There is a Hardfork scheduled for November 19th, which means it is just over two weeks away, but I have very little insight into what it contains, the reasons why, and the expected impacts to the platform and community. It would be brilliant to be able to get some details on it, because while most of the people in the community can't do much about it, it is always worth having the discussions and speculating on what it all might mean.
What changes?
Lets, split it into three broad categories.
- Technology
- Economy
- Community
Technology
Each Hardfork introduces changes to the way the blockchain functions, adding or removing functionality, which then changes the possibilities for usage. There is often the "if the code allows2 arguments that say that if the code allows the behaviour (like self-voting) then it should be fine. But, that doesn't take into account the other aspects of the chain (economic and community). The technology changes allow for developers to build on the chain in different ways, which then affects how people interact with the chain, and how the economy distributes through the choices people make. Often the technological changes are to find process efficiencies, but there are also capabilities added.
Economy
Then there are the economic changes that will affect both the development paths and the community behaviours. For instance, a few HFs ago there was the EIP introductions, which gave free downvotes. Many don't like downvotes, but having them means that the bidbot economy became unprofitable by being able to trim the profits from buyers. As a result, most bidbots disappeared and most distribution shifted back to account to account, or through curation initiatives. Other changes introduced was 50/50 curation/receiver split, rather than 25/75 - which also changed behaviours.
And when it comes to economic health, what has to be remembered is that it is derived from behavioural health of the community. The economy (unlike the global legacy economy) has to incentivise the kinds of behaviours from the community that leads to valuable development and interaction. If it is just about maximising profit and is not tied to positive behaviours, it becomes like the legacy economy, with diminishing distribution and raising poverty. But at the same time, the reward structure has to encourage behaviours that add value to the staked community and community as a whole. It can't be a handout process, it has to be a "work" process, with the work performed being considered valuable and health-promoting.
Community
And the changes to the base-layer technology and the economy is always going to affect the way the community interacts and experiences the blockchain. If there are compelling and rewarding ways to participate, then people will participate. And the rewards aren't just the potential for earning HIVE or HBD, it is also about the social value of interaction with others, and being part of a community itself.
The changes to the tech and economic layers will change the way people behave and this change in behaviour will affect how people feel about their experience on the chain, whether that be with applications and games, or interpersonal communication with others. And while a lot of people concentrate on the tech and the economy, the community is vital for the success of Hive, or any human experience. We don't want Hive to replicate the global economy, because that is broken, where profits come at the cost of humanity, not through the advancement of humanity.
Expected impacts
Making assumptions is dangerous, and having expectations leads to disappointment, but when it comes to a hardfork, being able to think through the changes and possible implications and consequences ends up building a lot of useful collateral that can inspire ideas from the community and be used for future development. Quite often, there are also a lot of unexpected consequences that were not considered prior to creating the candidate, and these could also be discovered prior, and discussed after a hardfork.
It is also worth having the information well prior to the hardfork, because it gives time for people interested to get their head around it and communicate and discuss with the community circles they are within. As those who have been around long enough know, Hardforks don't always rollout according to plan, so it is good for the community to be primed for some level of disruption. Hope it runs smoothly, but prepare for the worst.
Valuable discussion
While most (including me) can't add much to the technological discussion at the practical level, the economic and community levels should be open for many to contribute to the narrative. Even if it is to complain. I believe that we have moved too far away from the community being engaged with the blockchain capabilities because there was pushback against inward-facing Hive content for a long time. People didn't like that Hive content was earning rewards. However, that same Hive content kept many people engaged and knowledgeable about Hive itself, so rather than being a platform of users, it was a community of owners discussing how to improve the community. We need a bit more of that, which is why I have said I will add more of this kind of content (like this article).
Hopefully in the coming days, there will be a "simply-worded" list released of changes and expected impacts on tech, economics and community aspects, that will then be able to be discussed by the community and used to theorise what might change at the economic and community level. I would love it if a lot of people from the community got interested in possibility on Hive, rather than just seeing it as another place to post content, because it is so much more than that, and could be far greater again with engaged people.
So what is changing?
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.
I have read a few posts/discussions on the upcoming fork but have been too distracted to dive in and dig up all the details. When it comes to forks, I always feel like a passenger with the witnesses being the drivers. A fork is a detour meant to be a better path to the destination decided by more influential, benevolent community members.
I am looking forward to more of these posts now that we are in November and discovering more about what we can do as passengers to steer the technology and economy to serve the community.
