Do's and Don'ts on HIVE - a short Guide

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Newly arrived on ECENCY and HIVE there is a lot to learn. But besides all the technical questions, we also see uncertainties about personal behavior in this wonderland of social media 3.0.

Yes, you are free to behave, write, report, whatever you feel like - theoretically. But in practice, especially regarding your rewards and reputation, it looks different, because as with any society you join, there are some (unwritten) "rules". I hate to call them rules, but I can't find a better word for them. Code of conduct, perhaps? Code of honor?

The fact is, to protect HIVE, to make the system work so wonderfully, the majority of the community has decided on a few things that you are also expected to follow, if you want to be a longterm respected member of the community:

SELF VOTES

Selfvotes are frowned upon on HIVE and will (sooner or later) result in getting downvotes.

"But I'm allowed to do what I want, right? It's a free platform?"
"Yes, you may, but in some cases you will face consequences for your rewards."

Also, my opinion on selfvotes is in addition: they make no sense!
Yes at the selfvote you get a little more out of the bottom line, because you also get the author reward share.

But: Imagine, if you vote another person because you like his post and you also leave him a nice comment there, then he is happy. You still get a curation reward and more importantly, by time you can build good networks around the world that are always worth more than the little bit more reward you get from a self vote.

PHOTOS

Photo - Sources:

Photos should always be your own or from a source that explicitly makes this photo freely available, I recommend: pixabay.com or unsplash.com for example.

!!! Nevertheless, you should always indicate where the photo comes from. A source statement under the photo in the case of free source photos or a sentence at the end of the post that all photos used are yours, is what is generally common and most users handle it that way.

Photo - Unique Content:

Normally you should use each of your own photos only once, then you are on the safe side.
There are a few exceptions, but it is too unsafe for me to give advice on this now. So just avoid it.

ORIGINAL CONTENT

Original Content - POSTINGS:

PLAGARISM - That stealing other people's content and any form of plagarism is unpopular is hopefully clear to everyone?!
Nevertheless it happens again and again and I ask myself why people do this? It's so easy to learn and grow on HIVE by having a unique account of your own, so why put so much energy and time into plagiarism?

REPUBLISH - But recycling your own posts is also something that is better avoided!
Here again, this neither makes sense, because why would anyone care about and read the same content again?

Original Content - TRANSLATIONS:

For example, if a post was posted in English, that post should not appear again in another language - UNLESS that second post rejects rewards.

I demonstrate this with this post here. It will be posted in English only normally, then I will post the German version of the post, but rejecting rewards in the process.
By the way, posting in only ONE language also has another reason, which is called "google". Because google usually doesn't like bilingual content, probably because then they can't assign it by region.

!!! You should also not translate "just like that" any foreign content without asking, because that is also plagarism!

TAGS

Most tags, such as #leofinance #ocd #proofobrain are also associated with a community and therefore it is important to pay attention to what content that community stands for.

For example those who post garden posts with the #leofinance tag could get into trouble, as the Leofinance community is only for financial topics.

Apart from the fact that it is a "rule", it also makes no sense! With your content you want to reach other users who are interested in it! And vice versa, hardly any financial guru will be particularly happy to read about your flowers and poems.

Choosing the right tags and communities is a bit complicated, but it's definitely one of the keys that contribute to a happy, successful hive life!

GENERAL BEHAVIOR

This is a point that might not directly affect downvotes in most cases. But it is a point that is very close to my heart:

"I followed you - you follow me now?" or showing up as a complete stranger and writing "Please support and help me, I need money!". Are phrases that just nobody likes to see. It may be a question of mentality, in some cultures it seems to be normal, but there are also many cultures where this is not appreciated.

It would be much better to just be yourself, write about your problems, be genuinely interested in others and thus meet people interested in you around the world? And then those people will love to help you, without beeing asked for.

When you move to a new country in real life, you also adapt to the conditions there, look around how the society works and want to become a part of it by behaving accordingly, right?

Two notes last:

  1. I tried to convey this knowledge here, as far as I understood and interpreted it myself. I hope that everything is correctly reproduced, as it was told to me in the course of time.
    Unfortunately, these "rules" are nowhere firmly written down, chiseled in stone or into the chain. I hope, however, that it gives a good direction for some newcomers, what is important to consider.

