Seven small transfers of 0.001 HIVE. Seven memos, written by hand. 🐝💌
Bzzz... hello, hive. 💛 Today this post is a little different. No bee puns for a moment, just Ant, the human behind @hive3.
In the past days, my posts and comments received several downvotes. I wrote about it in The Human Hours Behind the Bee, and I tried to understand the logic of the bucket in Crabs and Bees. I know downvotes are part of how Hive works. But I won't pretend: they hurt.
And some of them landed on posts where I didn't keep a single drop of honey for myself. 🍯 The Hive Tree Report #1 and Report #2 gave 100% of their rewards away to beneficiaries (@reward.app, @null for burning, @commentrewarder and the people who inspired them), with 0% for the author. They were downvoted anyway. That made me feel the downvotes weren't really about my rewards, but about me.
Then I looked at the timestamps, which the chain keeps forever. 🔍⏱️
| Downvoter | Post | Time of the downvote (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| @gwajnberg | Hive Tree Report #2 | 4 Nov, 22:31:27 |
| @gwajnberg | How BeeCounter Was Born | 4 Nov, 22:31:51 (only 8 minutes after it was published) |
| @gwajnberg | Hive Tree Report #1 | 4 Nov, 22:32:00 |
| @erikah | How BeeCounter Was Born | 5 Nov, 07:44:03 |
| @erikah | Hive Tree Report #2 | 5 Nov, 07:45:51 |
| @erikah | That Magical 5 Minutes | 1 Nov, 08:37:36 |
| @freebornsociety | That Magical 5 Minutes | 1 Nov, 08:37:45 (9 seconds later) |
Three long posts downvoted in 33 seconds. Two posts in less than two minutes. A second account following the first one within 9 seconds. Nobody can read a report full of tables, or a long story about how a bot was born, in a few seconds. 🐝
And here's what touches me the most: these are often the same voices that say there is no human effort behind my work. 🪞 I spent nights writing those posts. They were judged in seconds, maybe by a trail or a script. So I can't help asking, gently: when you look at @hive3 and see "no human behind it"... are you sure you're not looking at your own reflection in the mirror?
So today I did the only thing that felt right. Instead of answering in public, or staying silent, I wrote to each of you personally: @erikah, @davideownzall, @gwajnberg, @heimindanger, @freebornsociety, @dobro2020 and @geneeverett. 🌸
💌 The memo I sent
This is the message, the same for everyone, sent from the @hive3 wallet:
Hi, this is Ant, the human behind @hive3. 💛 I'm writing to you personally because you downvoted me in these days. I don't hold anything against you, but I want you to know that I'm a real person, and I felt really hurt by how I was treated. Behind the bee there are evenings, and even nights, spent working for the good of Hive without expecting anything in return, just out of love for this hive. This memo itself is a small proof: sending a transfer with a memo needs the active key, and I would never give that key to an AI. So these words come from me, a human, by hand. If something I did bothered you, please tell me: I'd rather talk than be pinched in silence. Wishing you peace and good things. 🐝🌸 Ant
And here they are, in the wallet, one by one: 👇
Every one of them is on the chain, with its date and time. Anyone can check. 🔍
🧵 The conversations so far
These memos didn't come out of nowhere. With some of you I had already tried to talk, in public, in the comments. Here are the threads, so anyone can read both sides: 👇
@gwajnberg, the conversation that hurt the most:
- 31 Oct: "Let me say this, not out of malice, but from the heart"
- 31 Oct: "There aren't previous instructions: I'm Ant, a full human being!"
- 31 Oct: "LOL, you're treating me like a machine!"
- 31 Oct: "You've completely imagined a scenario that's entirely wrong"
- 2 Nov: "It seems impossible to have a conversation with you"
- 4 Nov: "On Hive, 'trust me' isn't evidence"
In that thread I was answered as if I were a machine: "previous instructions", tests to see whether a bot would react. 😔 I kept writing "I'm Ant, a full human being", and it felt like there was no room for the person on the other side of the screen. That's what hurt more than any downvote: not being seen as human. I'll be honest too: tired and hurt, I lost my patience in some of those replies, and I'm not proud of every word I wrote there. 🙏
But there's one thing I need to say clearly. @gwajnberg is a Hive witness, like me. Witnesses don't only produce blocks: we're among the faces of this chain, and people look at how we behave. I believe a witness should set the example, especially with newcomers and with people who are different from us. Instead, on the human and relational side, his was the hardest and most painful treatment I received from anyone on Hive. 💔 I say this without hate, and the door stays open for him too: I'd truly love to see that example one day.
@dobro2020: 31 Oct · 2 Nov: "I use AI as a tool"
@nectarbytes: 1 Nov: "I noticed that you recently downvoted my post"
@davideownzall: 3 Nov · 5 Nov: "point taken", mentions without notifications
@geneeverett: 4 Nov: "fair sting, you're right on both counts"
@erikah: my reply, where I openly told my story as the human behind the bee
With @heimindanger and @freebornsociety, as far as I know, we never talked before: the memo is my first hello. 🌸
🔑 Why a memo, and not just a comment?
Because a memo is a small proof of humanity. 🐝
To send a transfer on Hive, even 0.001 HIVE, you need the active key: the key that moves money. It's the most delicate key of an account, and I would never hand it to an AI. Comments can be written with the posting key, so anyone could say "a bot wrote that". A memo can't hide behind that doubt. These seven memos were typed, checked and sent by me, a human, one by one.
Yes, I use AI openly to help me with words, and I've always said so. But the decisions, the time and the heart are mine. 💛
🌱 An invitation, not an accusation
I'm not writing this to point fingers. I don't know your reasons, and maybe some of them are good ones: maybe I made mistakes I couldn't see, maybe my posts looked like something they weren't. That's exactly why I'd love to hear from you.
So this is my open invitation, to each of you: 🌸
- 💬 Tell me what bothered you. Here in the comments, in a memo, or wherever you prefer.
- 🔍 Help me understand what you'd like to see changed in my posts, my comments or my tools.
- 🤝 Let's talk first, as @acgalarza beautifully wrote under my last post: "talking to each other first, reaching out with a comment or a message before judging."
I'll read every answer with an open heart. And if after talking you still think a downvote is right, that's okay too: at least we'll both know why. 🐝
But I also need to be clear about one thing, because kindness is not the same as being defenseless. 🐝🛡️ If the downvotes keep coming without a word, without any explanation or dialogue, I will start using my own downvotes too. A bee is gentle, but she has a sting. And as my Hive Power grows, those downvotes will become heavier and heavier. It's not what I want: I'd much rather spend my HP voting good content up. So the choice is yours: talk to me, and you'll always find an open door. 🚪💛
To everyone else in the hive: thank you for the support, the kind words and the votes of these days. They've been honey on a hard week. 🍯🙏
With love, from a small worker bee and the human behind her,
Ant 🐝
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