When I first heard that Hive Fest was in Asia this year, I got very excited. I had almost made it to Thailand but a combination of visa complications (moving back to Japan), money issues and back issues, I ended up missing it in the end.
Finally, Hive was back in Asia! I started doing research on Kuala Lumpur, went to meet a friend from there and find out what kind of interesting side quests I could go on if I turned it into a week long trip.
But as time went on, the excitement turned to indifference....
Please don't take any of this the wrong way. I don't mean to throw any shade at Roeland or the Hive ecosystem which has treated me well, and I'm not just saying that to avoid downvotes. I’ve been here since 2017 and it’s been my home online since then. I appreciate anyone who has done work to keep this chain alive and active, even if I’ve had issues with certain things over the years.
I intentionally waited to share this because I didn't want to discourage anyone from going.
Now that Hive Fest is underway, I am starting to feel tiny pangs of regret. I will try to watch todays stream tomorrow and tomorrow's stream by the rest of the weekend.
THIS IS NOT A SLAM PIECE. Please remember that.
But I want to make an informal proposal (not a DHF proposal, just an idea we can work out over time) at the end that I think could be good for this ecosystem, so I think it’s best to put everything out on the table. Maybe it will reach Roelands ears and give him something to think about for the future, or maybe it will lead to a splinter event run by different people, giving us more opportunities to meet each other.....
But first, let me explain why my excitement faded.
It started when I was asking around... "Hive fest this year? Yeah? See you there? ;-)". Of all the people I asked, most who had been on Hive for 5+ years, not a single one said yes aside from @macchiata and I've been talking about meeting her in Jogjakarta or Bali at some point anyway.
I was forced to face the fact that most of my closest friends here had either burned out, been chased off chain, or their passion had cooled down, and I had to admit, my passion has become lukewarm in many ways too. That’s just how life goes.
I vowed to stay as long as I felt inspired to write and share things, as long as there were still people here actually reading my work or even just upvoting it, and as long as there were still some people worth meeting, and there are, tons of them.
But I had neglected my physical life way more than I should have in favor of this dream of a crypto future that took way too long to pan out and had way too little consensus about how to get there. I’ve been trying to become more active in the Tokyo art and music scene and start exploring this amazing country, all while working to pay the bills and get a permanent visa, so Hive has inevitably become far less than the 4-6 hour chunk of my day that it used to be.
There’s also the drama.
I always hesitate to talk about some of this stuff because I do not want to encourage anyone to leave. Hive survives only if we keep it alive. That is how decentralization works, and even if I'm feeling a little lukewarm right now, I still believe in the pursuit of the decentralization of power, and that requires tools like decentralized money and experimental governance, which Hive is a brilliant experiment in.
Lots of people don't have the same level of conviction in ideals, or the patience, or appreciation for nuance. They rage quit. They give up on dreams. They think not agreeing with a certain aspect of a community or acknowledging its flaws honestly means you don't believe in it. They either live and die by the chain or are ready to piss off as soon as things look less than ideal. Some might stay quiet until they’ve had enough. As long as I see the potential for movement, I stick around and speak my mind.
I still believe in Hive.
At the very least, it's the most useful DAO I've ever seen and the most interesting, so why the fuck wouldn't I be here?
Anyway, back to Hive Fest.
I was discouraged, but I thought I would still go. At least maybe I could meet starkerz and see directly what he's doing with local shops and usage of HBD in the real world.
Maybe I could talk to some other project leaders and share some of the difficulties Hive Japan has had in consolidating an active real world community and see if we could come up with a solution.
I'm sure I'd make some new friends too.
I could still go!
I checked the location of the event, the hotel....hmmm a little pricier than I imagined for Malaysia.... well I could always stay somewhere else...
This was where I started to doubt whether or not I should go. I just wanted to meet people, I realized I didn’t care for a conference style conference.
Malaysia has very very budget friendly choices, and this did not seem like one. The country has beaches and mountains, and though I've never been there, it's hard to imagine Kuala Lumpur being the most comfortable or ideal place for the event even if it’s the most famous.
Perhaps the only upside is that if there is a large Malaysia community (I’m not sure how big it is, but it doesn’t seem anywhere near the size of Mexico, Venezuela or Nigeria), they'd likely be most active in KL, and having locals involved is a must.
But the venue.....the scale…
We all know how a majority of Hive is not rolling in money. Travelling isn't easy for most of us. You might be able to argue that anyone able to travel overseas could probably afford to stay in such a hotel. But I'm willing to bet there were lots of people like me who were on the fence and may have gone if it was cheaper.
In my case if it were only 1 person it would have been easier to go, but I didn't want to leave my partner behind when we are hardly able travel. One Hive fest ticket and a cheap small Airbnb for a week vs two tickets and a bigger hotel room....
