We Are Always Watching the Blockchain đď¸
But this story? Youâre probably following it too.
Weâre talking about @curamax.
The Rise and Fall (Kind Of)
Weâve seen @curamax post about being bullied and downvoted, like in this post.
Whatâs curious is that this same author used to be one of the top 20 Hive reward earnersâalways ranked around 13th or 14th until April. In May, he dropped to 27th. Still not badâmost users can only dream of reaching the top 50.
But recently? As per @dalz, heâs now down to 95th.
Thatâs a massive fall. đ¨
So... Whatâs Going On?
Letâs be honest: the guy posts original content. He shares a lot of food photos (example: Prawn & Pork Treat) and seems like a genuine user.
So why all the downvotes?
We did what Hive users do best: we snooped around. đľď¸
The Comment Trail đ§ľ
We started reading the comment threads... and voilĂ , the drama unfolds.
In this comment chat between @azircon and @usainvote (his recurring downvoter), things start to make more sense:
Is It About His KE?
It seems the issue could be related to his Key Efficiency (KE)âor perhaps his participation in multiple vote projects like @eds.vote and CCD (when it was still active).
Some claim he was being bullied because he spends more than he stakes. But... really?
He gets an upvote worth $0.27. That sounds like someone staking everything, right?
Wrong.
His real stake? 6,000 HP.
So where does the power come from?
You guessed it: leasing.
Leasing Like a Pro (Or a Con?)
Yes, @curamax is leasing Hive Power from Hive Engine. Not illegal, not uncommonâbut itâs definitely a gray area.
Why? Because leasing costs money. You might curate and get curation rewards, but unless you know what youâre doing, youâre likely losing money compared to just staking and earning the ~8% APR.
But some users leasing HP are finding sneaky ways to make up for the loss.
Enter the Voting Circles đ
One strategy? Attract big wallets.
Some of these wallets are happy to return votesâeven with minimal engagement.
Letâs take another leasing user: @nevies. Always the same familiar accounts upvoting.
Hereâs @curamax voting on a post from @nevies:
Who else is voting? @steemychicken1, @dwayne16... theyâre also upvoting @curamax. Cozy circle.
Letâs look at another leaser: @fortune1m:
Some familiar faces again.
Others like @yeouido.park and @daveks donât vote for @nevies, but they do for @curamax.
Is This KE... or Gaming the System?
So is @curamaxâs KE really high because of his content? Or is he just a master networker drawing big votes by voting the ârightâ people?
Another user, @fortune1m, compensates leasing loss with self-votes. (See the screenshot above.)
What about @curamax?
He used to self-vote too, like in this post:
https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@curamax/a-nostalgic-stroll-through-geylang
Maybe he learned. Maybe not.
New Trick: Shillposting for Games đŽ
Now, another trend on Hive is milking rewards by posting about new games from @aggroed.
Guess who jumped on that?
Yup.
Funny how the same author once claimed heâd stop ranting and just post food + Hive content again:
https://peakd.com/hive-146620/@curamax/focus-on-food-and-hive
But heyâ@honeyswap loves shillposts.
Final Thoughts đ
So is @curamax really the victim?
Or just another player milking the system through:
- Leasing power,
- Voting circles,
- Strategic curation,
- Occasional self-votes,
- And now... game shillposting?
Weâll let others decide. @usainvote, whom we rarely see but appreciate when we do. Shoutout also to @smooth and @azirconâalways keeping an eye on things.
Just remember, if you're staking Hive, this is your blockchain too. đ
"The money doesnât disappearâit just goes where the circle spins."
Let us know what you think, or betterâkeep watching.
What a poor research, you are mostly framing completely legit actions with dubious sounding words like "grey area", "sneaky" and combining different things which are not related to each other.
E.g. self-voting is not forbidden (depending on the circumstances), leasing is not forbidden, upvoting each other?
The values of these votes are ridiculous compared to the self-voting happening in large scale by the whales. I suggest to turn your attention where it really matters.
It is so easy to kick someone with a small stake, try to do it where it is more appropriate and leave engaged users alone.
Why are you hiding under an alt account, by the way?
Who is the whale that is self-voting? Please post the name of the account in the response.
I mean the witness-votes, most of the whales don´t spend their precious time with blogging :)
In that case, what you just said is pure bullshit, right?
Donât do that. Lies stay on the blockchain and you lose credibility.
Witness vote has nothing to do with self-voting your own blog.
Where did I say that witness voting has anything to do with self-voting? I say the top witnesses vote themselves (for witness) in a kind of circle jerk behavior.
Again that has nothing to do with current discussion.
Also it is totally okay to have an opinion on witness voting, but my question is what are you going to do about it?
Nothing, my long-term plan is to become whale by myself (if Hive survives that long).
Just joking, I have no clue what to do about it and how to change this oligarchy. But to stomp on small fish can´t be the solution.
Curious indeed! đ¤ Seeing @curamax's reward drop is quite a story. Keep us updated! đ
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