The Truth Always Triumphs!

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQme4NnDcvMrGDzg1go2xPCCXqEj995jviGfdLU3PxtWhVN/img_9333.jpg)

The Darkness

There are times when I have my doubts about the Hive community and staying a part of it. I could write paragraphs about my grievances with the Hive blockchain itself, the dApps that have come and gone, pump and dumpers, the cults, the betrayals, the smear campaigns, the racism, the downvote wars, the petty rivalries, the hypocrisy, the grifters and the charlatans. However, I’ve posted about those things in the past and it just upset people, despite how important those issues are and how they still need to be addressed. This post is different and far more positive.

The Light

For the most part, my experience here on Hive has been positive, fun, funny and enjoyable. I have meet some amazing people online and in person locally, travelled, and explored all sorts of exotic locations on the planet and I have made a decent amount of money too along the way. Hive is a secondary home to me. It allows me to drop my psychological masks and present my true, goofy self. Put simply, I like to make people laugh and I share things that I feel are of benefit to everyone and I do that mostly through **Ecency Waves**.

The Light in the Darkness

A few days ago, I uploaded a video to YouTube talking about what I got up to on Sunday. The video mentioned me teaching English lessons to a Chinese guy and that I found the cheap, windproof lavalier microphones I was looking for. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmNySSu4i4pYKBZ5fBC2cuCNtJKL1ATyyAy39D7oMBM7ZQ/img_9331.png)*Saramonic LAVmicro U3a* They are surprisingly effective against the wind; perfect for YouTubers and Podcasters. The video in question is here: https://youtu.be/rUk7g7ZI1DU?si=Hy1iefpP0q_-LnFk It’s not the best video I’ve done, I’ll admit that, but it’s not offensive in any real way. I also don’t like posting another link to it on here, but it’s proof of what I am saying. I posted the video as a post and then used Ecency points to boost the post for 7 days as I am entitled to do. A day later, out of the blue, I get a notification that someone had downvoted the post. I waited to see if there was a comment or a reason given for the downvote. Like the last downvote I mentioned in a previous post, there was no explanation. Downvotes are rare for me and for the most part they have been from new users testing how Hive works. i wish they wouldn’t test it on my content though! What I find puzzling is a downvote without explanation. Nothing is learned other than someone doesn’t like your content. A little explaination would go a long way in education people as to what their mistake was (plagiarism, low effort / quality posts, etc.). I rarely downvote content, and even had to remove myself from an auto downvote curation list as it was downvoting innocent people. I need to be in control of my voting activity. Anyway, I check out the account that downvoted me and I discover that all of his content is plagiarised videos from another creator on YouTube, so I downvoted their latest post. Fair’s far after all. Or so I thought… It turns out that he were upset that I had promoted content that he felt was self promotional and therefore narcissitic and not of of value to the wider Hive communtiy and that the content they were sharing was from a far better creator. The content he’d plagiarised was easily debunked pseudoscientific drivel, but as to who was the “better” creator, that’s subjective and irrelevant: plagiarism is plagiarism. I’ve shown above the value that the video presents. He doubled down and started to get nasty. I posted a rebuttal and just as I was about to walk away, other Hive users that had been reading our exchange started agreeing with me and upvoting my comment. They started disagreeing with him and downvoting his comments. One even reported the plagiarism to Hivewatchers who, not only hate plagiarism, but also went ahead and blacklisted the account! The amount of downvotes needed to take someone from a reputation score of 50, down to minus 11 is insane! Minus 11… less than zero. I had a lot of supportive comments from people who could see that what they were doing was wrong and for that Inneed to say a massive thank you.

Final Thoughts

Hive is a community, and sometimes we encounter bad actors. Downvoting carries a psychological weight, far more than upvotes; no one likes receiving them. If you feel the need to downvote anyone, please leave a comment explaining why. It’s just an optional courtesy. It also gives you a chance to reflect on your motivations for the downvote in the first place. Is it just a difference of opinion? Typo? Ignore it. Revenge? I’d avoid this. Put your phone down or walk away from the computer. It’s not worth it. They were posting content that is dangerous, life threatening, plagiarised, or a smear campaign? Go right ahead. Reputation is more than a score, it’s your repeated actions over a long long time. But it can be trashed in an instant. Be a good person, provide value, help out and educate where possible and other good people will come to your aid. Try to avoid bad actors where possible. It’s not your circus and not your monkeys. I love this community. Thank you for having my back. That’s all from me today. Thank you for reading. ![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmZGwxhLASecjkN9GUEiTFURu4SPRFY3Vb4D9hkkm6foBS/img_9332.jpg)***Shaidon*** All content, including photos and text, are produced by myself except where indicated otherwise and sources are always supplied. I do not use A.I. so your upvotes support a genuine human being, producing genuine original material.