I get that the event costs money to run and you don't want to make it too shit. But when I looked at the location, it kind of looked like (and I could be wrong) a fancy and famous location was the priority.
Then I started thinking....the whole daytime would be watching someone speak on stage...I could do that from home.
I'm sure it would have been a lot of fun though, to meet lots of other people from Hive and go around the city together. I could have made that the focus of my trip. Which is why I still feel a little regret, especially only having met 3 people from Hive.
What is the purpose of Hive Fest?
This was the question on my mind when I decided not to go. I think it's a great thing that it's continued, and I don't want Roeland to stop and if he ever did, I hope someone else would pick it up.
But I want to see him or the other organizers consider more deeply what the purpose of this event is...
What are the priorities?
Hive is NOT a company. It doesn't have a corproate structure. It doesn't have corporate shareholders. It has ideals very different from the typical conglomerate.
It doesn't have to pander to customers and each and every member can decide if and how they want to do PR. It's investors (for the most part) all care a lot about it, and it's full of creative people.
So why does this feel so corporate!?
Even Hive’s logo has always felt too corporate for a decentralized and revolutionary way to interact with the world.
Maybe I'm too detached from regular society. Maybe I'm too much of a hippie. I don't know, I just don't see why a DAO full of creative people has such a stiff, typical conference when WE COULD DO ANYTHING!
Once again, no disrespect to Roeland. If anything it’s everyone else’s fault for not stepping up like he has. I imagine his line of thinking is that he wants to make it something that isn't alienating to people from various cultures around the world, and that's a good way to approach it. If that is made clear as a priority and thought out more (particularly concerning budget) maybe he could do even better in the future on that front.
But I think we should rethink how we could do this, or at least think seriously about some kind of alternative.
To be fair, I saw that this year there would be a bunch of speakers from other crypto related projects and it looks like it might be leaning more towards a crypto conference sponsored by Hive. That is AWESOME, it gives us more exposure to the people who would be the quickest to understand what makes Hive special.
I think that should be the future of Roelands Hive Fest, "A crypto conference organized by the Hive community"
GOOD!
But for the rest of us who just want to chill and get to know each other….
I can't stand up here and say "I'm going to start Hive Fest X", but I've floated the idea before and I want to do it publicly once again.
Any group of people who want to organize a Hive related event meant to gather users from at home and abroad can gather under a specific concept agreed on by whoever wants to take part in organizing it. Funding can come from various means. Actually nothing is stopping us. Maybe all we need to do is start talking about it to get the ball rolling on this.
If anyone is interested in doing this in Asia let me know. How involved I will be depends on the location and what kind of consensus we can come to, but at the very least I am happy to help plan out logistics and share ideas on how to make it fun, low budget and bring a decent turnout.
I was originally planning to share how I might organize a Hive Fest X, but this post is getting longer than I had hoped so I will share that tomorrow or later this week.
I am welcome to playing an advisor role and if no one steps up, eventually I will have to organize something on a very small scale (think 10-30 people).
(I’m posting this in ASEAN because if I were to be heavily involved in anything outside of Japan, it would most likely be somewhere nearby, )
Posted Using INLEO
Just like HIVE, HiveFest means different things to different people... For devs, witnesses, it may be about showing what they are doing, but for regular peeps, it is an opportunity to meet your fellow Hivians IRL...
You are right that you can watch a presentation on YT from your home, but the real deal is behind the camera, on the streets, bars, beach, etc.. I do regret not going to KL this year as it was an opportunity to meet David, Cholocatescorpi, Macchiata, you... Locals from that part of the world...
On the other side, I have to be honest here and say that I like more "smaller" Hive meetups, like HiveBeeCon that we had in Poland 2 years ago, or BuzzParty meetups in Hamburg and Graz... Speaking of that, there will be another one next year in May... https://hiveopendays.com/
Totally agree and that’s why I want Roeland to keep doing his thing. I just think for a chain with a token that is still struggling to find ways to grow faster than inflation (basically bleeding out despite all the value), and considering the small size of the community and the financial reality of a majority of users, the price tag of the event is extremely of touch and they could easily make it less extravagant….UNLESS they continue tomake it half about other projects outside of hive and building bridges to them, then I say go ahead and make it as fancy or unfancy as you want to cater to that kind of bridge building.
Meetups are way more interesting to me. Japan is a very very hard place to onboard people though, basically our meetups consist of two couples so far, hope to add a 5th or 6th member eventually but everyone is so busy.
I cant travel now but when i can ill try to make it!!
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Some very good points here - I agree on some.
I think roeland just got the task to organize the best possible event - shiny logo etc like a company and getting folks outside of the Hive chain ecosystem is great though.
