Well, count me among the people who (still) love Hive.

My perspective is perhaps slightly different from most people's here in that I came in the hopes of finding a replacement for the kind of social blogging that was really popular around 1998 until about the arrival of Facebook and Myspace in the latter half of the '00s more or less destroyed the genre in a flurry of likes and emojis that replaced actual content.

I was never drawn here by the lure of money so much as by the appeal of being able to park my blog in a place where there seemed to be a much higher likelihood that it wouldn't suddenly disappear one day because a "company" ran out of funding and folded up its tents and went home, or hid my content behind a subtle ransomware paywall. Additionally, there was a level of sincere engagement and intelligent courtesy absent from Facebook.

All these years later, I still enjoy the fact that I don't feel nervous about whether or not my post will still be here tomorrow when I log in!

That said, I'm not sure what Hive is. My educated guess is that if you asked 100 people they will probably give you 100 different answers at this point... because we have such a cornucopia of different possibilities around here.

To me, it is still primarily a social blogging venue, but it has also been a place where I could dip my toes in the world of crypto so to speak, as well as the place where I could keep niche blogs that explore my creative endeavors (@alchemystones), as well as — because cats do rule the Internet! — the antics of our cats (@curatorcat). Hive also has the potential to offer a form of crypto commerce, if something like PeakD's version of a marketplace actually gets legs. And I get into a bit of occasional retro gaming, as well... like Hive's "Moon" version of OGame.

As far as I am concerned, crypto — not just Hive — took a bit of a wrong turn somewhere, although it was perhaps inevitable. The original idealism behind "a borderless and trustless alternative payment system" was sadly usurped by good old fashions Wall Street Greed, and now everything — including Hive — seems so dominated by the need to watch number go up. But crypto/blockchain is not exempt from the vagaries of human nature!

Which, of course, tends to become self-fulfillingly counterproductive as people start bailing repeatedly on ever smaller upticks... because crypto becomes a gateway to fiat, rather than an alternative.

Sadly, I don't have the means, or I'd be inclined to make a similar investment in Hive as you recently did.

Thanks for a thoughtful piece, @hurtlocker!