On the 19th of December, 2024 - about two weeks ago - I was reading through posts on the ecency app when I stumbled upon a post. I didn't bother to check the title because the opening paragraph was catchy. I read every word of this wonderful post; that was just the beginning of my learning.
When I got to the comments, I was blown away. I couldn't contain my surprise and excitement as I read responses of established members on the hive blockchain. Not only did they detail the steps necessary to achieve success on Hive, they also discussed the steps one may take that leads to surefire failure on the platform. It felt like I was in a Hive101 class.
When I first joined Hive, the purpose was simple: to create an extra source of income. Before Hive I already made regular amounts on short blogging sites that went extinct. I needed a replacement of that income stream and I felt Hive would suffice. All I had to do was write about 500 word articles, post it and wait for the upvotes to roll in. Simple and easy, right?
The first few weeks were mixed. I had posts that got zero upvotes and I also had some with close to a thousand upvotes. Some of my posts will go with $0.0 while some have over $20. At the first stage I assumed getting upvoted by the big accounts was pure luck. So I'd celebrate once my posts get serious upvotes and feel unlucky once they weren't. That was the first phase, the "lucky" phase.
After about six months on Hive my narrative shifted. I felt I've been here half a year now so my posts deserve to get the upvotes. That was the start of what I term the "entitlement" phase. I would make a post and expect it to be properly upvoted. Anything short of that got me angry and I'd disappear for weeks without making a post.
I spent the most time in the "entitlement" phase - it was on for months. After some time, my thoughts got more twisted. I'd check some communities only to see poorly crafted articles with tons of grammatical errors and typos getting heavily upvoted. To me, this was the confirmation of my assumptions.
There was a particular account that posted error strewn articles in a sports community. Funnily enough, each article from the account gets regular upvotes. Then, I'd ask myself, "Why would anyone upvote these incoherent posts? My articles are better. Why am I not getting regular upvotes like this dude?"
Those thoughts led me down the path of my third phase, the "unfair" phase. I concluded the accounts getting regular upvotes are well known accounts. I see it as a case of the dudes with the big upvote power choosing the articles of their friends. I concluded it was a skewed, unfair competition.
One thing I never factored in was that since I've been here over two years, I have posted inconsistently. Around that time, the moderator of the community I frequented the most had warned me on more than one occasion about my lack of activity and interaction with other community members. I'd promised to change my ways, only for me to comment on about two to three posts and then go back to ghost mode.
The article I read two weeks ago, Hive SEO, basically made it clear that regular interactions coupled with quality content is the only way to grow on Hive. There is no shortcut, no luck to this thing. It is not about being unfair or some favouritism act. It's about doing what needs to be done and getting the reward.
So, this year, I have only one plan on the blockchain, which is to consistently interact and engage in activities on the platform. With this, every other mini target like HP increases, powering up and accumulating and staking layer 2 tokens will come.
Happy New Year, folks.