But I get your point, maybe a bit less bombasitic given the numer of attendees and the current standing of Hive might be better - also if we are shiny and behave like a huge corporate (know former Cisco events that looked similar but with biger audience of course) we might need to consider (ot that I would have suggested that numerous) to have an official face fpr this Hive - coould be @blocktrades - could be @theycallmedan - could be @detlev - given my background in marketing / comms I still am sure we need that cornerstone for the community as face.
Many will argue: We are not a company, we are a community driven project - all fine - but we will not groe that way. We could re-think ur spendings in marekting, tailor priorities and only do what helps the blockchain - hence we need KPIs and we need to take a look at KPIs - if activities fail to reach KPIs we to consider other things.
I am guilty of not being there and also ddi not visit many meetups since 5 years or so - but i remember the personal touch was key to keep bondign within the community.
But to make Hive known (apart from our name) we should re-evaluate waht and we do external events / communications. We still focus on the social media part of Hive which no one really cares outside - the web2 giants are still there whyever and there will no mass influx of content creators given the complex key maangement to name just one point.
I think we need to focus on tjeh USPs of this chain to be reelvant for companies, tu run projects here in a safe and fast envrionment- We could even talk to governmental institution to use the chain for political elections. We could say content creation and rewards should be in layer 2, not layer 1.
We are still the to go place for frustrated social media users - once they been here and do not get techs or others things they leave, and they will not come back.
Also when you compare our content (I am not the best as well) to the likes of Reddit there is more brain and intelligent content.
So what is the solution? I do not knw but agree waht @stayoutoftherz mentioned above - sitting together and brainstorm ideas to really improve the chain commercially - tech is fine, but we do not reach the in investors we want to finaly get recognized resulting in a higher Hive prize.
Just my thoughts.
I think everyone can be doing outreach or fixing problem and improving things in their own way, the more coordination the better.
If there are a group of people who want to take the more corporate route to collaborate and try and bring in more of that world, that’s great. Which is why focusing on something like this as a “crypto conference powered by hive” seems like a great path for the Roeland team and these talks.
If so then goal should probably be to attract more people from outside through collaborations and co-organizing with other chains etc. if the goal is to connect with each other and brainstorm solutions to Hive’s problems, find collaborators etc. well then, cheaper should be the goal. I think we need both actually, and maybe a few varieties of both, anyone starting something new could be done at a small scale first.
I suspect the price tag of this event may be a case of people from certain countries and in certain work cultures think they’re already making it cheap because in their world, it’s not unreasonable. I’ve never been to Malaysia but I am absolutely certain you could get a lot more bang for your buck than anything than this. If the place was overflowing with people I think I would have less of a case here.
I do not think it is impossible or hard for hive to grow and get new investment as a primarily community driven project. It’s a new world we are entering, a little slower than we might have thought at first, but still. But as I said, if we approach it from multiple angles and coordinate and cooperate as much as possible the results will probably be even better.
The event prize tag etc might been an issue for some indeed.
Where I have my concerns to be honest is this sentence of you (as I think this is a core problem - who should invest and why?)
I also did a post on the topic especially during #hivefest timje - hope so will discuss if they are happy with the current situation - will add you as another source of inspiration to write this down quickly which i did not plan at all - hope we get no flags :-). Thanks for your thinking @selfhelp4trolls
It can be as bombastic and shiny as they want (even if it appears already kind of delusional at this point given the facts), but they seem to not even seeing a need to openly discuss the problems. They are in their "building and improving bubble", as if they do not ever look at the flat/declining user growth charts. I am sick of it.
True and agreed . but who is THEY? You are a witness and whale - take it on buddy to get rid of pink bubbles :-)
I am not a whale yet, and "they" means the app. top 10, the oligarchy that runs this chain, their votes decide exclusively all the proposals for example.
hab mal nen post rant abgesetzt......
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Adding that for community leaders @blocktrades @themarkymark @theycallmedan @acidyo @guiltyparties
Look at this, Swift building chain on Ethereum. Why? This would be great to be run on the Hive chain
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/offchain-luxembourg_swift-is-building-a-blockchain-for-cross-border-activity-7384925256274227200-B-ec?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAAAA3UZEBqWB0u5dh81_-1sVm7EUNRBibhnU
I wrote a post now wat i think is wrong or could be done
This year I would have had enough time and more than enough money to go there. What me puts off (and the day 1 stream has fully confirmed me in this view) is the fact, that despite not everything goes right with Hive (no user growth, price decline despite bull market to name just 2 key problems) the yearly Hive fests are always the same. You can´t expect a difference if you just do everything the same as before.
This tough times for Hive require sitting together and openly discuss in what way things should be changed! But there are no discussions whatsoever. Such a waste of an opportunity. I don´t need 10 people to talk about how great their Dapp/wallet/site is.
