Looking back at my journey on hive, I have come to realize how much I have learnt within this short period and I wouldn’t relate that to anything aside my hard-work, dedication and help from others on the blockchain. I have never really understood the true meaning of the quote ‘we rise by lifting others’ but being on the hive blockchain has actually shown me that there are a lot of good people out there. The amount of support old members give each other and to newbies is really amazing and I’m always in awe how we manage to pull that off. Indeed, hive is a great place to be.
Being a newbie comes with many challenges which can get you frustrated to the core. I wasn’t left out as a newbie but I was able to find my way out. Today, I want to share with you some challenges I faced as a newbie on hive and I hope someone is able to learn from my experience.
Understanding the concept of decentralization
Before being a part of the Hive blockchain one must be able to understand how things work and know more about the concept of decentralized social media. For someone who was acquainted to web 2, the blockchain concept seemed a little bit complex to me as I was trying to get myself to understand how things worked. I also faced challenges in understanding cryptocurrencies since I didn’t know much about it then. Personally, I think these are core things a newbie should be taught before he or she is introduced to the blockchain as it makes everything easier.
Understanding and learning the use of markdowns
Most at times coming up with a post isn’t really the challenge but rather getting the post to look presentable is the real headache. Everyone is a witness to the fact that some posts from newbies on the blockchain don’t really come off as attractive. I bet when I go back to my posts as a newbie I sure will come across a bunch of posts which fit this description.
For someone with little knowledge on codes, I was always wondering how others got their posts to look this attractive, how they used this code and what they did to make this part of their post this way. Understanding all these as a newbie isn’t really that easy and even as at now, there are a lot of markdowns I’m yet to discover and make use of.
Markdowns are very important in our hive journey and I suggest that every newbie is given a little education on markdowns before joining the blockchain.
Engagement
Moving on from writing and publishing your post, the main work now is to mingle with others on the blockchain. I remember someone saying sometime ago that she signed up a newbie and she was asking why we are still on this boring platform because she doesn’t find it to be fun. This draws us to the issue of finding your niche. If I’m right, not less than 100 posts are published on the hive blockchain each day and out of this number there sure is that one or two posts which will suit your preferences. Engagement is very important on the blockchain and that is why it is important to identify where you best fit in and stick with it, that’s why we have communities on the blockchain. I wish I understood this much better when I joined hive as a newbie because I was really struggling with my engagement.
Due to my engagement problems, I spent about 4 to 5 months being inactive and trying to get a better understanding of everything. After much thought, I came back with the intention of doing better and here I am today doing better.
Use of appropriate Tags and sourcing of images
I remember how I almost had a problem on the blockchain because I had a problem with my source. I was a newbie then and was still learning how this sourcing thing worked. I wrote a post, used a picture and sourced it but little did I know that my source had a mistake. A mistake I didn’t realize almost led me into trouble. Most of the challenges we face on the blockchain occur as a result of our ignorance as newbies. It is therefore very important to educate our newbies on some essential hive tips and this will go a long way in enhancing their progress.
To every problem, there is a solution and I found solutions to the challenges I faced on the blockchain and I hope this inspires someone out there to keep doing better.
This is my submission to the #HiveGhana weekly engagement contest and I hope your enjoyment reading. Thank your for your time.