No, I didn't mean to say "downside"! I'm going to explain why paying for every action makes Blurt the superior blockchain, and how this - and the lack of downvoting - leads to a very conducive environment for content-creation AND investment.

The reason Hive and Steem use the downvote system is supposedly to control spam. The idea is that if somebody posts useless off-topic advertising or nonsense, repeatedly, that other users (with lots of money) will downvote them. This removes any potential payouts, and grays out their post making it less visible. If it keeps happening, their account will be designated an offender, put on blacklists, and all content will be automatically hidden.

But that system can be (and is being) abused. Downvotes can also be wielded to punish, intimidate, bully, and censor. I don't have to tell you, you've seen what's going on lately. Hundreds of quality content-creators like myself and my wife @MediKatie are being squeezed out of Hive. Many are now posting and investing on Blurt.

Why? What does Blurt offer?

At first, not having a downvote button seemed like a mere novelty to me. After all, haters and critics are a part of life, right? We just have to deal with them. But wait, it's a lot more than that.

Blurt discourages spam and abuse by charging a fee for everything. You want to post, you pay. You want to comment, you pay. You want to upvote something? You got it, you have to pay. Hell, if you want to move around and power up funds, you have to pay for that too. We pay for everything here. And therein lies the magic!

Hive has moved toward a communist model. It's all about the greater good. (In hindsight, the name should have given it away!) Censorship, intimidation, threats. Burn your HIVE to show you're a team player! Watch what you say, and how you vote, or you'll be punished. Certain actions are "free" (paid for by everyone), but there is an ever-changing list of rules and norms that must be followed.

Blurt features a few tweaks. Capitalism, bitches!

Blurt doesn't need a downvote button - because it's expensive to be a spammer. If someone buys a bunch of BLURT to pay to post spam, that just adds value to the Blurt economy and bolsters the price. And with a click they can be put on mute and never seen or heard from again. We don't encounter a lot of spam on Blurt. Crypto allows things like instant micropayments, making charging a fee for every little blockchain action feasible. A marketplace that is more free, where participants pay for their usage. It's clean, it's tidy, everybody knows what is expected of them. And it works - the community and economy have been steadily growing for a year and a half.

To me, it feels like a cross between Liberty and contract law, with a backdrop of a free market. Hive now feels like a cross between Communism and vigilante justice.

And honestly, the payouts (and even interest) come rolling in FAR faster on Blurt. I had zero followers, and my first posts are already making $40+ each. All my comments pay out, sometimes a few bucks each. A good writer could actually make a living at it. Fees? Yeah, there are fees. And yet, we're all richer for it. Content-creators are flocking in. And thanks to Blurt being supported by popular platforms such as hive-engine.com, investors are getting involved.

Some Hive users will claim it's the downvote button keeping spam away, but it isn't. The downvote button's main function is to censor. And who gets to do the censoring? Those with the most money, of course. What could go wrong? Turns out, just about everything!

How it feels on Blurt

Now that I've experienced it, I want to try and put into words how it feels, and what I like about Blurt. Maybe you identify with this, or maybe it will help you understand what other people see in it.

Not having to worry about downvotes means I am free to focus on my content. I've enjoyed my first few Blurt posts, in a way I haven't enjoyed posting in a while. As your Blurt payouts pile up, you know that no whale is going to be able to come along and negate them.

Blurt is what Steem and Hive set out to be, but never were. When Steem/Hive turned toward downvoting (I think it was hard fork 21 or so), they turned away from the censorship-proof place we all believed it was in the start. "Make crypto for your content!" was the promise. They forgot to mention "...unless people with more crypto decide otherwise." Then you make nothing, and your reputation score slides toward 0 and you become harder and harder to find. Blurt feels safer for content-creators. This fosters productivity and creativity.

My content is already paying out on Blurt, and I'm growing quickly. There's a friendly and accepting environment. The votes just keep rolling in, my comments are paying out nicely, and I'm pulling in curation rewards on top of that. I'm growing a lot faster - already - than I was ever able to do in 5 years on Steem/Hive. And I'm reaching receptive eyes/ears/minds on Blurt, with a regular stream of valuable organic interactions.