  2. I know that there are controversial opinions about some of these points within the HIVE community, but they have been set by the strong majority of the community and mostly make sense on the whole.

Probably you will discover some other "unspoken rules" on Hive in the course of time, but especially the topics selfvotes, photo sources and tags are very important to know in my opinion.

If you are still not sure on some points what would be an appropriate behavior, there is always someone you can ask. Such points of contact are for example: @hivewatchers discord: https://discord.gg/4YhNSefu
@theterminal discord: https://discord.gg/N5NEAv8T
@ecency discord: https://discord.gg/ZAuwWnKS

I hope this was helpful, because only if you know the rules you can enjoy a game and I wish this joy and success to each of you :-) Yours B.

This content will be published in German language too, rejecting rewards.
Photo made by me in canva.com (free version)



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76 comments
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Those are some really great points that are helpful to everyone! Great work @beeber!

!ALIVE

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Thank you, yes hope it will help some find their way (if they read) !ALIVE

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(Edited)

Yeah I agree with you excellent points to make
!MEME
!GIF INTELLIGENCE

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Here you found the english version :-)
To your other reply:

I didn't catch it I'm sorry I can't look at things for an hour and still not understand what I'm reading I guess I shouldn't be on here this is the game to be working on the supposed to be working but big thank you a big thank you I think I'm always doing something wrong no matter what it is in life I can't even be myself apparently and that's how I feel about life even though it's probably stupid

Maybe just slow a little bit down? Giving yourself time to read and understand, but also simply to be with you?

It looks like you are on a race, high speed, everything at the same time. Try different :-) good luck

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(Edited)

Thanks for helping make people aware. In my early days here, while I was working hard to build my account, I learned that when I made it to the top 10 in the Engagement League I lost points if I had self voted. That was the first time that I was aware that self voting was something that was frowned upon. Posts like yours are necessary to help new people be informed about the unspoken, and often arbitrary rules of being on the blockchain.

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Yes me too dud self votes in the beginning, but also because somebody told me this would be ok! Later I found out its not something most people here like and changed my behavior.
Anyway its always good to give in life :-)
There is so much misinformation going round, hope this was helpful.

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Normally I'd vote this and laugh out loud but you said all that stuff about behavior and yata yata so this is all you get. = }

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Haha dear 😅 all fine as long as you vote !LOL
But it seems, the spanish casanovas have some good impact on your gentleman behavior? 😏
Nice to read from you, hope you have a good time in the South and not so icy as it is here right now.

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Did you hear about the guy who threw his alarm clock while hosting a party?
He wanted to see if time flys while having fun.

Credit: reddit
@dandays, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of @beeber

Use the !LOL or !LOLZ command to share a joke and an $LOLZ
(2/4)

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Thank you for taking the time to write this post.

What some of us at the core hive group like to think that we are not entitled to any rewards, simply because we have no control over who votes us. Be it upvote or downvote. None of it is personal. We have no control on rewards until day seven at payout. At that time if it a positive number we can say thank you and if it is zero we can try harder next time.

It is as simple as that.

We don’t ask for an explanation for an upvote.

We don’t ask for an explanation for a downvote.

As they are the same and beyond our control.

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Thank you for stopping by

Not asking for an explanation doesnt mean, that there is no reason, may it be up or down. And this is what new members joining want to learn about. It still would be great to have an official HW statement about, just explaining the most important things.
Because I think the very first downvotes dont make them think only about the rewards, but rather a kind of "what did I wrong" "why they dont like me".

The biggest problem is, that HIVE as a community system is much further in the future as our standard real society behavior is.

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You are accurate, hive is further into our social future.

HW usually leave a comment. However HW is just one entity, there are individual user who can issue a DV. For example, I issue a lot of DV :) I often don't have enough time to write explanation. Often I avoid it all together when I suspect the user is a farmer and just trying to trick. I am doing it for a very long time, so I can usually tell it just by quick glance at the blog and wallet :)

Typically it is not about like to dislike. If the DV is issued by experience hiver, it is almost always accurate.

