Welcome to Introvert Talks!
"Introvert Talks" is meant to be a new initiative or theme, where I myself as an introvert, just talk about reflections and thoughts about my life, or maybe share more personal stuff. :)
This is my weekly post under this "Introvert Talks" theme and let's see where it takes me and us.
It's been a while (9 days to be exact) since my last Introvert Talks post. I try to do this every week, but I think there is no hard and fast rule since it also depends if I have interesting reflections to make.
Before we begin this week, I actually want to put out a disclaimer that this post might sound controversial to some people, and I am not sure if I am going to be "blacklisted" or "cancelled" from engaging this topic. But I am just sharing my own perspective, and there are no bad motives or intentions. As such, I won't be tagging any individuals/accounts since I am not seeking redress.
Alright let's go!
Today I want to talk about the ugly side of Hive - downvoting. Why this controversial topic?
So a few days ago, I was stunned with a mass downvote of all my posts and comments. It went on for around 3 to 4 days (it's finally resolved, which I will mention later in this post) and this was just a sample of the downvotes I received. The most puzzling thing was I didn't know what happened or what did I do wrong, because there was no comment left in my posts or comments.
Fortunately, one of my friends said it could be due to my HP delegation to the "cur8" project. I wasn't fully sure what happened but I undelegated the HP to "play safe" and I went into the discord channel and appealed to not be downvoted.
Unfortunately, no one bothered to respond to my message even though other messages were being addressed in the channel. So feeling helpless, I thought maybe I should post another message.
Sadly, I got no response. What a way to end my year on Hive with permanent downvotes.
At that point, I was thinking what could I do to resolve this. I mean, the 0.25% downvote wasn't significant, and I did think of ignoring it but I realised if I didn't find out what was the cause of this, this could potentially go on forever.
Sometimes miracles do happen. Yesterday, I got a DM from someone who claimed to be from "cur8". I won't post the entire DM but this main paragraph that described the issue was the following:
I wanted to point out that the problem detected by HiveWatchers was related to some accounts that seem to be spamming, the Cur8 project has nothing to do with them and this type of abuse. We are working with HiveWatchers to reach those suspicious users and regulate them.
Finally I got to know what happened and that's like after 4 or 5 days. And thankfully I guess the stuff got sorted out and the downvotes have stopped.
Some personal reflections from this incidents:
- One should be careful when delegating HP to projects, including myself. I usually delegate a small amount of HP to projects that I came across and I am always happy to support projects on Hive, be it big or small. This incident was an unpleasant experience, and going forward, I am just more wary of delegating HP. I never expected delegating HP comes with the risk of being downvoted.
- In the spirit of making Hive a better place, I understand that there is some form of "check and balance" required. But it's sad that innocent accounts (not just me I believe) get involved. That's life I guess.
- Related to earlier point, I sincerely hope that people that do mass downvoting at least put down a comment on the reason, so that the person is aware. Sometimes it's a mistake on person's part (there could be people who are new to Hive) and they can rectify it immediately. It's much better than leaving people guessing.
Maybe I am too naive or too idealistic. I am just a small account on Hive and my voice is too soft to be heard. But I do feel that this is maybe the little ugly side of Hive that people don't really see, but it's happening, and I got to experience this first hand after being 3 years plus on Hive.
Alright, that's all I have for my reflection this week. Not sure what the response would be, hopefully this post doesn't get downvoted (eeks). Shrugs. Like I said earlier, this incident has closed and I am just penning down my experience.
Here's hoping Hive will be a nicer and kinder place for Hivians in 2025. As always, thanks for reading.