I get what you mean. I got involved at INLEO because I saw them trying to create income streams and make onboarding easier in pretty big and innovative ways. Sadly the whales didn’t want to support it (there may have been valid reasons for that, but it’s taking them a long time to find alternative solutions).
Lite accounts and what Starkerz and the Croatian guy are doing sound very good! They make me optimistic, but personally I find that when I try to get my ideas across to whales and devs and witness, it always falls on deaf ears. Now I just say things I think would be helpful and other people start talking about it and end up getting credit for them 🤣
It’s fine. Japan is a very very hard place to onboard or organize things (regulation, introverted majority, limited space, small social circles, busy schedules) so other people can take certain ideas much further than so could anyway
I don’t mind a bunch of people talking about how great their dapp is, it’s good to keep me updated cause I don’t spend 5-8 hours a day on hive anymore 😝 I just wish they made it more affordable for those of us who can afford to travel but not luxuriously
Open and honest analysis and to bring in some fresh ideas and fresh faces is never a bad idea. 👍🏻
I relate to much of this so much. For me HiveFest in the past seemed exciting, but most people I know are now gone. My account is a ghost town and continues to shrink. My own passion is dwindling as real life continues to demand more attention and time from me, in many exciting different ways; not even bad ones. In the past I was also heavily neglecting my personal life though, I put so many important things aside because in reality I was wasting my time on here assuming it meant something more or would lead to something greater on Hive. Not riches, but this concept of where Hive would be in the future with all of that effort. Now we're here where things are somehow worse off. I regret it instead of basically just dropping it all and getting my life going.
The same thing regarding time and juggling all of those little things: attempting to find permanent residency elsewhere. Building your own thing while also attempting to integrate into a different land. The communities in real life you're not just trying to find but also approach and become part of. And then there is the bills and rent side of things. Each of which have been a huge struggle for me in the past six months. Where somehow all money that comes in just goes elsewhere to keep things moving forward somehow.
It's not a case of "Oh Hive doesn't fund my lifestyle!" but the opposite of my life needs to pick up more to support the time I spend here and justify it. There needs to be more stability to where Hive can be enjoyed. The past three months for me have been nothing but documents and bureaucracy and all the little problems that come with them. Barely a chance to even work and begin the things I wanted to do. All that without being on a visa in Armenia, and having just 6 months to do it all. Only now with just under two weeks left until I have to leave have I launched my website. So I'll have to do a visa run soon.
I can understand why so many people did leave. It doesn't mean they had problems with Hive, disagreements or just discontent. More that life just got in their way and their priorities required making important decisions going forward.
Very cool and sound thoughts, sir! Maybe it’d be a good idea to create a separate group for this project — to gradually bring together like-minded people?
It is interesting to read your text and Despite of hive fest being happening i have seen many big investors withdrawing hive and projects being closed (dCity just closed its doors today. It is too utopic to think that the blockchain is getting better. It is totally normal your feelings. I try to continue here not because I think thay hive will of pump magically but because of the opportunity and ideology that hive brings to us. An opportunity to express ourselves the way we want and the ideology of freedom of assets and ownership. But as many good ideas Hive still needs to walk a lot to recover and get more value .
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⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
I was exited the first time about Hive fest and was considering to attend. Learning about the cost change my mind. For now I can't afford yet but hoping next time I can attend Hive fest and meet and greet other Hiver's all around the world. I am also eager to listen to the inspiring stories of the crypto currency successful people.
Respect for the open and authentic words.
I am just a Blogger doing my content here so I cannot judge really. But what seems clear is that Hive going on like the past few years is quite likely to get the same rather dissappointing results in respect to trends in user activity and market cap of the Coin as a consequence.
Since Splinterlands had its Hype and onboarded ten thousands of people we are lacking a kind of Killer App. Just blog to earn seems not good enough.
I myself have doubled down on Hive since the bear market and posted daily this year, still love it here and will be here for next Bear market too. Maybe I can buy enough HIVE to achieve Orca status.
You don't need permission or money from the DHF to run a HIVE event. If you want to hire a venue and cosplay as a corporate entity (yuck) - you can do that, but if you can't fund it off your own dime, then the thing isn't viable, and shouldn't happen - as it doesn't bring real value, beyond the relationships that form between individuals.
Anyway Once a month, the last Thursday of each month, we get together. You don't need to ask when it is, or where it is, it always is:
Currently, the venue is the Duke of Brunswick Hotel, Gilbert St, Adelaide, South Australia - from 6PM onward.
This is an open invite to anyone in the world with the means to travel and come to a Crypto Meet that has been happening uninterrupted, pretty much since before Hive had its genesis block.