Remember only about less than 1% of people at hive use DV. So statistically there is a low chance of a malicious downvote, and a high chance of malicious upvote :) :)

People don't often talk like I do. But if you spend time and read my logic, you won't find any flaw in it.

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Malicious upvotes are real.

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For those of us who have been around for the while we can all they that without a doubt the malicious upvotes are far more common, and nearly destroyed this blockchain. It still does substantial damage to this blockchain.

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Honestly, and this is meant as a compliment, I think you have the ability to explain anything in a very good and logic way :-)

Looking at my personal getting downvotes history, it seems I am one of those "out of statistics low chance to get malicious downvotes". It's an old story now and it seems to be finished, so better dont warm it up.
Because, and this might be the reason why we dont have many downvotes? If you are a small account, where would be the reason to get in deep troubles through a downvote of 0,00..... ?

At the end, yes we wouldnt have all these discussions, if peoples upvote behavior would be different.

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It is a relatively long academic career that could be the reason, and thank you for your kindness. I don't get it often.

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a few seconds ago
Hm, guess most people prefer to fight and just stay in their "I am right".
I always prefer to listen and at least try to understand other views.
For me it was nice to meet you :-) (probably not the first time, but not sure, only heard some rumors)

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Rules are good if you want a peaceful community.
Thank you so much for this post, very insightful and significant to all not just the newbies but for everyone. A very good reminder. Hats off to you kind sir for publishing this.

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Glad if it was helpful for you ;-) I am no Sir by the way

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There are no rules on Hive because it's decentralised. Instead, I would say there are community un/acceptable behaviours which are are not static and can change over time

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This is a good definition indeed, but even those desired behaviors need to be explained somewhere I think.
Because some people also give simply wrong informations if you ask them.

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The moment you start writing them down people treat them as rules and they become definitive.

Furthermore the 'community' doesn't cover everyone on Hive as some have differences of opinion over where to draw the line on these behaviours. Take "quality content" or posting multiple times a day, how do you define what's acceptable or not?

I'd say for newbies, it's all down to observation. That's the easiest way for them to understand where the line is.

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You should add spam-tagging people to get their attention, that's so annoying, and is actually a sure way to get their attention for the wrong reasons. I don't even like seeing it done in a wholesale manner when it comes to concept, but when individual users do it, not good at all.

Also, on post tags...Using tags that don't relate to the post is misrepresentation in my opinion. The first two or so post tags should relate directly to the topic.

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Youre right, there could have been a lot of topics to add, but most are so controversial 🤷 that you cannot make an explanation for newbies out of it.
maybe you could write something about, you have much more people you reach

tags, yes this would something worth a single post, its a jungle for most new users.
Sadly most dont look around learning by watching others behavior

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I understand, that's why I put a comment in for those who may scroll down and read it. Youre right, there are many aspects to cover and in the 5+ years I have been around people have gone over and over it.

I may do a post sometime, if I can bring together my thoughts on a few things to consider although there's a few doing it already, and quite well too.

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There was a "contest spammer" where I had to ask thrice to stop tagging me in each post, but naturally as most of them they just completely ignore the comments as the point of the post is to profit off of generating these brainless contests while they give away a fraction of the post rewards.

Funny enough after the 3rd ask I started downvoting and it quickly gained their attention and they stopped tagging.

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I get the same sometimes, one only just yesterday. I ignore it to a point, then ask not to be tagged, or make a comment about spam tagging. The DV gets used occat too, and is a good way to get someones attention.

Each Monday I tag 6-10 people in my #weekend-engagement favourite posts wrap up...and always sort of cringe when I do it because I don't like tagging people. I guess there's a valid reason for it now and then, but there's certainly an overuse if it also, needless and pointless tagging.

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That is a very nice explanation. hopefully it will encourage newbie to be a bit cautious when making posts in the future.

I only self vote on my early days, but since I know it is frowned upon, i think it is better to use it to vote for others. As you mention I do get the portion of the reward that I voted for, so it is a win win.

