Since the Hive blockchain operates in a Distributed Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) manner, there is no central authority as on most other sites. The centralized governance of Facebook determines what is seen on their site, and posts about crypto are often 'shadow-banned' (so the author sees what s/he has posted, as if nothing is amiss, but no one else sees it). A couple of years ago, Tumblr decided to disallow images of a 'racy' nature, so content such as 'artistic nude' photography was no longer allowed. On Hive, we can post what we wish, so long as we use #nsfw and similar tags to categorize our work.

The ability to 'vest' an interest in the blockchain by staking your liquid tokens (in the process we call "PoweringUp") means that those stakeholders have an interest in seeing the success of the blockchain. On most social media sites, you are the commodity by which the centralized entity makes their money, and they pocket all of their profits. Hive allows all of us to collect some of the profits.

Because of the monetization, everyone is encouraged to "up their game" and post only their best, original work. That means no "fluff" like we see on Facebook, Instagram, and other such sites. When bloggers "up their game," the result is a blockchain that is content-rich and well-stocked with topics of every description, adding value to the blockchain over other platforms. Original content means that what is there doesn't exist on other sites and, hopefully, will bring traffic into the blockchain to consume that original content. That is what many of the money-grabbers fail to understand; when you're simply out for a fast buck, you're hurting yourself and the platform, too.

There is a rich Community presence on Hive as well. Facebook attempted that long ago with the implementation of 'Groups,' but so many such 'Groups' popped-up quickly with no easy way to categorize them or search for them in an effective manner. Everyone felt the need to create their own group without much planning or forethought, which happens rarely on Hive. The Hive front-ends have a 'Communities' tab on the top menu and an easy way to search for communities by topic.

PowerHouseCreatives (PHC) was the very first community I joined when I came here. In fact, it was due to PHC that I downloaded the Discord app. I can honestly say that PHC has remained a constant, uninterrupted source of encouragement and inspiration in my life for almost three years now. The founder of PHC (@jaynie) has a knack for transmuting negative things to positive things, and is a stalwart source of inspiration for all members.

Along with two other women from PHC — Ren of @xcountytravelers and @brittandjosie — I was involved in the design and launch of @theterminal, a project to help orient and educate those new to the blockchain and help them find communities where they can thrive. That project has been so rewarding for me in many ways, and I am always thrilled when I see Hiveans learning and growing and doing well because of our influence! The Staff of @theterminal are also wonderful people and I enjoy working with them on a daily basis!

I have learned much of what I know about Hive and blockchains from @shadowspub and her project TheRamble. All the curation-shows, in-depth interviews with project leaders & community leaders, and chats with the witnesses have been immensely informative and allowed connections to be made with others on the blockchain.

Through TheRamble, I was able to meet @enginewitty and joined TheAlliance community, which has also been a big influence on me and allowed me to network with many other good people. The Alliance has always promoted personal accountability and networking with others to make positive things happen.

The #silvergoldstackers community is also a big influence on me. Not only do they collect many precious metals and coins, but they also help teach others about them. It's a very diverse, but awesome, group of people, and I am glad to have found them and been accepted into their group!

One of the most helpful Hiveans of all is @crimsonclad, a super-smart and 'together' lady who never tires of helping whomever needs it, and explaining complicated things in a simple way. She seems to be everywhere at once, but is often seen in the official Hive Discord as well as the PALnet Discord (run by the Minnow Support Project). On the latter, she has two of her own radio shows, one of which is devoted to education about the blockchain.

Without a doubt, my favorite front-end is https://peakd.com 🙌

Using the original 'Condensor' interface that is https://hive.blog is like driving an old farm truck with no power-steering, no power-brakes, no air-conditioning, needs a paint-job... it'll get you there but it's not a great ride. The spiffy https://peakd.com front-end, though, allows users to save multiple drafts of posts, to schedule posts to publish at a pre-determined future date & time, to view one's wallet without having to login to a sub-domain, to view all of one's https://hive-engine.com tokens within the wallet instead of having to login to that site, to see all incoming & outgoing delegations without having to go to https://hive.stats or another site to see them, to see the current price of HIVE & HBD within the wallet, to bookmark favorite posts, to see analytics about one's account, to create lists of 'favorite' authors, tags, & projects in addition to the regular "following" list, and so much more!

I do not author posts on a mobile device, but it is nice to be able to check notifications and reply to comments on mobile sometimes. I really liked @roelandp's HiveWallet app for a while, but I am test-driving the new app from @dapplr now and it looks pretty darned good.

I consider the Hive blockchain to be my "home" on the Internet currently. Every day, I check email first, then Discord (where I connect with many of my Hive peeps!), and then notifications on the Hive blockchain itself. Only then do I go off to do other things. There are good people here, there are good projects here, and there are good communities here which are amazing!

To anyone reading this who is already on Hive, I hope this has bolstered your confidence in the blockchain and given you some things to ponder. And to anyone who is visiting from other sites and reading this, I hope you will get an account and become involved in one of the best places to be!

I'd like to see @carolynstahl respond; she hasn't blogged in a week, so I hope she is okay! I am sure the awesome @silversaver888 and @kerrislravenhill could do great justice to a post like this, as could @enginewitty and @shadowspub 💙