I wanted to pick the Hive Communities brains on something. We have seen new tokens get set up over the years on Hive engine. Some have done well and most have fallen by the waste side. I remember one of the first Communities that was launched on Hive was the PAL community and everyone got excited. They launched a token and many purchased it. PAL has since fallen by the waste side. Not sure why but their volume is 0 and their token is pretty much now worthless. Well maybe it hasn't gone completely but you get my drift. Sportstalksocial is another. I do not want to single these Communities out but I used them as an example as good Communities that went belly up.
I started dabbling in Discord lately and some interesting conversations spring up in the Hive Discord channel. A user received yet another token in his hive engine wallet and they lamented it.
"Oh no - not another free useless token".
I was thinking that he or she should be thankful that they are getting anything for nothing but no - they don't want another airdrop. This got me thinking. Are airdrops bad for a Community when it first sets out on Hive because all you are going to get is selling pressure on the newly launched token which lead me on to thinking about Communities and tokens built on Hive Engine.
What was a Community in the wider sense of the word. Take the Amish Community. I am going for an extreme example here but if a young Amish man gets married and wants to set up a homestead then the troops are rallied and everyone helps out to build the house and give them guy the best hope in life. They all contribute and when they are in need of help then the man whose house is built is happy to help back. This is a Community. Everyone contributes something - whether it is carpentry skills, food etc. The Community gather around. Now to my question.
In order to form a new Community and launch a token on Hive, would the Hive user be annoyed if the Community took a cut of their post earnings? More than likely I would imagine. Some Communities do this already but if it is transparent. If you want to be a part of this Community then you gotta contribute and by doing this then the Community will take some of your earnings. This way the Community builds its base. Their curation account may add some HP earned from these beneficiary to curate their Community posts , hold competitions, and give the contributors some dividends at the end of each year. This may have be in the form of staking a layer 2 token that has a tight supply. This way the Community contribute and also receive without the Community leaders having ever ask for handouts to run the Community Competition etc. If a Community can't survive on its own two feet then we are wasting our time but the only way to do this is to build up resources without using the DHF as you can become too reliant on it.
Now I am looking at the pitfalls to this method. Is their any? Would a Community break the rules of Hive if they do this? This is what I am asking? If the user is aware that the Community takes 20% of the rewards for the greater good of the Community in order to grow it. The rewards wouldn't be long about adding up. The user that posts is happy to contribute to their Community and everyone wins? I cannot see another way a Hive Community can grow without doing something like this. Well apart from a game where people buy NFT's and the Community make revenue this way
Lets take the top two Communities with tokens in Leo and Splinterlands. Splinterlands is an exception because it has a very very good game behind it so the use case in their native tokens are excellent. Leo tried many things and gradually grew their token over time and it is now overtaking Hive which is kinda funny but Leo Voter was a main contributor in the token growth. Write a Leo post and Leovoter would come to town and give you a nice upvote. People earned their Leo as a result and the Community developed into what it is now. If Leo voter was not around then I do not think Leo would have been as successful. All of a sudden you had guys doing Splinterlands posts with the Leo tag because it was crypto related and you would get more earnings from Leo than Splinterlands. Not only that but they would also earn the Leo token. I take it the Leo.voter HP came from some of the Leo token supply which was put aside for curation etc. So one can say that it is the close to what I was describing above. Maybe some people on Hive may not say this but it is Hive's most successful story to date.
So what is the right way to grow a Community and launch a token?
As per Discord friend moaning about airdrops , He is right, this doesn't look like the way to go. Also with past token launches the Community just sells up and the token is dead in the water before it even begins.
Does a Community launch a token and just release it gradually to their loyal Community members? Seems a better way to go? No?
I'm open to feedback here. I have not even got into staking a token yet.
What is the ideal way to go without upsetting the masses and staying within the unwritten laws of the glorious Hive Blockchain. I'm all ears. Because it seems whatever way you go there is complaints.