!hiqvotes

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oh thanks for the hiqvote, I mostly forget that I can use one a day :-)

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my 15HIQS give me 2 command a day, I was notified on the replay. I think they have update the bot. : )
I only use it occasionally actually. : )

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You summed it up well, I'll share for the couple new friends I have on #Hive.

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It is a deep pool to jump in when you first get here. I don't think there were really any guidelines when I joined over 5 years ago, so you had to pay attention to what was acceptable and what wasn't.

Being decentralized, I don't think there ever will be written rules, but, guidelines are nice.

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but 5 years ago, I think the community also was smaller and most of them deeper connected from the beginning?
Guidelines should have the word to use in my post, yes!

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Although it was smaller, it was really the birth of the communities that connected people deeper in my opinion.

I use the words "guidelines" when describing how to participate in #MarketFriday. It feels kinder to allow for a bit of personal interpretation

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We can definitely be a tough crowd.
Customs and traditions are important to forming a community identity.
One does well to learn and respect them, generally.

Because some people also give simply wrong informations if you ask them.

This type of behavior needs to be denounced, imo.
If you have specific instances that need redressing you can drop them in this discord: https://discord.gg/tVjRSwTG9v.

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wich discord are you referring here? I always like to know where I klick ;-)
na, no reason to denounde someone. Most do this, because it is what they believe.
As Austrian, due to our history in general I dont like any kind of denounciation.

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If somebody gives you false information they need to be corrected, imo.
Learning the hive is hard enough without being misdirected.

That discord is a community initiative to stifle malicious intent in the hive.
It predates the fork to hive.

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Thanks for the invitation, but in fact I am thinking about leaving some of the discord servers, because it becomes a little bit to much.

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How would you know if there is not a rule book someone asked me , well true it’s is difficult and daunting in the begin and heck for me it still is. But when not downvoted yourself and counter that vote with a selfvote it’s nicer to spread the cheer on other blogs. And I get it that when you wrote a damn good 2500 word blog you are tempted to just hit the button but if it’s that good you will receive votes from others. So instead use your points to try to get the Ecency vote instead. Also as a newbie your selfvote is worth zilch so do t even bother. I do like to see the big whale accounts also stop selfvoting but it’s a 50 shades of grey area and utopia to get everyone doing what is not written yet advised by the community.
Just be nice to eachother and remember you always earn more here than on bigger socials like INSTA or FB

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Some great clarifications you make my fellow night owl:)
Of course it is the unwritten rules that get us ...
Reblogged for people to see...

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thanks for reblogg
🙈 I hope it will not become topic for our first show? 🧡

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for our first show?

We have a show?

Happy Friday GIF by KeaBabies

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YOU have a show 😂 me just the little quiet voice in the background 😏

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@ekavieka, the HiQ Smart Bot has recognized your request (1/2) and will start the voting trail.

In addition, @beeber gets !PIMP from @hiq.redaktion.

For further questions, check out https://hiq-hive.com or join our Discord. And don't forget to vote HiQs fucking Witness! 😻

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Thank you for this update, I will do more when it comes to commitment, consistency, and quality hopefully I will reach my goal on this platform.

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Very helpful post for noobs. I used to self - vote too, but now I no longer do that, as I've realized that in the end it is the quality of work that truly matters. Grateful you chose to write on this topic.

Stay Blessed

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Good idea to help the newbies and refresh the oldies. 😊

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Some will say there are no rules here, but the community will judge you anyway. We each have our views on what is acceptable, but what you cover will match those for many. I would sum it up as 'add value in honest ways'. Those who pretend to be something else tend to get found out and so do those who try to cheat the system. Reputation is hard to gain, but easy to lose.

Cheers!

!BEER

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Selfvotes are frowned upon on HIVE and will (sooner or later) result in getting downvotes.

Not really sure what the thought process here was but I'd say it depends a lot on the content and other activities of said account. It's usually easy to notice what the intentions are, i.e. if they're attempting to just maximize rewards it usually reflects in their other activities too, but if it's a few self-votes here and there I don't really think we're going to have people start downvoting them due to that. There's very few downvotes occurring in general if you exclude the brainless autotrail ones.