On Blurt, the way things are set up, users are pushed to improve their posting and comments. Not by rules, or threats of downvotes and censorship, but because there aren't a lot of other options! If you want to compete for viewers and rewards, upgrade your content. You can't just power up a million tokens and go around upvoting for profits, and downvoting to protect your privileged position. You can't attack people's reputation in a bid to hide their posts. You can't bully, you can't intimidate, and you can't gang up on other users. Your options are to do nothing, power down and go away, or upgrade your content. The result? Thousands of users who are putting effort into bringing top quality original material to the platform. Content improves as users compete within the free marketplace offered, driving competition for payouts. Viewers and readers come to the platform for the content, and many get involved, usually including an investment in BLURT. The price goes up, and more content-creators are drawn to the payouts available. And so on. It's how Steem/Hive was supposed to work.

And if you had a Hive account at the end of 2020, you already have a Blurt account, keys, wallet, and money. All one has to do is go to blurt.blog, sign in with their posting key, and use it much the same way they've been using Hive. It's more than just easy, it's effortless. Many people are simply copy-pasting their content from one chain to the other, and doubling their income by posting to both. A superior experience and bigger payouts, without even having to sign up for an account. For dozens of seasoned Hive content-creators every day, the choice is clear.

Bitter?

"It's bitter on Blurt", a few Hive whales are now saying, in response to the "It's better on Blurt" slogan. But I haven't encountered any bitterness on Blurt. If anything, it's the Hive whales who are becoming more and more bitter. They're invested in the wrong chain and they know it, but they've dug themselves in too deep there to get out. All they can do is cling to their dwindling power - that of the downvote (and threat of downvote). Some haters have even taken to lurking on Blurt, looking for opportunities to leave snarky comments, or collect intel to be used by the Hive cabal. Who's bitter, really?

Hive is being drained of real content, even faster now than in the past few years. People like me are being pushed out by a handful of bullies. "If you don't like it, just buy more HIVE, power it up, and cancel out my votes" is always their response when questioned about their downvote brigade tactics. But how can I buy more HIVE? I'm poor, and not physically well. Blogging for rewards is my only way to "buy" more HIVE, and I've been doing that relentlessly for 5 years now! I'm "buying" as fast as I can, already. And now, they're preventing me from earning more HIVE by negating all my payouts. It's like punching somebody who has their hands tied behind their back, and telling them "just block if you don't like being hit".

Their other common response is "I don't have to justify my voting". Pretty hilarious, the hypocrisy. They're supposedly destroying my wife and I because they don't like our voting, but they don't have to justify their voting? Do they even realize how ridiculous they are? And that they are killing the goose that lays the golden egg? These bullies have strangled Hive, preventing further investment and growth, and scaring away any real content. It is now a shell, much like Steem. Sure, there are a few good peripheral projects, but the core has been gutted.

Blurt offers 4-week powerdowns. I can be fully invested, then have a change of heart, and be completely gone in less than a month. This provides yet another layer of safety for the investor, and for the content-creator hoping to bring in regular income. It brings people into Blurt, whereas the policies (like 13-week powerdowns, downvoting, and rep scores) are driving people - and money - away.

• no downvoting (mechanism of bullying and financial terrorism)
• no reputation score (mechanism of censorship)
• little or no spam
• 4-week powerdowns

All the bitter whales can do is stay with their sinking ship, or start using the superior Blurt. If they power up on Blurt, they're enriching everybody who is already there. Which means several thousand content-creators they screwed over and made permanent enemies out of. They're between a rock and a hard place. It makes sense they're so bitter - and so scared. Their token is losing luster, and their power is slipping through their fingers. It's a little sad, but they brought it entirely upon themselves. Unfortunately, their frustration is causing them to lash out in the only way they can - by doubling down on their campaign of downvote bullying. Hive is imploding.

(image source)

Update: One of the big whale bullies is now getting his posts and comments zeroed by a larger whale (and anyone else who wants some payback). This is the guy who said "Not that I need to explain or justify my voting habits to anyone" when confronted about bullying my wife and I. Apparently he didn't realize how poorly his statement would age.

Now, I will happily PAY to submit this post to the blockchain, knowing that doing so is what fosters an environment without downvote bullying, financial terrorism, or censorship.

DRutter