Yes. But what is that path, considering it is the behaviours of the community that make the journey.
Perhaps we will find out the details individually and share them in the comments of this post! That's why you penned it right? I will share what I come across too.
Hardfork is a set of changes to Hive that require top 20 witnesses to vote on new rule(s).
The changes are listed here: https://github.com/openhive-network/hive/releases/tag/1.28.0
I think the main change for this hard fork from user perspective is how upvoting posts will work.
The list should be on Hive and explained there, not just Github.
What changes?
Also, what impact does not calculating the HBD in treasury have?
Are there expected changes to other aspects of the economy?
I think @gtg did a post.
Yes, but that isn't really for the wider community, is it? :D
I think we should be doing a better job of at least keeping the people here, informed. :)
Only one I've seen - sorry!
agreed - it should be apost o Hive that cover all changes so we as community can at leadt try to understand it -swa a post by @curamax on voting that explained me a bit - but still not sure I understood the new voting system incl. mana stuff - light words are a good one (also important for newbies if we get them).
You guys are absolutely correct. This is what happens when technical people run the show :) Communication is not very clear or explanatory...
Well, maybe when the change is closer, we still have more than two weeks the devs will put something out... It is interesting to see that some are running v1.28.3 before the hard fork is even done:
The 25/75 split being removed by a previous hard fork was a good idea. 50/50 seems more practically beneficial to the ecosystem. Well if a list of expected changes are published it will go a long in helping the average hiver prepare for the said fork. So we don't go about assuming. I don't know how the hard fork works, but I have a faint idea that since hive is a decentralized platform, forks, when they should be done and what they should affect should be decided by some kind of vote, at least from hivers whose votes carry some weight. Otherwise it seems pretty centralised to me, a deviation from the core principle of the platform. And the platform should be informed before time of things to expect. Maybe I'm wrong.
Yeah, especially since curation return gets powered up 100% directly.
A super majority of top20 witnesses have to accept the fork and run the code, for it to be initiated. The top20 are voted by stake, but can also be unvoted. Witnesses should also be giving their opinions on what it means for the people who vote for them.
I've also noticed there's also an excitement problem - bulk of us aren't as excited as previous HFs. Maybe due to the information gap you've pointed, could also be because our expectations have somewhat adjusted? We used to see HFs as a major game changer, and they have been, internally....just not had as much external impact as many would have hoped
Expectations are also based on that information gap. We should be more informed - and it shouldn't be too difficult to get the information. And it should be supported by the people who are making the changes, and implementing them.
If we had a marketing department there would have been a better communication about this change and others that are happening. Hive is like a corporation where IT department is in charge of everything and there is not enough touting and advertising of what the IT is doing...
Each hard fork brings a lot of changes to the way the blockchain works, which was seen after the previous hard fork. However, I think it should be aimed at bringing something good for the community. Where the economic aspects should also be taken into account. However, downvotes play an effective role in many cases, such as preventing many people from engaging in scamming or plagiarism. But downvote has become a bad site where many people attack personally, which is not desirable at all.
What is Abal?
Sorry this is typing mistake. This is downvote not abal
Ah okay. Downvotes aren't use personally too often by people with any stake. Overall, it is far better to have them than not. In a perfect world, people wouldn't act so poorly and we could all just focus on having a good time and growing as a community.
Thanks for bringing thus up. 🍻 I am caught up so many things to keep a track on this. Hope the things should be in favor of the users and to the platform.
I think that each fundamental change should ultimately be a step toward a stronger user experience.
As a community, I think it is important for us to analyze these changes in technology and economics, particularly because they have a direct effect on our experiences on Hive.
Yep. But, most people will just be surprised at this point. Good and bad.
hmmmm i didn't even really know about it till recently. ive seen the technical information about it... but it goes over my head a bit. what we need is a simple "what the posters need to know post" so a post that lists the changes that FRONT end viewers and users will see.
ive had a bit of a look and simply can't quite find anything about that.
If you find something id love a link here on your post!
will await the fork!
BLINGIT
I was satisfied listening to the core devs short talk on the HF on hivefest vid. Thats a good point u say about ppl simply thinking more about hive and how to improve or work things, by viewing infor about hive.. such as this post and also seeing the graphs of dalz just now.. :)
I hope it improves hive and adds more funcationality to it...
This is happening whether I like it or not. I plan on just sitting back and figuring things out after all the dust has settled.