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The whole post came out from different conversations (again and again) in ecency discord, especially the use of photos, how to behave to not get in troubles with HW and so did the self vote topic. It is what I have been told, one should not do.
I see, there are different opinions and of course different usecases, but still think for newbies its the best to say: "better stay away"

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For sure, I just don't think there should be a "threat" over them that if they self-vote they will eventually get downvoted as that sentence made it out to sound. It's in everyone's best interest to use their upvote mana to grow their influence here and curators should look at different activities of authors before curating since most of us here aren't that "valuable" in content in and of itself. (I.e. anyone can write what you and I write, we're replaceable), but what stands out is the social aspect, where genuine attention is being driven, history of the account, etc. If someone spends most of his mana on himself then it'll be their loss eventually and they should see their earnings weaken compared to those using their mana better. If they spend it on themselves constantly, such as comments, low effort posts, etc, then yeah expect some downvotes.

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Tried to upvote your comments here, so people can easier find them to read, but my power wasnt enough :-( at least youre no longer at the bottom of the comment feed.

maybe you and @azircon can give them a little vote, to bring those comment feeds to the top? It might be interesting for people to see them.
Especially because, whenever future questions arise, we probably will refer people to read this post. (until someone please write a better one)

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don't worry about my comments and votes on them. People here knows me well for better or for worse. They will always find my comments

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I am curious as to how this self-voting thing works out when a person joins a curation trail and the curator votes on your post, resulting in you having voted for your post. How does that play out in the self-voting scenario? Thanks

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I need your help regarding withdraw HBD from here. 🙏🥺
Can I have your telegram or any social account to contact with you?
Please 🙂

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there are links to the terminal and ecency discord in my, where you can search for help. Withdrawing isnt topic of this post.

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This is very helpful. Thanks for impacting.

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This is very interesting, I have been a victim of self voting not until I was goodly corrected and made me understand that the platform frowns at self voting and seeing this post I feel so glad as to learn about new development.
Thanks for this post.

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I am in a voting trail group and often they upvote for my post, automatically I also upvote myself because I join the trail group. Is that okay or nay?

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Thank you so much for your support of my @v4vapp proposals in the past, my previous one expired this week.

I'd be really happy if you would continue supporting my work by voting on this proposal for the next 6 months:

Additionally you can also help this work with a vote for Brianoflondon's Witness using KeyChain or HiveSigner

If you have used v4v.app I'd really like to hear your feedback, and if you haven't I'd be happy to hear why or whether there are other things you want it to do.

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This is indeed helpful
I appreciate your effort
But please can you guide me on how to source an image?

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My previous @v4vapp proposal has expired. I have a new one which is running but unfunded right now. I'm still running @v4vapp and all my other services but I may have to increase the 0.8% fee to 2.0% if I continue to be unfunded.

Please consider asking your friends to vote for prop #244 or consider unvoting the HBD stabilizer explained below.

For understandable reasons in the current crypto climate it is harder to get funded by the DHF, I accept this so I'm asking a wider audience for help again. I will also redraft this proposal with more details (coming soon). I'm also looking for other funding sources.

Additionally you can also help with a vote for Brianoflondon's Witness using KeyChain or HiveSigner

If you have used v4v.app I'd really like to hear your feedback, and if you haven't I'd be happy to hear why or whether there are other things you want it to do.

  1. The bar to be funded is set by the HBD Stabilizer, the more votes that has, the more votes @v4vapp needs to be funded. If you want to reconsider supporting that proposal and unvote it, that would also help me (and others so you have to weigh this choice.)
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Hi @beeber, nicht wundern, dass ich hier nachträglich einen Kommentar abgebe. Ich versuche @ygoob den Hive zu erklären und wie was das so alles bedeutet. Leider fehlen mir ab und zu die richtigen Worte. Da ich aber weiß, dass du hier oft sowas erklärst, hab ich ygoob hier mal erwähnt.

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Ist eine super Idee
Wobei es gerade bei diesem post sehr unterschiedliche Meinungen gibt - siehe Kommentare

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Eigentlich suche ich auch eine Erklärung über den Hive Token und das Ökosystem Außen rum. Also HBD, HP und HIVE. Ich kann es nur mit meinen Worten erklären, aber die sind nicht immer hilfreich:))

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