So today I got the ban hammer on Twitter, temporarily of course, for the heinous act of calling Twitter Support some choice names. A quick search reveals the exact words I used in multiple locations on the website with no action against those accounts, so we can only assume they just don't like being criticized and are abusing their power to curb dissent. Interesting how that works. All the more reason for decentralized solutions like Hive to exist. If I had actually depended on my Twitter account for my living, which a lot of people do, this could have been a big deal. Since I don't, I don't really care all that much, but this is a serious problem that the whole world is dealing with.
How hopeful am I that Elon Musk comes in and saves the day for free speech on Twitter? Not at all. Like the current Twitter regime, he will be beholden to the government's demands to curb free speech, and has explicitly stated that he will cooperate with authorities when it's demanded of him to do so. How many times do you think he gets hauled in before Congress before Twitter goes right back to same old same old? Maybe instead of the left wing nutjobs running things, we'll get centrist neocons or neoliberals, and let me tell ya, that ain't gonna be any better. That's the problem with centralized "free speech" platforms. It doesn't matter who's at the helm if the system they're working within prevents them from doing their job as they see fit. And that's if we can trust the person at the helm to behave well and resist corruption, which in general we can't.
That said, I really do enjoy the format of Twitter and the fact that it's become a de facto "public square" from whence we can gather information about current events faster than journalists can type up a crappy propaganda piece. This is all well and good until people are arbitrarily removed from the discourse, just like with old media. The proverbial they own it now, and any truly dissenting voice is oppressed.
So we do have the solution here at Hive, kind of, but the caveat is that nobody's heard of it, and the users just aren't here. If I mention Hive (or Steem before it) to my techie friends and acquaintances, they've never heard of it, let alone normies who aren't plugged into this world at all. So that raises the question then: How do we get the word out and acquire new users? Hive is better than it's ever been. We've got about a dozen dApps running on it that rival the big tech platforms, and many of them equal or exceed the UI experience. It's easier than ever to create an account. There are very few barriers to entry and use of the site is not only free, but you get paid to interact with it; but unlike the Field of Dreams mantra of "If you build it, they will come," nobody shows up.
This is the only reason I still use sites like Twitter or Facebook at all. It's where the users are. What are we doing wrong? We have everything we need it seems. The incentive structure here is vastly superior to anything else out there, but we're obviously missing something. What is it? It's easy to dismiss big tech as dinosaurs, but they're eating our lunch. This needs to change if Hive is to truly fulfill its purpose. Without users, we're just some fringe backwater of the internet.
Dear @randr10, sorry to jump in a bit off topic but may I ask you to support the HiveBuzz proposal?
It recently lost its funding, is struggling to get back above the HBD stabilizer proposal, and is in dire need of help.
You can support it on Peakd, Ecency,
On behalf of The HiveBuzz team, thank you!
Done
Thank you for your support @randr10, really appreciate it! 👍
Dear @randr10, we need your help!
The Hivebuzz proposal already got important support from the community. However, it lost its funding a few days ago when the HBD stabilizer proposal rose above it.
May we ask you to support it so our team can continue its work?
You can do it on Peakd, Ecency,
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/199
All votes are helpful and yours will be much appreciated.
Thank you!