewards? When I first started here I was an avid Twitter user. My son told me about another platform, Hive (back then, the other platform that preceded Hive), where I could not only share ideas but also get rewards. So I tried Hive. At first the imbalance was discouraging. 00.00 on posts felt really bad--not for the reward but the lack of engagement and acknowledgement. But I persevered and my husband bought me a few hundred Hive to get me off the ground so I could have more fun.

When this is all over (that is, when I can no longer blog/am no longer here) I will leave the account to my son, who started this whole thing. It would be nice if I left him value, but even if I don't he'll have a decent Hive account to blog with himself.

I moderate two communities--Inkwell and LMAC. Both communities give me a chance to reach out across the world and encourage others. As a quiet, unassuming, rather reclusive elderly woman I feel good about that. No 00.00 posts in my universe, unless they truly have no value :))

Warmest regards for the season to you, your wife and your lovely daughter.