If you have not heard, the Hive community voting is now taking place in order to determine if the people who voted for Justin's witnesses on Steem will be getting the Hive airdrop. You can vote here: https://peakd.com/me/proposals
There are two different groups of people in question: the people who directly voted for Justin's witnesses, and those people who proxied their votes to others, which means that they indirectly voted for Justin's witnesses.
Many of the main witnesses are not voting for any airdrops to be given to anyone, except on a case by case basis. I understand why they are voting this way, but I'd like to illustrate why I think this is misguided.
Here is my reasoning why I'm supporting the Proxied Voters getting the Hive airdrop (https://peakd.com/hiveblockchain/@hiveio/hive-secondary-airdrop-proxied-voters), and it comes down to 2 main points:
1. It's better to show generosity towards one's enemies than to accidentally throw your friend in jail.
2. Steemit Blocking People's Accounts Is a Retaliation To Hive Airdrop Blacklist
People may not realize this, but sentiment has a tremendous price tag. Sentiment drives most human decisions, and if you think about sentiment for a minute, you'll realize it's made of up a belief system. Belief is the most powerful thing in human society, and it has a value greater than almost anything. Just imagine if the entire population stopped believing that the US Dollar had any value and refused to accept it. The only reason anyone accepts the US dollar is that they believe it has value. Sentiment is shaped by individual's experiences that are retold to their friends, who then tell their friends, in perpetuity.
Now, this brings us to Steem and Hive. Imagine if someone was excluded from the Hive airdrop because they accidentally proxied their votes to Justin's witnesses but they had no idea about it. What if they were ignorant about it. And what if they are a casual user. They don't understand how the voting system works, so when they find out they have been excluded, they tell their 10 friends, who then go on to tell their 10 friends, etc.
Bad news travels further and faster than good news.
Especially in situations like this. And there is a cost to each person getting negative news about Hive. It taints them. It leaves a bad taste in their mouth, and tbh, the voting system on dpos is way too complex and convoluted for the average person to delve into, so they just get the story from their friend. Hive becomes a bad place where disgruntled witnesses take revenge out on innocent people.
Now, in regards to what a lot of the witnesses and others are saying like "those people don't deserve the airdrop". This is doing more damage than good, and there is also an economic side to it.
If we look at what would likely happen to the "bad" people who'd receive this airdrop, they'd most likely sell their Hive tokens. This would become a buying opportunity for those who support Hive. And then it would do one other positive thing: it would remove the idea that the Steem censorship and blocking accounts is a retaliation for the Hive airdrop blacklist. The Steem people wouldn't have anything to stand on, if the Hive airdrop was done. Then Steem really would look bad. Sentiment would go way up for Hive, and Steem would sink even lower....Because sentiment for Hive would go up, even farther than where it is now. It would be known as a fair place, a place where even one's enemies are shown generosity.
This kind of news is what people in marketing pay to get. But we could get it for free, just by doing what we know is right.
The witnesses are too close to this situation, and they are personally involved, they have been wronged, and are suffering so they cannot see the bigger picture and impacts clearly.
I have voted yes on the proxied voters proposals for the reasons above. I noticed that more people voted yes for the proxied voters than the individual voters. It seems to have more support thus far.
You can see all the proposals here: https://peakd.com/me/proposals
pro-tip: select "creator" in dropdown menu on peakd proposal page, so you can see a list in alhpabetical order. Hive.io is the one who proposed this.